Music Update

I got to play the Prelude from Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suite #2 at a talent show two weeks ago. I really think I need to be warmed up when I try to play Bach. It went okay. I felt it was a very mediocre performance. I have definitely played it better.

What I realized is that it was only the second time I have played solo in front of a large crowd of people (I think there were probably 200).

There’s this part in the piece where there is a grand pause… it is the only place in the piece where there is a rest, and it is for two whole beats. After I played the first beat, which was a chord, I was able to listen to the crowd and there was hardly a sound. It was so quiet that I actually heard one person say (under their breath) “wow!” I nailed that section and it felt really good!

I recently requested (through interlibrary loan) this bibliography of  compositions for the cello after 1960. I am fascinated.  There was (apparently) an explosion of pieces written in the 1900’s. I was looking for some good melodic solos to play. I’m working on the Appalachian Suite by Marc O’Conner for solo cello. It is a great piece, but slightly over my head. I can *almost* get all the notes. It still needs a lot of work though.

Preparing to Present

This is one of those days where I am glad that presentation deadlines are not like school assignment deadlines. Part of presenting (for the conference where I am presenting) is creating a handout for the attendees to reference. This particular conference offers presenters the opportunity to submit up to a four-page handout to be included in the conference notebook. This is a good idea for a number of reasons:

1. Presenters do not have to worry about taking copies (or making copies) to hand out.
2. Attendees have a better chance to gauge whether or not they will get something out of a particular presentation.
3. For those who have to decide between attending two sessions that are being offered at the same time, the information provided can still be referenced when the conference has ended.
4. All the handouts go into the conference binder rather than being handed out as loose-leaf pages; this is better for organizational purposes because people will have all the supplementary materials for all the sessions in one location.

Well, the handouts are also due before the conference starts so that the organizers have time to print them all up and stick them in the conference notebook.

So far, this summer for me has been busy. I have been training two new student workers, and I have had to pick up the slack due to their inexperience. Not that I mind. But this has limited some of my ability to work on things such as my conference handout. I had been thinking about it, but had not put anything together. Well, the deadline for turning in the handout was yesterday, and yup, I’m a slacker. Because of all the other things I had to do yesterday, I was not going to be able to finish a handout, so I had decided not to worry about it and maybe just bring some copies of something with me to the conference.

This morning in my email at just after 7am, there was a note from the presentations coordinator RE: Last call for handouts!

The deadline was extended until 5pm this evening. Because a grace period was extended, I quickly did some research and managed to create a bibliography for my presentation; complete with examples, articles, and web resources.

As I turned in my handouts, I sent a note of thanks to the coordinator for extending the deadline. Now my attendees will have some extra resources to reference if they feel so inclined.

I do wish this conference would consider having people post these kinds of things to the conference website, and maybe they will and I just do not know it yet.

Paneling

I was honored to be asked to be on a panel about mentoring at a small library conference I’m attending this summer. One of the keynote speakers will be presenting a paper about mentoring, and after the paper, I will have four minutes to speak about my experiences. I am new to the library profession so I’m probably going to be speaking more about being mentored since I have not really mentored anyone.

Without having really looked at any of the research, I would say that a mentor is someone who offers their experience and advice to those who are still learning. Mentors/those being mentored can be any age, but usually the mentors have more experience.

When I think about a formal mentoring relationship, I would expect that a mentor (for me) would be someone that I could go to for advice about how I can be more successful at my job. It would be someone I respected and wanted to learn from. I should be able to go to this person with questions without feeling stupid or dumb for asking. Ideally, it should be someone outside of where I work, so that if sensitive issues arise, I would be able to talk with someone about the situation (without being gossipy) to help me figure out the best course for action (or inaction as the case may be).

In thinking about my experiences, I’ve realized that I have several people that I go to for advice and I’m lucky that I have many people like this in my life. All my relationships are more informal, but I know that no matter where I work, I would be able to go to these people for advise and wisdom on a variety of topics. It also helps to have someone to talk over ideas for solving problems as well as implementing really cool new ideas. The wisdom of experience can offer a pragmatic reality check. Definitely handy for countering potential problems.

I’m curious… how many people would say that they have a mentor or that they have mentored someone? Was it a positive experience?

I would hazard to guess that the experience is almost always positive, but I’m guessing also that some people have had some bad experiences as well.