Halloween Hatred

Dear Tow Truck Drivers of America,

I hate you. I know that sounds harsh, but it's actually probably an understatement. I really hate you. I don't hate many things, but you are one of the things that I do hate. Thank you for the fifty-eight dollar pita I had for dinner tonight. I wonder how you sleep at night. Your only source of peace must be the fact that your children have food and clothes thanks to your efforts. Or perhaps you are one of those crazy people who gets their jollies from the misery of others. That doesn't diminish my dislike for your kind. The list of harmful things I would like to do to your vehicles is quite long.

Okay, I'm over it. Screw you.

Love,
Dan

Once Was Lost, But Now Is Found

At 8:00 a.m. this morning, right after my combined rehearsal, I got a phonecall from an unknown number asking for Mr. Catcher. After I corrected her on my last name, the caller informed me that she had Jenny! She lives in the same complex from which Jenny ran. She said Jenny just walked right up to her. I immediately left school (luckily I had a thirty minute time where I didn't have THAT much responsibility) and went to get her. I picked her up, thanked her rescuer Katie profusely, and took her home. I gave her another scoop of food (Katie had given her two scoops already) and put her in her crate to rest for the day. I'm sure she's exhausted and just wants to chill. She doesn't seem to be hurt from the car that grazed her. Hopefully she has seen that the grass is indeed not greener on the other side. Rather, the grass is cold, dark, lonely and offers no food.
So Jenny is back. All is right with the world.

Jenny Is Gone

I know that sometimes my words can be dramatic. However, there is no better way to say it. Jenny is gone. Having gone for a short jog, I was on foot when I came to the fence in which she stays every day. I opened it up and let her out, holding on to her collar. I clasped the training collar on her (or so I thought). As soon as she thought I had accomplished this task, she jerked forward. The training collar popped off, and she was free. She ran into the street, got sideswiped by a slowing car, and sped off down a side street. I chased after on foot, as fast as I could given my ankle issue. The next time I saw her she was half a mile down the street. It was the last time I saw her.
Chandler and I drove around in separate cars for about an hour looking for her. But, with her speed and insatiable curiosity, she could be anywhere. We never found her.
I don't know what to think. I don't know if she's hurt. I don't know if she knows her way back home. I don't know if she even cares to come back home. I'm pretty sad. I could never see her again, and I'm already trying to prepare myself for that outcome. As of now, I see my options as: 1) she runs away for good, never to come back 2) she gets hit by a car and dies 3) she finds her way home or 4) someone finds her and calls me. She's a needle in a haystack. I feel hopeless and helpless.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

You know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for"? I wished for cooler weather, for fall. I got immediate winter. I wore my down jacket this morning! I usually don't get that out until at least Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. I love cold weather. I just would have liked a few more weeks (months) of cool, autumn glory. I'm no meteorologist, but I think it's just a "snap", (as in OH SNAP it's cold!).
I turned the heat on in my house for the first time. I'm still waiting on the air that's blowing to become warm and for that familiar stinky-just-turned-on-the-heat-for-the-first-time smell to fill the house.
Heck, if winter's here this early, I'll take a Sam Adams Winter Lager this early. Cheers.

Rock n Rolla

If you know me well, you know I secretly want to be a rock star. I played in a band for several years in middle and high school. In the later iterations of the band, I played electric guitar. I'm not the best electric guitarist, but it's fun to try. I can't play these face-melting solos that hardcore shredders can. Thus, I consider myself a rhythm guitarist. 

I got the opportunity recently to do something I haven't done in over six years. My good friend Eron is the choir director at Auburn High School. His show choir is doing two really rockin' songs that I just got the urge to play on: "Hold the Line" by Toto, and "Breathing" by Yellowcard. I asked him if I could play electric guitar in the show choir band and he answered in the affirmative. At rehearsal tonight, we ran through "Hold the Line" with the choir. It was awesome. It's so much fun playing electric guitar in a band again! The Auburn High show choirs and lab band are having a halloween concert tomorrow night called the "Kookie Concert". The students wear halloween costumes and provide musical entertainment, with cookies to follow. If you're in Auburn and don't have anything to do tomorrow night, come to AHS for the Kookie concert. Bring the kids along. It'll be a great time. What's my costume? I'll be the rockstar with the purple electric guitar. 

