|
|
| |
|
For the Record |
| ISSUE 6 ::
Monday May, 30 2005 |
PAST ISSUES |
 |
From the
President's Desk
James Douthit, President
Here Comes the Sun....
As the month of April is soon replaced by
May on the calendar page, I await with eager
anticipation all of the fun and activities
that come with that transition. Especially
in Rochester, the advent of summer is
eagerly
anticipated. For most of the winter months,
I had snow on both sides of my driveway that
was at least a couple of feet, but now,
flowers are beginning to bloom, the lawn is
a beautiful shade of green, and the signs of
the approaching summer are everywhere.
With that eager anticipation also comes a
reflective look at the teaching year that
has passed. Filled with student recitals and
performances demonstrating great
accomplishments, great Oprah "AHA" moments
when the class suddenly "gets" the
information you are trying to convey, and
warm laughter shared with colleagues in
hallway discussions, the memories of the
past year are full and vivid.
Each year as summer approaches, I feel a
certain sense of loss. Those moments of
accomplishment, enlightenment, and
collegiality fuel my interest and
professional passion in the hard work
required to be a teaching musician. This
summer brings with it a more intense
retrospective look at my work. For the past
seven years, I have taught at Bloomsburg
University in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania. In
the fall, instead of returning to my office
to eagerly anticipate another year, I have
accepted a new job as Chair of the
Department and Associate Professor of Music
at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.
While the new venture is very exciting,
currently, the focus is on the loss. Saying
goodbye to my students has always been
difficult. As students graduate after their
four years of study, their matriculation to
work or graduate school seems very natural.
Usually, they're the ones that leave first,
and though somewhat depressed by the natural
progression of events, I'm left behind to
welcome the new freshman class. This year,
that is different. They will welcome a new
person they call "teacher", and I will be
the "freshman" in a new office with a new
set of challenges, and a new set of
colleagues, students, and friends.
When Robert Weirich first started his column
in Clavier it was titled, " The View from
the Second Floor". It was a series of essays
on teaching and the world of music. I knew
the second floor very well, as Robert
Weirich was my academic advisor at
Northwestern University and the second floor
window was behind his desk overlooking the
entrance to Regenstein Music Building, a
large, ominous older white building on the
campus. As the column first began, I read it
with anticipation in each issue, and
pondered its relevance to my world of
teaching. My office for the past seven years
has been located in the basement! I often
thought in a response to the "View from the
Second Floor", I should be allowed to write
a rebuttal titled "The View from the
Basement", that would ponder and discuss the
issues affecting teachers in the real world.
However, after reading and contemplating the
column, I've found that the same issues
affect us all.
We work to make music instruction more
accessible to our students. We work as
mentors to guide students through the
difficult musical transitions in their
performances and the difficult personal
transitions in their life. We work as
advocates for the art of music in a
fast-paced world that can hardly concentrate
through an entire Beethoven Sonata and would
prefer a three minute song with a repeating
chorus that's easy to sing and "has a good
beat and is easy to dance to". We work as
financial managers to try to put together
equipment and resources to provide
instruction to students in an economic
atmosphere that promotes expenditure in the
"important" areas of sciences and
technology. We work as career consultants to
help our students enter competitions as well
as preparing them for important auditions.
My work with PMTA has been based on the
importance of these issues. Though not
directly urgent issues like world peace,
these are the "raison d'etre" of our
organization. As our mission statement
clearly states, we are an organization that
promotes professional growth, performance
and educational opportunities, the study and
creation of music and public awareness of
the value of music education for all
individuals. I am encouraged by the
collective work that is produced by our
organization. I am provided with a sense of
comfort that there are others teaching
across the state of Pennsylvania that value
these challenges and accept them as a
mission.
So as we make this transition into summer,
take some time to recharge your energy. Make
some plans to attend the state conference in
November, and as the sun warms our earth,
consider the old adage, "Bloom where you're
planted!"
I look forward to seeing you at the state
conference in November, where we will
install a new roster of officers to lead our
organization.
|
|
|
| |
|
