May: Getting Organized

For me, the beginning of the month is usually a good time to evaluate my priorities and make a plan for action.  So without further ado, here's what's going on in May:

WCMW

Four concerts, ten guest artists, four weeks.  Steve and I are so excited about this year's series of events - everything kicks off this Saturday night!  Of course, being that it's Thursday, we're still madly working through our to-do list. 

Program books are being printed this morning, concert reception food will be prepped Saturday morning, and we'll welcome our first guest artists (coming down from Brattleboro) Saturday afternoon! 

Join us for an evening of sultry, fiery jazz tunes if you're in the neighborhood, and stay tuned for updates on the blog throughout the month!

Finals

This has been one long semester. I may be more excited about finals than my students! 

For my lecture class (28 students), the final is a 10-page paper (I know, what was I thinking?).  For my class piano students (13 between two sections), the final is a jury demonstrating major scales, solo repertoire, accompanying repertoire, harmonization, transposition, and improvisation. 

As of today, there are just two more teaching days and juries left to go!  Come on, summer!

Concert/Recital Preparation

This weekend, I'm organizing a student recital for the community music lesson program at Fitchburg State University.  That will mark the end of the term for the six private students I've had this spring. 

Next month, Steve and I are planning a joint recital for our teaching studios in Westminster which means our lessons this month are focused on choosing repertoire, polishing, and preparing for performance.

The Sanctuary Choir (my adult choir at church, pictured above) will be presenting a Sunday afternoon program of music early next month.  Last month, I chose the repertoire and we spent part of one rehearsal voting for our favorites.  Now that I have a program of anthems and a narrator on deck, I need to put everything in order and write the narration!

Balance and adventure

The last few months have been crazy. 

In January, I had to let go of planning way ahead and embrace the "sink or float" mentality, taking things one week (and in some cases, one day) at a time. 

That recital in two weeks?  I can't think about that until I've gotten through the recital this week. 

That webinar we're doing next month?  I can't work on that PowerPoint until I'm done with my slides for class next week. 

As hard as this has been for me to get used to it's reconfirmed to me the necessity of balancing my priorities.  The big things on my calendar this spring were all priorities... just not all at the same time.

Additionally, while these things are important, there is something to be said for living a life of adventure.  Things change.  Be open. 

Sometimes, spending the evening talking with SD is more important than finishing that blog post for tomorrow.  Sometimes, Sunday afternoon naps are more important than catching up on emails.  Sometimes, taking time for a walk is more important than grading papers.  Those other things will get done. 

In that moment, choose what matters.  Choose the people you love.  Choose the things that fire you up.  Choose the things that inspire you.  As things wind down this month and next, I want to continue to challenge myself to live a life of balance and adventure.

Previously: April: Getting OrganizedMarch: Getting Organized

Image Credit: Samirah Evans, personal, Steve Collar, personal

This Week

This week:

• We enjoyed several sunny, warm days and afternoons with the windows open.

• I made banana pudding for the first time.

• We got a little carried away and tried to grill out one night. (We gave up and cooked inside once it got cold enough to see our breath.)

• I attended an awesome branding webinar that got me all kinds of fired up for the months to come.

• We gave an informal lecture recital to an audience of almost thirty enthusiastic listeners (recap coming soon!).

• I encountered a few instances of plagiarism in my students’ papers.  Though struggling with how to deal with it, I am determined to turn this into a teaching opportunity.

• We finished our federal tax return.

• I introduced SD to the (southern?) expression, “Land sakes alive.”

• We haven’t driven the car since Saturday!  It is so nice to work from home.

• I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with my children’s choir by teaching them Irish hymns and two Irish group dances!

• I got the latest Elle Decor in the mail and I plan on carving out some time this weekend to skim through it.

• We had some awesome teaching moments.

• We spent some time preparing for our WCMW webinar next Monday, March 19!  Sign up here – it’s free!

Happy weekend, friends!

WCMW: First Look!

As some of you might recall, Steve and I co-founded and co-directed the first Westminster Chamber Music Workshop last summer (recaps here and here). A week-long series of music events for the community alongside a chamber choir workshop for adult amateurs, we wrote a few grants, built a website, contacted the press, brought in guest artists from the regional area, advertised, and organized the details. What a wonderful privilege to be able to create new opportunities for music! These sorts of creative projects are some of my favorites as they combine my interests in leadership, community music, and teaching.