He is

These two words have resonated with me all weekend. He is. Through various scenarios this weekend, he is. Here's how:

He is... the hero. Friday night I went to the Auburn High v. Opelika High football game. This is a huge rival game (although it can't touch Hoover v. Vestavia). I heard that out of the last fifteen years, Auburn has defeated Opelika only twice. Auburn was 8-0 and needed to keep the win streak alive. It took quite an effort on their part. Auburn's star quarterback was scrambling all over the place. Eventually, he was brought down hard on his ankle. The crowd collectively gasped. This could mean the end of the game, the streak, the hopes. Not if Calvin Jenkins had anything to say about it. Calvin continued to play, handing the football off to his backs while hobbling on his hurt leg. He marched Auburn down the field to score and go ahead of Opelika with only a couple minutes left. Auburn's defense held strong as time expired, making Auburn 9-0 for the first time ever.

He is... soppin. I went to Syrup Soppin' day at Loachapoka. I took Jenny, sopped some biscuits in cane syrup, perused the homemade crafts, and left. Syrup soppin is always sounds better than it actually is, but it was worth going and I'm glad I did.

He is... chillin. This one refers to me. I spent most of Saturday sitting on the recliner at Lee's watching football and enjoying myself, my friends, and some beverages. When I say "most of Saturday", I mean it. I sat down at around 1:30. I was up several times throughout the day, but for the most part, I sat in that chair for about nine hours. Woah.

He is... back in America. My best friend Daniel and his new wife Mary Catherine are back from their fifty-day, 'round the world honeymoon. Lee and I drove to Birmingham this morning to have lunch with them and our parents before they move to Pasadena next week. Lee and I have recently joked about how, while he was traveling, Daniel slipped out of reality and into legend. We would speak of him as if he was a fairy tale hero that only exists in folklore. Turns out he's real. And he's back. It was so good to see him. Daniel, see you at Christmas: mele kaliki maka.

He is... joy. I had an excellent conversation with Lee on the way back from Bham today. I could try to sum it up for you, but I can't. I wouldn't do it justice. I wish I had just recorded it. I came to some very meaningful conclusions and got more out of that one conversation with my Christian brother Lee than I have from any sermon I've heard in quite a while. Basically, (and I hate even having to boil it down this much) if we (Christians) focus more on having healthy relationships with Christ, we will exude a joy that only Christ can give us. As a result, hopefully, people will notice. As they notice, they will ask. This starts a conversation and hopefully a relationship that could lead to someone accepting Christ for the first time. This only happens through relationships, not through cramming Christ down anyone's throat. I get so frustrated at evangelists who insist on forcing Christ on people. When we have a healthy relationship with Christ, one of the fruits of that relationship is joy. This joy is spreadable, like butter. So, churches, stop with all the other stuff that doesn't really matter. Let's focus on Christ, and spread the butter.

He is... tired. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired from this weekend's events. I will sleep well tonight.

Waxed

When I went to physical therapy Wednesday, Chuck put some super sticky physical therapy tape on the upper part of my ankle. It helped ease the pain of transferring weight from my heel to the ball of my foot. As I was leaving, he told me I could leave the tape on for a few days if I thought it helped the pain. He said it wouldn't be affected by showering. So, I did. I left it on for a couple of days but decided I wanted it off this afternoon. I began peeling the edge of the super sticky physical therapy tape away from my leg when the burning needles began attacking my leg. The tape was placed smack on top of my leg hair. Again, I attempted to remove the tape but had to stop because it hurt so badly. Finally, I called in reinforcements. I got Chandler to rip it off of my ankle in one swift movement. I was so afraid it would only rip halfway off and I would have to endure two rounds of this torture. He counted to three as I gripped the arms of the chair with white knuckles. Then, he pulled. I screamed as hundreds of leg hairs were violently jerked from their fleshly homes. The whole thing came off. It was over. I don't want any more super sticky physical therapy tape.

Perfect

There's not much time to write. I'm too busy enjoying the perfectness of this very moment. Right now, it is 63 degrees outside. The sky is overcast. It's Thursday, which means burger night. There's Auburn Football on tonight. One of my students actually came up to me after class and said, "You did a really good on the piano today Mr. Cater". Could things get any more perfect? Yeah, yeah... I hear ya. An Auburn win would be nice.

War Eagle.

The Terrible Toe

They say that the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body relative to its own size. I beg to differ. My big toe on my left foot is one for the record books! I don't know how or why, but it has become a force to be reckoned with! For whatever reason, my left big toe eats through everything. It has now broken through four left socks, and is on its way to freedom from my left tennis shoe (see above). I keep my toenails trimmed properly, and I eat all the right foods and vegetables to maintain proper toe health. This one must be a mutant. My right big toe isn't this way. I feel like such a freak. I'm going to go hide in my bell tower. Just call me Quasi MoTOE.

