So the academic year at the university has now ended and it is time to relax. Yeah right! Now preparing for NEXT year starts. There is music is to be chosen, marching band music to write, equipment to be ordered, budgets to plan, guest artists to arrange and more. People who say that teachers get 3 months off have obviously never been teachers!

So to give you some insight into the summer academic world here is one teachers (me of course) to do list for the summer:

1) Program 4 percussion ensemble concerts. 2 concert percussion and 2 world percussion. I like theme concerts as it gives the audience something to hold onto as we go. The plan right now is a concert based on the music of the percussion ensemble Nexus, and a spring concert featuring the music of composer David Macbride. The world concerts have to be a mix of many things so I am looking at steel drum band tunes, African drumming pieces, Arabic hand drumming pieces and more.

2) Budget and equipment. In colleges you have to turn in your budget for the next year about February of the previous year. So there is a lot of guessing. Over the summer, once you figure out what you are really going to play (based on finally knowing how many students you have after auditions end in May - 3 months after you turn in your budget) you have to order music and any equipment that might be needed. You also have to confirm plans with any guest artists and get their contracts to them. The best part: you won't find out until August or September how much money you actually get!

3) Write. Because I teach at a school with marching band there are percussion parts to be written for the fall. These have to balance being challenging enough to keep the students interested and easy enough to learn in the limited amount of rehearsal time we have. In my case, I also have a DMA thesis to write this summer so my computer and I will see a lot of each other.

4)Plan academic work for the next year. I have to come up with 3 projects for each semester for my percussion majors to do. I also have to pick a book for them to read each semester (for the fall BTW it is The Mastery of Music by Barry Green - GREAT book!).

5) Stay in constant touch with students. I send out occasional reminders to my students of what they should be practicing (and more important that they SHOULD be practicing).

6) Practice! Oh yeah, we still have to be able to play. With a concerto, a solo recital and two orchestras worth of music to learn there is plenty to keep busy there.

7) Become reacquainted with the wife and daughter. After a busy school year this is probably the most important!

So as you can see, just because we don't have to be at school everyday doesn't mean we are not still working. But you know what? I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything!