Back into the swing of things.

With the commencement of Term 3 cometh the re-commencement of teaching. The period of a two week break where students regain at least 30 hours per week of not having to attend school will bring about a realisation of whether or not students have used the time to practice and keep up their skills. Especially since there are some who have examinations in just under four weeks!

But what about their teacher? How exactly have I spent my holidays?

First of all, the time off has been well spent with my own son. Bennett is now crawling and really starting to interact now with Emelia (my wife) and I. And not only are we starting to be terrorised by the crawling and having to make sure things are out of reach, but Bennett has started to do some clapping now. It's simply amazing how much babies are quickly capable of learning and how curious and keen they are that they simply want to explore.

My sister-in-law, Eloise, and her fiancee Simon tied the knot in a heart-warming ceremony located at the top of a scenic, yet at times freezing, mountain top. Very interesting times for our family as we had to adapt with Emelia being around Bennett less often since she was involved with being in the wedding party. That meant I had to contain the young son, keep him entertained, and make sure he wasn't as vocal during the ceremony. For some families moving between the wedding ceremony and dealing with children, we all did rather well.

Downstairs is finally being sorted as we work out what to keep and throw away. This is quite exciting for us because not only will we sort out some boxes that haven't been touched for six years, but also it means I have some space to sort out the piano to finally take some footage of it in its reconditioned state.

On the teaching front I wasn't contacted much for lessons in the holidays. I'm hoping students have practiced hard and are feeling extremely confident of achieving very good marks. This meant I could work on some projects of my own. Recordings are becoming an integral part of student learning these days as more people take to video and sound web sites. For my own students I've had the opportunity to make some of my own recordings of their technical or solo pieces. With the technology we have these days more students should be looking at recording themselves and listening to how they play their music.

A few compositions are in the mix at the moment. I still have some works I commenced many years ago that I am revisiting every now and then. Main works I'm working on currently include...

• ...a five movement program work for one of my students for alto sax and piano. The storyline is based around someone taking a bus ride, and then find that their trip is hijacked resulting in a "bus chase". And no, it isn't based off or related to any past movie where my doppleganger is involved (some people will get this joke).
• ...a study for bass clarinet with dubstep influence. This was commenced last year, and I am hoping to pick up on it further with a bit more time and inspiration up my sleeve.
• ...a duet for alto sax and marimba in a similar style to serial composition. I am currently aiming to make this as complex as possible yet feasible for an audience to listen to.

And finally, the constant research and development of furthering teaching technique and strategies. You always learn new strategies whether it is through research, discussion, or even by chance through conversation with other people.

Now it's time for me to get back on the road and keep students on track.