Dr. Jonathan Sayre Allen – Trombonist and Teacher

Week two of school is wrapping up. After today I will have seen all of my students for this year at least once. There are certainly some promising students! It makes me reflect on my first semester of my freshman year at the University of Northern Colorado. I was really fortunate that Buddy Baker opted to take me on instead of putting me with the TA at the time. I am sure that I would have learned a lot from the TA, but to be able to study with that master of teaching in his final year prior to retirement was invaluable. I didn’t study with him long enough to memorize all of the “Buddy-isms”, but he was able to help me get a good, solid foundation that has served me well. I have been teaching for a while, but this seems to be the first that that it is “for keeps”, or so it seems. I hope that I can share things with these students that will help inspire and motivate as well as give a solid foundation for musical expression and the fundamentals of trombone playing.

• Triple check all paperwork is signed. There is a good chance that signing the same paperwork twice will not be enough for some reason.
• I never subscribed to the “stay up until midnight to register for classes”. I should have. Most semesters I have had a hard time getting my first choice in classes. This is completely my fault that I never learned from my mistakes.
• Your schedule will likely change about a dozen times in the first two weeks of school, so be flexible.
• Holidays, fall breaks, and spring breaks are meant to be breaks. Get papers and other work done before the break so that you can enjoy it. Telling yourself, “I will write that paper over spring break” is just a lie!
• Play the game. If I have learned one thing in my nine years of school, it’s that it is a very well choreographed dance. If you play by the rules, you can get through smoothly and without too much hassle.

These aren’t exactly “gems”, but just a couple of things that are on my mind as we enter the school year beginning tomorrow.

School starts tomorrow, so I am doing a brief review of Summer 2009.

We took a couple of days and went over to Chicago to visit Kate’s sister and her family. We spent part of Friday downtown checking out some sights, including Millennium Park and Michigan Avenue. Saturday was a little more relaxed. The boys had soccer in the morning and then went to see Pixar’s “Up!”. That was the second time for us, but it was even better than the first time! It was such a beautiful day outside that the kids were trying their hand at some bike riding. Grammie Hopkins was able to help teach Max how to ride a two wheeler for the first time and little Blythe just ate mud….. Fun trip!

Thumbs up! Max successfully rides his bike up and down the street without help!

Blythe eats mud..... and loves it!

This week was full of excitement, but not always the good kind!

This week we experienced:

Hard drive failure
Celebration Bridal Shoppe break-in
Motorcycle accident outside Celebration
Game night with neighbors (good excitement)
BBQ with church friends (more good excitement!)

It has been a fun/stressful/busy/crazy/sweaty(humid) week.

Cheers!