We rock!

It looks like we rocked Fontera Fest last night. See the great review here. The performance was a lot of fun, it went really smoothly. I just love it when I get to work with folks who are so professional and great at what they do, but also are hilarious and fun to be around.

I also really enjoyed watching some skit comedy by Lovey and Lovey. If you get a chance check them out.... Its been a while since I laughed that hard!

Breaking things is fun

I know that doing sound effects for a Frontera Fest piece may not seem very high profile to some people... But man, its really fun! I mean, how often do you get to throw glass items in a box and drop it to see what kind of sound it makes! Yay for sound design :)

And, that new student drought may be ending.... I've taken on one student in the last week and have gotten several calls from interested families. Let's hope this keeps up!

Oh yeah, and Georgia turned one on Sunday, but I'll have to devote a whole other post to that!

Argh!

I swear, I am THIS close to bagging this whole "I'm a piano teacher/running my own buisness" thing. If I have one more family tell me that they're not sure if they're continuing or not I'm going to go insane. My studio is barely hanging on as it is. I've advertised, put the word out via word of mouth, I'm on teacher referral lists of all manner.... I'm friends with a million moms, the problem is none of them have kids old enough to take lessons. And very few of my current students have siblings or friends of the age where they're wanting to start lessons. Most of my students are middle school/high school.... you know, the point at which they start dropping like flies. And that's exactly what my students are doing. I've lost 3 students at the end of the fall semester, possibly another one is going at the end of January, and 2 other long time students are going to every other week lessons. I'm so frustrated. I've not gotten one single solitary call from an interested new student since OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!! I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. What's crazy is that I have awesome babysitters to watch the kiddos while I teach. The only problem is that I can't afford to keep them if I don't have anyone to teach. I attribute this paucity of students to the economy. But perhaps its just the cycle of one's teaching career. You go through boom and bust cycles just like any other. I'm trying to ride it out and take joy in teaching the few that I have. Because they are committed, bright and generally wonderful to teach. But, when you've got 2 other little people demanding so much of your time, your energy, and your soul every single day, there is a point where you have to ask yourself "Is it worth it?"

I love teaching piano. I never thought I'd be 10 years into my career and asking "Where have the students gone?" I know I've kind of killed my word of mouth momentum by the fact that I took two sabbaticals to have kids, in quick succession. But, I thought "Hey, there's always a wealth of young kids looking to take piano" I thought, with my close proximity to 2 neighborhood elementaries, plus the hordes of young families in Circle C, there would always be budding pianists knocking at my door. I have connections with home schoolers, evangelical Christians, Montessori school families, the Chinese community, and the Catholic church. My luck has got to improve at some point, right??

It's 2009!

Here's what Daniel has to say:



We attended a pagan ritual, er, First Night Austin, last night. At 8PM, they had a "family" finale that culminated in the burning- that's right- burning of a several hundred foot high wooden clock. There were throngs of people, all gathered round the pyre, chanting "Burn it, burn it". Sean figured if they didn't set that puppy on fire soon, people were going to get testy.... And when it went up in flames, well, see for yourself:



Pretty cool. Definitely tapped into a primal human fascination with fire. I found it interesting that in 2009, we were spending a long winter's night much as our ancestors thousands of years ago did.



















I could wax philosophical about all that I hope for in the new year, all the things I hope to change about myself. But I'll just sum it up like this: More than anything, I want to be happy where I am, happy in whatever moment I'm in. I don't want to live anyone else's life but my own. And I wish the same for any of you out there reading this too. Happy 2009!