Beg your pardon?!?

The other day the music teacher sent her student into the storage room to grab a drum... the following conversation ensued: 

Student: "There's a bong in here."

 Music teacher: "What?!?" 

Student: "There's a bong in here!" 

 Music teacher *walks into the storage room and looks* 

Music teacher: "That's a gong..." 

 Student: "Oh."

When three syllables isn't enough

Her: "I was teaching a kid about sixteenth notes today, and I told her it's like: Mo-tor-cy-cle, mo-tor-cy-cle"

Kid: "El-e-phan-tay, el-e-phan-tay"

Her: "El-e-phan-tay?"

Kid: "Well, I know Elephant is three sylables... so I needed to make it Elephantay."

Kids...

Student: I have two questions...

              1. Do clarinets and saxophones use the same reed? 

Teacher: That's a very good question, yes they sometimes use the same reed.

 

Student: And 2. Where can I buy a pumpkin big enough to fit over my head? 

Teacher: *?!?*  ...have you tried looking in a grocery store?

And you thought that your music teacher would be best person to ask this of?

On sleep patterns...

My friend said she didn't fall asleep until 4am this morning... I commented about her being on Tokyo time (remembering this C&H strip)

Her response made me giggle:

No, I’m on rebellious time!

When an alarm goes off I get tired... Maybe I should set my alarm to go off when I want to go to sleep!

~The Little Ninja

Boys will be boys will be boys...

Boys in the back of the classroom slapping each other with rulers. I walk up to them: "Is it my turn to smack with you with those rulers? *raised eyebrow*

Boys: Sure!

Judging your character by your actions... and the instrument you play

*sorting papers*

...and of course I'm missing the baritone saxophone piece...

me: Why, is that the one you need?

*disparaging sigh* No, that's just the one that's ALWAYS missing, because bari-saxophone players are bad kids, bad children, just BAD!

*pause*

...terrible, terrible children! They use their music, they never turn it back in, and because of them parts are always incomplete!

*mutters* bad bad children...

*more muttering* Alto saxophone players too, sometimes they don't turn in their music as well... and those percussionists.

*shuffles papers*

And that my friends, is why you should always turn your music back in when you're done with it... Lest you risk the wrath of a music teacher, taking your name in vain, along with everyone else who plays the same instrument ;)

Musical idea inspires retro clarinet lamp

Check out what we made!

My friend had this wicked awesome idea for a clarinet that would cost more to fix than is currently worth it... so after multiple trips to the hardware store, and taking it apart and putting it together more times than I can count... it's ready!

Ta DA!!!!

Note that in this version the clarinet has not been modified in any way, so if at anyone is so inclined it can be repaired and used again. In another version though I would like to make one that has the light switch be one of the keys.

If you're so inclined, the gory details of the learning process are included here for your entertainment:

We left the mouth piece, and the next top section off as this seemed to be a better height. The piece from the lamp kit fits nicely inside once you've whittled it down a fair amount.

Spray paint the gold pieces before you put it together three or four times...  We found that leaving the flat bit out let the whole fixture nestle nicely in the neck of the clarinet and just felt more sturdy than having it perched on top.

Drilling through the case... I stand corrected, the drill bit will try to roll in the cotton batting, like it's so excited it's never seen cotton batting before roll in it, and then it will eat it all up.

And finally, after you've taken it apart and put it together "a few" times, make sure the light bulb is snugged all the way in before you despair that you've broken it or mis-wired something.

Look out for those little green leprechauns!

So my friend the music teacher had the kindergarten class today, and apparently they were a little riled up, what with it being St. Patrick's Day and all...

Her: I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with dime, and starts with an "L"

...at which point half the kids in the class yelled out "Leprechaun!!!"

Her: Hmm... No, leprechaun doesn't rhyme with dime.

I think what probably put them over the edge... was coming in to their classroom to find that a leprechaun had come and "trashed" the place in the middle of the night, leaving green sparkles and destruction everywhere he went. 

Tales of teaching kindergarten

Now anywhere the class, or a speaking student is indicated... you need to imagine it in a high pitched Cindy-Lou voice, from the original Grinch.

Teacher: Do you guys know Frosty the snow man?

Class: Yeah!!!

Teacher: Yeah? Okay let's sing it together!

Class: "Frosty the snow man... la... la.. humphumpa... hmm.. somethin'... la"

Hmm.

Teacher: Okay, how about we learn the actions that go along with it, to help you learn, and to remember the words.

... "with a corncob pipe" *mimes holding a pipe*

student: what's a pipe?

... "he was made of snow" *mimes packing a snowball*

*pause*

Teacher: You guys know what snow is right?

Class: yeaaahhh..?..

Teacher: Hold up your hands if you've *actually* seen snow.

... righhhht, we're in California, only the Korean kids have seen snow... 

*siigggghhhh*

Lesson with my 3rd grade trumpet student today...

Me: This next song is a duet.  What's a duet?

Student: It's when two people doooo it