Sigh ...... I LOVE teaching, but for the last year or so, I have only played a handful of music shows. (I've heard some refer to these as "gigs")
I'm not complaining, rather .... I'm here to join allegiance with the many of you who perform on a "less than full-time" basis, yet, still consider yourself a pro player/performer.

Each day at school, I have a captive audience, a room FULL of gear, a creative environment, and my own “stage” …..so to speak. It’s really a great way to spend the day, but I have noticed my stamina declining a bit when I get into a live performance. All the talking during the day is so destructive to my voice, and I used to be SO spoiled by my days off …… I get tired after singing 3 sets now. I used to sing 6-7 nights a week, with doubles and triples on the weekends! Aggghhh !!!! I’m getting soft!

So, WHY do I write this?

I want to give a “pat on the back” to those of you in part time situations that juggle multiple careers, family time, and playtime and manage to stay sane in the process.
My life is so different from a short 2 years ago, when my biggest worry was where
Fran, Donny and I were going for breakfast in the morning!

Now, there are deadlines, grades, lesson plans, life skills, drama (on AND off stage), headaches, tummy aches, packing lunches, snow days, faculty meetings …….. The list is endless, but again – I DO love it…….. It’s just….. Well, Valentines Day, and schools closed because of freezing rain and ice, my girls are all snowed in across town,
(I managed to sneak over last night an deliver “Cupid’s” gifts for them all ! )
I have an empty house to clean and its 7 o’clock in the morning!
Here I am … UP at first light with no where to go, no one to hang out with and no where to work? Crap … I guess I WILL have to clean this house today.
Sigh …….. and when’s BREAKFAST, dammitt ?!?!?!?

Dave, on this "special" day, your girlfriend from Starbucks says if you leave right now, she'll have the coffee ready when you get here!

She founf the recepe!

Russ

We all create our own roads in life, but I'd prefer you as a
"Full Time Music-man" vs teacher cause I know where your heart really is........you know your seat is always available next to Fran & I at the breakfast table.......too bad there's a Nor'easter Blizzard out there today......but dont worry Spring Break is coming

Dave, my plans were to become a Weekend Warrior also, when I took a "real" job last June. However, it hasn't worked that way. I have the day job, AND my music schedule is still as full as ever. Burning the candle at both ends now means something to me!
It's hard to do justice to either profession, but I'm trying.
And we don't have snow days, because we don't have snow!
DonM

I'd miss snow if I never got any. Even with the mess and the cold - I NEED the 4 seasons. Call me Frankie Valie.
As for teaching ... this was MY choice, and I'm still very glad I did it. The night life had worn me down a while ago, and it got to hard to love a profession that didn't love me back. Music is still the driving force behind my paycheck, but these days, the kids are the force behind the music !

I am heading to the Radcliffe for breakfast at 11..

You're crazy .... it's freeeeeeeezing out there. Stay inside and make an egg, silly man.

Snow my a$$.....Im off to a double gig in my 4x4......But funny thing just happened first gig cancelled early this morning.....next phone call booked me on a cancellation nearby oh yeah......big Valentines Dinner Dance tonight.....
I LOVE MUSIC!!!!

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-14-2007).]

4x4s don't stop on ice either, Donny - BE CAREFUL !!!!!
I'm going to have another hot cup of cinnamon, vanilla java with whipped cream and watch the pretty winter wonderland FROM THE COUCH ! Ahhhhhh.........
BTW - I love music too !

dave toughen up buddy.....drink some scotch...get a shovel and do some MANLY chores outside the house.....then when your all pumped up....go inside and RECORD some UNPLUGGED Songs on Guitar & Rhodes only

baby you need a jolt of looking at your old band pics & where ya came from & coming down to earth as to what you really are....a GREAT MUSICIAN !
let the music die...Don't let it ever disappear you'll be sorry ;(

Music dying? WHERE ????/
I'm shaping the future of music by ignighting excitment in young minds everyday !
Nothing more manly than raising up a child, is there? And scotch, instead of coffee? No thanx. Caffine vs. booze - I choose caffine anyday !
Time for a relaxing, hot shower ... then I'll venture out and see what the roads look like. Donna may need help later, so I want to be prepared...just in case!

I'm glad we agree on everything

"Mr. Boyd's OPUS"

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-14-2007).]

Dave,

Where do you teach and what grades, etc.
I LOVE teaching but never finished my MU ED degree so I picked up about 4 years teaching K-12 at a couple of private Christian schools then have been teaching piano/ voice for about 20 years.

