Tuesday - April 29, 2008

Harmony Final

So I'm sitting here giving my Harmony students their final exam this morning.  There is much sighing & gnashing of teeth.... though I'm not sure why.  For some reason a few of them don't seem to "get it".

*****

It's weird to me.  To be fair, introducing the concept of secondary dominant function and modulation is a bit scary if you're coming out of high school with really *no* training in harmony.  Most of our kids are like that.  it's not an insult in any way.... it's just that almost all of them are starting from scratch, so to speak.

*****

I really can't tell you how much I've enjoyed teaching this group of students this academic year.  They are *all* really great students.  Not all of them are doing wonderfully in the class, but all of them are at least passing.... so I think that's good.

*****

The last year of my life has been a holy hell of a mess.  Emotionally, I mean.... There were times in the class that I was probably over the top & I probably said inappropriate things.... I have a tendency to do that anyhow... but not typically in class - at least not to the level that I did this year.  I starting taking my Lamictal in the first part of October & over the next 3 or 4 months as it started to kick in, I started feeling much more "normal" (whatever that is).  

*****

I've told these kids, as we've moved along in this class, that teaching them every morning (Harmony on MWF and Ear Training on T/Th) was one of the biggest bright spots of every day for me.  i love teaching in general & this class has been one of the most fun... Everytime I told them that, they thought I was full of shit - but everybody thinks that about me, so I'm used to it!  Hopefully, they'll believe that I wasn't being sarcastic at some point in the future.