I am just home from our post-Eisteddfod debriefing meeting. It was all very lovely with food and drinks, if a little chilly sitting outside in our President's outdoor area. I am currently debating with myself if I will continue to coordinate the music eisteddfod through to 2011. When I first started in that role I was working casually and doing my PhD. My time was pretty much my own. I had few other responsibilities that couldn't wait for a week while I lived and breathed music eisteddfod. Nearly 10 years later, I am working full time, in a position of responsibility for the well-being of mature age students. It is difficult to take a week out of my job without taking about three weeks to catch up - on the mini staff and student crises, not to mention the load of email and associated tasks that it brings with it.
I believe in community cultural events like the eisteddfod. I grew up participating in them and believe I am a better person for having done so. I believe in their value for young people to learn about performance, goal setting, nerves, winning and losing gracefully and many other vital skills that seem to be disappearing from our culture. I also believe in the beauty of music and the transformational quality a growing appreciation of it can have on the whole of one's life, if it is studied from an early age. I too, have benefited immensely from that.
However, there are a few things I am less interested in, particularly when it comes to Eisteddfod meetings.
1. Talking about money and how much we do or don't have
2. Talking about tickets.....for years on end - how, why, and when we should sell them.
3. Talking about how much adjudicators cost - in travel, accommodation and expenses. You can't have an eisteddfod without one ( as I have pointed out many a time) so let's move on shall we.
4. Talking about anything to do with constitutions, rules, by-laws, risk management, insurance and the like.
What I am interested in is the following:
1. Giving Music Students An Opportunity to Perform in Public and Receive some Constructive Comments From an Expert.
It's not complicated.
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4 comments:
It sounds like that series John Cleese made about meetings, and having meetings about meetings. School was full of meetings where nothing was ever achieved. In the end I would volunteer to be in charge and then make people be decisive!!!
Wow, you had time off, in primary school you could never have time off unless you were a man and played cricket for Australia or Tasmania or were a coach.
yes it's exactly like that! the actual work gets done outside of the meetings :-)
i guess I would never have got any time off in a primary school...fail on all counts there!
Being the organiser for 10 years -- WOW!. Maybe it is time to take a different role in the organisation of the eisteddod. It certainly comes during our term and it does take a lot out of you. SO guess you have to weigh up the pros and cons. BUndy is lucky to have you in control.
I know...time has flown! I'm thinking maybe it's time for a change...something definite weighing up to do :)
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