Jamming with my students!
This is the coolest thing to me. I’m a middle school teacher and just started playing bass in July. My kids knew I was playing and held me accountable to playing at least once a week. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and the music teacher (pictured conducting, who is also a bassist -electric and double- for paid gigs) asked if I wanted to join the middle school band (brass, woodwinds, percussion) for the spring concert… in front of the whole school (grades 4-12).
I was not that confident in my ability to read notation, so I personally transcribed everything in tab and had him look it over. Then I practiced several times a day. Brought one of my basses to school and used a headphone amp. Practiced before and after school, during plan time, even skipped lunch. Last thing I did before bed and first thing I did when I woke up. I didn’t want to let these kids down.
At the end of the day, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I’ve been in sports my whole life as a player and coach; this had that feel to it. The kids were saying how great I did (they probably couldn’t hear me), and I was proud of how they did, and we made this music… *together*, and it was absolutely worth it. I think we gave each other a gift that day, the memory of the day the classroom teacher joined the middle school band.😊
[sorry if this is categorized wrong; it’s a photo of me on stage for the first time]