Miss, do you even know any music?

...or paraphrased in that manner. Anyway, subbing for my colleage involved conducting two different sets of brass/wind bands that consisted of highly questioning and/or defiant students of all levels. Fortunately, I have had experience conducting with our student choir at cegep (*snif* those were good times, good times). Unfortunately I have very sensitive ears.

But the questions in class were compounded with questioning my abilities. What to do, when half your class is staring at you and wondering if they should trust the non-music teacher to teach music?

So, following Scott's suggestion yesterday (which I will detail later), I went to school today with my violin. The kids didn't see it because I arrived early and hid it in the music room.

After another massively messy music manglement this morning, I had another 3 minutes before the class would shuffle off to their next class. So I calmly took out the violin, which caught the atteniont of a few curious students. The rest were starting to mill outside.

"Miss, play something!"

Ok. So I shakily played with the stiffest and least expressive wrist moments, the very basic of the basics, the Alphabet Song aka. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or Ah! vous dirai-je maman. A few of them politely clapped, while half of the students wilted from disappointment.

Then I started Bach's double violin concerto, in virtuoso. But much, much, faster.

I don't think I've ever heard my class quiet down as quickly as it did, nor did it stay through the bell as mesmerized.

I must have caused a bit of a stir because the teachers during lunch were asking me about what happened that caused their students to stay in class voluntarily.

---

Scott's freak-out plan was similar to this experience. He was teaching a typing class at school, and the students were asking him if he could type.

"Oh, show me where I put my fingers."

They watched with great patience, as he tapped each letter probably at the rate of granny on Sudafed.

"Wait, let me try practice more." Tap... tap...

Egging them on, "Let's do a race then."

So the kids sat at the keyboard, ready to laugh him into the dust. Suddenly, Scott speeds through test after test, at ~61 wpm. The kids never questioned him after that.