Last week, we announced the dates for the 2012 WCMW (read the full post here). If you’re in the area, be sure to mark your calendars!

We’ll be announcing our 2012 Guest Artists in the weeks to come but for now, here’s an idea of what’s in store:

• a dynamic, classical string duo (cello and violin)
• a soulful jazz trio featuring a vocalist from New Orleans
• a community sing led by a passionate choral director and music educator
• a cutting-edge saxophone quartet

I hope you’ll plan to join us for these four very exciting events if you’re nearby! Want to be in the know? Subscribe to our blog (see sidebar) and sign up for WCMW email updates!

Setting Boundaries

This time last year, I started using TeuxDeux to keep track of my everyday and long-term to-dos. Though I really only use it when I'm at my computer, it helps me keep track of bill payments, emails, and those more involved to-dos that I don't want to include in my daily lists. For day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month planning, however, I hold on to the traditional pen and paper method. I need an agenda that lets me see the whole week at a time, that includes space in the margins for notes and reminders, and that's small enough for me to carry around on a daily basis. For all of these reasons and more I am loving my new Moleskine!

The vertical layout shows a week at a time with monthly views up front for reference. I like that it includes the hours for each day so I can easily keep track of lessons, classes, and meeting schedules. I spent part of yesterday filling in a few recurring things in preparation for the scheduling that will take place over the course of the next few weeks. Choir starts back this week, my Westminster studio starts back next week, classes at the college start the following week, and my Fitchburg studio begins the first week in February.

This semester, I have decided to set more personal boundaries on my time. I will be adhering to my work-from-home Friday rule and I am setting more boundaries for my teaching schedule in both studios. I have classes at the college on Mondays and Wednesdays this semester so my availability for my Fitchburg students will be limited to those days. Thursdays are choir days and I've found it's simply too hectic to shift gears to private lessons in the middle of the afternoon. This limits my Westminster studio availability to Tuesdays (a matter of rescheduling for three students). This schedule feels balanced and manageable when I have boundaries in place. However, it puts me in a difficult position. When I limit my availability, I run the risk of losing students.

For the past year, I've kept Monday evening students despite spending the entire day teaching at the college. I drive home, drop my things, change my clothes, and run back out to teach. I confess that I'm not the best teacher I can be on Mondays at 6 p.m. I never feel 100% up to it. I complain on the way out the door and I check my iPhone every 7 minutes to see how much more time is left in the lesson. It's not that I don't enjoy my Monday student(s) it's that I'm exhausted. I've been out teaching all day, I have quizzes to grade, and my mind is a million other places. Who does that benefit? No one. Why did I do this to myself on a weekly basis last year? Because I thought setting personal boundaries would affect enrollment. It might. But walking into a lesson with anything less than 100% readiness and attentiveness is not the right approach. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to my students.

This year, I want to make more decisions. It begins with balancing my work schedule, setting goals, and sticking to my personal boundaries.

A Day in the Life

I am a freelance musician and largely self-employed.  I have five part-time jobs, all in music.  Christmas is the busiest time of the year.  What does a “normal” work day look like?  Let me give you a little glimpse!  Tuesdays are generally a balance of church work, private teaching, and a little administrative work for some of my other professional work and yesterday was no exception!  This was my day:

*            *            *            *            *

8:45-9:30 a.m.: catch-up with emails, editing, run/walk down to the church

9:30-10 a.m.: worship planning meeting with the pastor (we have six services on our plates right now!)

10 a.m.-12 p.m.: staff meeting regarding last Sunday and this Sunday

12-12:15 p.m.: formatting for this Sunday’s and next Sunday’s bulletins

12:15-1:00 p.m.: children’s choir planning meeting with the C.E. Director

1-1:30 p.m.: walk home, lunch, Post Office run (our midday walk), dry cleaning

1:30-4:30 p.m.: emails, update WCMW Concert Calendar, paperwork, pay bills, more editing, research

4:30-5:30 p.m.: walk to church, teach piano lessons

5:30-6:15 p.m.: file Sanctuary Choir music from Sunday, organize my music for the next few weeks of services, practice music for Sunday

6:15-7:00 p.m.: teach piano lessons, coach duet

7-7:30 p.m.: straighten up the Sanctuary, walk home, skim Christmas catalogs (J.Crew red leather gloves, anyone?), catch up with SD

7:30-8 p.m.: dinner+glass of chardonnay

8-8:30 p.m.: wash/dry the dishes, run to Vincent’s for cookies (we are so spoiled having a grocery store across the street!)

