| IN PROGRESS - OLD SURVEY |
[10 Aug 2008|02:29am] |
What is your name? James Connor King.
How old are you? I just celebrated my 31st birthday a month ago. I would like to go on record and state that turning 31 is nothing exciting, trust me. It's true what they say about every birthday after 21 being a drag.. My 30th was pretty snazzy, but I feel like everyone celebrates 30 so enthusiastically just to prove that birthdays can still be enthralling after 21. They're wrong. It didn't work. On my 21st, I spent a full week not knowing my own name. A week. I don't think I'll ever feel young or spry enough to do that again.
What type of house do you live in? I live in a one bedroom condo. I did live with my ex-girlfriend in a larger house just a year ago, but situations changed. It's a tiny place and I actually ended up selling most of my old furniture because paying a storage fee for a lot of things I probably won't need or even like in a few years seemed silly. It's just me and my cat, so I don't really need a lot of space. Unfortunately, my baby grand had to be moved to our music hall at the school because I just couldn't sell or store it without being wracked with guilt. I can only keep the upright piano in the house now. Even with that, things still feel a little cramped from time to time. I'm sort of a pack rat by nature. I hoard things. Then every few months I clean out and get rid of over half the junk I've accumulated and wonder why I ever found most of it interesting. It's an entertaining process though.
Who are the members of your family? What are they like? What do your parents do? My parents are Lane and John King. They are both retired. My father was a pilot for US Airways for 30 years, before that he was in the military for about 25 years. My mother, amazing woman that she is, graduated college at the age of 45. She was a homemaker for years while my Dad was in the military and flying around the world. During those years she became sort of notorious for her mad baking skillz and finally started up her own bakery. For some reason she felt like she should have the documentation to prove that she was a stellar business woman (Even after running the place smoothly for 15 years with only a high school education). So, she went to college and earned a degree in business management, once she didn't have a son, a daughter, and a husband to "take care of".
There's also my sister rounding out our immediate family, Grace. She's two years older than me, but people often assume our birth order is reversed after seeing us. Grace is a Pediatrician. She lives in Boston with her husband Joel (Anderson) and my two nephews Blake and Corey. Grace and I have always got along pretty well. Every set of siblings have their moments, of course, but for the most part we survived childhood without any major wars or amputations. My mother is very appreciative of her mild mannered children, I'm sure, seeing as how she had to deal with us by herself most of the time.
Where were you born? In Cape Cod actually. Born and raised. We spent a few years living in Boston, while Dad was mostly flying out from there, but they decided to move back down to Cape Cod after a while. Apparently the public schools there weren't the safest or nicest and Mom wanted us to be close to family if we were going to be without Dad most of the time. I love it here. It wasn't that I didn't like Boston though, or what I remember of it. I just like the atmosphere here much more. I've always been a small town guy rather than a city man. Even when I went to college in Boston, most of my money was spent on transportation to come back home.
How did you come to teach at Ivy Grove? How long have you been working here? I've been teaching here for about 4 years now. I didn't feel completely comfortable coming in as a new music teacher my first year. I'd known that I'd be taking the job about a year in advance, as the old instructor was leaving, so I made arrangements to sit in for most of the year before, working as the instructor's assistant. In that time I came to love the place and the students more than I had anticipated. So, by the time classes started that fall, I was pretty excited about having my own students. I should say that I was so nervous because it was my first time teaching a full class load on my own. After college, I was a T.A. in Boston (at a public school) and worked with their music program closely, but it didn't really give me a huge amount of responsibility. I was instructing the Elementary school's music program the next year, while still working with the Jr. High and High School's instructors, for the experience. Working with the Elementary aged kids was probably the most fun I've ever had. They're all so new and enthusiastic about every thing dealing with music, because it was (for the public school kids) the first time they'd received any real "instruction" or education concerning the music they'd been hearing all their lives. All of a sudden it wasn't just a sound coming out of the t.v. or a radio, it was tangible, something they could make and do themselves. It was a really wonderful experience. Priceless.
What is the object in your bedroom that you love most? I have to say that I am fairly attached to a trumpet that I have, that was signed by Wynton Marsalis. One of the community projects we did at TBC involved organizing a charity event with the kids of public schools in the area. Through some miracle (and help from some alum) I was actually able to get him to come and play for the kids and talk to them about music, etc. There was also an auction of donated music memorabilia and my Dad bid on and won his signed trumpet to give to me. It was all kinds of cool.
What object is in your closet that you never use but don't want to part with? Well, it would be easier to tell you what is in my closet that I do use. Like I mentioned, I collect a lot of junk and riff raff that I never use, can't use, or just forget to use, so there are a lot of things like that in my closet. I would be more appropriate to call my closet a really small room, that also holds a few of my clothes. Off the top of my head, I think there are two boxes of spare brake pads in there for my old car, a 96 Land Rover. ...I sold that car three years ago. Why do I still have brake pads for it? God only knows. I have a Volvo now, and there's absolutely no use for them. For some reason, and this will sound ridiculous, I know - I fear that maybe one day I'll actually need them for something and then I'll have thrown them out or something and be disappointed. It's nonsense, yes. I could easily just buy new ones if that was ever the case, and I know there's a snowball's chance in hell of that scenario actually happening, but that's just me. That's pretty much the only explanation I could offer for any of the millions of things I own but don't need and haven't gotten rid of.
