The Year in Review - Music

As I continue my look back over the year 2014, I am pleased to see that the year has been a very busy one for me as a musician. It also helps to explain why I am so tired!

Let's start with the year in the classroom. This year, I taught 8 sections of my music classes at the post-secondary level. I continued teaching music appreciation at MSCC in West Memphis with two classes each semester. The Spring brought a new challenge in the form of a hybrid course -- students completed half of the material in a brick-and-mortar setting with me. The rest of each week's work was done through online units. I was busy developing the online material and attempting to overcome the technological challenges the students encountered. In the fall, MSCC decided to attempt the music appreciation course as an online class. The stress of Dad's health issues combined with the demands of creating this course did not result in a smooth semester at all.

At Union, I taught two sections of class piano each semester. The spring semester went fairly smoothly as I continued to find my way through this new course. The fall brought a new challenge as I faced a piano lab with 9 students enrolled in a single session (the largest class I've ever experienced). Through trial and error, I learned a lot and have begun to develop my own approach to this challenging class.

While we're talking about Union, let's begin to discuss the year of playing. My position as a staff pianist accounts for the majority of my playing during the year. In 2014, I accompanied 33 half-hour weekly lessons over the course of the year (14 in the spring and 19 in the fall). In addition to these lessons, I also served as principle pianist for the department's Opera Workshop -- which featured selections from musical theater in the spring and the first act of Mozart's Magic Flute in the fall. I started to come up with a grand total of hours spent at the piano for lessons, rehearsals, and auditions, but then I came to my senses.....I was afraid the number would send me into shock!

A major part of the responsibility of a staff pianist is providing accompaniment for student degree recitals. I certainly played my fair share of recitals this year - a total of 13 recitals (7 of these were 30 minute recitals; the remaining 6 were hour long. Don't be fooled though....several of the shorter recitals included some of the most challenging music of the year!) All of this year's recitals were vocal and really quite enjoyable to prepare. The only challenges I faced were a week in the spring semester that included 4 recitals in a span of 6 days and the difficulty of balancing the students' needs for rehearsals with the music department's budgetary limitations.

While that accounts for the majority of my work at Union this year, there were still other opportunities to make music with faculty and students there in the fall semester.

• I accompanied the Men's Chorus at the Fall Choral Concert.
• I learned and performed Eric Whitacre's insanely difficult Ghost Train with the Symphonic Band.
• Dr. Stanley Warren and I presented a community recital called "An American Songbook."
• Union will present its first joint venture between the music and theater departments in the spring of 2015. I was invited to play the three days of auditions as well as callbacks for Into the Woods this semester.
• I joined Union students at UT Martin for the 2014 Tennessee State NATS competition.

The rest of the year's performances and professional appearances were quite varied. Each proved to be enjoyable and memorable in their own way.

• Piano Adjudicator for Mississippi Valley State University's piano festival.
• Accompanist for Germantown High School's spring choral concerts.
• Musical Director of Delta Art's high school cabaret production.
• Volunteer Church Musician at First Marion. This year, I began playing for weekly choir rehearsals in the fall. I also began to work in the rotation of playing piano for Sunday morning services. December found me at the keyboard in the pit orchestra for the church's Christmas production.
• Private piano teacher at Bartlett Music Academy.

I definitely have a very full life and enjoy the opportunity to make music on a regular basis. Now I'm looking forward to the musical adventures that 2015 has in store!