Beautiful and gentle April showers have already moved my pond's grasses toward green renewal. Mallards were flying in and out of this area today, the wind was playing with the water surface. I prayed while on the bench that I wouldn't let the day slip away in the midst of the busy. Then I prayed for the people who would sit there after me. Many will pass the bench by, do you have just one minute to breathe deeply?
(Get ready to watch the pond green up with me!) I am in the throws of preparing students for the last events of the school year. I would like to think I'm organized about all of the due dates, exam dates, the students and their repertoire, but this year I'm not so sure. I am also writing and searching the dates for next year's events calendar for a presentation I'm giving in May. It will be geared toward newer teachers who may want a little help sorting all these same events out. But right now, I don't feel like I have much to offer them. I could use a handy dandy lesson plan too. How should I get it all organized? How do I get it all done and have the students succeed?
I narrowed down the many theory dates to just 2 this year: January or April. I also said to the students that do the state piano exam that we would use only the new site. I had my students obtain their own duet music over spring break. I'm the chair of Guild Auditions, so I could choose the dates for this.
I currently have 28 students, in many of these events, but not all in all of them. My first teacher had 95 students. Yes, you read that correctly-95. She was the breadwinner for her family while her husband was home and becoming a famous architect. I see her and catch up annually at the conventions and I've asked her how in the world she kept track of everyone. "A spiral notebook", was her answer, with a shrug.
With the advent of Google calendars, Excel spreadsheets and Windows/Macs in general, shouldn't this have gotten easier? Websites offer online registrations versus paper too. But I guess it's because I don't use all the programs for all the kids. Maybe I'll make a Google calendar and set up a wiki for it. I don't think there's one out there yet, so if you know of one, shout out!
So I see this as a 3-fingered issue. One is the teacher moving through the systems of registrations and events. The second is knowing what is good for each student, and moving them in the right direction to get there. The third issue is the teacher organizing, teaching, and disseminating the information so that the student learns the material, is properly prepared and on time.
Where's my support staff, my team lead, or executive assistant? OK, enough complaining, where's my coffee and my pen? I'm getting out my spiral notebook. (PS, I luv luv luv this stage-let's prepare them for playing with the orchestra too, kay?)
We had an amazing tour of the Ford plant on the Rouge River last Wednesday. I couldn't take too many pictures because it is a working running plant, currently making F-150s. But what an innovator Mr. Henry Ford was! I was so impressed with his vertical integration ideas. He built this plant right on the river so he could get the ore right from the great lakes chain, and ultimately turn it into a vehicle in 72 hours. It was fascinating how revolutionary his ideas were!
I had never been to an assembly line plant before. We got to actually see into the body area as we walked overhead as they put an F-150 together. Have you ever seen a vehicle get put together? There is so much that needs to happen. Some steps are computerized now, but there were still a lot of people involved in making your car.
There are now many green efforts in place to reclaim the land that is near this river; it wasn't all grand and beautiful. Because the pictures were scant and I would be repeating much of this information, please check out the links below!
The flowers were starting to bloom under the trees on campus. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor's music department was alive and humming, singing, ringing, and a playing when we took the tour during our stay. We got an overview of their department from a cozy conference room overlooking the pond that is supposedly in the shape of a grand piano. I could only sort of make it out. They offer performance, pedagogy and education degrees in music, at bachelor, master, and doctoral levels.
The words that struck my daughter however, were the many students who do music in conjunction with engineering or other math related fields. This has been her dilemma, I think. She is strong in both areas, yet I have spoken often of the difficult reality making a real living in the music world. It is not easy, but it is wonderful. I believe she had started to shut the door on a career in music.
My words to all my students have been to choose something else unless you just can't see yourself in any other profession. There are so many opportunities to have an avocation in your instrument: civic orchestras, community musicals, church choirs. There are many ways to continue to use and share your gifts. My daughter has heard this speech countless times, and has a good idea watching my life of a musician's unique challenges.
What Ann Arbor's music tour did was stir up some thoughts of reopening the door to a double major or including music in her life while on campus-Hallelujah!
While we were on the walking tour, Ann Arbor unexpectedly opened my son's eyes too. At the age of 14, he was not looking at the college other than to be dragged along with his sister, or so he thought. But since then, he has spoken highly of the university's green efforts. He remarks about the buses, the Zip car system, and especially how many hydrogen cars he saw in use there.
