Ohhhh, cannot wait to get back to my usual self so I can sleep on my tummy again! I had my first experience with slight heartburn last night and didn't fall asleep until 5am. Then woke up to my husband saying the next door neighbor's kid missed her bus and needed a ride to school. I really don't mind doing that, but wish I'd already been up. I do have a lot to practice today so I'm glad she missed the bus and gave me that much needed wake-up call :)
On the way home, made a pit stop to Starbucks with one of my dogs for a breakfast sandwich and a cup of whipped cream, which my other dog devoured (and is now throwing up as a result. Lesson learned):
The month of April is definitely going to fly by for me. Last weekend was the first of three spring recitals I'll be going to for my students. In past years, I've complained a little about the disorganization of the studios that hold them every spring. This year, though, since it's my last one with the kiddos for who knows how long, I'm going to each one and one of the schools decided to up their game and made tons of changes for the better (of course, just as I'm leaving!). So I am looking forward to each recital and hearing/playing with my students.
Last weekend, one of my piano students played the first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata (NOT arranged or abridged!) and he KILLLLLED it! I felt like a proud mama. All the other teachers came up to me saying how phenomenal he sounded. He'll be moving on to another teacher pretty soon as I've gotten to the point where I don't know how much more I can offer him. He's nervous about changing teachers, but it will be good for him. I am so excited to see how good he gets as he matures.
I have a rehearsal tonight for a Good Friday performance at a church later this week. Then on Saturday for most of the day, another spring recital for the same school. Just more students playing and accompanying more people on the piano. Next week, I'm playing a concert with lots of fun stuff: Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante; a Bach oboe and violin concerto; and Daphnis et Chloe by Ravel, which I've never played before.
Then the following week, my last spring recital where all my advanced students will be forming a chamber orchestra plus solos for the Bach Double first movement. I'm hiring an extra violist and cellist to join us. I am so excited for everyone to hear them. They're no Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, BUT, I'm still proud of them and we all stay together and end together...that's what's important, right? ha. Sometimes I get frustrated with the lack of expression my students display when playing, and then I have to remind myself that I was like that when I was young. Unsure, fearful, still learning...I suppose that's why I'm the teacher now--MUST empathize! Plus, one thing I teach my students that I don't remember my teachers imparting to me is....music is just about love. It really is. We play because we love it. It's beautiful and it makes life beautiful. If all you have for what you do is love...there's absolutely no room for fear. Fear of messing up, fear of criticism, fear of not measuring up. In the practice room, yeah, discipline and being slightly hard on yourself is necessary. But you do it so you can enjoy the music later.
You know, I started my Masters degree in music and never followed through; it's been several years since, but until recently I always felt insecure and ashamed that I didn't have that higher degree to boast of. I mistakenly thought that I must be certainly limited in my knowledge and capacity as far as what degree I currently hold. Now, I know that the wonderful thing about being ALIVE is that learning never ends and you never stop improving. Teaching has really given me that epiphany. I learned more teaching children than I think I ever did in college.
And now that I'm going to be a first-time mother soon and finding that my curiosity about so many things is being piqued and revived again, in my desire to raise Madeline right, I also realize that even though I'm taking an indefinite break from teaching, it doesn't mean I have to stop being a teacher or a musician. I hope I can use this time to refine myself even more.
Oh...another pregnancy update (you may not be interested, but I should still write this down for later memory): the latest hoop-la around here is that I recently made the decision to switch to a midwife from a typical OBGYN who I've been seeing for the majority of my pregnancy.
Last week, I got the urge to visit a friend in town whom I hadn't seen in two years. She'd since had her 3rd child and I needed to meet her daughter and catch up. I am SO glad I did. She told me of her experiences with all 3 pregnancies: first one, C-section; second one, VBAC with epidural (Vaginal Birth After C section); third, VBAC NO EPIDURAL! She told me of her amazing experience with a midwife and doula. As I sat there listening to her, I suddenly felt a rush of comfort and excitement at the possibility of giving birth NON-traumatically or without fear.
Up until then, I really wasn't too happy with my OBGYN. I hadn't done research on her and pretty much made an appointment with whoever would take me and whoever was closest to my house. I didn't even get to meet her until my 2nd appointment when I was 8 weeks pregnant (I understand this is normal, but it felt abnormal to me) and it was a pretty quick meeting (although, the longest compared to the rest of the appointments) lasting 10-15 minutes since she did a pap smear and ultrasound. Oh, and by the way, she didn't even warn me she was going to do the pap smear, she was just having me talk as a distraction and suddenly this thing was shoved in me. HELLO.
At my 5th month appointment, I tried to talk about the pending delivery to open up the conversation on where she stood and what I could potentially expect. She shut me down saying it was too early for me to start "worrying about that" so to not even go there. At the time, I would just nod and assume...okay, she's the professional, I'm JUST the patient. Ok.
Long story short, I've learned that it doesn't and shouldn't be this way...especially for first time mothers! For pete's sake, I think it's not too much to ask that pregnancy--if you can help it--be as stress-free and peaceful as possible. Not knowing where my doctor stands on natural delivery OR if she would even be the one delivering was causing me lots of stress. Imagining that she'd want to do a c-section or schedule an induction based on convenience kept me up at night.
So I'm switching. Some people are giving me the side-eye on this decision. My next door neighbor says she's "worried" about this decision. Others, like my mother, think it's great. My husband was skeptical at first, but then did his own research and discovered there are lower perinatal death rates with midwives in a hospital (I will be delivering in a hospital with physician backup) than with OB's in a hospital. Once he had the numbers in front of him, he said I had his blessing.
