Let me get this out of the way, one of the biggest reasons I always put off starting a blog was that I know enough about myself and how busy I am most of the time to know that I would have stretches of time where I would be able to (and maybe not even WANT to) write something for maybe a week or two at a time. Then, I would inevitably have to sign in and post one of those Oh-my-goodness!-I'm-sorry-it's-been-so-long type of post, and I know how annoying those can be. Let's face it, no one was begging me for my next post and wondering, "Where's Luke", so why should I feel like I owe anyone an apology for not posting anything for four days?! The good news though, is that in these four days, I've got several things to talk about... so let's do it. The only thing I may feel the need to apologize for is this post covering several different topics that in NO WAY relate to each other.
I Do, I Do Rehearsals
Rehearsals started Tuesday night for the next show that I am working on. Things have been going okay in our first couple of nights looking at the music. It's great having such a small cast, because we are really able to take the time with each person in each song making sure that they really feel comfortable with how the song goes. After learning the notes and rhythms to each song, we like to go back and run the entire song once or twice to make sure everything really feels good and we start trying to find things that will take each song to the next level.
Our two actors are Steve Fenley and Shondra Marie. Both are very talented, and working very hard. The first couple of music rehearsals have been a bit of a struggle since we are having to read the music from one book and we are really trying to figure out some discrepancies between the script, the conductor score, and the original cast recording. The three versions are all a bit different, so many times in our rehearsals it just comes down to deciding which one we all like the best and will work best for our show. I have all the faith in the world that this is going to be a great show that none of you will want to miss, but like any show, when you are only three days in, you start wondering, "How is this one going to come together."
The Day Job
Things have really been going great at school over the last couple of days, and I am so thankful for good kids. I finally feel like I'm hitting my stride as a first year teacher. On Thursday, I had one of the best rehearsals that I've had all year with the bass section in our boys choir. I finally felt like I was able to get some very good focus from them which led to some very productive rehearsal time. It felt great on Friday morning when the same guys came into the choir room the next day talking about how great it felt to finally get some "real work" done the day before! Where were these kids in September and October though? Oh well, I'll take it now!
Who Decided on the 17 Hour Work Day?
On the same day as the great rehearsal in boys choir at school, I had one of the longest work days I've ever had, and hopefully will EVER have. The work day started at the normal 7:10am which is the start time for my contract at school every morning. Luckily, I had a great day at school and everything went very well through my time there. After the normal school day, the teachers had to stay on campus for a faculty meeting to discuss the TAKS Test that this coming up next week. I always thought this would be a pretty easy deal for teachers to just pass out a test and then sit back and chill the rest of the day. Boy, was I wrong!! I had no idea how much work is asked of teachers who administer these standardized tests! Lots of stuff that just feels like useless busy work, and then pacing through a classroom for 4 hours making sure that kids are following the rules. We'll see how it goes on Tuesday.
That night, we then had a 6th grade choir concert. These kids are amazing! Why is it that 105 sixth graders can manage to come into a classroom after lunch and give you their best effort for a full hour when a group of 45 seventh and eighth graders can't seem to concentrate on anything for more than 3 minutes?! Our sixth graders sounded so great and we were so proud of them. One of the favorite parts of my day right now is when the bell rings for my 6th grade choir to come in. That is one thing I NEVER would've expected to say in my first year of teaching!
Well, the choir concert ended at about 7:40pm, and by 8pm, we'd cleaned everything up and were headed out. But the day wasn't over. . .
The final obligation of the day was that I was supposed to play the piano for the opening night party for the cast of the "Billy Elliott" tour at the Hobby Center. It's always a pretty cool experience to get to meet some of the cast members of these shows and play a song or two with them, but for the most part, it turns into a glorified open mic night for the patrons. Some are better than others to play for, and of course there are usually five or six singers that are hired to be there to keep the music going.
The Day After
The day after one of these late night gigs is never a whole lot of fun. I got to bed around 1:15am Friday morning, and set my alarm to wake me up at 5:30am. Not good for a teacher who sees about 300 junior high students every day! But it was all worth while today, when I got to take a nap with my little boy. It's moments like this, that nothing else in the world matters! Here's the picture that Blythe caught as she came home this afternoon during our nap time.
Again, I am a very lucky man!
That's all for now. I should be able to get another post up this weekend. Thanks for reading!
Peace Out,
Luke
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