Building a program is hard. Daily battles about turning stuff in, why we have to learn how to read music, why we have to stand up straight, etc.... We'll get there.
But I am so excited about the growth of the program. We truly have exponential changes in the groups.
We have:
- Thirteen students signed up for CMEA auditions (one last year).
- 36 students in choir (12 last year)
- We are singing two more songs than last year in choir.
- We are playing Level 1 music in Band. Four of the eight students started their instruments on September 12. Some of them are really excelling.
- Music theory is way ahead of last years group.
One month until Winter Concert.
"Daily battles about turning stuff in, why we have to learn how to read music, why we have to stand up straight, etc.... We'll get there."
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I think every teacher, no matter the subject, has this battle, day in day out, and so you have my sincere empathy my friend.
It's unfortunate that no matter how much we try and explain the benefits of "do what I say," they'll never truly understand until a number of months down the road when everything clicks and they see the whole picture.
My biggest challenge that I constantly face is getting my new piano students to say the names of the notes as they play them. They can be so stubborn, but then they see how what they are saying is not matching up with what they are playing. Same with rhythm. It's a never ending process.