This week started off really well. I have been getting increasingly more confident on the podium at Night Owls (the community band - come on, people; keep up!). It has been a long time since I have felt ill at ease on the podium. I know the music is well within my grasp and I am engaging enough on the podium to be successful. But there is something about the group not being my own group, that I am just a graduate conductor of Dr. Confredo's band, that gets me a little nervous when I take the podium. When I made mistakes in rehearsals with my own bands, I learned from them and moved on. But, here, there is a very experienced and critical eye evaluating what I do. In a sense, it is making me be very thoughtful about how I both plan and execute my rehearsal time. That all being said, this week I finally felt like I was holding my own on the podium. I was having fun, the group was having fun, they were picking up what I was putting down, and we made some music! I do need to stop glancing at Dr. Confredo while I am on the podium, though, for feedback on what I am doing in her expressions. I know in my core that it undermines my presence on the podium. Moving forward, I am making a concerted effort to stop doing it!
The only down side to Monday evening's rehearsal was... (drum roll)... right at the end of rehearsal, I tweaked something in my back while I was conducting. I will pause for all the laughter from those of you who know me well. I had to rush off the podium as soon as I finished, sit down on the floor of the instrument room and do some back stretches. No worries, though, it cleared up in a couple days. It probably was due to my flag football exploits the day before. When I wrote last week's post, I was feeling great. When I woke up Monday morning, everything hurt! Even my toenails! However, I am not counting this as a football injury because I was able to play at the game today, which we won. Bam! We even had enough people this week to field a full team! My team seems like cool people. I just wish I could get them to want to hang out either before or after games. Let's face it, I surely didn't join the league because of my incredibly athletic background and my yearning to play football!
I am trying to keep my eye on the end goal of my work through the program and try to use all my assignments and opportunities to set me up for my dissertation work. I had a couple exciting research conversations this week. One was with my adviser. She asked me to be part of a study she is conducting. I am not sure in what capacity I will be taking part. Surely, I will be a participant. But, I think it will be a great experience to see how she goes about her research as a model for how I might do my own research. I also had a conversation with a fellow PhD student regarding research. We talked about conducting original research prior to dissertation work. Apparently, we are allowed to do that. So, I am going to take full advantage of that opportunity. I am not sure what I will research yet (I have some ideas), but you band director friends of mine get ready for my call, asking you or your students to be part of my study!
Speaking of research, here is a tidbit of exciting information I learned while reading research this week. Despite what the last research I posted said about smart people being drawn to music rather than music making people smarter, I read research this week which demonstrated that music lessons raise IQ scores. The study took a batch of 6 year olds and had them take either piano lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons. Interestingly, the study found that all participants showed an increase in IQ, which the author attributed to the documented phenomenon of that happening at the commencement of schooling. But, the participants in the music lessons had a statistically significant difference in their new IQ scores when compared to the rest. The potential weaknesses I found with this study were that they only used 6 year olds. So, a blanket statement about music lessons increasing IQ scores can't really be made. All we can say is that music lessons have the potential to raise IQ scores in 6 year olds. Additionally, the effect sizes for the findings were relatively small. So, I am not sure that the benefits are worth forcing kids who don't want to take music lessons to do so on the basis of improved IQ scores.
Schellenberg, E.G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.
I also picked up something interesting my readings this week: It turns out that perfect pitch is more prominent in musicians who begin music lessons at age 7 or earlier, lending credence to the idea that it is a learned, not an innate, behavior. I don't have the citation offhand, but I can get it for anyone who wants it.
I think I sort of understand statistics (he says in an unsteady voice and with shifty eyes). I had my midterm this week. I think I did pretty well. I was one of the first to finish, which is either a very good or a very bad sign. I will let you know next week how it turned out.
What's going on with our Ravens? Can someone who is actually able to watch the games please explain it to me? Gaaaaaah! I reiterate that if they want to pay someone millions of dollars to not win football games, I am the guy to do it! I will gladly put on a uniform and miss tackles, drop passes, and mess up blocking assignments. As a bonus, I can guarantee to commit an egregious number of penalties each game. I will even do it for the league minimum. Imagine how much money they will save!
On a brighter note: (imagine Baltimore accent) Go O's! I am totally wearing orange tomorrow. All I have is my Boh Know's Baseball t-shirt. So, that is what I'm wearing. Can we say World Series in Baltimore? Crap... did that jinx it? Whatever, I stand by it.
This coming week will be pretty crazy. I have my first Wind Symphony concert tomorrow night and I am playing with both the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra at this collage concert, called the Mosaic Concert, on Friday. I am not sure if the concert on Friday is open admission or if it is just for the university donors. Check Facebook for details if you are interested in coming.
That is all for now.
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
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