Topic of the Day:
Elementary School - I did rather well in all subjects. However, that seemed to change once I got to...
High School: My favorite subject was Band/Music/Choir (naturally), but I also liked my sophomore year Sociology (Fr. Luis Valdivieso) and English (Mr. Johnson) classes, and my Junior year Government (Sr. Maureen Christopher) class. Oh, and my two years of French (Mme. Pereira and Mrs. Edmonson).
However, Physics and AP History (there was just way too much reading to do - and I was taking AP English at the same time) did me in. -In fact, and I'm surprised I'm willing to admit this publicly, I failed AP History. BUT, I did get an "A" when I made up the class during summer school. So there!
College: Again, I loved my music classes - with the possible exception of the Music History component of the core curriculum - the teacher was just sooooo dry and uninvolved - there was too much emphasis on memorizing dates and places, rather than concepts and ideas. We truly just had to read the book (the classic Grout and Palisca), and show up and take the tests to pass the class.
My favorite class was Song Literature (Melanie Kohn-Day). A truly wonderful class - a great teacher, a great curriculum, and it was interactive. The class was geared toward Vocal Performance majors, and they would learn three or four songs each semester as "live" examples of what we were studying. Since I was a pianist, Melanie coached me as a pianist - playing for my classmates every now and then. However, there were a few times when I would also get to sing in the class. I think I still remember Ives' "Ann Street". And I also had one of those racy Campion songs - I remember not being able to keep a straight face while singing the refrain, "Cherry ripe."
Alas, the bane of my college academic career was Calculus. -Well, I had tested into that level Math class, so... And, heck, I just needed one math class to fulfill that requirement. Well... After two dubious attempts to complete and pass the class, I finally "regressed" and took the College Algebra class. It was a lab, which meant that you could basically take the class at your own pace. So... After getting the basic formulas back in my head, I finished the class in about three weeks!
Lesson learned: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
Oh, and there was also a required Large Ensemble (choir, band, etc.) component. I liked singing in the choir, but the extra time involved for rehearsals and the concerts really got to be a pain, especially towards the end of the Fall semesters with all the Christmas concerts (and final exams!). So, since we were required to take five semesters of Large Ensembles, I took my final Choir "class" during summer session - four weeks, one concert. Easy peasy!
