Day 1: COVID-19

This is Day 1 of the COVID-19 "break".  We did report to work today, just teachers, although I am not sure if it counts as a day of work.  We picked up chromebooks and cleared our belongings from school.  I don't know if the chromebook pick-up is an attempt to meet digital learning requirements. 

This break is looking more and more like "the end" of the school year.  However, I believe most are still working on the two weeks assumption.  I believe tomorrow we will be tasked with creating digital school and basically reporting to work at home each day.

So far I have read Isaac's Storm and have started The British Are Coming.  Isaac's Storm is about the great hurricane in Galveston in 1900 and definitely had echos of what is happening today (lack of technology, poor forecasting, bickering leadership, etc...).

At home today our schedule was:
11:00: Chores
12:30-1:30: Family Reading
2pm: Art Class
4pm: Workout (girls ran 2 miles--I walked).
730pm: Met Opera

I do not what the teaching will bring.  It is a much different task to create activities to return on April 1 than to return on June 1 (or Sept 1).  For example, do we work on current band music?  Do we switch to more of a music theory or music listening class?  If students do not tune in who is my audience? 

I do expect to be doing some track coaching (if we can leave the house, staying 6 feet apart) and posting lots of videos with the girls (ukulele, piano, etc...).  I also hope to eat right, exercise, and read a ton.

Everything has been changing rapidly.  For the moment everyone I know is healthy so I think nothing else really matters.

Chorale Repertoire

I am currently at the local elementary school but I was able to hold on to the after school stipend for Chorale.  I love this group.  We are not performing nearly as much but we have a real solid program we are preparing for April 4.  There are 12 girls and 5 boys in the group.  We meet once per week.

Mainly since our seniors lost a bit when I got transferred I wanted to have a senior showcase.  So our program will be in two acts.

Ensemble Songs:

1.  Fly to Paradise by Eric Whitacre.  This piece is challenging.  It has a soprano solo and lots of split parts.  It is sung to a tape.  It is not quite as dissonant as most of the Whitacre we have sung.

2.  Selene's Boat by Don MacDonald.  The kids seem to love this song.  Great vowel exercise.  Opportunity for two solos as well.

3.  I'm Gonna Sing 'Til the Spirit Moves in My Heart by Moses Hogan.  This is hard for many reasons.  First--split parts.  Super high, super low.  FAST.  The middle section of sixteenth notes is a bear to do correctly.

4.  Cheap Thrills arranged by Deke Sharon.  We will do three pop numbers and this is probably the hardest one of the bunch.

In addition we will do Bring Me Little Water and some arrangements of Happy Together and Count on Me.  We will end with our theme song: Parting Glass.

Elementary School....

I am about 1/3 of the way into my first year as an elementary music-chorus-band teacher and I thought it would be a good time to get some thoughts down on paper.

1. So far the time commitment is significantly less than my old job at the high school.  I have not adjusted to this yet.  There are virtually no evenings and no weekends required.  This is a big shift. 

2. I have not adjusted to the later starting time.  I usually get here at 7am for an 8:40am start.  Twice a week I have morning band at 745am (band is not scheduled in school day).  Even today I came in "late" but I am still an hour early.  On the flip side I never have to stay after the bell.  I am trying hard to run/exercise in the morning now that it is dark when I get home.

3. The school day is challenging.  I usually get 2 minutes between classes and this can be challenging for my brain.  My schedule is generally Prep until 10:05, 5th grade, lunch, then classes straight through from 11:30am to 3:30pm.

4. I do the same listening and reading segment for K-5.  You can see my listening playlist on youTube.  I then generally have a lesson for K-2 and a 4-5 lesson.  3rd grade is in the gap.   4th-5th are focussing on ukulele and K-2 are focussing on First Steps (at least portions of it).

5. I see Chorus very infrequently.  3rd grade is once per month and 4th/5th grade twice per month.  I see everyone in 3rd/4th and 5th is select.  All choruses are working on following large group rules.  I do have to bleed some "chorus" time into general music.

6. I am realizing as well that students do not do Google Classroom work unless they are in front of you.  Since I only see them about 120 minutes per month this is challenging to get any sort of listening or writing done.  I have to figure out how to leverage that.

7.  I am realizing that learning names may be a lost cause. 

Always on My Mind

I am not trying to post things that are perfect.  I recognize that I am in the beginning stages. This recording has a few slip ups in it.   I wanted to post a song that had more than 3-4 chord changes.  I struggled with the D chord and the strumming pattern--I am trying to do triplets.

Pretty shocking that I am three weeks away from an elementary school gig.  I really still have little to no idea what to do.  I imagine I know more than I think but I also feel I really need to teach a few classes to see how the pacing goes.  I need to get a ton of tiny activities ready for the little ones.

Learning Journey

I am trying to hard to write (sometimes I forget) and to document my learning journey and the ukulele.  The recent addition of the concert uke has helped and I have been playing about an hour per day.

I am working on my strumming.  I still struggle with learning tunes.  I don't know if that is part of my stroke deficit or if I just can't do it.  I could never memorize choir songs either.  I still don't think I could confidently sing the National Anthem without the words in front of me.  Verbal recall definitely a problem.

Kala KS-15 Concert

I bought a new Kala Concert KS-15.  It is basically the same as the KS-15S that I bought for school but much easier to play with the bigger size.  I don't yet feel comfortable buying a more expensive version of the instrument.  The Kala discounts for educators are very cool by the way.

I have gotten pretty comfortable with the "basic" playing on the ukulele.  I still struggle with the "exotic" chords but I can do the pretty basic ones.  My strumming is getting a little more natural.  I have been working a lot from Doctor Uke which has a TON of songs, almost all with audio attached and the Uke Tenor youtube page 

Over the Rainbow

In Over the Rainbow I added an Em chord and I am trying to get the upbeat feel on the strumming.  This is clearly a work in progress.  I almost get it some of the time...

Yesterday I visited by colleague at the other elementary school in town and she has promised to share resources with me.  That will be a huge help.  The most important thing I need is some organization and she will share her scope and sequence.  Then I can start learning tunes, methods, games, etc...

Lots to do!!

Comments welcome.