We-Teach-Music

Many of you might remember that last year my friend and I created a new website called We-Teach-Music.  WELL... we recently did a complete overhaul, redesign, and relaunch! We'd love it if you'd go and check it out.  And please share it with anyone you think would like it!  While we are specifically performing arts teachers, we think anyone involved in education will find the blog relatable and/or useful.  

If you like to use Bloglovin, We-Teach-Music is found here.

You can also follow We-Teach-Music on Twitter.

And we're on Facebook!

Instagram and Pinterest coming soon!

What can you expect from We-Teach-Music?  

- Articles answering your fundamental music-related questions, such as, "Can I sing when I'm sick?" and "What does a conductor actually DO?"
- Helpful ideas for parents.  Ex: What kind of Christmas gifts do teachers really want?
- Fundraising ideas for teachers.
- Free things!  We've designed some posters and printables, and we have more coming soon.
- Shop Our Faves - we've conveniently linked all of our favorite classroom, office, and closet items.
- Resources: We've compiled an ever-growing list of the most useful resources and sites for teachers.  We continue to add to the list as we come across other great resources.
- Lesson plans that we love!
- Music repertoire ideas
- Video examples
- Our favorite things, funny anecdotes, lessons we've learned or are learning along the way, and much more!

We are sooo excited about this new venture.  I hope you will check it out!

www.we-teach-music.org

Summer To-Do List || 10 Things

I started making a to-do list of things I need to get done this summer.  As I was rereading the list, I had to stop and make fun of myself for a minute.  I mean, come on!  Can I even adult?  But then I remembered: I'm a teacher.  Teaching is hard work.  Working full time is hard, but I think teaching takes the cake.  Thank goodness for summer break, or else I wouldn't be able to function as a human being.  So here are all the things I've neglected for the past 10 months that I need to catch up on now:

1.  Take items to donate.  

My trunk is full of clothes and other items that I've been meaning to donate since about... 6 months ago.  I'm sure they'll enjoy my scarves and coats now that it's 99 degrees out...

2.  Organize my laundry.  

There's a pile of clean clothes and a pile of dirty clothes.  Maybe they'll end up in my closet some day soon.

3.  Cook real food. And maybe lose a few pounds in the process.  

No more frozen dinners and canned soup for lunch.  I'm looking forward to fresh veggies!

4.  Shave my legs.  

Well, there's really no excuse for this one except that I hate to do it.

5.  Wash the dog, wash the dishes, wash the car, wash all the things!

6.  Read a book just for fun!  

I'm talking pure chick-lit, cheesy, lame, easy-to-read, romantic, fictional, fun, not-academic, not-intelligent, don't-require-brain-waves type of books.  If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments!

7.  Go to the dentist.

And hope for the best.  It's been awhile...

8.  Go to the eye doctor.

And cry as the reality of my old age sets in when I receive a stronger prescription.  I know it's coming, I'm just not prepared for it.

9.  Organize my office, organize my bedroom, organize my bills, organize all the things!

10.  Watch a lot of Netflix. 

And don't feel guilty about it.  I worked hard and endured a lot of stress this past school year.  I deserve to binge-watch mindless TV online! (Or so I keep telling myself...)

What does your summer to-do list look like?

Catch up

As suspected, once school started my blog got neglected.  I'm sorry, it's just that teaching is exhausting and also I'm suuuuper busy this year, way more than I was last year.  Although it hasn't been a total fail... these are the posts I've managed to put up in the past 7 weeks:

School started and I immediately began dreaming of an alternate career.

A couple of weeks went by and I, again, wanted to quit teaching forever.

I managed to get one post up for Travel Tuesday.

And, in the midst of a career crisis meltdown, I found 50 things that make me happy.

And as I settled into a routine at school I realized that I still need to make time for my art journal.

Ok so that's a recap of what's been happening on my blog.  Now let's review what's been happening on my Instagram...

We took a quick trip up to Nashville to visit some friends over Labor Day Weekend:

I like to doodle in my lesson planner, I went to a conference, and our doggie is still adorable:

I experimented with different styles in my art journal:

Peter redesigned my school's shield and it's been so fun to see it pop up everywhere on campus:

My dog continues to be the cutest thing in the world:

Alright so now you're all caught up with my life so far.  Now let's talk about what will be happening in the near future:

- take students to All-State Show Choir Auditions (all day event in Birmingham)

- help run tech for the lower school musical (tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals, performances take up about 2 weeks every day after school)

- choir performance for pep rally

- my drama class' production of The Princess and the Pea

- choir/solo/theater festival/competition (I have about 25 students participating)

- weekend trip up to Michigan for Peter's best friend's wedding

- All-State auditions (all day event in Montgomery)

- begin rehearsals for upper school musical (which I'm directing) after school

- choir performance with community orchestra

- christmas/holiday concerts (lower school, upper school, and sing-along)

- final exams

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we have to do some massive fundraising for the choir's upcoming trip to New York.  By the way, all of this is in addition to teaching full time and also teaching private students in the afternoons and weekends.

