As I enter my first spring in Ireland, I can’t help but reminisce over where I was this time last year. Looking back at April of 2023, I had completed my Senior Comprehensive Presentation for the Saint Mary’s College Music Department, finished my final weeks of student teaching, conducted spring concerts at Penn and Saint Mary’s and was headed into my last week of undergraduate exams. I remember the stress of tests and performances leading up to graduation and the anticipation of my departure to Dublin. Oh, what a difference a year can make!
Fast forward to April 2024, I am conducting my own primary school choir that did not exist in April 2023. In March, the 6th class made their confirmation. Although the weeks leading up to the confirmation mass became hectic with rehearsals, finalizing details, and preparation of music, it was all worth it to lend a hand in making the day so beautiful for the confirmadi and their families. As I conducted the final hymn of mass, I looked up to see 70+ smiling faces singing their hearts out and realized we had made a difference. The girls now have an opportunity to sing in a choir, which is something they may have never thought they would enjoy so much. Who knows! Maybe we have some future music educators singing in the gallery! I now look back on the Meag who was so happy to hand in her last final, sing her last jury, and read the reviews of her senior comp. If only I could tell her, “the best is yet to come!” (Which hopefully means more sunny days in Dublin☺️)