Where did you go to college? I attended The Boston Conservatory of Music. I completed the 5 year course for Music Education (M.M.), though I started out with just Piano Performance.
How did you decide to become a teacher? I honestly can't remember a definitive moment where I suddenly decided that I would be a teacher. I really just wanted to be a concert pianist, or performer. At least I thought I did. I was pretty sure up until my second year of college. I think it was mostly due to being a part of so many different community outreach/preserve the arts type of projects that showed me how fulfilling teaching would be. Surprisingly, teaching someone anything about music felt a million times better than the applause of an audience to me. Wow, that sounds so...fake and Miss America, doesn't it? But, it's true. I swear to you. I've always been more susceptible to heart swelling and warm fuzzies than I ever was to having my ego stroked. True story.
What do you teach? Foundations of Music (I - IV) and AP Music. The courses are general sort of music instruction but they encompass a little bit of everything. Theory, audiation, performance, composition, aural skills/ear training, etc.
Do you have a favorite student? That's sort of an unfair question. I never really liked the notion of showing favoritism with children. At this stage in their lives, the last thing they need is another person (an adult especially) judging them. Praise is a different thing and something I like to give in large volumes. No matter what a kid does, musically, I always try to find something to praise.
What about a least favorite student? Again, see the above answer. Of course, no one likes certain types of students, but fortunately when you teach an elective students are generally there by choice. It's a thousand times easier to teach students who are willing to learn and eager to learn.
How do you feel teaching at Ivy Grove matches up against teaching at public schools? Well, the first thing I notices was how well equipped the school was - in terms of supplies, resources, instruments, space, etc. Of course, that's the biggest thing because it's all funded by tuition and fees. At some public schools you're lucky to get maybe 60 course books for your entire school year, meaning each kid has to share them with about 15 other students and no one can take them home to practice or study. The biggest challenge was actually getting instruments in the hands of students. Most of them couldn't afford them and there are even some schools that had to turn away students who couldn't provide their own instruments, because there just wasn't enough funding to help them out. Teachers would come out of their pockets and pull every string they could and still come up short sometimes. So, in short, money is the biggest defining factor I've seen and sadly it makes all the difference sometimes. Don't get me wrong...I'm glad to actually be able to teach in an environment where we don't really have to worry about any of that, where funds aren't low and resources are bountiful because that just gives me and the students more room to work and barely any limits. I can't really say that I prefer either to be honest. I mean walking into the music center here was like a teacher's wildest dream, but at the same time it's completely satisfying to bring music to kids who may never have had the chance otherwise. There are pros and cons for both.
What was the happiest day of your life? So far? Graduating college was pretty high up there. God, it just felt great to be done, but not in a "Oh, I was so ready for that to be over" kind of way, you know? I would have happily stayed at the Conservatory for another few years, but it was awesome to just complete that chapter of my education and know that I was on my way to passing it on. My first real piano performance was very exciting as well. Performing will always be something I love, even if it's not my main priority. It's just another way to share and appreciate music.
What event made a lasting impression on you? When I was 18 my father's plane technically "crashed" over land. He was flying a Cessna Citation VII for some ridiculously wealthy couple who were going to Philadelphia for a weekend. I remember sitting in Chemistry class, and it was around our last few weeks of school before graduation. I got called to the office and my Mom and sister were sitting with the Principal and crying. We went home and she explained, but everything was such a blur. Even after we found out that he was alive and not badly hurt, it was still just a surreal experience. He and the co-pilot walked away with just cuts and bruises, one broken leg. The two passengers made it out okay as well, with a few broken bones and some scrapes, but it definitely changed my life a little. Sort of like a reminder of how easily life can be lost, with no warning.
I suppose I'd always had it in the back of my head that maybe something like that could happen to Dad, that he might go away for a weekend and not come back, but as a kid you just don't put much stock into that. You think your parents will live as long as you do, or at least you hope. There's no way to conceptualize that sort of loss until you're actually faced with it.
What is your favorite saying? I've always liked "If music be the food of love, play on." The idea that music feeds love makes sense and Shakespeare is sexy. Come on.
What is your favorite hobby? Playing piano, if you can really call it a hobby. It's more of an obsession. Perhaps passion sounds better? I'm surrounded by music and I love it so all my favorite hobbies involve it. Listening to records, composing, seeing live music. I have other hobbies too, of course. My Dad is teaching me how to fly small aircrafts, which is thrilling and frightening all at once. I used to have a bit of a phobia of flying but I've been getting over the past few years. I'm also into vintage cars now. Another hobby Dad led me to. ...re-reading all that makes me look even more boring, but I have fun, really.
Are you married? Do you want to get married? Any kids? No, yes, and ...what? No, I don't have any kids. Yes, I would like some eventually. My ex girlfriend was the closest I ever came to getting married. I didn't propose or anything, but we'd been dating for three years, moved in together, etc. I'm a bit of a serial monogamist, so this is the longest I've ever been single, but it's not so bad. I have more time to write.
What did/would the yearbook say about you? When I was in high school it would have just listed my name and all the extracurriculars I was in. That's probably the only notable thing about me. I played percussion in the concert band (snare), but I'd been taking piano lessons since I was eight. I was in the drumline with the marching band, and playing a kit in the jazz ensemble, sometimes piano or keyboard.
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