Band Nerd

Several weeks ago I was talking to a friend whose daughter started school this year. She is absolutely determined that her daughter will play organized sports.
"It doesn't have to be soccer, but she HAS to play a sport.  If she doesn't, I don't know what she'll be ... a band nerd??  I'm not having a band nerd for a daughter."

I smiled and nodded, like I knew where she was coming from, and she went on her merry way.  Then I couldn't stop thinking about it.

First of all, I don't really know where she's coming from.  I haven't played an organized sport (besides church ball - story for another day!) since 2nd grade.  And not only do I not feel bad about it, I don't care if my kids play sports either.  I've attended enough games to know that many people turn into less civilized, more profane versions of themselves in the name of "competition."  I have lost respect for several individuals after seeing their behavior during a heated moment in a game.
Why are we all okay with this? Why do we want our kids to see and do it too?

Second, I am a band nerd.  I played flute in band from 4th grade through 12th, and my memories from school band are some of my most cherished.  That last rehearsal before a concert, when everything comes together - that moment the conductor raises his hands - that terrifying first note of a solo - that twisting knot in the pit of a nervous stomach.  Singing for jazz band, cummerbunds, ice cream celebrations, I still miss it all sometimes.

And the things I learned from music! Show me how playing a sport in school is more beneficial to a person throughout their life than learning an instrument is.  Show me how a person can bless other people by kicking a ball well.  Show me how the vulgarity and oft-degrading environment of athletics is better than the poise and precision of musicianship.

And I will show you how music is good for the soul.  I'll show you the growth I've seen in my own life, in my own piano and voice students as they gained confidence through mastery. I'll show you the overwhelming support of the parents I deal with on a regular basis.  I'll show you the healing that comes from a good practice session, the elation from a well-executed performance.
I'll show you that life doesn't get much better than it is when you're singing.

That's what I want for my kids.

Other fruits

You'd probably have to be from here to understand, but when we moved to the Basin, music was NOT cool.
(Understatement.)
The high school band was really small - but growing! - the orchestra was downright pitiful.  And the choir? Well, I wouldn't have been caught dead in the high school choir.  Me.

You recall that I was part of a show choir of sorts during high school.  Yes I was; it was sponsored by the college, directed (in part) by my mother, and was one of the best experiences of my school career.  Stagelight has a long history of service, entertainment, music education, and, of course, relationship drama in this community.  One time we tried to count up all the marriages born ....
Still, we were not "cool" by any means, and we had to do quite a bit of convincing to get our peers to even come watch our shows.

Imagine the time we had getting boys to actually join!  Like pulling teeth!  Year after year, we begged and pleaded and bribed.  It was a fantastic success when we had twelve boys and twelve girls to make up a group.

Fast forward seven, eight years.

Things is changin' around here, Laurey!  Maybe not with the high school choir (I wouldn't know), but I'll tell you, a grassroots movement has begun.  And I'd like to take the credit.

Mom, Lana and I are directing Center Stage again, and in four rehearsals we have had EIGHTEEN BOYS sign up to be in the group.  Eighteen. male. high school juniors and seniors.  What are we going to do with them all??
For the first time in history we have more boys than girls.
(And many more boys and girls than we expected.)

The best part is, they can actually sing.  Some are beginners, to be sure, but many others are capable of reading and holding a part.  They're learning the music so quickly we might need to add more.
We are literally shaking our heads, wondering what to do with this group.  We've got to decide soon, because our show is scheduled for December 2nd.

Want to come?

pleased because

One of my voice students competed in a pageant this week, Miss UBIC Outstanding Teen etc. and

she WON.

We've been working on her song for months now (a song I picked for her!) and by all Facebook accounts her performance was "AMAZING!!!!!"

I'm really sad I missed it.

Teacher

I started five new students last week.  This brings my current total to eleven.

There aren't enough piano teachers in the Basin, did you know?  And there are hardly any voice teachers.  My mother and I get phone calls almost weekly from mothers looking to start their children.  Crazy.
(I've even heard from a few sources that they made more teaching from their homes than by working full-time jobs.)

Someday I would love to have a music studio in my house, complete with mirrors and a grand piano ... but for now, my mother's setup is working quite nicely.