8:30-9 p.m.: take a break, watch The Office

9-10:45 p.m.: write, send/respond to emails, make lists for tomorrow, work on Christmas presents!

Dream Big

It’s one of those statements that caught me a little off-guard when I first read it: “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”  I thought dreams were supposed to be free and simple, floating in a blue sky like white, puffy clouds.  Uninhibited.  Undefined.  The thought of being scared by my dreams surprised me at first.  Who’s scared of a white, puffy cloud? It was cause for thought.  What are my dreams?  How big are they?  How real are they?  Everyone has a “someday” list.  Someday, I’d like to live in a brick townhouse on Park Avenue-esque street.  Will I ever live in a house like this?  Maybe.  Am I actively pursuing it?  No.  As I interrogated myself, I realized this really doesn’t qualify as a dream.  A dream requires goal-setting and small action steps.  White, puffy clouds aside, what are my real dreams and how am I actively pursuing them?

Last year, I dreamt of teaching at the college level.  Fourteen months later, I am in my third semester of adjunct teaching and was recently asked to prepare a new class for the spring.  Exciting, yes.  A great opportunity, yes.  Daunting, yes.  A dream that scares me, yes.  Let’s be honest – I had a mini meltdown just thinking about it this morning.  “When will I have time between now and then to read through three textbooks?  How will I be able to write out all of my lectures, make slides, and come up with assignments on top of my current teaching load?” I lamented.  The answer is simple in hindsight: action steps.

1. Make an outline of the chapters in each textbook. 2. Distribute chapter reading over course of semester (how many chapters on average per week?) 3. Skim each chapter and pull out relevant information. 4. Determine measures for evaluation (quizzes, tests, papers, projects, presentations, etc.) 5. Create measures for evaluation 6. Determine presentation methods (combination of lecture, slides, music listening, student presentations, etc.)

I remember how I felt in the weeks prior to my first day of college teaching (late last summer).  Expecting the unexpected.  Uncertain but confident.

Do your dreams have limits?  Are they bigger than life?  Do they scare you just a little bit?  Dream big – what do we have to lose?

Making Opportunities Happen

I’ve often been advised to “make the most of opportunities” – I’m sure you’ve been there, too.  Sometimes an opportunity presents itself out of nowhere – maybe it’s an extra time commitment, maybe it’s out of your comfort zone and just when you’ve convinced yourself to pass it by, suddenly the opposing voice in your head says, “Wouldn’t this be a great experience?”  In my case, the opposing voice usually wins.

I recently had a conversation with my dad about this very thing.  In fact, he even quoted my opening statement.  As we continued our conversation, we talked about the importance of making opportunities happen.  It’s great when opportunities just pop up in front of you (Hi!  I’m Mr. Opportunity!) but let’s face it – sometimes the opportunities just aren’t there.  The economy struggles, organizations lose funding, no one is hiring.  Have you experienced this?  How do you respond?

It starts with a problem.  Problems are everywhere!  Pick one and figure out how you can solve it with your given skillset.

Problem: I moved to a town with no community music programs. Solution: open a piano studio (I have nine students after four months) and start two children’s choirs (I have fourteen enrolled this year).  I had to think beyond my comfort zone (i.e. teaching in an established organization where marketing and administration is taken care of by someone else) but as a result of thinking entrepreneurially, I now have the flexibility to set my own schedule and create my own teaching environment.

Problem: there are no opportunities for amateur musicians to come together to play or listen to chamber music in town. Solution: start a summer chamber music workshop.  I give you the Westminster Chamber Music Workshop – a week-long series of coachings, rehearsals, and special events for amateur players and choral singers in the area to come together to network, learn, and make music.  Special events each night will feature guest artists in performance and lecture – free and open to the public!

It’s not always about making the most of opportunities… sometimes it’s just about making the opportunities happen.