One of my Musical Influences has Passed

Mrs. Gloria W. Crabb, who I named in one of my earlier blogs as one of my musical influences has passed. Mrs. Crabb was the Director of the Children's Choir, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Sandusky, Ohio. She gave me my first solo in the choir "God Gave Me A Song (That the Angels Cannot Sing). She was very encouraging, telling all of us to do our best for the Lord. She put up with us children even when we acted up, but she made us do right. I grew up listening to her beautiful organ and piano playing, that I took piano lessons and eventually played at church, but nothing like her style. It truly was a gift. I have numerous recordings of her playing while I sang solos and different songs she played for church service. If you never heard her play, you truly missed some beautiful music.
On Wed January 20, 2010 the most talented and most wonderful person whom I loved dearly, lost her battle with lung cancer. She was 76. I knew she was sick, but I had no idea until a church friend told my mother that she was placed in hospice and that nothing else could be done for her.

Every time I go home to Ohio to visit, I make it a special point to rehearse and sing/ play piano with the choirs that I had joined before coming back to Atlanta. On Sundays when I first arrive to Sandusky before choir rehearsals for the week begin, I always go to the choir stand and greet the members to let them know I was back home, making sure I see Mrs. Crabb. Well the last time I went to the choir stand to say hello, she seemed standoffish, spoke her hello, and quickly left. I really thought that was strange for her to do, and as I was greeting the other members, that thought remained in my mind, although I didn't tell anyone but my mother who was in Mississippi at the time.

A church friend remembers seeing Mrs. Crabb before she found out why she was sick, that she would be so exhausted walking in and around church, pausing to catch her breath a lot!

Although some people knew of her illness, it was really kept quiet and many people do that, for reasons I do not know. I would ask those who know me to keep me in their prayers, but only they know why they keep silent. My uncle "Kike" just died Friday morning 2/26/10, and he wasn't telling how bad he was feeling either.I will miss him.

I will miss her everyday. Mrs. Gloria Crabb.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAM 2/26/10

Here @ Long, the orchestra has been preparing for our Black History Month Program. It was wonderful to see all 3 grade levels react history and dress out in skits. The band did a great job playing "Dirty Diana"and When The Saints Go Marching In", the chorus performed "I'll Be There" and "Didn't My Lord", and the orchestra performed" We Shall Overcome",and I must say we, the orchestra did a great job! The programs happened 3 times, once for each connections class, so by the end of the day I was exhausted!!! The first time we performed, we fell apart slightly because the lower voiced instruments were going too slowly! They have got to learn to listen across the sections. They all do! At times the violins wanted to slow things down as well.

I thought to have a small chamber group perform the selection in the hallway as each grade level assembled in the gym. Strangely, I instructed the students that we would be performing 3 times, and that my chamber group would be performing in the halls first, and would be quickly returning to sit with the rest of the orchestra, but they kept asking me would they have to perform for each connections time? Didn't get that, but they really enjoyed the all day camaraderie and the orchestra celebration at the end of the day!

The CWLONG MIDDLE SCHOOL ORCHESTRA IS MOVING FORWARD IN ALL DIRECTIONS: WE ARE NOT JUST STANDING STILL

Finally a reality for me! I have been teaching for 15 years here in APS, and I have struggled to get my kids in the past to buy their own method book( before the textbook adoption), buy rosin, that t-shirts was just a dream.

This year, I composed a 5 Point Orchestra Focus plan that I shared with my principal, making t-shirts, rosin and a few other things MANDATORY. It has worked. I got my parents to buy into the orchestra program, get the kids practicing more at home, and doing fundraisers because I had planned to take the kids to Disney( but somehow, that fell through??!!).

But we were able to purchase not one shirt, but TWO!! A grey t-shirt that says " The Crawford Long Orchestra is moving forward in all directions. We are not just standing still", the other is a long sleeve polo where our logo will be placed. And every child has his/her own rosin. I am soooo excited!

Holiday Performance CW Long Orchestra

Hello! It has been a while, but I have lots to say! The CW Long Orchestra, under my direction has worked diligently to prepare for our holiday program at the school. I had a total of 56 members, mostly from the 6th grade. The majority of my musicians were violinist. The 2nd largest group is the cello section. The viola and bass are rather small. The selections we performed were "Do You Hear What I Hear?", "March of the Metrognome", and "Bloosy Woosy". We performed 3 days in a row: Tuesday December 15, 2009, for the parents @6:00pm, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 for the student body, and Thursday, December 17, 2009, @ Southlake Mall, Morrow, Ga.

A major challenge is motivating my kids to see an actual future in strings. I know that music will be somewhere in their lives, but because they are so young, their interests may change and that's okay. It is also a challenge to settle the students down, stop chasing each other and being silly in a room full of costly equipment, to be little performers who understand they represent the school in a major way and that all eyes are on them and it is important how their audience perceives them. They still want to chew gum, talk loudly and frolic. I stress to them,"...The way they rehearse will be the way they perform. So is it important enough for you that your audience boast on the good you do, or talk negatively about how poorly you do?"