8/25 - The First Day of School

Since we have courses at this district's HS and MS, the first day of school presented some tiny little conflicts.  The modified first day schedule of these schools placed our HS courses and MS courses simultaneously at the beginning of the day.  Mrs. D and I concluded that we should split up, I would go to the HS for the first two periods of the day, and she to the MS.

My first period course is technically "Applied Music", for which all students of choir, band, and orchestra sign up.  The students, the band teacher Mr. H, the orchestra teacher Mrs. J, and I met in the cafeteria.  We took role and each of us spoke briefly about signing up for our ensemble.  I was introduced by Mr. H, who emphasized my really cool hair, and was then cheered for by the students.  That was unexpected.

Second period presented further surprises.  I prepared an introductory lesson for this course in Music Appreciation, complete with exciting music to listen to.  As the students arrived, I found that none of their names were on my roster, and none of the students on my roster were arriving.  When I asked the students what class they were there for, they answered, "Music Theory" (for those who are asking themselves, the difference between Theory and Appreciation is analogous to that of Math and Math History).  This fortunately understanding group of 5 students were receptive in my half-improvised-theory and half-prepared-appreciation introductory lesson.  On this day I began a ritual of presenting the class with a piece of music for us to informally discuss each day, with the intention of helping the students explore applying the language of music to their thoughts on particular works.  I played these two pieces today:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (J.S. Bach) - German Brass (iTunes)
Red Oyster Cult - Guster (iTunes)

The rest of the day was uneventful.  Mrs. D and I met up and discussed our morning classes (it turns out that this Theory/Appreciation mixup was due to some non-communication from the administration, who made an unexpected schedule change, swapping the semesters of these courses) and then had a brief introductory section of General Music.