Thursdays

Thursday is my favorite day; I teach a morning class, a 3-hour afternoon seminar, most times my office hours are packed, I usually have a meeting just when I might get to eat lunch, and I end the day around 9:00, when Don and I get home from motet choir rehearsal. Then I watch Modern Family with Peter while I eat dinner. It's easy to see why it's my favorite day, isn't it?

The research methods class is fun because of students who discover that research is exciting, much to their surprise. I have to admit, it's not everyone—not even close. But every year there are a few. The musicologists, theorists, and composers already have a feel for this work, and they are good at it. But the saxophonist, percussionist, clarinetist, singer—these students didn't expect to do this, and they certainly didn't expect to like it, so it's exciting when they discover that there's a bit of a thrill in this world of creating knowledge. I also enjoy helping students learn to step up to a higher professional level in their independence, thinking, speaking, and writing. I like seeing them embrace their own possibilities.

I like meeting with individual students in my office hours—hearing what they are interested in, helping them find out how to get where they want to go, getting to know them, seeing them figuring things out. I like being a research coach—finding the questions that help them articulate their own questions and figuring out how to answer them.

My seminar has been fun every week. What could be better than three hours of motet time? But besides that, it's been a pleasure to teach students who are smart, self-motivated, receptive, creative, open-minded, cooperative, and collaborative.

And then the evening ends with motet choir. Tonight we spent a long time in unison singing, unifying vowels, creating perfect unisons, and shaping phrases together. It sounded great, and I am totally happy.