Hey,
This week I did not have the energy to do 2 nights of Christmas concerts. I’m still not sure how it happened, but it did, and it always seems to.
School concerts are like a Hot Wheels track, where you push the car off the top ramp and kind of do a small prayer that it makes it to the end. You could have done all the best work to make the best looking track with all the loop de loops and fast corners in, but ultimately, for a lot of it, you’re not in control.
This year was no different, we pressed go on the first bit of playback, the school Drumline did their thing, the crowd went wild, and then it was up to the gods to see how the rest of the night went.
So today I just want to talk a tiny bit about what the best bits were, how we got there, and some things that I struggled with/continue to struggle with with regards to concerts as a music teacher.
Highlights
At school, the 2 ensembles that I take most pride in are the Senior Choir and the School Drumline.
When I started at my current school I was asked what ensemble I would like to set up and I said I would love to set up a Drumline. I had assisted with one at another school I’d worked at a few years before and always thought I’d love to run my own. So I was given the green light and since then it has been a wild ride.
We started with about 9 people in the first rehearsal, with some dismantled drum kits placed precariously onto chairs to give the illusion of having the right kit, it was bare bones but the kids loved it.
Fast forward to last night and we had around 35 students on stage doing big drumline rhythms, with some proper marching drums, choreography, and the same smiles that the ensemble first began with.
I continue to be so proud of that ensemble and everything we have achieved over the last 2 and a half years. They always wake everyone in the concert up, that’s for sure!
The Senior Choir was also excellent at the concerts. I sometimes don’t know whether I am doing the best things with them, or whether I am being a good choir leader. I am still very much learning what that role looks like, but I always return to a simple fact - they come back every week.
My head of department often says that post-COVID, all of the ensembles largely sprung back, but it was a real struggle to get singing off the ground again. This has been a challenge and will continue to be, but last night we had over 40 students on stage singing harmoniously and giving me all of the feelings.
Other highlights were the school Jazz Band, who brought the house down at the end of the concert, as well as some fabulous young solo singers who gave the real moments of the show.
It truly was a night to remember for parents, students, and staff alike.
Struggles
I've mentioned before here that it’s been a tough term, and sometimes that means that I’ve not been able to turn on the energy for events like this, and I struggled to do so for these 2 concerts. Sometimes it is hard to overcome the sheer exhaustion that we feel at the end of term and I was feeling that while getting up to lead my ensembles.
Of course when planning a concert it is nearly impossible to work out the best programming. Who gets the solos? Which ensemble gets to start/finish the show? How many pieces does each group get? How do we avoid elitism and give all students an equal stake in the finished product? None of these questions I have answers to, but they are all things that go through my mind when these things are happening.
The other thing that becomes a contentious issue is how much time goes into putting on a concert. Not only that, but time that is given up by the good will of staff who want to make it happen. Most parents will come in and see a product of the music department, but they won’t realise that all of the time that is sunk into these concerts is outside of curriculum time.
I think with any school events that are being put on exclusively because of the good will of staff, we have to be really careful.
I for one really hate having classes covered, for a multitude of reasons. The main one being that I find the lesson after a class has had cover to be really challenging, it disrupts students curriculums and isn’t fair on them, so often I will really avoid it. My teaching definitely suffers when I am not putting all of my attention into the teaching and instead splitting it to things like concerts.
With these concerts I was lucky that I only had 3 KS3 classes covered for the time we were rehearsing. I could still see my year 11s and I could give year 12 something meaningful to do with their time.
I still really struggle with the amount of time we take away from the thing that we are paid to do, to do the thing that we are not paid to do because we like it and it’s fun.
I honestly did love the output of our Christmas concert this year, even if I just did not have the energy to show it. Every year is a learning experience and this year I am learning lots about what I can handle in school so that I can best place my energy in years to come.
Until the next big show.
Joe.
❤️ Here are some things I’ve been loving recently
🥁 Performing (in the loosest sense) - Last weekend it was a friend’s 30th birthday for which we all brought instruments for a jam session. I felt so musically fulfilled just playing with friends again just for the love of playing music together and I really hope I can have more experiences like that in the near future!
❄️ Advent Calendar - We were bought an advent calendar where over the 24 days you build a pinball machine, and now I don’t know why other advent calendars are so boring! There is a link here. (for next year…)
✍️ A quote I’ve been pondering this week