Pure Genius

The newest version of Itunes boasts a feature known as "the Genius". The genius is to your iTunes library what Pandora radio is to internet radio. Let's say you're listening a song, I'll use the one I was listening to, called "Skeleton Key" by Margo and the Nuclear So & Sos. You decide that you're going to be here for a while and would like to stay in this vein, you like this flavor and want to keep it going. You simply click the genius icon at the top of iTunes and viola! The Genius creates a 25 song playlist of songs that are similar to the one you were originally listening to comprised of songs already in your library. Everybody loves a mixtape, but sometimes it takes time to dig through and find the songs you want to include. The genius handles all of that for you. I have to say, I'm nine songs through my playlist and I'm loving it! I always wish I would spend more time simply listening to music with headphones on. This helps me accomplish that task by keeping things interesting and doing all the work for me!
UPDATE: so if you really like the playlist it has created, you have the option to save said playlist! Then, I imagine, you could burn CDs of it, or import it to your iPod to have on the go.

May the Music Never End!

I love my...

It's Monday again, and that means it's time for another round of "I love my Mondays".

1. I love my electric guitar. I got it out last night, changed the strings, cleaned it up, and learned a couple new songs. I rarely play my electric guitar anymore since I'm no longer in a band, but I enjoy playing it whenever I do.

2. I love this weather! I might have to turn on the heat tonight... stinky.

3. I love the Rays! Did you see game seven last night? The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the world series. "From worst to first" is the slogan. Tampa Bay has been through some ROUGH times, finishing in last place 9 out of the last 10 seasons. But, for whatever reason, they are really good this year! I love their new look (Navy and Carolina blue), their manager Joe Maddon, and their domed park. I had the pleasure of going to a Rays game two years ago, so I feel like I'm allowed to be a fan.

4. I love(d) my Friday. After school on Friday, I went with my friend Lee and shot his gun at a range in Tuskeegee. Then, we went to Good Ole Boys and I had blackened catfish. I then cleaned myself up, fell asleep listening to Ray Lamontagne, and went to see Body of Lies. Great night.

5. I love today. It's parent-teacher conference day today, which means no students. I don't have any conferences, so I'm just hanging out in my office getting stuff done... or blogging.

Where the Magic Happens

I have a lot of posts that are about events that happen in my classroom. If you're anything like me, you like to envision where things are taking place when you hear such stories. I realized that many of you have never seen my classroom. Thus, here is a snapshot of where the magic happens.

Good times, Bad times

I always prefer the bad news first, so I'll talk about the bad stuff and then end on a higher note. My seventh grade choir had morning rehearsal this morning. We have it every other week because throughout the normal school day, the choir is split up into four different classes. Morning rehearsals give them a chance, albeit a very small chance, to practice singing together as a large group. I get really antsy about these rehearsals. I realize and am overcome by their importance and am almost rendered useless by that fact. I am hurried; I try to do too much, or not enough. It's like I can't just calm down and run my rehearsal. I tried again today. This time I wasn't the problem. My kids were dead. Perhaps they were still asleep. Perhaps they were ill-motivated. Regardless, their sound was discouragingly wimpy. Sixty-eight kids sounded like twenty anemic kids. The concert is three weeks away. My nerves are daily getting more and more on edge as my mind is flooded with things I and the choir have yet to do or accomplish. We don't have T-shirts, we don't have our performance polo shirts, we haven't memorized our music, we have yet to finish learning the combined piece. So why was I so disappointed in my choir this morning? I think it's because I have such high expectations. I see the potential not only in each voice, but in the combined efforts of all voices. It's almost like one of those Spiderman-blessing/curse things. It's great that I have such high expectations, but it kills me this time of year as I'm preparing for performance. I was reminded by a good friend that it's not me, its 7th graders. Perhaps it was simply an "off day". I suppose time will tell.