My piano skills are rusty though, since I went from practicing an hour a day (high school) to an hour a month (college).  The years of choir and school took their toll on my piano abilities; since I started teaching I've been trying to coax them back, little by little.

At first Liam would cry and tug on me the second I sat down.  Now he usually plays in the room for as long as I want to practice.  This is called conditioning.

Anyway.  I am starting to really enjoy teaching, and I think I'm getting better at it.  Voice lessons are a bajillion times harder than piano because there is no set curriculum, no books that we can go through, skill by skill.  The mastery of vocal technique is so complicated that I don't profess to have mastered it - or even come close, really.

But I share what I can, because few people around here are willing and/or able - and hey, the money's a bonus.

a little bit obsessed

with this video:

 
and also the Glee version.  Mostly for Jonathan Groff's voice and the a capella.


The song's been stuck in my head for three days now .... help.

One more thing

This just made my day.  Completely.

Memoriam

You've all heard about the Provo Tabernacle by now, right?  Slice notified me first thing (like, 7:00) this morning.  And my friend Linnea got some incredible photographs of the incident.

The whole thing is so sad.  I loved that building.  It's strange, too, because just this week I found videos of one of my Spring University Chorale concerts (that we performed in the Tabernacle) on Youtube, pretty randomly - and Slice and I have been watching/talking about them for a week now.



The acoustics in that hall were amazing; I'll never forget what an awesome experience it was to sing in there.

speaking of Hallelujah,

If you are in the Basin and dying to sing some Handel,

(Carolyn? Hello? Are you there?)

we have one more practice until our Annual Messiah Sing-In.

You can still join the chorus (Carolyn? Hello?),

or you can just come and Sing In.  (Well, that's what you're supposed to do. Most people don't.)

Or, you can just come and listen.  Most people do.

Friday, December 17th 7:00 p.m. RJHS  - Free of charge

See you there?

Lately

We are finally at the painting stage!
Although we'll be IN this stage for a while, because between the traveling and schooling and working and churching -and don't forget the coaching- we are both so busy we can't do anything about the room. Blech.
Still haven't decided on the color anyway...

In other news, last weekend was awesome.
I mini-golfed with my Slice for the first time ever. YES he took his own putter in and YES I was embarrassed about that, and YES he beat me, but I wasn't bad either so it was really fun.
We also ate some surprisingly good Japanese food and had a little baby BBQ with friends - which I cannot recommend enough. We got some darling baby stuff and visited with friends I haven't seen for far too long! Thank you everyone who came.
(No pictures though.)

Last night I was a judge for the Altamont Idol competition. Going in I had no idea what would be expected of me (praise? criticism?) so I was a little nervous. I've still never even watched an episode of American Idol. Fortunately, we had a rubric and gave scores and that was it. Phew!

Lastly, I somehow slept through Phil's win even with Slice right next to me, watching and hollering (and fist-pumping) every so often. I'm thinking that is the best way to watch sports.

pardon my exuberance

But the Sunday Singing lives on!

IN PARAGUAY!

a tidbit from Matt's weekly email:

Our group has now started something that I wanted to announce to you, especially Mom and Kiana and Rachel. I started a class about three weeks ago on the hymns and singing lessons, but for a big group. Well, to be short, Sunday NIght Singers now exists in Filadelfia, Paraguay! I play the little keyboard while they sing, and they just love it. Yesterday's singing session came after a long weekend where we had a little runin with a drunk and both me and my companion had some little death threat incidents. However, drunks say things that they do not mean. If they ever decided to do anything about it, I would be scared. However, we'll be fine. Anyway, the session was an incredible one. As we sang the last number, I asked them to sing The Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning nice and loud, and the Spirit filled our little circle. It was an enveloping feeling to see these new saints who hardly even know the hymns, be blessed by something that I learned so, so long ago. Talents really are incredible. I have been so blessed to learn more about and use mine the last year.

Last Week

14 girls, 9 guys
3 directors

45 minutes of music 5 shows at 3 schools
2 public performances1 handsome sound technician
plus
1 pregnant girl
and a big sigh of relief.

This Is It

I'm in the news again!
With these guys!

Community show tonight.

it's Thursday again

This is what happens when The Photog stays in bed, even though I (sort of) asked him to take a picture this morning because it's Thursday.
What are we at now, 24 weeks? I don't even know exactly.
Maybe that's weird.

