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ED of NSM
Are you shocked I've written a new entry in my journal or done ANYTHING to my website?! I don't know how I'm going
to catch up with my life these days on my website, so I'll just say this: I've been through a shift in careers lately.
Back in April I decided to apply to
BU's Arts
Administration Masters Program, and was accepted. The day I broke the news to my boss at the
New School of Music, and the she told me she that she was pregnant!
Shortly after that, she put her back out and was bed ridden. I had to step up to the plate at NSM - I took some
time off teaching to take over some of her duties. About six weeks later, she resigned and the board asked me if
I'd take on the position of Interim Executive Director. I accepted.
I was thrilled and scared and not sure what to do abut BU. But I decided to defer my masters for a year, and see
where I'm at. The postition of Interim Executive Director is for six months, and then both the board and I will
review the situation. I figured, hey, I was going to go back to school to get a job like this, and here it is
being offered to me!
So my teaching studio has "disbanded" for the time being. I may take on a few students to keep up my teaching
chops once I've adjusted. For those of you who are interested in taking lessons with me and have found me through
this website, I ask that you consider NSM instead! I'm also starting to realize the advantages of teaching at a
community music school versus having a private studio. So we'll see.
It's been a very difficult transition to full-time work. Put it this way: I've never sat at a desk for forty plus hours
a week! My butt hurts! My eyes become glazed over! Even when I was teaching in the public schools I was hopping to three different schools each DAY. Now
I'm not only in charge of the school (and am learning so much I can't sleep at night or process it all), but just the
adjustment of giving myself to something 100%, and only to ONE thing, is still really weird to me. I thought I'd
hate that part more, but I find that because I can hone all my energy and time (both in and outside the school),
I can do a better job and learn more. Most importantly, I don't always feel so stressed out about time and getting from one activity
to another (my worst days were gym, NSM, teaching, dinner, rehearsal with Shelley - WOW, how did I do it?!). And finally,
this feels like a definite career path where I have immense room for growth.
I'm not performing nearly as much as I wish I would. I've done some recordings and wedding gigs this summer. I've
made some progress on the viola, and have been pushing myself to take those gigs so I can improve (yeah, I need
definite goals and pressure on myself to progress!). I'm hoping something music will grab me and I'll want to get involved
in something new musically. But I'm not pushing myself, I have a lot on my plate. As long as I make an effort to
keep my chops up (when I get home from a long day, the last thing I want to do is...PRACTICE!), I'll feel okay.
I've realized that just because I'm a musician doesn't mean I need to play all the time. I've learned accept that
many things need to line up for me to be interested and musically happy. I know I will find something that will
inspire me like Shelley did someday, but right now I don't even have the brain capacity to look!
Hopefully I'll have some time here and there to keep up this website. Sorry to those of you who have given up on
checking. I promise I won't wait this long next time!
PS: Dexie is still alive - and will be fourteen in October!
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