My life...

Greetings-

Well what is new with me...a lot actually. It is now the 3rd week of school and it already feels like an eternity. I am back in routine of getting oh so little sleep and hurting everyday from playing my cello and riding my bike oh about 14 miles a week-no joke. I am writing this blog because I have not really been around long enough to talk to anyone and more often than not I find my self alone when I am actually around.

Things I have been doing:

Work (yea for early morning shifts): not much to tell except I get all my work tasks done in the first 30 min of my shift and the rest of the time I find ways to keep my self awake.

School: (Funny how we say we go to school be never say what we do, even though we spend many hours here)

7:20am-Ed class one-I get to work with high school kids at Rocky Mountain High. I actually get to work with all of the music departments with another classmate/friend of mine. We get to spend 1/3 of the semester with band, 1/3 with Choir, and 1/3 with the Orchestra. All the ensembles are the top ensembles of the music program, and we get to teach one lesson in each of the groups. This is quite exciting!!- Right now I am working in a groups researching education theorist- mine is Robert Marzano (Classroom Management that works-Assertive Discipline and managing Violence. interesting?...maybe

Ed class 2-personally this class is a challenge for me to stay awake in just because it is right after I get out of work and it is a bit long. we are learning how to write a curriculum and how to recruit students to join band/orchestra/choir- fun fun. you know learning the method behind the madness is not really all that fun sometimes.

now we go to all my ensembles

Orchestra:

well we have been preparing for our concert that we have in 8 days. That music is a bit challenging but I think that we sound really good as an ensemble. We are working a lot on sound, tempo (getting things faster and playing it all at the same time), Balance (we are a bit bottom heavy with all the cellos and basses), and building up endurance for the 3 pieces we are playing. Personally I am not to fond of the 2 modern pieces. it sounds okay in some spots but I am not a fan. I just am not a fan of most of the 20th century classical music in general.

Quartet:

I am now in a Piano Quartet. I love the people I am with this semester, but it is quite a new experience to work in a piano quartet. It is my first time working with this particular ensemble and it is cool to hear how the parts work together so nicely.

Cello lessons:

well I am currently working on my stuff for my Senior recital that is quickly approaching. Things are going quite well. I am pleased with my selections that I am working on and now my challenge is to make each piece sound great!

Steel Band:
(Teaching moment):

Now I get a lot of people asking what is Steel Band. Well Steel band is an ensemble here at CSU that is made up of Steel pan Drums. Now as you can see from the picture steel drums are mettle instruments that originate from Trinidad and Tobago (Not from Jamaica.)

Most pieces that are played on the drums are calypso music but we play from classical to contemporary. It can all be played. The pictures are of the Cello steel Drum. This is the one I play. It has 3 drums so it is quite a work out. I play the cello steel pan. I think they are fun. I am learning another one called the Double seconds so i am in the "newbie group". (they are only 2 pans) which is kind of nice change. so I get to learn a new instrument this semester. I am also in the rhythm section because it is cool. Even though our band is split up into 2 groups we are all always playing something so it just at what difficulty the music is at. This is a very cool group to be apart of.

Cello Pedagogy class:

I have not started this class yet but this semester I get to do "student teaching" private lessons. I am not sure when I will have time for this but, it is something I have to do.

So as you can see school is keeping me busy and out of trouble. Oh last weekend I got to take the PLACE (Program for Licensing Assessment for Colorado Educators) exam. This exam is for receiving my teacher licence) I hope I did okay on it. I felt like some of the questions were bogus and the test mostly catered towards vocalists. At least I am not the only one who thinks this. Us music kids think it was written by a non- music person and it is not a good assessment on our knowledge of Music Education. Anyways, I will not find out how I did for a few more weeks.

I am also trying to continue to get help with my reading through the Learning center but I have had no luck with them. So I think that am going to have to work on it on my own like most things in my life lately. I am sure doing a lot better at reading but I still feel like I am behind and would like that extra support. I guess you can not have everything in life that you want.

well if you stayed reading this I hope you are having a nice day and thank you for reading my blog. It is a long one but, I have a lot going on on this part of my life.

If you ever want to chat with me you can either try to find me in between classes or just instant message/facebook/myspace me or call if you have my number. -take care

-Manda Panda