So as you can see, I'm going to be very busy for the next couple of months.  And hopefully I won't go crazy.  The bright side is that I mostly enjoy what I do.  It could be worse - I could be having to grade math papers every day (yuck!).  At least I get to teach the classes that students enjoy being in.  I gotta say, I do love my students.  They are extremely creative and enthusiastic.

Ok I'm just going to take it one day at a time and try not to get too stressed out.  I hope you'll forgive me I neglect my blog throughout this season.  I will try to post but can't guarantee anything.

What do you have going on these days?

P.S. My dad and I will soon be starting an Etsy shop.  My dad makes beautiful ceramic items (nativity scenes, ornaments, vases, etc.).  I can't wait to share it with you!

Follow

Exciting New Venture || We Teach Music

I'm excited to share with you a new venture that I'm starting with my real-life bff, Kelly, from Perfect Harmonies.  Kelly and I met in grad school and bonded over our shared love of the local French cafe, classical music, Christian faith, and general getting-along-with-each-other-ness.  :)  She and her husband even came to visit us in Rio!  Anyway, long story short, Kelly and I are both music teachers, so we asked ourselves, "Why not start a blog about teaching music?!"  So we did!

Our blog is called "We Teach Music" and can be found at www.we-teach-music.org.  Kelly will be sharing her experiences with High School choir and band in a public school, and I will be sharing my experiences with middle school-high school choir and musical theater at a private school.  We will be sharing tips and tricks, teaching resources, lesson plans, lessons learned, and much more.  The blog is not completely "ready" yet, but we've started scheduling content, so it's on its way!

Please tell all your teacher friends to check us out!

Blog content for Alone with my tea will not change.  Once school resumes I will have less time to blog, but I will still update with travel stories, life updates, and crafty projects.

I signed my contract.

It's official.  I signed my contract.  I'm staying here for another year.

With that comes relief, knowing I will continue to have a monthly paycheck, health insurance, 401k, etc.

But I also feel a little bit antsy.

I recently realized that I have moved every year for the past six years.  This will be the first time since college that I will stay in the same place for a second year in a row.

Kinda cool.

Kinda scary...

...Around this time each year I start to think about "what's next."  Where can I go, what can I do, what bigger and better thing is waiting ahead?

As the above quote so accurately describes, I think I will never be content.  I will always wonder what's ahead.  That's just part of who I am.  Some people daydream about babies and motherhood and home decor.  I dream about Bali, and Australia, and Paris, and Egypt.

In the meantime, here I am.  Staying put.  Trying to make roots.  Trying to bloom where I'm planted.  Trying to live a normal life, whether we are here for two or 10 years.  So maybe I'll get a library card.  Maybe I'll order the local paper.  But even as I make friends and settle in for another year, I know I'll always be "haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere."

February Goals - How did I do?

Read my overly-ambitious February Goals here.

1. Nope.
2. Kinda.
3. Nope.
4. Ha!  Nope.

Well February was a tough month and I'm so glad it's over.  But it was also a really fun month and I'm a little sad to see it go.  Here's what happened in February:

- We moved to a new house.  With that came complications with setting up our washer and dryer (the washer/dryer hookup cabinet is too small for standard sized machines...), issues with getting internet set up (apparently, with our house being a duplex, the internet company "can't" set up internet... so we've been without internet for a month), and almost running out of money (we had to pay first and last month's rent, plus a carry-over from our old apartment lease which overlapped with our new lease)...

- But all those complications aside, we love our new house and are very happy that we moved!  We have a bit more space, nicer appliances, and hardwood (fake, but still very nice) floors.

- I was in charge of putting on the Upper School Musical this year.  Students in 7th-12th grade have been working since early November to learn Beauty and the Beast, and our performances were the last couple days of February.  The last couple of weeks have been full of tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and performances.  I've been working long days, but it was soooo fun!  The show turned out great, despite having to be held in an awkward "cafetorium."  The students are so talented and I'm so proud of all the hard work they put in!

Here are some pics:

Ignore his untucked shirt... it was a rehearsal and it was really hot on stage!

I dropped a few hints, and they got me this framed cast picture!

Aren't they adorable?!

Teacher and student

Some of my favorite moments from the show:

Beast: "She's so beautiful..."

Preschool audience member: Interrupting "What?!"

**

Beast: Falls down, injured, music is dramatic

Preschool audience member: Very loudly "Oh NO!!!"

**

Cogsworth: Forgot his line, so he said this instead, "And right this way we have exquisite tapestries dating all the way back to the 1980s..."

**

After the show

Preschool audience member: "Hi, Cinderella!"

**

So what is next?  The rest of this semester holds many exciting things.  We have Grandparents' Day (a huge event for the Lower School), a jazz choir festival at Troy University (I'm taking a small group of students), Short Term (a week of trips for students, and fun classes for those who aren't going on trips... I'm teaching a class on Film Music), Spring break (much needed), Fine Arts Gala (Art, Music, and Drama Department fundraiser), Alabama All-State Festival (a 4 day choir festival in Birmingham), End of the Year Concert, and Graduation (the choir is performing).   So it's busy times ahead.  