Okay, enough of that. Here's a story from yesterday. I had choir classes all day (love those days). When fourth period came, I zipped over to the band room to ask Ms. Marshall something. She was showing a new band student his instrument. That's right, it's the middle of October and someone transferred into band. I went back to my room and began class with fourth period. Within minutes, we were shaken from our seats as a blaring sound came from the hallway. One student was teaching the new band student how to play his saxaphone... for the first time! The blind leading the blind! Every time I tried to speakHONK! or SQUARK! It's like that commercial with the couple in the hotel room. Every time the guy tries to talk to his wife, he gets interrupted by construction! Eventually, he stopped, or so we thought. I had my class singing a major scale on solfege. I told them that I wouldn't be using the piano this time and gradually wanted them to be able to sing a major scale completely on their own without my help at all. "Why don't we just try to do that now?" one student asked. Bold. "Ok," I said. I gave them their starting pitch and they were on their own. It was like I had pushed them out of the nest and they were flying by themselves! They went all the way up, and were on their way down staying perfectly in tune! It was a magical moment! .... Fa, Mi, Re, Do (they nailed it!) Before I could even catch my breath... HONK! It was perfectly timed. We lost it. It ruined all their hard work in a hilarious way. We sat and laughed for a good two minutes before we could continue rehearsal. I love when I genuinely laugh at work, which I do often.

One final note to other DMS teachers: anyone else sick of seeing seventh grade girls on crutches? I'm not buying it.

Let's get Physical, Physical

This post is mostly for Holly. She's my cousin and she lives in Greensboro with her husband Mike. She's a physical therapist. I went to physical therapy today. We spoke yesterday and she told me to "take copious notes". What better way to document the events of my first ever physical therapy experience than right here, on the world wide interwebs.

Chuck is my physical therapist. He's young and seems to know what he's talking about. He has what some might call "hoover hair". If you've known me for a while, it's the hairstyle I sport (although it was it's most "hoovery" in high school). I digress.

After some question and answer time, some measurements, and some ankle fondling, we were ready to begin. I warmed up on the stationary bike for six minutes. Then I went to the "total gym". This was a sliding plane on about a 45 degree angle. I did sets of toe and heel raises. Then I would go to the calf stretch board and do three sets of calf stretches. Then back to toe and heel raises. Then I did the thera-band. In the wrong hands, this could be a serious weapon. It's a large stretchy rubber band. I put one end around my toes and stretch my ankle away from me, then to the left, then to the right, then towards me. Then I did a belt stretch where I use a belt to pull the top of my foot toward me. After that we went to the balance board. This is a square board with half a cylinder attached to the underside. It's kinda like an indo board that skaters and surfers use to work on balance, except twenty times less deadly. I did two minutes of that; first rocking front to back, keeping my knees bent. Ten I did side to side. After surfin' USA I got plugged into the electronic death machine. It's so weird how our bodies react to electricity. Science. They put four electrodes (not even sure if that's the right word, but I really like saying electrodes) on my ankle and wrapped it in ice. After about ten minutes of that, I was done.

He gave me a sheet of stuff to work on at home and my very own thera-band! (I can really see myself doing a set of ankle workout, then using it to fling eggs at the public library).

So there ya have it Holly. I go back Wednesday.

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your ankles be strong.

Gastronomical

It's no news that the News is usually negative. By that I mean that news broadcasts are usually stories about how bad things are: murders, failing economy, and high gas prices. It seems that in the last several months, the news has been dominated by election coverage and gasoline woes. I was almost more annoyed by the news coverage about high gas prices than the prices themselves.

Have you noticed? Gas is way down! I drove by a station here in Auburn today that was advertising 3.08 for regular! That's incredible. Yet, I don't see it all over the news! I should be seeing interviews with overjoyed hillbillies at the gas pump talking about how happy they are that gas prices have fallen so drastically. I don't. I should see it all over CNN's home page: "Relief comes in the form of much lower gas prices" or "Hey, here's a news story about how happy everyone is that gas is cheaper now." Nope. Heaven forbid we actually show some joy in these "tough times". They just report the most recent negative story, forgoing the gas altogether. This just goes to show how negative and annoying the media can be.

So, if they aren't going to rejoice about it, let us do it for them.

HEY, GAS PRICES HAVE GONE WAY DOWN, HOORAY!

Feel free to express your petroleum pleasure, your gas giddiness, or your fuel felicity in the form of a comment on my blog. Let's rejoice together.

Joliet Jake and Elwood

I watched Blues Brothers last night. I can't believe I've never seen this movie. The two main characters are still pop culture icons. People dress like them for Halloween. Yet, I've never seen it. It was before my time.

If I had to choose one word to describe it: hijinks, pure, unadulterated, swashbuckling hijinks! It was incredible! There were so many smashed cars, explosions, cars driving through shopping malls, good music, hilarious moments, and one liners.

