The lazy teacher and the greatest entertainer

[jbuck919]

I did a half day for a middle school music teacher yesterday. Queensbury NY has some music program. Remember, this is a middle school (grades 6-8), and they have an orchestra room, a band room, a chorus room, a music instruction room, and four teachers to cover all of this. I could have done the teacher's lessons. I've done it before, even managing the instrumental conducting ("Surely papa, one doesn't have to study to play second violin"), but it's exhausting, and I had already had a rough morning covering for something else in Hudson Falls. (Why eighth graders need to know about job interviews is beyond me, except that most of what is expected of employees is the same as what is expected of schoolkids.) Since the teacher never knows whether the substitute is qualified, I just let them watch the video o the recent movie musical The Greatest Entertainer, which is a rather bad do-up of the life and career o P.T. Barnum. The most painful segment was Jenny Lind making her New York debut with Barnum as impresario. Of course, the actress belted out some pop/show-music-number not hinting in any sense at the artistry Lind must have brought to that performance. If there had been time, I would have shown them what a real operatic soprano can accomplish. For some reason, the number that came to mind was this, with this soprano. I think the kids would have been impressed and gotten the point.