This is what we do

As a person who is now conducting a college choir, I have become aware I am in front of future conductors. Where does someone learn how to teach while conducting? Perhaps in an education class during college... Perhaps through experience (although not having a real idea how to teach when you first step in front of a choir is a rough way to learn- all students should have at least some idea how to set things up), but many conductors will learn from the conductors they have had. I don't know how much one will remember from their younger years- maybe they had a great middle school or elementary teacher who was creative and sequential. I doubt the future teacher will remember all the creative lesson and rehearsal plans of their teachers from childhood- although I am certain many future educators were affected positively by these teachers. Maybe they will remember something of their high school directors. But once the student knows they want to be a conductor, they start paying attention to how their conductor does their job. So this is what we do- not just shape sound and not simply wave our arms and hopefully inspire and help singers communicate and learn about the world- but also give future teachers some tools to use. This is one of the reasons I feel strongly about my future career. I was tossing around the idea yesterday about teaching high school again when I am done with my masters. I do miss it, I am good at it, and I enjoy it. But overall, I look forward to being able to work with future teachers, to guide them, to help this discover the joys of teaching and how to combat the frustrations... And ultimately I hope more people will love music because of this.

Reno has been fine. Well, the conference has been good. Reno itself is not a place I will probably care to hang out in again.

I have had many conversations I hope to blog about: mentoring, being a successful woman conductor (balancing family and a career- and having a supportive spouse!), writing an article (potentially) for the Choral Journal and the process of that, music from Cuba or music from Latin America, hearing about the choral field and competition, meeting people from schools I am looking at for my DMA, apps and web based applications for teaching, and more! It was good.

I am still in Reno. The conference is over and most people have left. I fly out early tomorrow morning- 6 am! I was out really late the past two nights so I will be in bed early tonight. I met some really great people, including people I think I will hang out with back in So Cal. I also had dinner with a few Luther alums, one of whom I greatly admire. I met her friend who is now director of choral activities at a Cali university and he was really nice too. They were the ones who kind of gave me an idea of salaries in my field, as well as some of the competitiveness.

So tonight, I am sitting in a hotel room in Reno, playing cribbage online against John and trying to get some stuff done so I have some time tomorrow when I get back. It is a bit of a bummer not to be home, but it is really nice to be away from a smokey casino and noisy people.