I got a call from my sons' orchestra teacher late yesterday afternoon asking if I could substitute teach her three morning orchestra classes. Her original sub wasn't available after all and she was in the proverbial pickle. I agreed to do it -- I've done conducting before.
Then last night I started realizing there were a few obstacles to figure out. The biggest was how to get my younger two children to school because they start an hour after my two oldest. Then I realized that I would be conducting music I was unfamiliar with. Eek! One of the classes I was to teach is a beginning orchestra class. Would I be able to fill the time with them?
I shouldn't have worried. Got the carpool thing worked out with the neighbor who brings them home in the afternoon. And the teaching part? That was actually fun. I knew some of the students in the intermediate orchestra class, including one of my own boys. We worked on two of their pieces and got some good repetitions in there. The beginning orchestra class has a lesson book they are working through and we had fun practicing the short exercises slowly, then more quickly, and then as fast as we could. To make things really exciting there was a fire drill at the end of the period. And I knew more than half of the students in the advanced orchestra, including my other son. I got to know the Brandenburg Concerto#3 better than I would ever have otherwise.
I had a great morning with some great students who were willing to work hard and not give a substitute a hard time.
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