Thursday, July 24, 2008

Job Search Surprises

Wouldn't you know it? There's an opening in an unexpected place. I met the choir teacher last year that got the job I wanted. After talking to her and hearing of her discontent with her position, it sounded like we should switch jobs. She had a more classical background and the kids were used to doing musicals and pop. I have a classical backgraound, but I also love--I mean really love--musicals and pop. It's perfectly legitimate to me to use pop songs to get kids interested in singing. Unfortunately, at my present job, they hated everything I was trying. They didn't realize how good they sounded singing songs from Grease because they thought they didn't sound as good as they used to. It's true, they didn't, but they still sounded good. If only they had given it a chance!! In any case, maybe we will end up switching jobs! Or not. It all remains to be seen. Last year I didn't even get an interview.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope it works out for you to switch jobs. It sounds perfect. On the other hand, I wish your students would appreciate your approach. I would much rather hear songs from Grease than classical music.

AJ Harbison said...

Hi MissD! AJ from choral conducting here. I definitely sympathize with the difficulty of finding a job--it took me six months and I still couldn't find a music position. But I enjoy the job I have now and I'll continue to compose on the side.

When I was in the Men's Chorus at CSUF and Jesse Knowles was the conductor, he gave us a good deal of pop and musical stuff, and I loved it--it was often easier to get the guys interested in that than in classical. We even did an a cappella rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody one semester, which was awesome.

Good luck in your job search!

AJ
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