How Is A Blog Post Not Like A Memoir

Trigger warning: meta’ self-referential. You are warned.

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Reader, I’ve been thinking: maybe this blog is my practice memoir. Maybe these are all rough drafts that you’re slogging through (you and me both, baby, you and me both), and my best-selling memoir will spring forth fully formed and perfect in a decade or so. No need for an editor, I’ve had this GROUNDBREAKING blog to perfect all my ideas.

I love memoirs. Okay, to be fair, I love reading. Not being allowed to watch TV as a kid turned me into a reader, hard. As an adult, I read all kinds of books, but I really gravitate toward memoirs. I just find it so fascinating how people see themselves, and what they find worth reporting. It’s like the good parts of being at a bar with someone; the openness booze tends to encourage without (presumably) the lost train of thought, the 50% bullshitting, the uncontrolled emotions encouraged by said lubricant. 

It’s a little disconcerting, not knowing exactly what it is I’m writing about half the time. My bff/editor assures me that teaching is a theme that runs throughout. That’s good to hear, as I can’t even recognize it half the time. But then, teaching does saturate my life. I suppose I’m just used to seeing teaching blogs that are much more…specific. Here’s how to teach legato pedaling. Here are some practice techniques to help students memorize. Clearly, gentle reader, no such pearls will you find here. And speaking of pearls, the traditional classical realm would surely clutch theirs at my language.

So okay, why am I writing a blog? I love reading blogs. Cooking blogs, in particular. But really, even though I love to cook and sometimes cook recipes from cooking blogs, I really like the intro part. The part where they tell you what’s going on in their life when they found/developed/experienced this particular recipe. The memoir part of it.

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Side note. I don’t think writing cooking blogs, or other blogs, is easy. Writing is hard. Good writing is hard. On the other hand, when a blog is definitively about a specific topic, it does lend a certain cohesiveness. Food bloggers can always say ‘so anyway, this is what I’ve been cooking these days.’ I’m tempted do something similar, though certainly not always with food, and certainly not with my own recipes.

‘Anyway, this is what I’ve been reading today.’

‘Anyway, here is a picture of the hike I did today.’

‘Anyway, I made this for dinner and it turned out pretty damn well.’

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Oh, how about this?! Anyway, here’s what I worked on with my students today.

That might work. I imagine I could use the other things too, in a pinch. As long as we’re agreed that what I’m thinking about with teaching might have very little relevance to my PracticeMemoirIntro, it’ll all be fine. And really, it’s my blog, so I guess I’m allowed.

Let’s try.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about shifting focus in lessons. How every week, most students seem to have the same problems, across levels and age groups. I’m quite sure it’s not them, I place the blame squarely on the teacher. This week seems to be rudiments: chords and inversions. With the metronome, no less. Very salad-like, but like, a nice salad. It’s not like we haven’t done this before, but my students seems suddenly more attracted to this than they’ve been recently. Maybe it’s the Rona. The stability, the pattern, maybe those feel safe.