TWO YEARS... REALLY??!

As I watch my friends who are still 'at the chalk face' staggering towards the end of another academic year, I find it hard to believe that I'm actually almost two years into my life 'post teaching'.  There are elements of the job that I do miss.. especially the fun that I used to have when I was lucky enough to have time with super-motivated musicians... BUT I wouldn't go back for anything.

 

Nowadays I'm what can best be described as 'steadily busy'.  My days are always full of music, family, friends ..and keeping on top of house-related jobs.  I love the fact that I'm master of my own ship.  I rarely have that horrible, stress-inducing feeling of sinking under the weight of commitments.  I enjoy the fact that I can always re-schedule my day if some-one needs my time, or help in anyway.

 

 

I'm starting to enjoy myself as a musician too.  In the last three years of my teaching career I didn't touch my harp at all and I lost a lot of technique as a consequence.  Since I stopped work I've put HOURS of practice into my harp and I'm finally starting to sound confident and competent again.  On Sunday afternoon, Ness and I played a set in a concert in the local church.  For the first time I wasn't paralysed by nerves... Look, I'm even smiling in this photo!!!

 

I've got very little money but, as I'm time rich, I make things for people.  Last week I made this patchwork bag for my sister's birthday.  I love having the 'head space' to be creative.

 

 

It's funny... I read somewhere that it takes a month to recover from every year of stress that you've lived through.  I'd agree with this.  I worked for 26 years on adrenaline and it's taken the best part of 24 months to get it out of my system.  I felt better last summer - I feel immensely better this summer.  The only thing that suffered from this has been my waist-line... but that's the content of another post!!!!

Jx 

Projects, Plans and Other Time-Consuming Activities...

 

Here's a recent photo of Thomas.  If cats could speak, he'd be saying

"Mum, please BE QUIET!  Why don't you do something peaceful like a blog post??"

So here's a flavour of what I'm up to...

 

~ There's been lots of instrumental teaching.  I've picked up another harp pupil AND did some coaching for a Year 13 student (which ended last week).  A number of my pupils have also asked for extra time or additional lessons for various reasons.

 

~ I've been asked to learn lots of material on both the harp and the piano so I've had to expand my practice regime.  I'm now starting piano practice at 7.00 each morning (good thing we're detached!!).  My sister and I have got a medium term plan which involves some challenging flute and piano playing, so I need to brush up my technique.  I'm currently re-learning one of the late Beethoven piano sonatas which I studied at Uni. (back in the dark ages!!).  It's hard to explain just how good this makes me feel... but I'm sure that you fellow musicians out there will know what I'm on about!

 

~ We went away for two nights over the May Bank Holiday weekend.  We stayed at the lovely little 'motel style' guest house that we normally use for the Donington Historic Festival.  It's a great set-up for the car and fabulous value for money.   The weather was SO COLD but we still enjoyed the first racing of the season.

 

 

~ My Blue Discovery was finally towed away by the insurance company last week.  Sadly the Silver one also has had to go back to the garage that we bought her from... She has several issues that need to be sorted while she's still under warranty.  To be honest, Mark could fix her.  It's just that he's so busy with work, other jobs at home AND his building/maintenance programme for the Marcos cars.  Unfortunately, dealing with all of this is extremely time-consuming because the Garage where the Silver car is being fixed is over 30 minutes drive away...

 

~ There's been a steady stream of low-level jobs to deal with in the house - Such as the light bulb in the extractor fan popping; small things breaking and the whole boiler system developing a curious resonance in the loft!! (Which was resolved by cleaning all the lime-scale off.........!?)

 

~ AND the tray in the Shower has cracked... leaving a nasty stain on the lounge ceiling.  Grrrr!  'Kevin the Builder' is coming at 12.00 to start the process of removing the old shower and replacing it with a nice non-leaky new one.....

 

Thomas is not going to be impressed by all the mess and dust from this latest disruption!!!

Jx

 

Nice Things and Good Times..

The doorbell rang on the Friday evening of our NEC weekend and our lovely neighbour from across the road handed us a parcel.  "What's this?" said Mark "I don't think I've ordered anything from Australia."  "Ooooh," said I in a very squeaky voice "THAT'S MINE!!"

 

 

...And it was full of fabrics.  A lovely gift from across the blogosphere from Susan at Granny Smith's Quilting (Click on her name to hop across to her blog.  I am in AWE of her quilts.. they are beautiful)

 

Behind the floral fat quarters, Susan tucked these musical designs as a special surprise.