I was impressed by the conscience efforts to minimize waste, and their advanced computer lab in the music library, hooked up with keyboards and composition tools.
I guess we just never know what experiences stick with kids, do we?
(the seats in the train are very comfortable-this is our conductor and steward getting ready to announce plans) We were really trying to make our connection in Chicago, really we were! In the original plan, we were going to have a 2 hour layover, eat a wonderful dinner in the city, and enjoy the sites downtown. Then, engine trouble in Seattle, floods in Fargo, and freight train delays made the train severely behind schedule. The train was making up time, it looked like we might have to run for it. We were due to arrive at 6:00 and our train left at 6:15, but they might hold it for us, and then....no. The Empire Builder is an Amtrak train for long distances. There are also commuter trains that use the rails in the bigger cities. In Milwaukee last Monday, Mar. 26, a commuter train hit a man, and he was killed. I don't know how often this happens. It was very sad to me.
All trains were stopped, the commuter train that was going to Chicago was unloaded, and 70 passengers from that train boarded ours. This process took almost an hour while railroad inspectors checked the lines, made out reports, and people found their seats on our full train, trying hard to keep groups and families together. We didn't arrive in Union Station-Chicago until almost 7 p.m. We were now running on breakfast from 10:30 a.m. and snacks. The dining car was not available because they thought we were going to have arrived at 4:00.
As we approached the stop, the conductor announced that our mode of transportation from Chicago was going to be a motor coach by road, rather than rail, to Ann Arbor. I immediately asked whether this "bus" would have restroom facilities because my father would need that option and we were assured that it would.
But it didn't. We were hustled from the bowels of the station to the street, where 15 of us, plus an infant boarded a 24 passenger bus. We were not given a chance to use a restroom in the station until I demanded to get off the bus and take my dad back down the escalator, claiming I had to go too. There was no food, but we were given bottles of water, and eventually they brought cracker packages with a shortbread cookie. We were on our way. I made sure the bus driver knew that we would need to stop for bathroom breaks. He proceeded to drive to Jackson, Michiga, over 220 miles, without so much as a yield. We wondered later why they gave us water bottles.
Strangers thrust together in small places do one of two things, I seem to think. They either try to make their own little bubble and do their best to feel safe and private even though it's not really true. Or, they decide to talk to those around them and commiserate. I'm the latter, while most of my family is is the former. I met a very nice lady who was coming back from a three month travel. She had an artificial foot, which was "acting up, the barometer must be changing." I heard about her mentally ill husband who had an "episode" and was now in the state's care, and her sister who stayed in London because she had met a man. She had taken a ship from New York city to London, and highly recommended it. I thinks she said it was the Queen Mary 2! http://www.cunard.com/Transatlantic/TAcrossing.html
I also met Zachary and his mother. He was a sweet 6 month old chubster of a baby who was going to meet his grandparents for the first time. The mom had gotten on the train in Minot, North Dakota over 24 hours ago, without help, without a plan, without enough diapers, no sleep, and was coming back to Michigan, while the father got ready to go to Afghanistan with the military unit from North Dakota. This baby smiled non stop. I got to feed him a bottle, and held him while his very tired mommy took a much deserved nap. He never cried during this long journey, Zac was sturdy though and my arm was throbbing by the time we pulled in to the Amtrak station 3 hours later.
This town was someone's stop, and when he got off, so did I. By now it was dark, and the station was closed. I asked the driver to please find the next gas station or anything, McDonalds, or even a tree. My father was quite uncomfortable, and I have to believe that many other passengers were too, but no one else spoke up. We went another 30 miles down the highway, passing locked rest stops, truck stops and gas stations every 10 minutes or so. Was all of Michigan this desolate? Where were the accommodations that I needed?
Finally, I demanded that the bus pull over in the next town no matter what, and he found a Moto Mart that had a unisex one-stall bathroom. The entire busload got off, stretched their aching legs and one by one, we all used the bathroom. It was terribly dirty, and there was no baby changing stand. I held Zac while his mother went, and then we used the rubber mat over by the soda fountain to change his pants while more people silently waited their turn in the stall. It turns out that this town is less than 15 minutes from Ann Arbor's train station. If I had not been as vocal as I was, we wouldn't have stopped at all. Guess what? The Ann Arbor station was closed too. It was 1:30 in the morning after all.
