Blessed Are They
January 27, 2008 links
Track 1 Gathering/announcements
Hello Readers,
Today's service is opened by my dad with enthusiasm for the Beatitudes being studied in Sunday school. The song chosen, Dad remarks, is new as it was written in 1957 as compared to the age of the usual hymns chosen from 17 or 1800's. I recognized this hymn right away as mom and dad had taught it to me. I first sang it around my piano in Missouri. It was so nice to hear my sister on flute making her debut with Guitars Etc. I know my niece had gotten her a flute for Christmas one year, maybe that was the previous month? I have two sisters, one plays flute the other plays clarinet I will refer to them as such in this post. My flute sister taught me how to hold and play the instrument when I was around 8 years old this gave me a lot of confidence to choose the flute when I was selected to play in the band.
At the end of fourth grade we all went to Mrs. Hinton the music teacher's room and sat on the floor with a small piece of paper and a pencil. There must have been about 100 total 4th graders at Burnley Moran, so this was probably done 2 classes at a time. Realistically there may have been 40 of us were in the room. What is clear in my memory is it was crowded and there were students in there that were not in my regular homeroom. Mr. Stancill was there with a trumpet. I knew Mr. Stancill was the middle school band director because my clarinet sister had him as a director when she was in the band there. [Note: I missed a lot at this age - I was a bit of a daydreamer - but if someone was conducting/performing I paid attention.] Mr. Stancill told us that he was going to play two notes on his trumpet and we had to write on our paper if they went up or down. There was probably more that he said but that's what I remember. Looking back I have so many questions like - how did he get everyone to put their names on this paper? How did he read the names? Long story short I was chosen and my parents said I could be in band in fifth grade. There were about ten of us at my elementary school band the following year, I was the only flute at my elementary.
The summer after forth grade we had a camp at the middle school where we spent time with other students who were playing the same instrument as us and Mr. Stancill worked with us as a group to help us get ready for an end of the week concert. I was COMPLETELY lost the whole week. I felt like everyone was a professional and I barely knew what song we were playing. I also felt embarassed by my flute because I saw so many shiney new ones that week from the Green Brier elementary, I was jealous. Later I realized a lot of these students were a year older. The tradition was that after fifth grade the invitation to join band was opened up to more students as we entered middle school. I eventually learned to write in the note names and that's how I survived my first year of band. I was never a strong reader in elementary school so it tracks that reading music also came a bit slower to me not to mention that I don't really remember being taught how to do it [see day dream note above.] I do remember one important day in 6th grade when I realized I was writing in the note names so fast I didn't need to do it anymore I could just play them from the staff -- I was finally reading pitch notation! As a music teacher, I have a lot of understanding for students who also struggle with this skill.
I worked at the flute sporadically. My mom made arrangements in 6th grade for me to take lessons from a high school friend of my clarinet sister. In the spring my first official teacher gave a little recital (such initiative coming from a high school student). We played a duet together -- I worked very hard, motivated by the upcoming performance. It went extremely well, I surprised my teacher (and myself).
By 7th grade my mom and dad realized I was outgrowing my flute (my flute sister had let me use her Bundy.) That Christmas, I was given an open-hole flute from Santa and it was truly one of the best presents I could have hoped for -- and that flute got me through high school.
My sister the clarinet player is the reason I stuck it out to high school and I think of that so often when I hear students talking poorly about band or music classes in front of their peers. I knew that Mr. Stancill had a hard job dealing with us as rowdy middle school students but I also knew he was burned out and, at times, I resented it. I messed up on a chair audition at the beginning of 8th grade and landed 12th chair out of 13. I usually sat in the top 3. That was bad enough but then he never had the weekly audition again all year because we didn't behave well. At this time my parents were paying for private lessons from a professional and everyone knew that's not the chair I should be in. (I learned a lot from that position: I made friends there I wouldn't have made and I helped the students who needed it, I also made a promise to myself that I would not treat students that way when I was a middle school teacher, a sort of calling I felt from the experience.) My clarinet sister had enjoyed high schoo band with their director Mr. Tornello (Mr. T.) I knew Mr. T. was going to be my saving grace and he was. When Mr. T came to the middle school to audition us for band in 9th grade he put me about 3rd chair. Thankfully, Mr. Stancill moved me accordingly.
I appreciate the indulgement as I recount my early band memories, I am filled with gratitude for the many mentors and influences that brought me to where I am now. May I be rejuvenated in my promise to treat my students with the honor and encouragement they deserve each day - using levity and humor to guide me.
Thanks for reading.
Stay well,
AmyBH
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