First Day of Teaching

Today was my very first day of teaching the choir!! In my mind, I had visions of excited children running in, taking a seat, and singing in beautiful harmony by the end of the class; the two hours would pass before we knew it, and we would be ready to move onto a new song on Wednesday. I even prepared an extra song just in case we got through "Viva la Musica."

To make such assumptions was a very big mistake.

I am very much beginning from scratch. Completely from scratch. There is not a choral tradition here in Suchitoto; choirs are usually thought of only in terms of church choirs. The church choirs usually comprise of several elderly ladies who sing neither in tune nor rhythm. Therefore, to believe we could take "Viva la Musica," learn the song, and then split it into a three part round, all in one day, was rather overreaching it. We barely made it through the warm ups, and I am almost certain that I was the only person singing the actual melody of "Viva la Musica" after going through it for forty five minutes. But at least we now know how to sing, somewhat acurately "Do Re Mi Fa Sol Fa Mi Re Do." Well, relatively accurately. However, Wednesday is another day!! The homework for Wednesday: practice "Viva la Musica" and prepare a song to sing in front of the class as a solo. Tomorrow I have my first day of adult choirs - so we will see how that goes as well!!!

Before I left, my dad told me, "And remember, sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed." So I have decided to not view this day as a complete failure in my abilities as a music teacher, but rather the first step on the road to success.  And who knows, there might be some ditches and unexpected detours on this road, but I intend to finish the journey. So, in spirit true to Robert Frost, here is to the road less traveled!!