Good people

Music departments, and especially band departments, tend to be fairly insular. As a result, I've met a lot of people but I've only gotten to know the teachers for whom I'll be working this semester. And I have been consistently impressed by them and thrilled to be studying with them. I can't identify them by name for reasons of privacy and anonymity, but they are awesome.

For one thing, everyone is surprisingly young. I'm older than one of the high school band directors, and only 2 years younger than the other. The middle school band director is a few years older, but I certainly wouldn't guess that he's past 35. They're good at what they do, and they've risen to their chosen position as a result.

Also, and most importantly, they're musicians. I can't begin to describe the frustration of countless education classes in which musicianship was dumbed down for the sake of pedagogy. Fuck no! Would you want an English teacher who only reads Time and USA Today? Would you want a science teacher who can't do his own lab experiments? Yet it's alright for a music teacher to eek through theory after several failed attempts, be a mediocre instrumentalist, and conduct like a palsied retard? (And I don't mean "person with multiple disabilities," I mean "palsied retard." One is has dignity and humanity, the other is just a shitty musician.) The people I work for can play their instruments. They've been out and learned their craft and played gigs and they CHOOSE to teach because they love it. I was told by one of my cooperating teachers that I should definitely continue to gig while I student teach, because "it's just good for you." I'll be held to the exact same standard as every other student teacher, but I will meet that standard as a musician rather than merely as an instructor.

By the way, the first day of classes is tomorrow, and I'm nervous. I don't have to do anything except observe, but I've been jumpy and on edge all night. We'll see what disasters await me.