Awesomeness

So marching band is over. Awesome!
Now the real teaching can begin. Since there is only one director in Harrah it's prohibitively difficult to work on the things I would like to cover during marching band.

There's too much to cover when you try to cram marching concepts with advanced playing concepts. The kids will hit information overload. Not a good place to be.

NOW I get to work on tone, balance, theory, tuning and technique. We are getting better. I love it!

I have planned a very difficult concert for the high school kids. We will enjoy working on it and I hope that the audience will as well. Sometimes it's pretty difficult to plan an enjoyable concert for students, parents, and the director. I hope that I have done it.

The middle school bands are really good.
I spent a good deal of time bragging on last years 7th grade group. I think this years group is even better. That doesn't guarantee contest results but it does guarantee the progress of our band program.

The 6th graders are quite good too. They are a bit of an odd group though. Usually I do not have difficulty controlling a group. I don't think that this group is necessarily hard to control but I do think they have a tendency to talk too much. That's saying something for a group of 6th graders. They already like to talk but this group leans to the side of absurdity.

That may be a little too harsh. I think that about 6 kids need to have a permanent seat next to me. That combined with a muzzle, a few rolls of duct tape, and a cattle prod and I think we can call it good.

So putting aside the FACT that 6 kids need to have their larynx's removed I think we have a pretty salty group. They play REAL well and seem to have a good handle on the basic concepts that I try to teach to beginners.

I am seriously looking forward to the coming years. I truly enjoy watching the students come to me as little kids, some as young as 10, and leaving me as young adults.

People do not believe it when I say that I see my students as adopted children. I truly do. I spend more time with most of them than I spend with my own kids. We work through problems together and have good times and bad. We celebrate victories and get bummed out together about losses. It's a pretty special thing that I get to do!

As for my family...
My wife, Stephanie, is having her challenges and victories as a 4th grade teacher in Yukon. Seems that she has a very special student that has a hard time with basic human interactions. As teachers we get these kids from time to time. It's never fun. It does give us an opportunity to thank God for our own children and our "normal" students though.

My oldest son, Brandon, is in 8th grade and is STILL recovering from his injuries. He is out for the Basketball season. This really stinks for him. He plays on his school team and a little-league team too. The little-league is just for fun. They won their league last year, which is pretty fun. Anyway, we hope he's ready for Baseball. That's his true love and his favorite thing to do. I'm believing that God will make sure he's ready. Besides sports he is a very gifted student. He does well in all of his classes.

Ryan is also doing well. He is also in the midst of Basketball season. He seems to be doing quite well too. Ryan is my fast kid. He plays guard for his team and has pretty good ball-handling skills. Ryan is in 5th grade in Yukon. This means he may or may not take Band next year. I would like to see ONE of my kids join the Band. Yukon has a very strong Band program that is far better than the athletic department. I just don't know what he wants to do and neither does he. He is also a very gifted student. He does VERY well in his classes. One thing I truly appreciate about the boy is that he gets mad when he screws up. To Ryan a screw up is a "B" on a paper. Sweet!

Dillon is in 3rd grade. He too is a very gifted student. He's a little like his daddy though. One of my favorite sayings is "why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" It seems to me that Dillon lives by that saying too. Hopefully his mothers influence will overpower mine. He is also in basketball season. He is a very good defender and an average shooter. He's a big kid though and that means he plays near the basket. That means easier shots.

All of my kids are in the gifted and talented program in their schools. All of my kids are good students. Brandon takes all of the advanced courses at his school. Ryan will too. He hates stupidity, JUST LIKE HIS DAD, and he likes to hang with smart kids. Dillon will also take the advanced classes. He may be the smartest of the bunch. I may have a brood of evil geniuses on my hands.

The boys all play baseball, basketball, and golf. Brandon is the only one that still plays football. Both Ryan and Dillon hated it. Ryan hates to sweat and Dillon hates to take orders. It's funny that Ryan hated to sweat in football. He plays catcher in baseball. It gets REAL hot in that catchers gear. Especially in the summer. Hmmmmm...

Gas prices are dropping!

Life Is Good!