Q's student: Do you have a daughter or son?
Q: No ...
Q's student: Are you married?
Q: No, I am still single. Do I look like I'm married?
Q's student: Yeah ...
Q: But I don't even have a wedding ring on me!
Q's student: My mom doesn't wear her wedding ring either. How old are you?
Q: 27
Q's student: Wo! That's old! (Q thinks: =_=)
Q: *LOL*
Q's student: I mean, given your age, I thought you should have been married ... my aunt got married when she was 18 ..............................
And then my student's mother arrived ...
Hope you have a good laugh at this! :-D
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Somewhere That You Can't Possibly Forget How to Get to ...
Today I dropped by my high school to see if my former band teacher was around. Sadly, she wasn't.
I haven't been in my high school campus since I left for Vancouver 5 years ago. Still, when I was there, I knew exactly how to get to the band room. Of course - that room was the one I spent the most time in in my high school career. This will never be wiped off from my memory.
I didn't take the advantage of touring around the school because I didn't want to be questioned by the staff there. I just walked around the basement. Almost nothing has changed. Pictures I've seen almost 10 years ago (I graduated in 2001, but it sounds prettier to write "almost 10 years" than just "9 years" right) were still there.
I wrote down my contact information and slipped the piece of paper under the band room door. Maybe my band teacher would decide to call me up for some work at school :-P ... Then, I'll get to visit the school on a more regular basis ... LOL ...
I haven't been in my high school campus since I left for Vancouver 5 years ago. Still, when I was there, I knew exactly how to get to the band room. Of course - that room was the one I spent the most time in in my high school career. This will never be wiped off from my memory.
I didn't take the advantage of touring around the school because I didn't want to be questioned by the staff there. I just walked around the basement. Almost nothing has changed. Pictures I've seen almost 10 years ago (I graduated in 2001, but it sounds prettier to write "almost 10 years" than just "9 years" right) were still there.
I wrote down my contact information and slipped the piece of paper under the band room door. Maybe my band teacher would decide to call me up for some work at school :-P ... Then, I'll get to visit the school on a more regular basis ... LOL ...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Rewarding or Annoying?
Teaching kids music is a bittersweet job. When they do well, you would find it very rewarding. When they don't, you would find it annoying. Today, thankfully, I was on the rewarding side.
There has been a period of time when P (who is 10 years old) did not like his lessons. He didn't say it, but he totally showed it on his face. Frowns on his face, not reactive to my commands ... I was thinking I would lose him sooner or later . Usually traditional Chinese parents would not let their kids quit their lessons, so he kept coming. But I really started to struggle; I didn't know how to encourage him more than I already had.
I went for a music camp for three weeks. I decided I'd worry about student issues when I come back. Of course, P came back for lessons after my trip. He looked different. He looked much brighter and happier and more confident. I have no idea what God has done to him. He became more attentive to what I say. He bacome more interactive with me. It seems he is more willing to work with me and is enjoying the process more.
I put him on a song project (I do that to all my drum students), which is to play along the recording of "Let Everything That Has Breath (Matt Redman)". At first he didn't think he could do it because it's fast. Really, it's not crazily fast, but I think it's a good time for me to put that song on him because he needs to start doing things out of his comfort zone. I told him to try it out for a couple of weeks to get familiar with the song and play eighth-note hi-hat along with it and see how it goes. If it's still too fast for him then we'll work other things out. Amazingly, a week later, he told me it's actually not that difficult. He said he was just lack of confident for something he had not done before.
Today was the 3rd time (I believe?) we worked on this song in his lesson. I analyzed with him the song structure and told him to put fills at the designated places. To help him get the hang of it, we practiced the introduction numerous times. A few times with me just counting the bars out, a few times with the music and with my counting, and a few times with just the music. He got very excited each time he successfully finished the task.
When I saw the smile on his face, I felt joy in my heart. I really look forward to his finished product.
I thank God for being able to teach. It's not an easy job, but it's all worth it when you see your students enjoying themselves and are really getting something out of what you teach. I hope to see P serve at church as a drummer! ;-)
There has been a period of time when P (who is 10 years old) did not like his lessons. He didn't say it, but he totally showed it on his face. Frowns on his face, not reactive to my commands ... I was thinking I would lose him sooner or later . Usually traditional Chinese parents would not let their kids quit their lessons, so he kept coming. But I really started to struggle; I didn't know how to encourage him more than I already had.
I went for a music camp for three weeks. I decided I'd worry about student issues when I come back. Of course, P came back for lessons after my trip. He looked different. He looked much brighter and happier and more confident. I have no idea what God has done to him. He became more attentive to what I say. He bacome more interactive with me. It seems he is more willing to work with me and is enjoying the process more.
I put him on a song project (I do that to all my drum students), which is to play along the recording of "Let Everything That Has Breath (Matt Redman)". At first he didn't think he could do it because it's fast. Really, it's not crazily fast, but I think it's a good time for me to put that song on him because he needs to start doing things out of his comfort zone. I told him to try it out for a couple of weeks to get familiar with the song and play eighth-note hi-hat along with it and see how it goes. If it's still too fast for him then we'll work other things out. Amazingly, a week later, he told me it's actually not that difficult. He said he was just lack of confident for something he had not done before.
Today was the 3rd time (I believe?) we worked on this song in his lesson. I analyzed with him the song structure and told him to put fills at the designated places. To help him get the hang of it, we practiced the introduction numerous times. A few times with me just counting the bars out, a few times with the music and with my counting, and a few times with just the music. He got very excited each time he successfully finished the task.
When I saw the smile on his face, I felt joy in my heart. I really look forward to his finished product.
I thank God for being able to teach. It's not an easy job, but it's all worth it when you see your students enjoying themselves and are really getting something out of what you teach. I hope to see P serve at church as a drummer! ;-)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
咬文嚼字
This is an intermission from my painstaking word searching.
最近我正埋首創作一首新歌，歌詞是based on 聖經裡的哥林多前書十三章。其實我已經work on這首歌有大半年的時間，寫一點又放低一段時間，如是者重複了幾遍。一來during the school year我忙得不可開交，二來用自己的文字去paraphrase一章經文真是不容易。I want to personalize the passage without changing too much of the meaning.
歌詞差不多已完成，但有幾處地方還要修飾。這就是我這段日子不停查字典和看不同bible translations的原因。家裡有的resource我都盡用，又問一些年長一點的朋友意見。雖然我的中文尚算可以，但畢竟我在香港只讀完小學便移民到加拿大，很多字也未能靈活運用。But then, 我實在希望可以在作曲填詞方面繼續有進步 (regardless in English or in Chinese)，甚至將來有所作為。所以，I guess I should keep up the work ...
讓你看看我的瘋癲程度：
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