Changing the Course

I had a lunch meeting with my mentor this week.  (How professional does that make me sound??)  It was an amazing couple of hours that left me feeling revitalized in my research for DMA programs.  I thought I was searching for great faculty and I still am.  But at these great schools that I will be looking at, there will be great faculty.  What I want to focus more on (ha, moron) are the individual programs.  What are the courses like?  Is there a focus on voice classes?  Vocal pedagogy?  What other kinds of opportunities might there be for me?  At a school like Indiana, they do 9 operas a year.  Maybe there's a chance for some directing there.  At a school like CCM they have a ridiculously strong musical theatre program.  Maybe there's room for some music directing.  If I can leave school with even more skills than I entered with (not just stronger skills) that makes me way more marketable.  I could keep going but it's more of the same.  Talking this out with someone who's been through it really helped me realize where my focus needs to be.  It's helped me reignite my search and hopefully settle on 5 or 6 schools to apply to. 

Speaking of schools... I start teaching in just over a week.  This really has been the best summer I have ever had.  I have done so many awesome things this summer and I've had simply the best time.  I feel like I've gotten to spend time with a lot of people and I've even strengthened some friendships which I hope carry on into the school year.  I digress though.  As much as this summer has been awesome, I really have to buckle down on the upcoming semester.  As it stands, I have 22 students and 4 hours of a performance class I accompany at SU, and 2 courses at Oswego.  I will be singing in Oratorio Society, and hopefully maintaining my private studio.  As always, I typically ease into the semester as my other shows don't start rehearsals for awhile but this course I'm teaching at Oswego, I really need to prepare for.  It's a music appreciation course (I have no idea if I've mentioned this before on here) and I'm pretty excited for it.  It's going to be a whole different dynamic than I'm used to teaching, but I'm ready for that.  Now I just need to solidify the schedule on my syllabus and start creating some lessons.  I have some great ideas in my head.  We'll see how it all pans out. 

Anywho, I have to go save the day for a new theatre company because that's what family does.  Ta-ta!