For those who are wondering, I have gained approximately 11 pounds. I still wear my regular clothes about half of the time, thanks to all those clothes I bought in college when I weighed more than I do even now (see here for details). I don't drink enough water, I don't exercise at all, and I eat a lot of oatmeal and fruit snacks. I also take naps when I can.
Obviously, not much has changed.

Baby has a favorite song - if jumping frantically and beating against the chamber through the entire thing is any indication of favoritism (see here for details). We sang it at the end of choir practice Sunday, and OH BOY can this child move.
He also gets excited whenever Daddy is around and talking. Practicing his golf swing in there, no doubt.
Too bad I won't be able to help with that.


Yesterday I went to German class to talk about Austria. I was so excited about it, I took almost an hour instead of the 20 minutes I was supposed to take .... whoops. This speaking opportunity made me realize three things:

1. I did not bring back anything from Austria for myself. Salt & Pepper shakers for Mom, miniature Black Forest clock for Dad, Mozart puppet for Em, nothing (except large clothes) for me. Check.
2. Gosh, I miss it! I miss the food and the old beautiful buildings, the churches, the opera. I miss hearing and speaking German every day. Someday I'll go back, just you wait and see.
3. I'm so lucky to have experiences to talk to foreign-language students about. Two classes in two months? (Seven countries in three years??)

SERIOUSLY, SO GRATEFUL that my life hasn't turned out the way I thought it would.

coming along

We've started choreography practices for our Center Stage show coming up in March, which I'm getting excited for, because it's going to be SO GREAT. The kids are really, really fun to work with.

(Also talented.)

My baby bump is now at the awkward stage where I don't always look pregnant, just kinda pudgy.

Today I went through my clothes and packed the ones I won't fit in for another year or so ....[fingers crossed].....

but we haven't really been taking pictures of the ballooning. The best/newest we've got,

included especially for Megan -

- because I think it's funny.

And, Slice is back in school (college classes, that is) and has decided he wants to be a Japanese teacher. I remind him that he will have to go to more school to be a teacher, but he thinks he can get around that somehow.

Huh.

Stirring

The weekend was great. I cleaned at home and Slice went to work, while we both battled jet lag. We're almost back to normal, I think.

Friday I took pictures for some friends (I have no idea how they found out I could...) and they kept me laughing the entire time.

Saturday we watched THE football game on delay: homemade pizza + DVR + starting the game 2 hrs. late = the only way to go. You can skip all the commercials and boring stuff. Slice rooted for the U while I rooted for the Y, which I thought was awesome.
And Max Hall, blah blah blah, I don't really want to talk about it.
That pot has been stirred enough.

Sunday we had a super-packed sacrament meeting with one missionary leaving and another coming home. The one coming home asked me to sing "When All is Said and Done," a song I performed a few times right after I graduated from high school. Emotionally charged doesn't even begin to describe the experience ...
It wasn't my best performance ever.

Now some things are happening here in the Roos that have a direct influence on my life, my Slice, our not-so-distant future. I could easily say it will determine our future.

We just keep stirring....

Not to brag or anything, but

Abe Mills (you know, Abe Mills of Jericho Road?) came to sing last night after he spoke at our Stake's youth Standards Night.

Earlier, he attended our ward meetings with his family and Slice flipped out, trying to mouth things to me across the Primary Room ... apparently I'm not the best lip-reader.
It was a big deal to Slice, I guess, because Jericho Road toured his mission, and that was A HUGE DEAL to everyone there. Any Mormon celebs in Japan are rare.
He really wanted to take pictures to show his old companions (in 10 days!) - but we decided the awkwardness probably wasn't worth the reward.

And I just laughed, because Abe was in my family's ward in SJ long before he was "Jericho Road." Back then, he was just Brent's Sunday School teacher.
Who also made Bowflex commercials.

I dreamed an opera last night

and really, I thought it was pretty good.
Much more entertaining than the previous night's Lavell Edwards dream.
Lavell Edwards? What the?

Anyway, I'm sure it had nothing to do with this which starts tonight.

See the label? It is true.

