Fall 2019 was a challenging semester.
I think I taught alright—none of my classes were new preps. There was just a bunch of it. To recap:
NDSU: MUSC 189: Skills for Academic success, or “how to be a music major”. 1 credit.
NDSU: MUSC 331: Instrumental Arranging. 2 credits.
NDSU: MUSC 385: Music Entrepreneurship. 3 credits.
NDSU: Composition lessons: this semester I had a studio of 6.
NDSU: NICE (NDSU Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship) Faculty Fellowship.
NDSU: Freshmen composition projects.
VCSU: MUS 120: Comp 1: 15 students. (Online lectures)
VCSU: MUS 220: Comp 2: 10 students. (Masterclass format, new this semester.)
VCSU: MUS 320: Comp 3: 3 students (including one doing a composition capstone project.)
VCSU: MUS 302: Advanced Scoring and Arranging: 5 students, for a total comp studio at VCSU of 33.
Again, no new preps, but just A LOT of moving parts. And that’s not including my composition or technology work.
A couple of things became very clear through this process: the first is that there are some things I need to tighten up in my syllabus if I have any hope of giving timely feedback, and the second is that my teaching philosophy and my assignments don’t always match up.
Luckily Spring 2020 is going to be lighter, which is great because next fall likely won’t.
