Role Reversal

I guess I should probably post something on my actual job, so here goes:

I'm hired as a violin teacher with the Menuhin Foundation, so I have two main duties that I perform every day. First, in the morning, I give group lessons in schools (public and private) around the island. Generally, we teach 3 group lessons each morning - sometimes in 3 separate schools, sometimes 2 in a single school and 1 in another - for 45 minutes each. The group lessons are just fantastic. In certain schools, we have just a first-year program, which is meant for total beginners in P4, which is like the 4th grade in the US. In other schools, we have second- and third-year programs for P5 and P6 students who want to continue with the program. Having the extra programs mostly seems to depend on the school's ability to accomodate the extra students (they have enough violins on hand, and they are able to get the older kids out of class to have violin lessons).

In the group lessons, we almost always teach in pairs. This is great because then we have 2 teachers for something like 10 students (sometimes more, sometimes less) so if there is a problem - a string breaks, a violin goes horribly out of tune, anything like that - there is one teacher to fix the problem, and the other teacher can go on with the lesson. Also, if a teacher is sick or unable to make the group lesson for any reason, the kids will still get a lessons because there is always the other teacher coming. During the week, I spend one day with Kerry, two with Charles, and then I spend Friday with Caroline. On Thursdays, before I meet up with Charles, I teach a class all on my own - a second year program at St. George's Preparatory. That's the only class that I am totally on my own, which is great.

This week we've done most of the first lessons for the kids, as last week we mostly just distributed instruments and made sure the kids were all signed up for the class and paid for rentals - general administrative/housekeeping stuff. The first lesson is actually really fun. We've been teaching the first-year students rest position, playing position, the names of the strings, and pizzicato technique. I actually learned a really great method of getting the kids into a good playing position from Charles - if any of my fellow pedagogues are interested, just leave a comment here or ask me via facebook or email, and I'll be happy to detail it for you. The second year kids we are mostly just trying to get back into the swing of things - playing some of the pieces they did last year, getting reacquainted with proper bow holds and stuff.

In the afternoons, we teach private lessons starting at 330, when the schools let out. We also can do private teaching on Saturday mornings. For this, the Menuhin Foundation rents out rooms in Bermuda High School downtown - there are two music classrooms and four practice rooms where we do all of our private teaching. Right now, I teach privately for something like 10.5 hours per week, which works out to about 3 hours per day. I mostly have half-hour students, so I actually have somewhere around 20 students! the levels of my students vary pretty widely - I have really young complete beginners, one student who is working on the Bartok Roumanian Folk Dances, a really nice adult student who is doing Mazas etudes and the Vivaldi A minor concerto, and a whole bunch of really solid intermediate students. I really really love teaching privately here. My students are without exception very nice and respectful. I'm really looking forward to watching their musical growth and development over the term.

In addition to teaching, the Menuhin Foundation gets a ton of gigs for weddings, parties, etc. Alison, the cello teacher, organizes the gig schedule, and is really great about it. She's very fair about allocating gigs evenly to the violinists (as there are 4 of us, we have to rotate gigs), and we all get a chance to arrange individual gigs - that is, we each are given the option to work out all the music that is to be played, and to be the main contact person for specific gigs. It works out really well that way, as the arranger gets paid a little extra, and it shares the burden of having to organize all the gigs over the year.

Another opportunity that is open to us is the Bermuda Philharmonic. This is mostly a volunteer group that also hires out professional musicians for the orchestra. We've been rehearsing for a couple of weeks now, and the concert is something like next week. This particular concert is a pops concert, and we're playing things like Carmen, An American in Paris, the Khachaturian Sabre Dance, etc. It's really great, because I'm meeting a whole bunch of fellow music teachers on the island, both teachers in the school system and teachers with the Bermuda School of Music.

Well, that's why I do, 5 days a week. It's really hard to believe that I'm getting paid to do this - it's a real dream job, and I'm truly fortunate to have it.