Saturday, August 24, 2024

Enduring Strings Is No More

     Six years ago, I created, then very sporadically posted to this blog. It was too much. I could only post occasionally, and soon learned that nothing I posted would be taken as intended. (For instance, once I asked all the students to draw a picture of me on a chalk board that I might use as my photo here. I posted them all. There was a lot of "What? Is that what they do? Why is he doing that?" You just can't win, I tell you.) So I let it go unless something really needed to be posted.

    And now it's all over.

    I am not the music director of Suburban Youth Symphony any more. Enduring Strings is them. After my dismissal I visited the church where they rehearse. I had something quite different from what went down in mind when I walked in. But a look on the first face I saw made me see red. It went sideways in a split second. I lost my temper. That's how I lost Enduring Strings, to boot.

    There won't be any posts about the project that this was. 

    But I probably have some other things to say about this all.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Welcome!

Greetings.
Welcome to the blog that shares what's going on in Crete's  Enduring Strings program.  Enduring Strings happens before school at the Crete United Methodist Church in beautiful downtown Crete, IL, sort of an adjunct to Miss Kathy's before and after school program there. Enduring Strings is a venture of the Suburban Youth Symphony Orchestra, and I am their music director.
I am also the Enduring Strings teacher. I grew up in this town. I am a product of the orchestra program that once thrived in our school district. It's gone now, and our goal is to demonstrate the worth and viability of string music education in our town. The mission is to make orchestra a part of the curriculum again.
Tall order, yes. Anyway...
As this blog begins, we are preparing to present a performance on December 8 at the Crete Country Christmas celebrations. Of course, as I am in my second year at this, we have some musicians really starting to play things well and we have some beginners. I'm still working on how our presentation will end up going. Stay tuned.
If you have a musician in our program, please do stay tuned, and check out this blog from time to time. As I get going, you will be able to get material we are working on, see pictures and video of our class in action, and keep in touch with me.
If you just found us randomly, do check back. The chronicle of my tilt at this gigantic windmill might be entertaining.
More soon.
Peace,
David