New Venture --updated

For many years, the Uintah Basin extension of USU sponsored a singing/dancing performing group which several of my family members have been involved in - as both members and directors. I still think it was the best thing I could have done, as a shy awkward Junior, to break out of my shell and start performing for people.
(Also, the costumes were great.)
Many of my best high school memories are from Stagelight rehearsals and shows, naturally. But the year after I graduated, USU pulled funding from the group.

Two years ago Matt's friends put a show together, and now it's Kiana's turn...

So after months of deliberation and planning, we - Mom, Lana, and I - have put something together that should be much more manageable than Stagelight shows have been in the past.


And now I have an audience! For my lectures on posture, breathing, vowels, blending, vowels, enunciation, focus, vowels. When kids learn to sing with the radio, it's really hard to break them of lazy, bad habits. (But so rewarding.)

I'm really excited.

Update: I JUST FOUND A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF PART OF OUR '05 SPRING SHOW. Even better, it's Slice's narration!
But be ye warned - you might get squeamish, writhe in pain, and/or want to throw up a little in your mouth. I did. (Especially after watching my lurpiness dancing. )

It's HERE.

Sunday Night

It's hard to say when it all started - everyone has a different perspective. And we've been singing around the piano as a family for as long as I can remember.
But we all know this: every Sunday night around 8:00, between twenty and fifty teenagers (yes, fifty) come to sing at the Eddington home.

Personally, I think it started that fateful day I made Matt sing Sally DeFord's Because He Lives while I played. Our ward choir was working on the piece, and I couldn't get enough of it.
A tradition was born.

Matt and I started putting together groups for musical numbers, quartets and octets, mainly because we kept getting asked to. Then I tried to convince all participants to make it a regular thing, to come sing at my house after the Institute fireside. I was determined to make singing cool in this little town of sports. So I made treats to entice, and encouraged all with undeveloped talents.
(At that point, I was pretty desperate.)

Well, it worked.

And naturally the drama ensued. You can't get a group of high schoolers together without having the relationship problems!
My piano skills improved along with everyone's singing skills; I was immensely pleased. Slice was one of my projects in the beginning (although I was afraid to call and invite him because his mother always answered the phone), and he became the Old Faithful of the group. First to come, last to leave. He says it's because he loved my family so much.

When I left for college, the torch was passed to Matt. His friends came and then Kiana's came, now Emily's and even Braden's come to "Sunday Night Singing." There may have also been a blanket invitation by the bishop at one time or another ...

We've gone from treats to no treats, the old house to the new, a capella hymns to Soft Rain, from Mom or me playing to Kiana, Christmas caroling to firesides, missionary meetings to an entire concert complete with parts of Handel's Messiah. There were even times when my family was out of town and the singers came anyway. One year my dad bought hymnbooks for everyone, and gave them out as Christmas presents.

Over time, we've turned out some pretty good singers!

It gets to be a real pain for the family sometimes, having to clean up before and after, worrying about parking and treats and chairs and dogs and noise and music. Fortunately the neighbors are very understanding. Still, it HAS been quite a sacrifice.

My dad always says sacrifice is giving up one thing for something thing even better.

I'm so bored and it shows

May makes me tired.
Bored.
Unmotivated.
Indulgent.
Lazy?

(You can stop reading . . . NOW.)

I just want to curl up in a hammock and read
all day, every day.
Why is that?
It’s not like it's February and I’m sick of the weather.
I’m pretty excited about it, actually.

But when I’m not reading I’m wishing
for summer, for next week,
for tomorrow,
To be anywhere but here.

(Travelzoo makes this a kagillion times worse.
We could go to Ireland for 500 bucks! Tokyo 550!
Florida for 90! So why am I still here?!)

We are in transit again,
in the process of moving and deciding and paying for
Stuff.
Moving always ruins my life for a little while.
As much as I like to deny it, I really am a creature of habit.

This time around, though, I’m dreaming
of things I could do with my own house.
Hardwood floors, music studio, guest bedroom, gardens!
Never mind that we’re poor and I’m a widow in the summer
because Slice is gone ALL THE TIME working
(darn you golfers!)
So I would have to do it mostly myself.
And that would be No. Fun.

Still reading? Sorry…

This isn’t even what’s on my mind today.

I’m really thinking about music and how -
Wouldn’t it be great if I had my own studio?
Surely then I would practice and give lessons
And quit wasting time by reading all day every day.

Wouldn’t that be great?