I am finishing up my assciate's in music at the local junior college with plans on going to WSU in Wichita for my bachelor's in Music Theory/ Composition and on to a MAster's in the same or maybe musicology.


Jeff

Here we have two seasons Winter and Prepareing for Winter

Dave, I completely understand an equal commitment to what appears, at first, to be two different passions.

As much as I love all aspects of playing music, I'm equally committed to and enjoy the more academic things I do. Live music production goes hand it hand with live event production, film production,film score production, etc., and all of these things fit into every aspect of communication process management (perception research, being a college instructor, communications consulting...all things my company specializes in. It all fits together.

It's entirely possible to be fully committed to two or more different endeavors and do justice to all of them.

The way I do it is just give up the things I don't enjoy. For me, it's no home maintenance, car repairs...no sports (couldn't name one UK player...any team), no drinking or chasing women (anymore). The income from playing make me not feel guilty about paying someone else to do the things I would feel I had to do if I weren't "busy"...cutting grass...fixing gutters...washing cars, etc.

A wise old partner told me that the key to happiness is to concentrate on doing for a living what you would do for free. That's what I do, and I'm a "happy camper". In your case, I would think it's as rewarding to teach music and use music in therapy as it is to perform music.

Makes sense to me, and I'm convinced you're one of the best at it.


(Temporarily "making nice" so I can "sock it to ya" when you least expect it).

"Faux" Diddley

[QUOTE]Originally posted by captain Russ:
The way I do it is just give up the things I don't enjoy. For me, it's no home maintenance, car repairs...no sports (couldn't name one UK player...any team), no drinking or chasing women (anymore).

oh man this is slowly turning into the SENIOR ZONE .....make life count we only get one



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-14-2007).]

Damn, UD...you told me that Donny is OK. I believe you, so, I guess I should start playing nursing homes and animal clubs and spending my spare time watching sports on TV.

BURP!

Man, I feel better, now!
(How 'bout them Cats?)

R.

hahahahahah Russss....yea lighten up buddy life's way too short to Dilly Daley...listen to Dave he knows best ....try some country tunes too you'll feel better ask Don M....BTW


Happy Valentines Day!!

PS Go Eagles & Yankees!

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-14-2007).]

Ya, right! Playing country music and watching sports...the ideal way not to Dilly Dalley!

I'm on it!
(P.S. I'm NOT having fun, yet).

R.

Ah Dave, for 33 years I taught 8th grade English, was the music director at church and played in a band about 50 jobs a year.

Now I'm retired from school, still at church and wondering what happened to the band work. I have been fortunate in that I can sing anytime anywhere. My voice is still decent at 56, but the band work has dried up and I have nowhere to play. The few jobs i get, I get exhausted lugging my "paired down" equipment up the basement steps and into the job and back.

I think it's AGE

Hi Dave,

I don't really know you, but I can truly appreciate where you are. I, like you, have been a professional musician for most of my life. It's the only thing I've really ever wanted to be. I did the 5 and 6 night a week thing for 4 and 5 hours a night for many years. As the business has changed, so has the way I do music. About 26 years ago I became a church music director, first in small churches and then in larger churches. I've really enjoyed that because I'm a church going sort of guy anyway and it made sense to get involved in music ministry. But my greatest pleasure has come in recent years and that is entertaining in senior type facilities. I've always had a natural connection with this age group, and in the last several years, as the night club business has changed, I now find myself with around 300 shows per year, plus my church job. And last year, I signed on with the local community college as music director of Senior Star Showcase, a performing arts group made up of seniors. I've never ever been happier with music than I am right now. Believe me, the right mix is out there for you. For those of us who have it in our blood, there's nothing else we can do. And this is not only a good thing, it is a great thing. Hang in there, my friend.

Joe

------------------
Songman55
Joe Ayala

[This message has been edited by Songman55 (edited 02-14-2007).]

Amen! I've also found my niche in the same market and glad that I still continue to do the only thing I really love.

zuki

Wow,my snowy-day discourse has really taken a NEW course, huh? I hope no one thought I was complaining about my career modification. I am still, and always will be, a MUSICIAN. I have always shared my tricks of the trade with others, so now they pay me to share it everyday! Same job - different stage !

My school is very unique, and the woman that runs it has a vision for child care and teaching that I have never seen before. It's a step between the mainstream and the alternative schools. Most of our kids have ADD, OCD, or some other learning challange. Some of it's behavioral, but most of these teens are just a little "left out" in the masses. These are the kids that get bullied, or picked last for backetball teams. We have a chess team and a drama department, but no football or soccer.
On average, our kids are very artistic, and extremely bright. We have honors classes in all areas, advanced level language and math classes, and true scholars in all areas.
We have 7-12 grades, but most of the kids are high school age. The simplest way to explain our mission is this:

We engage the heart and the head BEFORE we teach the brain......and it works.

