stories from the music room.

today at school, as i was teaching my kids the actions to "this little light of mine," i had an itch on my nose. so in the middle of the word "shine" as we were shaking our jazz hands and giving spirit fingers, i quickly took my left hand, made a v-line for my face, and satisfied the little itch on my nose, before we were even done with the "iiiiiiiine" part of shine. what did my little korean kids do? at the very moment my left hand left shaky-shaky jazz position, 7 little korean right hands (i was facing them) left shaky-shaky jazz position and made a v-line to 7 little korean faces and 7 little korean noses were scratched all before we were done with "iiiiiiiine" part of shine. their ability to imitate is quite comical. or maybe frightening. i realized as the class went on that they do everything i do. when we did the "i chant a line, you repeat me" part of learning the song, i stopped and told naughty little min gyu next to me to "please stop slapping my knee" and got 7 little koreans saying "peas sup sapo mah nu." so much power rests in my hands.

i also realized today that teaching kids is a real boaster on the self-esteem. to begin each class we sing the hello song. "hellooooo, everybody. so glad to see you. helloooooo, everybody, so glad to see you. hellooooooo to hyo shin. so glad to see you. helloooooo to hyeon min. so glad to see you..." and i continue to sing hello to each student. every class, i do the last 3 or 4 in really strange voices like opera or growly or kermit-the-frog-ish. and they know it's coming every time. and they wait and wonder which name will get it this time and they look at me with eyes full of anticipation and the very moment i become an opera singer or kermit the frog or a growly man with a deep voice, they throw their hands back and laugh and laugh and roll on the ground and pound their fists on the floor like they just saw an old lady run naked in the snow. being hillarious has never been so effortless.

to top of our end of the week, mary whipped out a tube of bright red lipstick she had in her purse and we taught our last hour and a half with a thick layer of the most redest of red lipsticks you've ever seen coating our lips. (actually, i was the only one who kept it on the whole time... the others are all weak...) i cannot explain the uproar of my students! like there was nothing more ridiculous than a white teacher with red lips. like the world was ending! like they had never seen something so outrageous! so proposterous! so to settle them down i grabbed one of the girls and gave her a big kiss on her cheek. ya, that really settled them down.

working with kids is such a trip.