My brother should have received a text from my daughter stating that we were 10 minutes away, but her cell phone didn't send it in a timely fashion. We called him after the bus left, wondering whether he was on the way, and he showed up as fast as he could. It was cold and rainy, and my mom and dad were exhausted. Our beds never felt so warm and cozy. We had arrived, even after all the missed connections!
The train has two food options, a dining car that was open limited hours near meal times, (11-2, and 4-7) and a snack car that had more hours but less delightful choices. When we went to Washington DC, the food at dinner was outstanding. This time it was really only mediocre, and I thought the prices had gone up, but the service was only adequate. We're not sure if we'll eat in the dining car again, unless we have to.
We brought along a cooler for our journey, planning to eat lunch on the train. Because of the delay and the late breakfast, we merely snacked our way to Chicago instead. Our cooler had snack size pineapple cups, cheese and crackers, jelly beans, a can of mixed nuts, granola bars, and a variety of soda, water, and juice. It was a nice mix, some salty, some sweet, some crunch some chewy items. It was a time and money saver. Again, the train is friendly and allows you to bring on any of these items with no comment.
With the exception of the rhythm of the rails, the train is very quiet; many of the travelers worked on laptops, and used iPods or other mp3 players. There was only a mildly fussy 2 year old, that soon fell asleep to the gentle beat of the wheels on steel. Teens, parents and I all napped too. Musically, my kids sometimes share one ear bud of their mp3 each. I think this looks so funny with the cord draped between them. They each have distinctive playlists, so they went through one and then the other's. I read a whole book without getting motion sickness, a first for me. Traveling by car I cannot read.
Our train from Minnesota to Chicago is called the Empire Builder. The connection we had hoped to catch was the Wolverine. Being 3 hours late, we didn't make it. But I did meet some lovely people, whom I will introduce tomorrow!
(The water was high everywhere we passed. When we were waiting to board the train, I noticed the top of the vending machine. Healthy! hmmmmm, and the music below is fun, but the guy plays none of these instruments, and doesn't appear to have a clue where to start-sorry about that. But I loved the footage of the trains coming into Chicago!)
We took an Amtrak to Ann Arbor, Michigan last week. I will fill you in about details this week. When we arrived at the station, the news was not good. There had been engine trouble in Seattle the day before, and floods in Fargo had put the train 3 hours behind. So, we went to breakfast, visited historic Sugar Loaf Mountain, went to an antique shop that was in former beer brewing caves, and came back to the station. They had made up 20 minutes giving up the smoke stop in Red Wing and the Cities. So we hopped on. One of the beautiful things about the train is that it's still simple. There are no security features like taking off your shoes, no seatbelts and such a laid back "we'll get there, eventually" atmosphere. It takes you right out of the hurry-scurry mode you may have been in.
The Mississippi River was high and just overflowing some of its borders as we rode over it. And this is the song that came to my mind. The Highway Men were country stars in their own right, who all got together in the 90s to tour and sing together. I wish I would have gone to a concert-it must have been amazing. They included Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash.
Let me just say, "All Aboard!" right now and welcome you to the beginning of the journey with a view of the Winona Station, and a favorite traveling train song.
(Get ready to watch the pond green up with me!)
(the seats in the train are very comfortable-this is our conductor and steward getting ready to announce plans)
The train has two food options, a dining car that was open limited hours near meal times, (11-2, and 4-7) and a snack car that had more hours but less delightful choices. When we went to Washington DC, the food at dinner was outstanding. This time it was really only mediocre, and I thought the prices had gone up, but the service was only adequate. We're not sure if we'll eat in the dining car again, unless we have to.
We took an Amtrak to Ann Arbor, Michigan last week. I will fill you in about details this week. When we arrived at the station, the news was not good. There had been engine trouble in Seattle the day before, and floods in Fargo had put the train 3 hours behind. So, we went to breakfast, visited historic Sugar Loaf Mountain, went to an antique shop that was in former beer brewing caves, and came back to the station. They had made up 20 minutes giving up the smoke stop in Red Wing and the Cities. So we hopped on. 
