Travel Woes

After enjoying a quick break at home, I arrived at Memphis International on Sunday evening to begin my return to Plainview. Little did I know that my journey would be such an adventure.

I was slated to travel to Dallas/Fort Worth on American Airlines. After an hour delay in DFW, I had a connection to Lubbock -- the last flight to the airport that night. After sitting in the gate for nearly an hour, I received a text message from the airline that my flight was going to be delayed. Over the course of the next 25 minutes, my fellow travelers and I watched as our arrival time into DFW got pushed further and further back. Finally, my DFW arrival reached the same moment that my connecting flight was Scheduled to depart. I knew this was going to be a mess!

As I spoke with the gate agent, I quickly decided that she was a new employee. (She later admitted that this was her second day on the job. Yikes!) Once the supervisor arrived at the gate -- thank Heavens! -- we determined that the next available Lubbock flight from DFW would be late Monday evening. I was given the option of spending the night in a Dallas hotel -- and spending much of the next day wandering around the airport -- or beginning my travel on Monday. I decided that another day at home would be the better choice.

Once Dad returned to the airport to pick me up, the night was uneventful. My intentions were to keep everything packed so I could quickly return to the airport and not worry about leaving anything behind. Karma seemed to have other plans.

As Monday got underway, I was beginning to feel drained. I accompanied Mom to a doctor's appointment that afternoon as I realized the cause of my weariness. Since I wasn't expecting to spend another day in Arkansas, I didn't bring medications to take for the day. My blood pressure was elevated and I felt horrible! The doctor gave me a sample bottle of a related medication and I immediately began to feel better.

That evening, Dad and I made great time getting to the airport and everything was running smoothly. That is, things were running smoothly until I stood at the ticket counter and realized my cell phone was in the car that was on its way back across the Mississippi River! After checking my bag and grabbing my boarding passes, I had a light bulb moment....grabbed my iPad and sent a message to my siblings. Carlene called Dad, got him to turn around, and my iPhone was once again in my possession. I had only lost 35 minutes standing on the curb waiting for his return! (At that moment, I was incredibly thankful that I had allowed more time at the terminal than I normally do.)

As I'm writing this post, I'm sitting at the gate in Memphis....just hoping that tonight's travel goes much more smoothly than the process has gone thus far. I really don't think I can handle any more travel woes at the moment.

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What Do You Do?

Since starting my job this fall, I've repeatedly heard two questions.

• How do you like living in Texas?
• What exactly do you do?

I feel pretty confident that I have answered the first question. So let me give you -- especially my extended family and friends who know very little about musical training -- some insight into my work.

 

My official title is Assistant Professor of Piano at Wayland Baptist University. As you might guess, I spend the majority of my day sitting on a piano bench, but I switch hats throughout the day.

 

My primary teaching responsibility is the class piano sequence. Every student who studies music -- regardless of their principle instrument -- needs to develop basic keyboard skills. That's where my class comes in. Every non-pianist in the music program takes a 4-semester sequence that meets twice each week to build their piano skills. Much of our time is spent learning scales and chord progressions as we explore late elementary and early intermediate piano repertoire. After students complete the 4th semester of class piano, they take a benchmark exam to demonstrate their level of proficiency. The exam addresses solo performance as well as skills such as sight reading, transposition, and score reading. For many of our students, the proficiency exam is a major hurdle before they begin the upper division coursework in the field.

 

In addition to class piano, I currently teach applied piano lessons to one freshman woman. She is a early intermediate student who is not afraid of a challenge. We've had a lot of fun this semester, made some significant progress, and have already begun to plan our repertoire choices for the spring. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to do more private teaching as the piano program at WBU grows.

 

The rest of my week is filled with a lot of playing in rehearsals and lessons of all types. I currently work with eleven vocalists as well as the students enrolled in class voice. As the semester begins to wind down, instrumentalists are beginning to seek me out for accompaniments for their jury exams. At this point, I have received music from five of them. Monday and Wednesday afternoons find me spending 90 minutes with the men and women of Wayland Singers -- the department's non-auditioned choir. This week brings the end of the university's opera offering; we're mounting a production of The Mikado. Those who have known me the longest will be surprised to hear that my time in opera workshop is some of my favorite times of the week.

 

Then there's all the work that comes outside of the classroom and rehearsal studio. Thankfully, I was not assigned to any standing committees during my first semester of work. That has allowed me some time to do some recruiting (phone calls and emails take more time than you would ever expect). I'm working on a new course that will be offered in the spring. I could go on and on about student recitals, NATS competitions, LMTA meetings, master classes, and student rehearsals....but I think you get the picture. I've found myself very busy and very fulfilled.

 

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Exploring New Places is Fun!

I tend to be a person of routine. I stick to the familiar. Change is difficult for me.

My move to Texas has brought lots of changes to my life and I have had to get out of my comfort zone and explore new options and possibilities. Not all of my adventures so far have been fun. (You can't imagine the frustration of realizing that you cannot get a Texas driver's license without having a Texas insurance policy.....which requires a Texas driver's license to complete the application.) Some have been pleasant surprises. I never imagined that Plainview would become so comfortable so quickly.

Most of my explorations so far have been in the area of services -- grocery stores, churches, mechanics, restaurants, movie theaters, and libraries. As I continue to settle in and get classes up and running, I intend to explore the area a little more for the FUN stuff. Who knows what I may find....but I promise to keep you updated as I continue Livin' Life.