I survived...

I did it. I survived day one. I am a little overwhelmed by the prospect of doing a REAL practicum now. I did a general one last year. I basically sat in the back of the classroom, made copies for the teacher or helped a severe ADHD keep on task. It was okay, but I don’t think the teacher really wanted me there so it was awkward. This semester I am doing a Math Practicum. It is scary! I know that once I am in front of a class and have my lesson plans prepared, I will be fine…but the thought of doing it right now TERRIFIES me!

So, I am officially getting a little excited about the semester. Tomorrow is band and Methods of Teaching Elementary Physical Education. Woohoo! (not!). Band, of course, I am excited for. I never thought I would see the day where my Math class would be the highlight of my week!

This time next year I will probably be preparing to student teach. AKKKKK!

My professor (Dr. Huechteman) for the Math class was out today. She had back surgery this summer that didn’t go well so she couldn’t make it today. Dr. Hardy (the departmental chair) was in there instead. She’s hilarious and an amazing mentor so it was nice to have her again, even if for only one class; but I am ready for Dr. Huechteman to be back in class and feeling better. They are both great professors and mentors.

I am planning a trip to Nashville for Spring break (hopefully). If all works out I will be going to visit my friend Rebekah and then heading south of Nashville to Cleveland TN to visit my best friend from high school, April. I haven’t seen April in 8 years. It will be so good to see her. This summer my entire family is planning a trip to Hershey PA. I am super excited about that as well because another one of my good friends just moved to that area. She is expecting her first baby in September so if I go to Hershey I will be able to visit with her also! My family has not taken a vacation all together in my memory. We still have a lot of details to work out, but I am excited! I think some of us may fly and some may drive. I am opting for flying. I don’t do long car trips with people I love more than life, but might possibly kill if riding in a car for 13 hours. I say that because I know they feel the same way!

And my other non-interesting to others but extremely exciting to me news… I got a new planner! I AM SO HAPPY! Thank you Sarah & Charlie Hungerford for hooking me up with it! I LOVE new planners! I know…I am the nerd to top all nerds…but I LOVE PLANNERS!

Off to work…

Procrastination...

...Is an art form I have mastered.

Tomorrow I start school....my third semester at Evangel University.
Why do I dread it so much? This time last year I was so incredibly excited. Even my second semester I was excited...but my third semester... not feeling the excitement. I think it is due to the burn out I experienced the last two semesters. I was SOOOO tired at the end of the second semester. Then I had a great, but incredibly busy, summer with no rest...and now I am about to start the madness all over again.

I am so incredibly tired. I dont know if I have it in me to do this again. Am I crazy? I know that once I begin again I will be fine...

But right now I am even procrastinating sleeping because I know when I wake up, I have to go to school.

I have NEVER not wanted to go to school this badly. But I hate what I do now. I don't *hate* my job, but I cannot stay there forever or I will hate it... the past few weeks have been so bad I'm practically counting down the days until I start teaching. I worked ten solid hours today and when I left at 6:30 I still had paperwork to catch up on. I'll just stop because if I keep going on about that...it would not be pretty. I am really glad I am going part time this week because I can't handle it much longer.

So here I am blogging pointlessly so that I do not have to go to sleep. Because sleep brings morning and morning brings Methods of Teaching Elementary Mathematics.

But if I dont sleep soon, I will be grouchier in the morning than I am now...b/c after Methods of Teaching Elementary Mathematics, I have to work 8 hours and then I have VBS.

If I can just get through tomorrow, the first day, I can make it another three semesters!

Positive attitude Marti, positive attitude!

Euphonium Euphoria

Last night I was bored. I practiced euphonium for about an hour. I've been "meaning" to practice all summer, but the summer flew by so quickly. Working 4o hours a week at GPH and about 15-20 a week babysitting just limited my practice time. After about 20 minutes my lips were killing me!

I had such good intentions at the end of the school year! I was going to complete Morceau's Symphonique, The Flower Duet and get at least halfway through Rocheau. Well, I am ALMOST done with the second and third movement of Morceau but haven't even touched the first section. Every time I see those 6 flats staring at me I just move on to something else!

I ordered The Flower Duet back in May. It's a beautiful song performed and arranged by Adam Frey. I have it downloaded from Itunes and he plays with a trombone. I was so excited to get it. I have run through it many times. I was actually disapointed at how easy it was. I can't wait until school starts and I can find a trombone to play it with me. Even though it's simple to play, it has a lot of things that will need worked on to make it beautiful. A lot of time the beauty of the music isn't in how hard it is to play but rather all of the other technical aspects of it. It is a BEAUTIFUL song!

Yeah, and Rocheau (which is a warm up book)... well... I didnt get far. Actually, I have played one NEW piece out of it. I was also going to master all of the scales in bass clef...but as you can guess, that didnt happen. I added one and that was it.

I feel like I am still learning so much because I didnt play for so long. After I graduated from high school in 1998 with intentions of being a music major (which didn't happen) I hadn't picked up a horn. When I started at Evangel last year I thought I would give it a try. After all at one point about ten years ago I was going to major in Euphonium Performance. But that didnt happen. :o( Dr. Kolstad at Evangel gave me a chance and I jumped right back in. My first semester was tough and there were many days when I just wanted to give up, but I kept plugging along. My second semester I decided it was time for private lessons. Dr. K told me in my first lesson that I was learning the bass clef. I chuckled. YEAH RIGHT! I had played flute originally but in 8th grade my band teacher asked me if I would like to play the euph. I loved the flute and I was good at it, but I really LOVED the euph! The one hinderance I have had since day one...is the stupid bass clef. I never really tried and Mr. Cowan in high school never made me, so I just stayed in my comfort zone playing treble clef. Playing both clefs opens a whole new world of opportunities in music selection.

Dr K said it would take all semester to get a grasp of it and that it would be tedious but to keep plugging away at it. Three weeks later, I was playing bass clef regularly. Playing piano and being able to read bass clef was a huge asset to that success. I still struggle and the real test will be when I start next week in band again and they hand me all bass clef music, but I am excited about the challenge. I just wish I had more time this summer to prepare for that.

So after an hour of practice last night, I'm going to squeeze in another hour today and hopefully my lips won't fall off after 20 minutes! ha

Well that's my music blog today.