Hello Music Friends. I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your Fall Season! I realize it has been awhile since I’ve written to you. Sometimes life is so busy, but it is beautiful, filled with a lot of good things.
My life has been the poem I would have writ
Henry David Thoreau
But I could not both live and utter it.
As many of you know, when I delve into a project, I plunge all in. A few years ago, I wrote a novel. Honestly, I was so exhausted from the experience that it has taken me years to revisit it.
During the past 3 years, my project has been reinvigorating the school music program where I teach and where my children attend. This has been a monumental effort, especially since schools have changed so much post-pandemic. It has also been a huge change for me personally, to shift from a private studio teacher of more than a decade, to a grade school/middle school music teacher. It is unusual to go from being a specialist to a generalist, instead of the other way around. This has taken me several years to adapt, and I’m still learning. Fortunately my little afternoon string program is growing.
However, I’m so happy to see the efforts of the past few years start to pay off in the success of my students. The light in their eyes as they master a new note on the violin, or sing a beautiful song at church, keep me going, even when the going is tough. Becoming a school music teacher is not for the faint of heart, or any school teacher for that matter. But with teacher shortages everywhere, many of us need to step up to the plate to ensure the continuation of good education for the next generation.
Ideally, as a professional musician, I want my job to include the trifecta of teaching, creating art/performing, and service to my community and the industry at large.
Fortunately, I’m starting to find my stride in teaching and service, and have released two Christmas albums in the realm of creating art/digital performing.
Now that my novel is coming up on its 3rd anniversary, I’m finally revisiting it again. I just finished listening to the audiobook I recorded years ago. It’s not quite publication-ready (too many pauses), but a good listen for FALL. I’m hoping to find my writing “muse” again, and maybe, just maybe, start to tackle the next book in the series. Stay tuned.