It has to be the best part of the conferences: meeting the actual students who are using Discovering Music. Increasingly, families are coming up and introducing themselves like this: “Hi, we’re the XYZ’s, and these are our kids. . . .”

Usually the kids are shy.  Sometimes they seem a bit shocked to see me in person, especially if I’m wearing one of the same brightly colored blouses I wore on screen.

This shyness surprises me, because they’ve spent hours with me — albeit as a two-dimensional teacher on screen who jumps around, waves her hands, and does everything possible to convey the story of the arts within Western Culture.  But, truth be told, I’m more animated in person.  I know, that’s scary!

Shy or not, we’re a team, these families and I.  That’s how it seems to me.  We’re all taking this voyage through history together, with the Arts as our rudder.

Now I have to tell you how lovely it is when the kids from last year come up.  These were the families who implemented Discovering Music right after it came out. These kids have grown a head-and-a-half and their smiles are big, probably because they know I won’t bite!  They tell me things about their study: which units they’ve found most interesting, what pieces have been their favorites, and, sometimes, which painter or writer was their most surprising “discovery.”  It’s just wonderful.

To all of you at the conferences, please know just how rewarding it is to be a “vendor.”  I love to scan the room, watching parents and children explore, discuss, and confer about curriculum.  It takes me back to a magical moment in summer 2008, when I realized I wanted to create a curriculum that approaches Music and the Fine Arts through history, geography, literature, technology, and every other subject I could think of!

I’ll tell that story in a future post.