Pizz. doesn't stand for Pizza!

On Tuesday, there was a flood in our school building. The art room had a few inches of standing water. Some of that water leaked through the wall and into the general music room. And- of course, there was water in the hallway too. So our music wing was cut off from the rest of the school! I was standing in the hallway with my cooperating teacher, her colleagues, and the administration trying to figure out what to do. We suggested that the kids could still come to the band and orchestra rooms through the auditorium instead of through the wet hallway. This idea was approved, but we were told that all of the children had to be escorted through the auditorium to the classroom. (They are 3rd-5th graders.) My cooperating teacher said, "No problem! She [pointing to me] can teach all day and I'll run them back and forth." So it was agreed.

Even though we were allowed to use the auditorium to walk through, we weren't permitted to hold chorus in there. Go figure! So ... we got to use the District Conference room (as used by the general music classes during that day too). I did a goofy stretching warm-up to a Halloween Disney CD I bought at the dollar store. The kids loved it. Then we did a vocal warm-up to a silly Halloween song-- just because I wanted to have some extra fun with them that day. Then -- on to repertoire! Yay!

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My professor came to observe and evaluate my student-teaching on Wednesday. The 3 (5th Grade violin) girls were well-behaved- when present! The first girl came in a few minutes late, and I waited a moment before deciding to just go ahead and work with her until the other girls arrived. We worked on the G Major arpeggio in preparation for one of their concert pieces. Then we worked on the E minor scale (aurally, analytically, then technically) in preparation for another concert piece. Then as we were talking about fingering for certain notes, Girl #2 came in. Yay! So we talked about the notes and the fingerings together. Then we played. Then, as we were packing up, Girl #3 came in.

Overall, the observation went more smoothly than the last one, even with the chaos of trying to adjust to circumstances beyond my control. My professor was very pleased, and I've now passed Student-teaching part 1 of 2!!!

Oh, and the reason why the girls were late to the lesson? It was Pizza Day in the cafeteria!

(If anyone actually reads this blog, and you're not musically inclined, pizz. stands for pizzicato, the technique string players use when they pluck the string)