Honored

Every Veteran's Day for the last ten years, the mayor of Auburn and many local veterans gather to honor veterans and active service personnel. This year, due to a last minute cancellation, Mayor Ham asked the Drake Choir to perform at the ceremony. Aside from the fact that it was last minute and semi-stressful, I was very honored and began scrambling my "troops". The ceremony took place this morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Veteran's memorial. The Mayor gave a few words of welcome and then we filed on in front of the memorial to sing the Star Spangled Banner. If I may brag on them for a moment, my students were very professional during the whole thing. We sang the National Anthem and filed off in a very orderly manner. The mayor said a few more things, followed by a few musical selections performed by members of the Drake Band. Then, I had the pleasure of singing with several members of the AU Concert Choir. We sang "America the Beautiful", which is traditionally performed at the conclusion of every AU Concert Choir concert. It was a great ceremony that honored our military service men and women. I was honored to have the opportunity for my choir to perform.

Debut

I went to church this morning at a church down the street from where I live. I've been told that this particular pastor "steps on toes", so of course I wanted to go. It wasn't too steppy, but still very good. After lunch, I went to the Auburn University Fall Choral concert. It's always good to take a break from my beginning singers and go hear some excellent choral music. Dr. William Powell, the head of choral activities at Auburn has made some changes to the choral program. This concert was the debut of the newly formed "Auburn University Chamber Choir". This is the "elite" choir at Auburn now. They were incredible. They lived up to the hype. I miss being on the singing end of the choral spectrum. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching kids to sing. The joy that I saw on some of their faces during and after our first concert on Thursday, I wouldn't trade for anything. However, I selfishly miss making deep, beautiful, complex music with a focused choir.

The end.

Refurbished

I bit the bullet today. For months I've been having issues with my Xbox 360. Lately, it's been so bad that when I turn it on, it says "To play this disc, please put it in an Xbox 360 console." Sounds like an identity crisis. With new blockbuster games coming out in the fall, I had to take action. I went to Gamestop in the mall and traded in my broken Xbox for a refurbished one. They gave me some store credit for the trade in, which reduced the overall price of the "new" Xbox. I don't like spending money, but this was a nerd emergency. A game called Gears of War 2 came out this week. I'm calling it the "game of the fall". It's a must-have. And now, I have. I always feel selfish when I make silly purchases like this. However, to make myself feel better, I took a garbage bag full of my old t-shirts to Salvation Army.

Let the gaming go on.

Come to the Music

Last night was the second annual Auburn City Schools Fall Choral Concert. This is the biggest event in which my choirs participate in the fall semester. It's a combined concert featuring the choirs of Drake, Auburn Junior High, and Auburn High School. Last year, the concert was amazing. It was incredible to be a part of something so big. This year, I feel safe saying we topped it on all levels.
Appearance: Every choir looked better. I know that looks aren't everything, but when you are a performer it is something to take into account. My kids wore embroidered polos and khaki pants (a common middle school choir uniform, yet an improvement from last year's T-shirts and jeans). The girls from the junior high and high school had new concert dresses that looked great on everyone!
Sound: Every choir sounded better. My choir this year is an actual choir, so of course they sounded better. We also were the largest choir, at eighty six singers strong! We are a force. The junior high choirs blew me away with their sound. It was vastly improved from last year. It was also great to sit in the audience and count former students. This being only my second year, it was awesome to even have former students to reconnect with. Many of them came up to me after the concert to say hello. Then there was the high school. They were incredible. The men's choir had the audience rolling with a novelty piece. The women's choir was excellent as well. The Varsity Singers (a mixed choir) sang three pieces that I had sung before in college. They sang difficult music and sang it well.
There's no doubt that big things are happening in Choral Music in Auburn City Schools. I feel blessed to be able to do what I do. I'm considering creating a youtube account so that I can upload some of these videos and my students can go watch them. What a great week this has been. We elected an awesome new president, and my kids had an incredibly successful Fall concert.