Some of my favorites:

"We're on a mission from God."

The Mystery Woman that kept trying to kill them.

The scene with the nun where they keep cussing and she keeps hitting them.

When Cab Callaway tells the band to play Moochin Millie and he turns around and suddenly the band is decked out in tuxes and they are on a brilliant white stage!

The Nazi's car free falling for like thirty seconds.

The look on the crowd's face when the Blues Brothers first arrive onstage (blank stare).

"this is glue, dangerous stuff"

Aretha Franklin after her man leaves to go play in the band: "Sh*t"

Murphy and the Magic Tones

These are just a few of the moments and lines I loved about this movie. I'm going to be laughing to myself about it for a good week. I really feel like my friend Kent would love it. He loves John Belushi and it's full of his kind of comedy. So Kent, if you read this, go watch Blues Brothers. Wow. Consider me pleasantly surprised.

Never Ending

Remember this? That was June 22, 2008. It is now October 9. It's been almost three and a half months since I broke my ankle and it's still not 100%. I'm very frustrated. Lately, it hasn't hurt to walk, which was a new thing. However, I still can't run, frolic, skip, jump, or any other gleeful activity involving heavy ankle action.
I went back to the orthopedic doctor today. They took another X-ray and it's not still broken (which is what I thought was going on). There's nothing worse wrong with my recently broken ankle other than the fact that it just isn't better yet. He felt both of my ankles and concluded that I simply have "loose" ankles (I know, sounds gross). "Is that bad?" I asked. "No," he said, "it just lends itself to injury." Well then, that explains the painful ankles throughout little league baseball and church basketball.

So, I'll be going to physical therapy next week. I went to the physical therapy office to make my appointment and got really excited! It looks like a playground in there! There are colorful objects of all shapes and sizes. I can't wait! Physical therapy, more like recess!

Tony the Tiger No More

I stepped outside this afternoon for my daily courtyard duty. I watch students leave school and make sure nobody does anything crazy. Another teacher walked up to me and said, "I just got off the phone, Tony Franklin's been fired." The time was about 3:20. I immediately called my brother and my dad, but they didn't answer because they were with a client (Cater Design and Landscape, LLC). Thus, I was forced to tell their voicemail the news.

Later, my dad called me back. "What's going on down there?" he asked, as if there were riots in the streets and complete mayhem everywhere. Truthfully, I don't know what to think. I don't really know enough about the situation. I know that most Auburn fans simply see us playing terribly, and want SOMEONE to get fired. Well, there you go. Happy? I really doubt anything will change. I think we will see the same puzzled, impotent offense on Saturday against the hogs. It also makes me sad. Chandler read an article in which Tony said he never got to really do what he wanted. Were there other members of the coaching staff that wouldn't buy into the Franklin Doctrine? We may never know.

Start praying to the football gods. It's going to be a rough ride.

Child's Play

Names changed to protect the innocent:

Here's what happened today. A question was asked today to Billy. Billy answered the question and things moved on. Then, a question was asked to Johnny. Johnny began to answer the question, but then diverted into making fun of Billy's answer to the question. Of course, Billy couldn't let this go undefended. Billy had to speak up and defend himself. This went on for quite a while. In the end, I was unable to make a fair assessment of Billy's or Johnny's knowledge because the actual questions weren't answered.

This may sound like a middle school classroom squabble. It is not. This is my boiled down reduction of tonight's Presidential debate. I hated it. I watched the whole thing. I thought they acted like middle school children. Instead of making clear to Americans their positions on various issues, like the questions asked, they spent their time smearing their opponent. Then, when the time came for the other to answer the same question, they couldn't because they had to clear up the mud that had been slung in the previous candidate's answer. I think that's ridiculous. If I were indeed one of these confused and still undecided American voters, I learned nothing tonight. I would still be in the same confused stupor that I was in before the debate began because THERE WERE NO REAL ANSWERS.

Let's say I'm car shopping. I've narrowed it down to two vehicles and want to really get down deep and figure out what each vehicle has to offer. I want the Mazda to tell me all the good things a Mazda can do for me. I want to know exactly what it has to offer. I DO NOT want the MAZDA to tell me bad things about the HONDA. I'll go to the Honda dealership and let the Honda speak for itself! Then, after hearing from each vehicle, that car's strengths and weaknesses I can make the best, most informed decision.

