Summer fades...

So summer is fading. I don't want it to end. I didn't really get summer relaxation b/c of grad school but I learned MUCH MORE than I would have without it.

First project: I worked on my portfolio until my fingers fell off, and then I had help from Katie and Stephanie, who made the ending rounds completely fun! Yay for girlfriends. I'm not used to that. I usually hang out with guys and have my whole life, which doesn't work after you get married. I wouldn't change marrying Robert for the world, so it's a more than fair trade-off. I digress. Finishing this huge project with Dr. Tina Bull was a pain and pleasure. I'm the pain, she's all pleasure to work with and hang out with.

Conducting, conducting, conducting. Where do I even start? Advanced Choral Conducting with Dr. Steven Zielke was probably the hardest class I have ever taken. Why? Because I am NOT good at conducting. I have no problem getting in front of any group and leading them through music - no nerves or hesitations - but I know few conducting techniques and many of those are not effective. Yeah, I had a horrible undergrad conducting class. It was, quite frankly, a complete joke. I knew this going into the class this summer but decided to jump in anyway. See previous blog about tackling scary things head on.


I learned more about myself and teaching through conducting than I ever hoped. Amazing. Perhaps I'll blog more about that later. I could fill pages with some of my observations about the craft & my role in learning a tiny portion of it.

I have to send love to my conducting compatriots b/c they were amazing to work with. We had six students in the class, which is unheard of I guess.

Julie / Jason / John / Josh / Brice / me

HUGE thank you forever to Nicki Zielke (Steve's wife) b/c she helped us in soooo many ways. She rocks. Side note: I FINALLY am back into voice lessons and I get to take them from her! AMAZING! Loving that.

I think I'm done writing about this for now. Much more to come. I just wanted to get started in this direction, but take small bites otherwise I will give up and not write at all.

I'm going to search for some fun pics of my fellow students, so stay tuned for those!