So now...next thing is....trying to keep this from the in-laws! Just kidding. My MIL gave me an earful when she found out I wanted to cloth-diaper my baby. Apparently when you get pregnant, you start hearing a LOT of opinions. One of the cons of pregnancy :(
Anyway. That's what's going on right now. Weather is certainly getting better and that helps. Happy April Fool's!
On the way home, made a pit stop to Starbucks with one of my dogs for a breakfast sandwich and a cup of whipped cream, which my other dog devoured (and is now throwing up as a result. Lesson learned):
The month of April is definitely going to fly by for me. Last weekend was the first of three spring recitals I'll be going to for my students. In past years, I've complained a little about the disorganization of the studios that hold them every spring. This year, though, since it's my last one with the kiddos for who knows how long, I'm going to each one and one of the schools decided to up their game and made tons of changes for the better (of course, just as I'm leaving!). So I am looking forward to each recital and hearing/playing with my students.
Last weekend, one of my piano students played the first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata (NOT arranged or abridged!) and he KILLLLLED it! I felt like a proud mama. All the other teachers came up to me saying how phenomenal he sounded. He'll be moving on to another teacher pretty soon as I've gotten to the point where I don't know how much more I can offer him. He's nervous about changing teachers, but it will be good for him. I am so excited to see how good he gets as he matures.
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| 26 WEEK BELLY SHOT! |
Then the following week, my last spring recital where all my advanced students will be forming a chamber orchestra plus solos for the Bach Double first movement. I'm hiring an extra violist and cellist to join us. I am so excited for everyone to hear them. They're no Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, BUT, I'm still proud of them and we all stay together and end together...that's what's important, right? ha. Sometimes I get frustrated with the lack of expression my students display when playing, and then I have to remind myself that I was like that when I was young. Unsure, fearful, still learning...I suppose that's why I'm the teacher now--MUST empathize! Plus, one thing I teach my students that I don't remember my teachers imparting to me is....music is just about love. It really is. We play because we love it. It's beautiful and it makes life beautiful. If all you have for what you do is love...there's absolutely no room for fear. Fear of messing up, fear of criticism, fear of not measuring up. In the practice room, yeah, discipline and being slightly hard on yourself is necessary. But you do it so you can enjoy the music later.
You know, I started my Masters degree in music and never followed through; it's been several years since, but until recently I always felt insecure and ashamed that I didn't have that higher degree to boast of. I mistakenly thought that I must be certainly limited in my knowledge and capacity as far as what degree I currently hold. Now, I know that the wonderful thing about being ALIVE is that learning never ends and you never stop improving. Teaching has really given me that epiphany. I learned more teaching children than I think I ever did in college.
And now that I'm going to be a first-time mother soon and finding that my curiosity about so many things is being piqued and revived again, in my desire to raise Madeline right, I also realize that even though I'm taking an indefinite break from teaching, it doesn't mean I have to stop being a teacher or a musician. I hope I can use this time to refine myself even more.
Oh...another pregnancy update (you may not be interested, but I should still write this down for later memory): the latest hoop-la around here is that I recently made the decision to switch to a midwife from a typical OBGYN who I've been seeing for the majority of my pregnancy.
Last week, I got the urge to visit a friend in town whom I hadn't seen in two years. She'd since had her 3rd child and I needed to meet her daughter and catch up. I am SO glad I did. She told me of her experiences with all 3 pregnancies: first one, C-section; second one, VBAC with epidural (Vaginal Birth After C section); third, VBAC NO EPIDURAL! She told me of her amazing experience with a midwife and doula. As I sat there listening to her, I suddenly felt a rush of comfort and excitement at the possibility of giving birth NON-traumatically or without fear.
Up until then, I really wasn't too happy with my OBGYN. I hadn't done research on her and pretty much made an appointment with whoever would take me and whoever was closest to my house. I didn't even get to meet her until my 2nd appointment when I was 8 weeks pregnant (I understand this is normal, but it felt abnormal to me) and it was a pretty quick meeting (although, the longest compared to the rest of the appointments) lasting 10-15 minutes since she did a pap smear and ultrasound. Oh, and by the way, she didn't even warn me she was going to do the pap smear, she was just having me talk as a distraction and suddenly this thing was shoved in me. HELLO.
At my 5th month appointment, I tried to talk about the pending delivery to open up the conversation on where she stood and what I could potentially expect. She shut me down saying it was too early for me to start "worrying about that" so to not even go there. At the time, I would just nod and assume...okay, she's the professional, I'm JUST the patient. Ok.
Long story short, I've learned that it doesn't and shouldn't be this way...especially for first time mothers! For pete's sake, I think it's not too much to ask that pregnancy--if you can help it--be as stress-free and peaceful as possible. Not knowing where my doctor stands on natural delivery OR if she would even be the one delivering was causing me lots of stress. Imagining that she'd want to do a c-section or schedule an induction based on convenience kept me up at night.
So I'm switching. Some people are giving me the side-eye on this decision. My next door neighbor says she's "worried" about this decision. Others, like my mother, think it's great. My husband was skeptical at first, but then did his own research and discovered there are lower perinatal death rates with midwives in a hospital (I will be delivering in a hospital with physician backup) than with OB's in a hospital. Once he had the numbers in front of him, he said I had his blessing.
So now...next thing is....trying to keep this from the in-laws! Just kidding. My MIL gave me an earful when she found out I wanted to cloth-diaper my baby. Apparently when you get pregnant, you start hearing a LOT of opinions. One of the cons of pregnancy :(
Anyway. That's what's going on right now. Weather is certainly getting better and that helps. Happy April Fool's!
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