You know how my husband has this habit of describing my clothing sometimes in less than complimentary ways. I should point out as a disclaimer that he does often say things look pretty or nice so I wouldn't want to cast him as a villainous critic, but this outfit prompted another classic remark. "Hmmm, why are you wearing a tablecloth?"
And he only saw the skirted part!!! The dress in question is a vintage orange-checked dress that might give Elizabeth Bennett a lurid run for her money- it has a distinct Regency look to it- I bought it in Maldon at Truly Scrumptious (what a great name for a vintage shop) when out for lunch there and actually found it quite hard to style! Vix and Curtise always don vintage maxi frocks with great panache, ease and originality and I confess to being stuck for how to make this dress shine in a way that my vintage muses manage to. I do confess to toning it down in a way that might make you shudder Vix! I paired it with black- cardie and scarf, brown boots and added an orange starry belt and orange slice earrings.
Have I ever mentioned my 10 year teaching plan? Well,it's not exactly my teaching plan, but from my first year of teaching, I wrote one Christmas song a year, to be performed by the children with the aim that I would have a complete nativity after 10 years of teaching. I've pretty much remained on track apart from maybe two years. I've got 6 songs so far (that I can remember!) and this is the start of my 8th year of teaching. Well, this year, I didn't really get around to writing anything over the holiday- the inspiration suddenly strikes, always, it can't be forced. I had an idea a couple of weeks ago for just the first line of the lyrics which I quickly typed into my phone. It got to this weekend and I thought, "Eeeek, it's only 4 weeks till the concert/service!" and nothing was written so this Sunday I wrote the lyrics. Singing assembly and choir both fall on a Wednesday and it got to midnight on Tuesday night, when CBC and I returned from orchestra in London. Therefore, I stayed up until 1.30am working out the melody, structure and a rough version of the accompaniment. It was still a rough work in progress but I HAD to get it done for this Wednesday or it wouldn't have happened.
On Wednesday, I explained to the choir that I had written them something new and I apologised that the piano would sound dodgy because I hadn't quite worked out the part yet. They all encouragingly said it didn't matter. I sang and the sweeties all clapped and said they liked it with one saying, "It's a yes from me!"
We then learnt it together and I was so happy with them-there were only 22 children on Wednesday (we've gone back to just years 5-6) but they made the sound of 50. I always write very complex rhythmic lyrics and they really went for it and tried hard and pretty much nailed it. There's a section at the end where I explained there would be a small group singing a descant part and said I hadn't quite worked it out but it might sound something like "....". Lo and behold, a small group took it upon themselves to improvise a descant together when we sang that section and I said they'd got the job! Sometimes, you can just leave it to people to come up with something when you give them the idea, and they saved me a little work!
Now I've just got to pin down that piano part and stick it into music notation software...
I mentioned my plan to one of my colleagues who said to me, after my mentioning the late going to bed, "But surely, you are making too much work for youself? Isn't it easier to go with something written?" But for me, this is something important. I see myself not just as an educator but trying to be an inspiration, as a model of living this thing that you love. If the children see that I am a composer, they will have belief in my educating them on composition, they will know you can do something purely for the love of it, not just because you want to get something out of it (though it would be nice to have a second item published). In addition, I have composed for the love of it from a young age. My pieces may not be works of art or anything amazing and I think my old professor of composition, who I know had faith in my abilities as a composer would not be impressed by my primary songs. BUT writing keeps the brain fresh, it keeps you loving what you do. I don't want to give up the things I love because I am tired and exhausted as a teacher. I don't want to be old and jaded and lose my creativity (not saying this has happened to anyone at all, but I know it can...). The art and composing and love of it will get me past it. One item a year is not so hard to achieve- hence why I made it an aim to write one a year for 10 years. (though I write other pieces and make other arrangements).
I absolutely HATE the phrase, "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach." - It is an absolute lie and anyone who conforms to that opinion would be a terrible teacher and ostensibly sums up the lack of respect a small idiotic minority have for teachers. I want to ensure that I don't just teach, I DO. I play my flute, ideally to a high standard, I compose, I listen and appraise, so I can confound that ridiculous idea. I blog also for school, so I am always looking for inspiration and new ways of approaching blog posts and resources to include.
Hope I don't trip over my orange checkered hem as I get myself down from that soapbox.
On a completely different note (a G#!), something really odd happened with my computer earlier- I was downloading a zipfile with 8 photos from my e-mail and I left it doing its thing. When I looked an hour later, I noticed that the green transferring thing was still going on, Puzzled, I looked at it and it was still only half way. When I opened the folder I'd sent it to, it had inexplicably copied one of the photos 46,800 times into the folder!!!! How odd! How or why?
Hope all is well with you and thank you for all your kind comments. Glad you were inspired by the drum making post. If you missed it, it's worth a look for learning the process and the amount of work that goes into it.
Hugs to all
xx
Linking to welcome to the Weekend with Claire Justine