Instead, the Mazda trashtalked the Honda. The Honda trashtalked the Mazda. Stupid cars.

They both claim that they are not "politics as usual". I didn't see that tonight. I guess politics will always be politics. It did serve as a good reminder of why I disliked politics so much prior to this election. Alas, my loyalties remain, as does my frustration at the two hours I wasted watching these two men act like children.

I love my...

It's been a while since I've done an "I love my Mondays". That's because I forgot about "I love my Mondays". Til now. I know it's late, but it's still technically Monday, so here goes:

1. I love my car. I washed it last week and it still looks good. Atta girl.

2. I love Giants, Wizards, and Gnomes: this is a life size version of paper rock scissors involving fifty screaming middle school (or any age for that matter) kids.

3. I love Fall: It's in the air. Ok, forget the fact that it was 85 degrees today, fall is still in the air. I had a discussion tonight with some friends about when we were going to go to Pope's haunted hayride!

4. I love Auburn football... oh wait... that one's left-over from when we used to win games.

5. I love the feeling you get when a student's mother tells you that you really impacted her son's life last year. Also the feeling you get when you realize you were able to impact anyone's life at all last year, given that fact that you had no clue what you were doing.

A Rose by Any Other Name

I pulled a double shift yesterday. I went to work at 7:20 and taught all day. Then, I drove to Birmingham to help out a friend of mine. He's the choir director at a middle school in Birmingham and was having a music-learning/team-building lock-in for his show choir. He hired me to lead boy's sectionals and teach them their music. Simmons Middle School is sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The choir in question is made up of seventh and eighth graders. My choir is made up of just seventh graders. Even still, I learned last night that middle schoolers are middle schoolers no matter where they're from. It was fun to use things in rehearsal with these kids that I know have worked/amused my students in Auburn and watch them work like a charm last night. The whole thing was pretty exhausting. We would rehearse for an hour, then play games for forty-five minutes. Then rehearse again for an hour, then shove a couple slices of pizza down their throats and go play more games. This continued well into the wee hours of the morning. They learned four pieces of music in one night. Wow. It's intense, but it works. It's way more than you could do in weeks of class time!
Needless to say, I slept for quite a while this morning and am now ready to watch some football with friends at a favorite Birmingham establishment.

War Eagle
War Steelers
War Choir

Does Not Compute

I took my sixth grade classes to the computer lab today to do web-based research for their music performer projects. So I'm thinking, "a day in the computer lab will be great, a very easy day." Boy, was I ever wrong? This turned out to be one of the more exhausting days of the year so far! I was constantly pulled around the room by calls of "How do I print?", "Do I have to read this whole thing?", and "My login won't work!" It was crazy!

On the other hand, I had a great rehearsal this morning with my combined seventh grade choir. After discussing their behavior in the last morning rehearsal, the kids were much more focused and on task this time. I was even less frantic than I normally am, or tend to get in those situations. Two girls even made cookies for the whole choir! It was a great morning, and a great day... I'm just exhausted.

But guess what? It's burger night!

...mmmm Good

Forgive me if I'm beginning to sound reduntant, but I love my job (at least every other day)! I just "like" it on those other days. But, days like today make me love my job. On "blue" days I teach seventh grade choir. I feel like a "real" choir teacher, inasmuch as I can given the current circumstances. Today in second period we were working on one of our pieces for the Fall Choral Concert called "Shoshone Love Song" by Roger Emerson. The piece is in A flat major. As such, "F" is minor six. However, a beautiful moment occurs when the guys sing an A natural, making the F chord major instead of minor. It's known as a deceptive cadence (called such because it does something deceptively different from what it would "normally" do... musically speaking). In layman's terms, it's a surprisingly beautiful chord that your ear doesn't expect to hear in the key of A flat. Second period NAILED IT. We were also working on dynamics and tone today. Not only did they nail the chord, but they sang it with musicianship and attention to detail. I was almost moved to tears. If you are in the Auburn area, we will be singing on November 6th at Lakeview Baptitst Church at 6:30 p.m. Please come hear us. I can't wait. There's lots of work ahead of us, but the end result is going to be great.

I also announced my 7th grade choir officers today. These are positions of leadership applied for by the student and decided upon by me and a team teacher from each team. This was an exciting moment for some, and a heartbreaking moment for others. Regardless, I got a dozen students that I know I can count on when I need them. I'm very happy with the direction this choir is going and the future that lies ahead of us. Let there be light, let there be love, let there be music.