I am finished with final exams! This week I had two written final exams, one
performance exam, and two juries. During
juries, multiple teachers listen to me play music that I have practiced during
the past semester. I did well in all of
my final exams. I did OK on my juries; I
would have liked to have done better.
Our final Chamber Jazz Ensemble concert at the Student Union
on April 23 went very well. It was the
last performance of retiring professor, Dr. Karel Lidral, who founded this
ensemble. Dr. Lidral is fourth from the
left in the photo below. My husband,
John, helped me move my electronic keyboard to the Union for the
performance. I am very grateful for
John’s support of my pursuits.
The University of
Maine Chamber Jazz Ensemble, April 23, 2014
I was awarded the Omar F. and Lenora L. Tarr Memorial
Scholarship for the academic year 2014-2015.
This covers a portion of next year’s tuition. The scholarship application included a description
of my background and goals and two recordings of my organ performances. As this was a merit scholarship, I felt very
honored to be selected to receive it.
Here is a link to a description of this scholarship that profiles a
previous recipient:
I am thinking about my schedule for next fall. I want to balance the course work with time
to practice both organ and piano.
What did I learn about being a University student again
after more than 30 years? I list several
of my thoughts here.
·
As a commuter student, there’s no privacy on
campus. There were a few times I wanted
to have a private phone call while I was on campus, and I had to go to my car
in the parking lot to have those phone calls.
I checked at the university library, and all the conference rooms
require a group to reserve them. I could
have used one of the practice piano rooms in the music building, but then that
room would not be available for someone to practice their piano or
singing. Other times I just made phone
calls from the public area of the library.
·
I have many key advantages because of my
significant work experience. I have self-discipline,
organization skills, and a strong work ethic.
·
It helps to have a clear goal. My goal is to be a music minister at church
and I want to learn all about music so that I can perform, lead, and inspire
others in church music.
·
Just like at work, besides learning the course
work, the relationships are important:
both the relationships with the faculty and with my fellow students. My fellow students will be some of my peers
once I become a music minister.
·
All of the professors are very supportive not
only of me, but of all the music students.
The professors really want us to learn the material and work with us to
suggest ways to improve in areas where we are struggling.
·
Most of my fellow music students are right out
of high school. They all have a love of
music and express that in their own way.
I attended as many of their public performances as my schedule
allowed. Part of this was to support
them, and part of this was to check out the various university-sponsored music ensemble
groups to see which ones I might join for a future course requirement.
·
After the first few classes, people tend to sit
in the same spots in the classrooms. I
like to sit up front so that I can hear.
I sat farther back one time and I couldn’t hear everything that the
professor said. My fellow music students
are welcoming and supportive of me, even though I’m older than most of their
parents.
·
The University of Maine allows their employees
to take courses tuition-free and a few of my fellow students work full time at
the University and are taking a few courses.
So I was not the only student who was not right out of high school!
·
I enjoy the energy and creativity and opportunity
for risk-taking of the students. One
example is the “humans vs. zombies” a couple of times a year. Many of the students came to class with Nerf
guns. I did not participate. This is described in a blog of someone who
participated: http://umaine.edu/studentblogs/features/humans-vs-zombies-sweeps-campus/
