For those who have the awesome responsibility of teaching each day, there are moments that occur when you are certainly convinced that the info you are sharing with your students will go immeasurably deeper into their future than you could ever imagine. In those moments, you suddenly realize that you are sharing facts or information with them that they had not yet been exposed to. If you are like me, then you can still remember a lot of those moments when you were in school and teachers shared stories or information with you that still seems fresh in your mind today.
Of course, I have a very unfair advantage over most teachers because I get the priviledge of sharing the greatest, most inpirational medium available........Music. My decision to return to the classroom was in large part due to the fact that I missed those moments and opportunities to share music with students. Today, because of my own music career, I have so much more to share and the opportunities mean even more to me now than they did before. This week offered me some of these aforementioned great opportunities and moments.
This week, in my Music Appreciation Classes, I introduced Jazz and taught about it's birth and history. I had the students explore the jazz combos and we discussed instrumentation extensively. We listened to Miles Davis, Dave Bruebeck, Sara Vaughn and Billie Holiday. With each selection, I realized that my students did not have a clue about any of it. Of course, I stopped and thought, what an honor to be the first person in the world to introduce this group of students to Miles Davis. For an educator, it doesn't get any better than that. I realize that for the rest of their lives they will always look back on the day that they heard Miles for the first time in Mr. Hayden's class. Pretty Awesome!!!
It has been a great week for me in so many ways! I am amazed at how life picks us up and moves us all around so unpredictably. It is all the more reason to live each day to it's fullest and to appreciate it for what it is. We never know or understand but sometimes things just seem to come and go so unexpectantly. Not to get to philosophical on you here but I think this aspect of life intrigues me now more than ever. In many ways, it seems like life is a bunch of short stories that play out in our lives each day. Whether it is our loved ones, jobs, friends or just life in general, Nothing stays the same! I am writing several songs right now on this same topic and I find it to be very Fascinating!
Short week this week so tomorrow, (Thursday) is really Friday for us. LP is out for the Parish Fair Friday. I hope to stop by and visit my Nesom Family Friday with copies of Weightless. I miss them all very much and when you work with a family for four years, it is hard to be away for too long. After that, I will be looking for a quiet spot in the cool fall breeze with my Manuel Patterson Cedar to do some long awaited writing. I am in NOLA Friday Night and playing solo Saturday at the Tangi Book Fest in Hammond where I will promote Weightless. Should be a great weekend!!
Enjoy your Day!
Gregory
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