America Has Spoken

Last night, America chose Barack Obama to be its next president. I couldn't be happier, or more hopeful for the future of our nation. Sadly, the nature of the campaign in which he participated was a negative one. Rumors were started, emails were sent, accusations were made. Falsehoods came out of nowhere to try to stop the snowball of hope that was Obama's presidential bid. Perhaps more disheartening than the rumors themselves is the fact that people believe them. There are people who believe we have a Muslim entering the White House. There are people who actually believe he is "the Anti-Christ". One of my students said today, "Someone told me Obama was going to enslave all Americans, but he can't actually do that because Congress has a say." I laughed and told her it was the most rediculous thing I'd ever heard. I sincerely hope that people will step out of the campaign fog and see what a transformative figure we just elected. Brush away the falshoods that were brewed to create dissent and stop change.
In response to news coverage of the reaction of African-Americans, a friend of mine said, "Why is it suddenly all about black people?" Again, I calmly quieted the rage that began to boil within me. "This is so huge for black people in America!" I responded. Less than fifty years ago, black people in America were being treated like dirt. People actually believed (there it is again) that because someone's skin was a different color, they were somehow inferior. Last night, a black man was elected to the highest office in the world. It makes me proud. Proud of Obama, yes. Proud of black people, yes. But proud, most of all, of America. It shows that we have grown up as a nation. I wanted to hug every black person I saw last night.
I explained to my first period class this morning that, had Obama lost, I would have been dissapointed, but I would bring myself to support the newly elected leader of our nation. Some couldn't understand this. Just then, I got a text message from my father, a McCain supporter, that read, "USA!" I'm unsure of his intent, but being his son and knowing him well I can almost certainly say it was a message of pride in his country. Displaying a maturity after which I daily strive, my father moved past McCain's loss and decided to rally behind America in its next chapter. I hope all those who did not vote for Obama can do the same. "I hear your voice, and I will be your president too." said Obama last night to those who cast their vote for someone other than him.
I honestly feel like last night's election, and Obama's victory is and will be one of the most significant events in American politics in my lifetime. I'm not being hyperbolic either. We will see changes in the next four years that will have positive lasting effects. As he said last night, simply electing him is not the change we seek. As I watched his acceptance speech last night, I took special note of his dimeanor. He smiled much less than I thought he would. He seemed to project a sense of humility, and a overarching sense of duty. I felt like he already knows what lies ahead. He knows that the work begins today.
I look forward to the next four years. I'm proud to be an American.

I love my...

Here's to another "I love my... Mondays"

1. I love my choir t-shirts. The new Drake Choir t-shirts came in and they look really good.

2. I love November. November is when Fall really grabs hold of you. It toyed with our hearts in October. You just wait. By the end of this month we'll be shivering in our boots. Speaking of getting cold...

3. I love my down jacket. It is an impregnable fortress of warmth.

4. I love my dog. I'm so glad she came back. I've noticed that she's afraid of cars now. She must have really been traumatized by her 16 hour excursion into the urban wild.

5. I love the feeling of a successful performance and I can't wait for my students to experience that same feeling on Thursday evening.

Big Week Ahead

What a big week I've got ahead of me. On Tuesday, America will decide who they want as their next president. No matter the outcome, the whole process is fascinating and I can't wait to see what happens. On the same day, I'll be taking over 120 kids to Lakeview Baptist church for a dress rehearsal for our Fall Choral Concert. It's an extremely important rehearsal, and I ancipate high levels of stress. I like it though. I've found that I thrive on stress. When the going gets tough, the tough get going right? Then, on Thursday we have our Fall Choral concert. It'll include the choirs of Drake, Auburn Junior High, and Auburn High school. I'll go ahead and say it: it's a big deal. Last year, we had an estimated 800 people attend the concert (printed 1000 programs and had 200 left over after the concert). This year, each of our choirs have grown and we anticipate an even bigger crowd. If you're in Auburn, please come to the concert. Not only will it mean a lot to me, but it will mean a lot to the kids. If you teach at Drake, come to the concert. It really makes an impact on a kid when one of their teachers comes to see them do something outside of school. Even if you just go to shut me up, they'll think you came to see them!

So I'm enjoying the last few stress free moments before I lower my head and charge full speed at this really big week. Wish America luck. Wish my kids luck. I'll see you at Lakeview Baptist Church on Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m.