I am going to jump right into our top story for the week. You remember Dum-Dums? You know, the lollipops of our past that got phased out by other pops featuring fun things hidden inside them, like Tootsie-Pops and Blow-Pops. Come on, you remember! These guys:
Yeah, now you've got it! Well, then, you might also remember that in each bag is a special, mystery lollipop variety which could taste like one of three exciting flavors. Great! I am glad you are with me on this one.
Last week, you might recall, I spent some time manning a table to recruit new members for the Night Owls Campus/ Community Band. We had a bowl of candy on the table, which I had stocked with Airheads, Lifesavers, and - you guessed it - Dum-Dums. Well, there was some left-over candy from last week and I decided to sample a piece this week. But, just any piece of candy wouldn't do. No, I needed to try the mystery flavor of Dum-Dums. The possibilities were:
Yup, you read that right: bacon, buttered popcorn, and pizza. And, as luck would have it, I landed a bacon lollipop. I wanted to believe that having the ability to distill the flavor of bacon into a lollipop would be the crowning achievement of humankind, a feat that once achieved would render the rest of our existence pointless because it would be all downhill from there. Only three words can truly encapsulate my bacon lollipop experience:
Worst... Lollipop... Ever.
On Monday, I met with Dr. C. about some things in our near future. She told me that in October, we will be hosting some visitors from Italy. They are leaders of the community band movement over there and they will be coming to see what we are doing with the Night Owls band as well as the work of other community bands and school bands in the Philadelphia area. Dr. C. told me that we will be hosting a conference entitled Musica Per La Vita (Music For Life) to coincide with their visit. She has invited a number of community band leaders from across the country to sit on panels and lead discussions about the American community band movement. And I have been appointed Conference Assistant. It is going to be (and already has been) a ton of work. But, it will be an invaluable learning experience for me to see what goes into planning and running a conference. She is also letting me sit on one of the panels as a presenter due to my work with both the Category 5 Wind Ensemble and the Night Owls. CV stuffer!
Yeah, now you've got it! Well, then, you might also remember that in each bag is a special, mystery lollipop variety which could taste like one of three exciting flavors. Great! I am glad you are with me on this one.
Last week, you might recall, I spent some time manning a table to recruit new members for the Night Owls Campus/ Community Band. We had a bowl of candy on the table, which I had stocked with Airheads, Lifesavers, and - you guessed it - Dum-Dums. Well, there was some left-over candy from last week and I decided to sample a piece this week. But, just any piece of candy wouldn't do. No, I needed to try the mystery flavor of Dum-Dums. The possibilities were:
Yup, you read that right: bacon, buttered popcorn, and pizza. And, as luck would have it, I landed a bacon lollipop. I wanted to believe that having the ability to distill the flavor of bacon into a lollipop would be the crowning achievement of humankind, a feat that once achieved would render the rest of our existence pointless because it would be all downhill from there. Only three words can truly encapsulate my bacon lollipop experience:
Worst... Lollipop... Ever.
On Monday, I met with Dr. C. about some things in our near future. She told me that in October, we will be hosting some visitors from Italy. They are leaders of the community band movement over there and they will be coming to see what we are doing with the Night Owls band as well as the work of other community bands and school bands in the Philadelphia area. Dr. C. told me that we will be hosting a conference entitled Musica Per La Vita (Music For Life) to coincide with their visit. She has invited a number of community band leaders from across the country to sit on panels and lead discussions about the American community band movement. And I have been appointed Conference Assistant. It is going to be (and already has been) a ton of work. But, it will be an invaluable learning experience for me to see what goes into planning and running a conference. She is also letting me sit on one of the panels as a presenter due to my work with both the Category 5 Wind Ensemble and the Night Owls. CV stuffer!
My classes this semester are going to be pretty awesome. My first class is a research class. Dr. C. is teaching that class and has structured it such that each week will guide us through the process of designing a research project and, by the end of the class, we will each have a viable research project with IRB protocols ready for investigation, should we choose to take it that next step. I have elected to use the topic I came up with last semester (I can't give you the actual topic because of intellectual property protection). I tried to design the project on my own over the summer, but I had trouble navigating the process. This class will really help me examine all the facets and put together a really nice project worth investigating.
Conducting class is going to be great. This week Dr. T. started off by detailing some of the deficiencies of undergraduate conducting instruction. And all of it applied to my experience. I had some great instruction in conducting patterns, but not much in independence of hands or artistry in conducting. Everything I "know" about conducting artfully I pretty much figured out on my own. I am super excited to get some actual instruction in conducting and growing and developing my skills on the podium.
Learning Theory in Music is going to be an interesting class. The class is about Gordon's Music Learning Theory. Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about it, but have some negative bias toward it. I am not sure where it comes from. Maybe one of my undergraduate professors was not a Gordon fan and I assumed that stance on the theory. But, as an educated adult, I have come to realize that I don't truly know enough about Music Learning Theory (MLT) to have an opinion, positive or negative, about it. So, I am making a conscious decision to go into this learning experience with an open mind and giving myself the opportunity to form an informed opinion on MLT. Also, if there is anywhere in the world to learn MLT, it is here, at Temple University, where Gordon was a professor and to study it with Dr. R., who was one of Gordon's doctoral students at Temple. I will keep you all posted about what I learn!
Well, it is time for me to take my leave. Until next week,
Future Dr. Mitch, out!
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