Hits and Misses (January 24-30)

Here's a look back at the week that was.....

HITS

• Since the instrumental students were on tour this week, that meant that I was able to fit all of my first year piano students into a single class. In other words, I got to teach one fewer class than normal. It was a welcome relief and led to......
• A lot more practicing. With the extra time, I was able to dive into some solo repertoire that I've been wanting to begin working on for quite some time. It probably wasn't what I should have worked on, but I enjoyed getting to practice some solo rep this week.
• I was exposed to the glory of the square donut this week by the band students before they left on tour. I can now say that I totally understand what all of the fuss is about and I'm looking forward to making a return trip. I'll share more about the square donut in Wednesday's post. For now, let's just saw that the experience is about much more than a yummy pastry. I'm hooked!
• This week also saw me teaching a piano workshop for students enrolled in praise lab. I've been wanting to develop a course for this special aspect of worship study and this was a great chance to try out some of the things I've been thinking about. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to share my experience with these young men and women who are beginning to find their place as worship leaders and worship musicians. There is no higher calling in my opinion. I hope they learned a lot in our short time together.
• To conclude the week, I got to join Dr. Fountain for a road trip down to Lubbock to hear pianist Nancy Weems in recital. The program was phenomenal featuring works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Bach-Busoni, and Prokofiev. It was a wonderfully cleansing and refreshing experience that I'm glad I got to enjoy. Thanks for the tip, Richard!

MISSES

• I really don't have many negatives to speak of this week. It was just a really long week! I don't know why, but I felt like I was hit by a truck all week. 
• I'm continuing to struggle with excess mucus. I'm thankful that I'm finally feeling better, but I have a feeling that a trip to the ENT is in my future. Having congestion in my head for nearly 2 months has been long enough.