They are fabulous together.  I want to make something for my music teaching spaces, but I can't quite decide what/how yet...

Thank you again Susan - such a lovely and unexpected gift!

 

On the subject of Music - I've just got to the end of my second 'financial year' of private instrumental tuition.  I'm pleased to report that my business is growing more or less as I hoped.

It's all very 'low key' and laid back.. but I'm just about making enough to cover all the household and food bills, plus a very small amount for pocket money for myself.

I think the most important thing is that I'm happy, so my pupils get the best of my enthusiasm too.  I now have four harp pupils, six piano pupils, one violin pupil and some A level coaching.

The best things of all???? No crazy management team and NO OFSTED!

 

And finally... we've found a car to replace the one that was written off in the accident.

(All our cars have names, generally based on their registration plates, so 'Silver Su the Disco 2' is coming to live with us on Friday.  I'm very excited!!)

In addition, we took the Silver Marcos out for a 'post-winter maintenance shake down drive' yesterday afternoon.  She behaved perfectly - which cheered Mark up no end!

Jx

Dressed for the Motoring Club Lunch...

 I still HATE having my picture taken..

but I've braved the camera lenses today to show that I kept working towards my 'look' through 2016.  Mark bought me this dress from Apricot as a Christmas present.

It looks lovely with a black cardigan or the black jacket that survived the post-work wardrobe cull.

 

 

I added black leggings and some seriously ancient black fabric boots.

Then I accessorised with a vintage enamel necklace..

 

 

.. and a mixture of vintage and modern black and cream bracelets.

Those of you with sharp eyes will notice that my harp seems to have shrunk -

but the one behind me in the lounge was a present from my whole family for my 50th Birthday. I still have my large pedal harp.  In this photo I'm playing music for a Christmas coffee morning in the local church hall...

 

It's really interesting to have the chance to work with two instruments that are so completely different.  I have a strong emotional attachment to my big harp.  It was completely overhauled and restrung with light gauge gut strings two years ago.  This gives it a big, even tone and lots of 'playing predictability'.  The new harp is strung with a lighter gauge hybrid string, which is bright and sunny but less predictable.  Last weekend I performed some solo work on the little harp for the first time.  It's hard to explain, but when I'm playing the new harp I feel like my finger-tips are linked to my soul..  Fellow musicians out there will know what I'm on about!!

 

Welcome to my new follower - Jules.  Please leave a short comment then I'll be able to find my way over to your blog and follow you too.   Otherwise I seem to get hopelessly lost in the 'blogosphere'.

Jx

In Celebration of the Unexpected..

Since I last posted I've gained another harp pupil!  She rang last week and said that she'd love to pop round for 'A Harp Experience'.  She's a retired lady with lots of musical experience so we planned a session for yesterday afternoon.  I'd planned it as a 'one off' very much in the style of 'A hot air balloon experience' or something like that.  I prepped both harps and had them set up for her, side by side, so that she could chose.  I also put the kettle on so that she could enjoy a cuppa while we played.

Well.. she liked it all so much that she wants to come on a weekly basis for 30 minute 'proper lessons'.  It's perfect because she wants an early afternoon slot on Wednesdays - which is a time when I'm generally at home and it's some distance from the slots that I normally offer my younger pupils.

Then, yesterday morning, I received a text from one of my other 'Music Mums' asking is she could pass my details onto another family.  Fingers crossed that I receive another phone call in the next couple of days...!

Then, last night, we were offered free tickets for an Autosport show in London.  Sadly we can't make it because there's a clash with a trip to Pembrokeshire.. but it's so lovely when people think of you and ask.

AND.. while we were at the appointment with the specialist about the lift on Tuesday.. Mum tried out some wheeled walkers.  These aren't really recommended long term for people with HD and Mum didn't get on with one that she tried at Worcester Hospital. However they had masses of different designs at the show room in Malvern and she found one that suits her needs perfectly for the moment. Even better.. they had one in stock so she could take it home immediately. 

It's given her back some confidence and she's having a go at walking across the lounge and dining room.  Her personal goal for the Spring is to get her legs moving again so that she can walk with the frame to the end of her close.

In case you haven't guessed.... I'm immensely proud of my Mum.
Jx

Absence...

I set myself a target last summer.