I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to blog again.  If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!  I'll try to blog more this month, but I can't promise anything.  Plus I don't really have any interesting things to say.

Alright, I'm off to get a pedicure on my relaxing day off!  See you later!

XO,

Julie

Updates

I've had so many ideas of things to write about, but just not enough time to get any posts finished!  *Sigh*  There's never enough time in the day.  I get home from work completely exhausted and don't even exercise or clean my house, much less journal or blog.  It's pretty lame, actually.  

Here's what's been happening around here:

- It's finally "Fall" in South Alabama!  Nights in the 30s, days in the 60s.  I'll take it!

- My choirs recently competed in the National Peanut Festival Choral Competition.  My 6th grade show choir won 3rd place in their division (against high school groups) and my Upper School Chorus (7th-12th grade girls) won 1st place in their division!  If you're interested, you can see videos of their performances here (you have to scroll down past the most recent sports announcements).

- We started rehearsals for Beauty and the Beast, which will be performed in February.  I was stressing out that we wouldn't have enough students audition, but we had just enough to cover the main roles and even have a few "villagers."  The rehearsals are super fun and I'm hoping it will turn out great.  I've NEVER been involved in theater before, so now that I'm in charge, it's slightly stressful.

- We bought a fish tank and some fish.  Every day Peter walks in the door and yells, "What's up my fish-es!"

- Have you ever laughed so hard you literally fell down?  I "ROFLed" for the first time yesterday. Peter and I were joking around, making some nerdy word-puns, and Peter said something so random and hilarious that I literally could not keep my balance and I flopped on the side of the bed and slid to the ground.  It was epic.  I've never laughed so hard in my life.

- Recently, during bath time, I've been re-reading the Betsy-Tacy series.  Have you ever read them?  They're my favorite books, ever.  I told Peter if we ever have a girl I'm naming her Betsy.

- I randomly came across this picture, below, and for some odd reason, I love it.  I have no idea why, but I'm obsessed with this picture.  I really want to print it and frame it but not sure I can get away with displaying it.  Might creep people out.  If you love it as much as I do, you can download it here for free.

What's been happening with you lately?

XO,

Julie

Crazy Art Teacher Lady?

This is a strange post, but it's something I've been thinking about recently.  My hair has always been my biggest pain.  It's curly, thick, coarse, and frizzy.  (Don't get me wrong, I've come to love it... once I realized that the males thought my hair was sexy... haha)  I've spent my whole life trying to control it, but recently, I just gave up.  Don't worry, I still style it, love my favorite Paul Mitchell Mousse, and usually try to look presentable.  But lately I've just been saying, "Ah what the heck" and letting it do its own thing.  

I can't be bothered to wash my hair every day, as it is such a cumbersome and long process.  Detangling alone takes about 15 minutes in the shower, with about five handfuls of conditioner...  So, today, two days after getting second degree burns on my hand, and not in the mood to try to deal with my hair with only one hand, and after three days of not washing it, I grabbed half of it and threw it up.  And, I'm not going to lie, I kind of like the result.

My sister-in-law, Annie, always told me that I should wear my hair like some crazy art teacher lady, piled up messily, ringlets spilling out everywhere...  But I always felt myself much too "sophisticated" for such a style.  Well, today I'm rethinking that opinion.  Maybe Annie was on to something.

I feel like I'm missing pencils and paintbrushes sticking out from all sides.  Or maybe I should throw in some flowers, twigs, and leaves, for good measure.

So that is my story.  Sorry if it wasn't very interesting.  I actually do have some curly-hair-tutorials planned for the near future.  Once my hand heals, I'll be able to get back to it.

What are you up to these days?

The Art of Conducting - Part 1: What does a conductor really do?

Many of you know that I recently finished my Master's in Conducting.  So I thought it would be fun to do a mini-series on "The Art of Conducting."  I hope these posts are fun and inspirational, and not boring!  ;)

Part 1

What does a conductor do?  

I am often asked this question.  Many people have not had the wonderful experience of being in an ensemble (the best part of being a musician, in my opinion), therefore they only see conductors from behind.  It might be difficult to discern what a conductor is really doing other than waving his arms around.  In fact, conducting is one of the most challenging professions.  Conductors spend hours and hours studying the music before they are even in front of the ensemble!  The conductor has to make every musical decision before the first rehearsal.  

What many people think a conductor does.
Picture from "Have you heard it"

To make this easier, I came up with 3 main points and gathered some quotes from various articles and interviews with famous conductors to further illustrate the points.  

I hope you enjoy!

Getting Hooded - GIF

Fun memory of getting my Master's at SJSU...

Businessy

I need business cards! But I don't really have the software or printing capabilities to print my own, and ordering is too expensive.  So I tore up some paper that my pen-pal sent me and added text with my calligraphy pen.  I'm not sure if I like it, but it's better than nothing!