We have a 90% college rate, and VERY few dropouts during the year.
Many of the kids feel very privledged to be here (as they should), and they realize that going back into the mainstream presents many challenges that do not exist in our school. The biggest advantage is the class size - we have a 2 to 1 student to teacher ratio. Yup, you read it right. 2 to 1. Most of my classes are one on one, and the largest is 3 or 4 kids. It's relaxed, it's concentrated and very productive.
(heart and head BEFORE the brain ... try it at home !)

I'd love to go into it more, but we're moving this week, into a bigger building, so I have to get over there and pitch in....even though the kids are off - it's still a work day !

It's a great feeling that what I do is making a difference in a kid's future, instead of fueling the ruination of the home life of a bunch of drunks. That's an axagerated scenario, but after so many years in bars and clubs ... they begin to look more and more like a soap opera everyday.

That's all fine and Rosy Dave but never knock the spoon that feeds so many musicians its part of life. In a big way the music we perform in Bars, Nursing homes, Retirement communities, private parties, etc heal a void in peoples lives big time ...just another age group...

Boy I need a Tequila after reading this

It always comes back to booze..........

We've got winners, we've got losers,
Chain smokers and boozers...
I love this bar - NOT!

I loved teaching for all the years I did it. I miss the teaching, but not being a teacher - it's not what it used to be (and I'm not blaming those still in the profession). Education is being run by everyone but the educators.

Have a good day.

I neverr did! I just got tired of the routine. You know the drill, and I'm guessing you don't miss the bar crowds either, do you?
I never wanted to say ANYthing negative in this post - it was all about the DIFFERENCE in perception and teh changing of skills and techniques, due to reduced performances, and increased talking.

My love of entertainment has not wained. Far from it! I just see a better direction for me to follow the dream!
You know I love ya man, but bars and late nights ........well, not so much !

That's more true in the public schools. Ours is a private school, run by ONE person. She makes the rules. She enforses the rules, and while SOME of what you say does exist ..... alot of it is a mute point in our halls. This is a very different and very special place, and it absolutely HAS to be here. Many of our kids would be dead or in jail if they were back in the mainstream. We give them hope. It's our middle name !
New Hope Academy! The HOPE stands for:
High
On
Pursuing
Excellence
I love my job. I do !

No problem Dave I wish ya mucho luck in all your endeavors & you know I'm there for ya....instilling music into the lives of anyone is always a good thing no matter how its done.....keep it going baby....& I'll see ya for breakfast asap....

carry on

I know, my friend. I know.
We're going in late today, but I'm making an omelette right now. No time for a CrackerBarrel run. Damn !

There is no greater calling in life, no task so enriching, as to encourage our young to carry on the torch we burn ourselves with!

Especially in light of the current philistinic attitude towards the value of music education....

Few of us bootstrapped ourselves, we owe a debt to the generation that taught us that can only be payed by encouraging the next.

God bless and keep music teachers. (Just put that ruler down, Sister Mary Elephant!)

...now, Claaaaaaaaasssssss.!

Making a contribution in whatever field you're in and feeling good about it is a critical element of happiness. Teaching, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to do that.

Working just for a paycheck doesn't do it, at least for me.

We need more Dave Boyd's in the world.


Russ

UD -

If you're underpaid at your current job, take this thread to the owner

zuki

One thing I've learned in this job is that ALL teachers are underpaid. There is no way that Alex Rodreguez deserves more money than I do.

Alex can spell his name

... and he can thank a TEACHER that he can write it ...
t.

Hey, how do you KNOW? Maybe A-Rod can't spell at all! I can spell MY name, so there. Huh.

(teachers rock !)

Uncle Dave????? http://youtube.com/watch?v=rHsekBHoB4g&mode=related&search=


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 02-20-2007).]

Dave, I have a son who suffers from "asperger" syndrome (you will hear about it at school if not already).

He is 19 now -- going to college, working p/t and living with a roommate. 10 years ago, therapists said he would never be able to live independently and would need assistance throughout his life. What saved him? SCHOOLS and TEACHERS (through the high school level).

I will be eternally grateful to the various teachers and counselors we met along the way. Small schools, large schools, we had them all.

I also have been able to teach from time to time (not music! I wish) and enjoy it a great deal. I can easily understand your feelings.