When I play the harp, I want to sound like some-one who has hours and hours of practice in their fingers.  I want to sound, competent, precise and assured...

 

 

Over the last few weeks I've lost myself for hours in my music.

Typically, I'm practising for 2 - 3 hours per day.

Last Sunday, I performed my first solo of the year - music memorised and rehearsed to a point where every play through was consistent (as close as I can get at this stage to a 'professional' performance.) 

I'm loving the process of giving quality time to something that I'm really passionate about... but I'm conscious of the fact that there's not a lot to post about...!

 

However..

I've kept up my clothes challenge and have completely avoided the jeans/hoodie combination.

My small private teaching practice is growing and I should have a little celebration when I finish teaching this afternoon (the first £1000 through the books).

I'm keeping fit by walking as far as possible every day.

I'm spending quality time with people who matter to me

.....so I suppose that I'm living my dream!

 

I confess that the whole process of blogging sometimes makes me feel rather guilty.

I'd love to be the perfect blogger - responding quickly to all your posts and posting regularly in return.  Unfortunately I don't have mobile access to the internet so all my posts are written on the computer in the study.  This seems to take ages so it falls down the list of priorities.  Then, when I realise that I haven't been near the 'blogosphere' for a while, I feel even guiltier.

In my previous life the comment would probably have been "Could do better!!"

How do you manage your blogging time?

Jx

Happy Harpy Christmas!!

I think I was a bit grumpy in my last post about teaching - 

thank you to everyone who took the time to comment.

This post is far more festive...

 

Last Thursday I played a harp duet with my harp pupil in the gorgeous 15th Century Malvern Priory.

I arranged a traditional lullaby called 'Suantrai' for us and we performed it in her school's Christmas Carol Service.  Her father recorded it.  If you click here you should be able to see a photo of us in front of the altar and hear our performance.

 

Happy Harpy Christmas!

Jx

Aw...Cute!

 

This is the scene I found in the conservatory on Saturday morning...

The bears are delivering an enormous 'anniversary surprise' from Mark!

(The small white bear is using the Happy Anniversary balloon to help him stick the bow on the box.  There were other bears helping to supervise the delivery, but it was difficult to get everyone in the photos.)

 

The box contained some new travelling covers for my harp.

Mark remembered a wistful comment when we collected the harp from Morley's in January.

My old covers were second hand and probably about 50 years old.  The canvas 'top coat' was showing serious signs of wear and tear, and really wasn't doing that much to protect the harp in transit.  These new covers are light-weight, but really padded and effective.

Mark organised the surprise to coincide with my garden party gig on Saturday afternoon.

I felt really professional when I turned up with these smart black covers....

and the harp was clearly happier too - because it didn't lose it's tuning when we moved it.

 

The little white bear is still sat in the conservatory, holding the balloon.... so cute!

"You Couldn't Make This One Up......!"

It was hard to post about things while the school/work situation just got worse and worse - 

so I took a little break until everything reached some kind of resolution.

 

I made the most of the extra time by

- practising my harp

- designing a thank you gift in needle point for a colleague

- walking miles and miles

- making the most of the long, light evening with a book in the conservatory

(with a glass of Shiraz in hand!)

- and generally chilling rather than 'stewing over' each ridiculous twist in the tale...

 

The 'Reader's Digest' version of the two weeks goes something like this....

- Once it became clear that C. had let them down the school tried various forms of 'bullying' to keep me for another term/year.

- I said "No", but followed this up with a detailed document of all the things that DID need to be resolved so that Music survives at the school.

- The SMT ignored this for four days... then panicked when they did get round to reading it.

- The staffing Deputy Head invited the NQT who FAILED to get the second in department job in March to take on my role in September.  (And "All hell broke lose..................!")

- This girl is still coming to work in the department for a fixed term contract BUT there will be NO paid Head of Music role from September.

- The two young Music teachers will split all my work between them (including an immense amount of administrative responsibility for the Level 2 Btec) but neither of them will get paid anything for this...

 

I have been told that a Head of Music post will be advertised in April 2016.

The girls will only be considered for the role if they have 'proved themselves' in the unpaid roles..

I am completely disgusted by the way that the girls have been exploited here...

(And very, very worried about my pupils.)

 

This isn't how I imagined my final weeks before retirement.

Other teachers have talked about the fun of winding down and enjoying those last lessons.

