Thursday, October 1, 2009

Disposition 4

Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. -W.B Yeats

Can you think of a time when you became more interested in a subject because of a teacher's enthusiasm?

As a high school sophomore, I was a member of my high school's chamber choir. Our director, Michael Shafer, changed my life forever. None of us knew much about him, and he was a really explosive, polar person. At first I was not a fan of him, I even thought he effected our choir negatively. Come time for our winter concert, our choir had never sounded better. Through all of my reactions to him, I failed to see the effects he was having on our sound. We grew together vocally and through our many conversations and experiences with our director.

We all changed together. Once we (including the director) knew that everyone way in it for the music, we were free to pursue it wholeheartedly. We connected not only with each other, but with our audiences. I naturally rose to leadership roles, and through them I got to know my director much more. We regularly spoke about his goals for us, issues within the group, musical selections, and other choral matters. I understood so well what he put into our choir, and wanted to do the same. We continually challenged each other and have become very good friends. I chose Luther College simply because I CRAVED choral excellence. I came here as a hopeful vocal education major and now have added on instrumental. This instructor has made an ever lasting impression on who I am and will be, simply because he shared his passion with me.

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