Category: education

SubscribeStar Saturday: Composing “Ötzi”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

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Yours portly is teaching World History this year, and it has been so fun talking about prehistoric humans.  Particularly, I find Ötzi, a Chalcolithic Age European who died roughly 5000 years ago in the Austro-Italian Alps, fascinating.  Two German hikers discovered his mummified remains in the ice in 1991, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the lifestyle and diet of people in prehistoric Europe.

Ötzi has captured my imagination so much, I composed a lengthy piece depicting his icy trudge through the Alps, and his tragic last hours (an arrow pierced his back, likely killing him).  Upon his death, snow began to fall, preserving Ötzi’s remains in ice for millennia.

I began composing a slow, morose tuba piece, which is only twenty-five measures long on paper and in my composition software:

Handwritten Manuscript for "Ötzi"

The slow 6/8 section captures a gloomy-but-whimsical feeling, as one might feel on a frosty trudge through the high mountains.  The 5/8 section speeds up considerably, depicting what may have been Ötzi’s hasty, violent retreat from his attackers.

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TBT^2: Chapel Lesson: Listening

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Today marks the first Chapel of the new school year.  My school holds chapel every Thursday, and we have a really excellent chaplain.  He is an Episcopalian/Anglican reverend originally from England, and he is a true man of God.  He is also a towering figure, and he makes an impression.  I am teaching one of his sons in my Middle School Music Ensemble this year, too, which is fun!  The young man plays cello.

When the good Father can’t be there to give the chapel devotional, though, I am typically asked to substitute.  For awhile, I was informally taking on occasional chaplain duties with and from our last chaplain, a very sweet young man who was shy about speaking in front of large crowds, which made it a bit difficult for him to muster up the courage to deliver the weekly devotional.

Thus it was that this short little lesson was born, as I was the “warmup act,” as it were, to show this young former chaplain that it’s not too difficult if you just listen to the Holy Spirit and speak from God’s Word.

With that, here is 31 August 2023’s “TBT: Chapel Lesson: Listening“:

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Lazy Saturday

The Portly Politico6 Comments

Good morning, faithful readers,

Yours portly is taking today off from SubscribeStar and the main blog here.  All is well, I’m just behind on blogging with school prep this past week.

I’m ready for the first day of school, and working registration on Thursday and Friday has gotten me even more excited for the school year.  Seeing the new sixth and seventh graders coming in (my school runs 6th-12th grades), all cute and nervous and excited, really reminded me of why I do what I do.

As I wrote earlier this week, I’m also looking forward to teaching World History for the first time since the 2011-2012 school year.  I can’t wait to talk about Ötzi the Ice Man!  After the first quiz in World History, we’re going to watch this video, which recreates the doomed Ötzi’s least meal:

For now, though, I’m going to rest up and take care of some mundane chores around the house.  This last week has me beat—and I didn’t even teach any classes!

Happy Saturday!

—TPP

TBT^256: Back to School with Richard Weaver

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The 2024-2025 school year resumes this coming Monday, 19 August 2024, and yours portly has already been back on campus for the past few days, busily preparing for another school year.

Without any warning, my administration has given me two sections of World History to teach, rather than my usual US History classes.  While they should have told me about the change two months ago, I’m excited to dive into a subject I have not taught in many years (the last time I taught the class was in the 2011-2012 school year, and I taught its kissing cousin, Western Civilization, off-and-on in 2014 and 2015 at the local technical college).

Last school year was a fairly brutal slog, and I’ve been alternatively dreading this year and looking forward to it.  Perhaps the opportunity to teach World History will reignite the spark (plus, World History is just cool).

But what of our good friend Richard Weaver and his book Ideas Have Consequences?  At the time of writing I haven’t dipped back into Weaver the way I would like, but I find that his ideas always help to crystallize for me what teaching and education are all about—the preservation of civilization for at least another generation.

With that, here is “TBT^16: Back to School with Richard Weaver“:

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TBT^16: Back to the Grind 202[4]

The Portly Politico3 Comments

My two-plus months of living like a French duke and/or welfare queen have come to an end.  Yours portly returns to the salt mines of secondary education today.  Classes won’t start back until Monday, 19 August 2024, but teachers reports back today for the usual bout of annual trainings, AFLAC representatives, handbook excursions, etc.

[UPDATE:  due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby, we won’t report back until Monday, 12 August 2024—whoa!  But I’m still going to grouse about going back to work.  —TPP]

I’ve never quite understood why we report back on a Thursday, when we could easily cover all of this foolishness in a day or two of meetings the following week.  It seems like a way to deprive us of one, final, long weekend before the drudgery returns.

To be frank, I am not much looking forward to this school year—a sadly common refrain from yours portly the past few years.  Our enrollment is way down, which will bring with it all sorts of austerity measures and demands for teachers to sacrifice more time and energy for the good of the school.

Last year was absolutely brutal, and while I’m always cautiously optimistic, I am having a hard time talking myself into a good attitude this year.  Perhaps simply getting back into a rhythm will be its own reward.

With that, here is 3 August 2023’s “TBT^4: Back to the Grind 202[3]“:

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Celebration of Life for Bob Gunn – Remarks

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

Earlier this year one of my dear colleagues, Bob Gunn, passed away after suffering from a stroke.  He had worked at my school since its founding in the mid-1990s, and was an integral part to its operation, its culture, and its legacy.

Tonight (Saturday, 22 June 2024), my school is hosting a celebration of life service in honor of Bob, his legacy, and his memory.  I’ve been asked to say a few words, which I have included in this post.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spring Jam 2024 Postmortem

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

On Friday, 24 May 2024 I hosted the fourth annual Spring Jam Recital on my front porch.  It is one of two front porch recitals I host each year, the other being the Spooktacular in October.

This year’s Spring Jam was the smallest one yet.  I always host the event the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, primarily because it is the night before graduation for my school’s seniors, so many families are still in town.  However, the combination of graduation season (which means graduation parties) and the holiday weekend mean it is a potentially dicey weekend in terms of schedules.

So far, I have been fortunate to have a large number of students who attend and play, but this year, Fate cut differently and we had a much smaller crowd than usual.  Even so, we had a blast.

Gear Loaded Up!
Drum Kit
Wider Shot of Kit
Added a Small Cymbal
Rotel Dip!
The Stage is Set!

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Lazy Sunday CXLIX: End of School Events

The Portly Politico2 Comments

The end is nigh!  The end the school year, that is.  Unlike all the folks that work year-round—the fools!—I get to revel in approximately two months of summertime goodness every year.  It’s a fair trade-off for the brutally long hours I put in during the school year.

With this ending-of-all-things in mind, I figured I’d glance back at some recent posts about end-of-school-year events:

Happy Sunday—and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Gig Day IX: TJC Spring Jam IV

The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s time for another front porch concert!  This event—the TJC Spring Jam and Recital—will be the eighth Front Porch concert I’ve hosted (I think), and I’ve learned quite a bit from the others, including the last Spooktacular.

This year marks the fourth Spring Jam, which has become a popular event with my private music students.  These front porch concerts started out as a way for my buddy John and me to play gigs during The Age of The Virus, when nobody was open for live music.  I realized that if I wanted to play in front of a live audience, I’d have to circumvent the hysteria and become the venue and talent.

Gradually, the concept morphed from a self-indulgent concert into a recital for my private music students.  The Lord Has Blessed me—far beyond what I deserve—with a large clientele of private music students (I’m a bit murky on the number at the moment, as I have several seniors graduating tomorrow, but it’s around fifteen lessons a week), so it made sense to offer a couple of recital opportunities a  year for them.

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