The only concession the school have made is that they are paying O.R. to remain at the school when C. returns from Mat Leave on the 22nd June.  This means that O.R. can shadow me until the end of term..and somehow miraculously assimilate 26 years of experience in 4 weeks!!

 

Our 'catch phrase' in the department at the moment is

"You couldn't make this one up!"

 

I hope that everyone has had a good Bank Holiday weekend.

I will be visiting and catching up with all your news.

Jx

 

The Wanderer has returned!

 

What's this lurking in the boot of our old Discovery??

One harp... wrapped up against the rain!

 

If my life plan comes together and I end up doing lots of harp gigs then I'll treat the harp to a 'new coat' and a proper protective base.   At the moment it has to make do with some covers that are probably the best part of 50 years old.

 

 

Under the covers it's looking very smart indeed.  A man in London has crafted a new sound board, replaced the old felts in the pedal mechanism and fitted a new set of strings.  The tone quality is fantastically even and the sound is amazing!

 

 

Here's a detail of the sound bound and the modern 'eyelet' system for the strings.  (In the past the holes were larger and then plugged with little black pegs.  This caused loads of unwanted buzzes if I started to play loudly).  I've split my time this afternoon between playing and sorting out all my music.  There's a real temptation just sit and play for hours - but that would result in blistered fingers that could compromise my playing for weeks.  As a result, I'm trying to pace myself. 

 

After such major surgery, the harp is going to need regular attention and tuning as frequently as possible for a few weeks (at least once a day).  It will let me know when it's happy because it will start to 'hold its tuning' for longer periods.

 

It's so exciting to have the instrument home again and another phase in my new life plan starting!

Jx

What a difference three days make.....

Lovely Lady Supply Teacher arrived on Monday morning.  She is absolutely wonderful with the pupils and a really great colleague to have around the department. Coincidently, she was a Head of Music in a Birmingham school until last Christmas (with 20 years 'at the chalk face').  Her reasons for leaving full time teaching are remarkably similar to mine - but she still has two young children, so a supply contract for classroom work suits her best for the moment.  It's like she's been sent into my life for a reason......amazing when a new friend appears out of an immensely difficult situation!

I had a meeting with Enthusiastic New Deputy Head this afternoon.  I feel like I have a great relationship with him - largely because I am completely outside his agenda for changing the world but he still has a healthy respect for the work that I've put into the department.  He does have a blunt style which is alienating some of my colleagues, but I prefer to work with people who ask the right questions.... even if the answers are a little uncomfortable. 

Fourteen people have applied for the Music teaching vacancy that has resulted from Lovely Colleague taking on my role.  I have decided to take a back seat in the interview process next week.  This appointment is the first stage in Lovely Colleague taking over the department and she doesn't really need me hanging around!  In addition, Bullying Deputy Head decided (without consultation) to put the interviews on Thursday which is my main teaching day for exam groups.  I'll have a bit of time first thing in the morning to say "Hi" to the candidates but then I'll disappear....

I'm saving the best news until last... I had a phone call from Morley Harps yesterday lunchtime.  My harp is completely restored, healthy and waiting to be collected!  This means that we will be off to the South Cotswolds again on Saturday morning.  Watch this space for more photos and posts!

What a difference three days make.....!!  Jx

Look Who's Come To Stay.....

This is my 'baby harp', which has been on permanent loan to a musician friend for the last five years.  I borrowed it back on Friday and have had a wonderful weekend getting all the 'harp playing ants' out of my fingers.

My big harp (which went to London for major surgery before Christmas) is unlikely to be home for a while.  Harps are grumpy things at the best of times - they hate changes of temperature or being moved - so the process of replacing the sound board and strings on my big harp was always going to be a slow.   I was getting bothered that my fingers were softening up too much.  I certainly didn't want blisters when my lovely harp does come home.... so this wee beastie is helping to keep my fingers in shape!

Actually it's been a lovely weekend all round.  Mark and I pottered over to Hereford yesterday and cruised the Charity Shop bookshelves.  I found five books and a ball of wool.  Mark found a couple of car books, a pair of jeans (final clearance in the 'White Stuff' sale) and a load of useful 'bloke' things from a quirky old hardware shop near the Town Hall.  Last night we went round to my parent's for a roast dinner.

Today I've just mooched between short bursts of harp playing, cooking, crafting and reading.  No blisters yet...!

Jx