The title tells you everything you need to know. This week was all about trying to outrun the Typhoid Marys and Typhoid Charlies that roamed the halls of the music building this week. Everyone went on choir retreat together last weekend. Everyone came home with various types of crud. No one wanted to stay home and not spread their cooties! I managed to stay out of the grips of the plague until Friday afternoon. Of course, my students managed to ruin my weekend as well. I love them dearly! (The dripping sarcasm is completely intentional.)
As is normally the case, when I don’t feel well, my reading takes a hit. Thankfully, I was able to keep things under control with a few days of cold medicine and maintained my streak of consecutive days of reading. Nothing was finished this week, but I’ll take the small victory of reading through the congestion when what I really wanted to do was binge watch another episode of Scandal.
What I’m Currently Reading
As Sure as the Dawn by Francine Rivers (p. 220 of 473). Atretes and his child are now attempting to leave Rome, but their efforts may be thwarted by a manic Emperor who simply wants to show his power over the former Gladiator. Atretes is fueled by anger, but his heart is pierced as he hears the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans and the tenderness of Rizpah, the woman who has raised his child since birth. This final volume in the Mark of the Lion trilogy is definitely more character driven than the previous books. I’m not sure how I feel about Rivers’ portrayal of this man who has risked everything for his freedom. I’m finding myself almost making appointments with the novel rather than simply being drawn into its pages.
No Book Beginners: A Step-By-Step Framework for Creative Piano Teaching by Tim Topham (p. 80 of 194). This is proving to be a challenging, thought-provoking read for me. Topham essentially argues that the reason students do not excel in piano study and end up hating it is because we force them to read music before we allow them to fall in love with the language. The point has some validity and needs further study. However, I’m not sure that every teacher has the skills needed to incorporate the improvisation and composition required to follow Topham’s method. In all fairness, I am just getting into the portion of the conversation that truly lays out Topham’s plan in sequence, so I am making assumptions about what is required. I am being very methodical and taking copious notes as I read the work because I want to be able to recall the ideas and communicate them clearly to others when I’m done. With a very busy week ahead, I don’t know that I will have much time to devote to this more academic reading assignment this week, but I certainly plan to continue reading and considering the argument.
That’s what I’ve got this week. Now, back to the books!
~Kennith
Reading for Me 
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