I am one of those people who felt drawn to an academic career because of the ever-changing variety inherent in teaching new classes on a new schedule while interacting with new people every few months. As the start of each new semester draws closer (in this case, Wednesday of this week), excitement with a bit of fear begins pulsating throughout my body and mind.
One of my rituals I perform at the start of each semester involves creating a new mix CD that I play for the first time as I drive to campus for the start of classes. Sometimes, my choices reflect a particular mood I have about the coming months. For the semester after my mother died, I filled the CD with songs from my childhood and adolescence, spending much of my twelve-mile commute thinking of her while remembering some of our best times together. For the semester in which I completed my tenure dossier, I filled the CD with songs about strength, while the CD for the semester after I earned tenure contained songs about joy and living life to its fullest.
Most of the time, though, I fill it with ordinary pop and dance songs. I am not a musical connoisseur in the slightest. In fact, music is the one area of pop culture when I tend to join the masses and learn all of the words to the latest top forty hits. I grew up with mindless pop music and continue to enjoy it. In fact, when I’m in my best moods, I’ll be one of those people you catch at stoplights singing along at top volume. A few years ago, I realized I was driving behind my college dean one day, and he must have seen me singing, complete with shoulder moves and head nods, whenever he looked in his rear-view mirror.
The image above is for this semester’s CD. It’s filled with a lot of ordinary songs I imagine will make many readers cringe. But they will put me in the right mood as I leave the comforts of home for what might be a nerve-wracking but hopefully also an energizing day on campus.
What would be on your CD this semester/quarter? And what other rituals other than the typical syllabus prep and such do you perform at the start of each academic term?
Comments
1. Brian Croxall - January 18, 2010 at 08:11 pm
Nels, I would love to get you to add the track list in a comment since the image isn't large enough for me to zoom in on and still see what you've got there.
I depend very much on music to get me going throughout the day. For the last two years, I've tried to begin classes with what I like to call "pump-up music." Sometimes that means it's what I'm listening to on my iPod on the way into class. Sometimes it means it's what I play on the classroom soundsystem while the students are coming in. I liken it to the songs that baseball players get when they are stepping up to the plate. Each of them have their own theme song. I'm lucky, however, in that I can change my theme song at will.
As I drew close to campus for the first day of classes (two weeks ago!), I found myself making a playlist of some of the crunchiest stuff I listened to over the last year: Japandroids,
2. Nels P. Highberg - January 18, 2010 at 08:40 pm
Brian, click on All Sizes above the photo, and you'll see the largest size. Mine is mostly cheesy pop songs you hear on the radio. When I play music at the start of class, I usually go ambient and play something like the Groove Salad radio station on iTunes. I'm more about calming things down at the start of class and getting us to focus. It's also what I sometimes play when there's time to work on group projects and the like.
3. Kaitlin - January 18, 2010 at 10:04 pm
It doesn't work if you click on the image in this post, but you can click on the "this semester's CD" link towards the end to see it.
I don't have a semester soundtrack, but I do seem to have songs that get me moving at the beginning and end of term. Last term it was Petra Hayden and Pomplamoose. This term it's Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" and Sergio Mendes' (with the Black Eyed Peas) "Mais Que Nada."
4. Nels P. Highberg - January 18, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Oh, yeah, you gotta click the link in the entry. Forgot that step. I put it there in the entry because I knew the image attached here would be small.
5. Brian Croxall - January 18, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Thanks, Kaitlin and Nels. I had missed that link. I give you points for Fever Ray, Matt & Kim, and La Roux, Nels.
6. Heidi - January 19, 2010 at 07:13 am
This is so great, right on my wavelength. I suppose it should speak volumes about me that my playlist for the semester includes Public Enemy's "Fight the Power!" and Eels's "Souljacker." Just some easy listening.
But I was so inspired that my warmup on the first day was to put students in to groups and ask them to tell about the "rock out" song that either inspired them to get to school today, or inspired them on another day. (Inevitably, a few students claimed never to have been inspired by a piece of music, but I asked them to tell about any other time they had been inspired....which, typically, was never, so they just missed out). But the cool part was listening to the students tell about the interesting music they listen to. I have to expand my horizons.
7. George H. Williams - January 19, 2010 at 09:27 am
Nels writes: A few years ago, I realized I was driving behind my college dean one day, and he must have seen me singing, complete with shoulder moves and head nods, whenever he looked in his rear-view mirror.
If I were your dean, I'd feel a certain satisfaction in seeing a faculty member behaving like a normal (and apparently joyful) human being. =D
Here's my Spring 2010 semester soundtrack, based on Yo La Tengo's "Mr Tough," from 2006's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.
8. Chris Forster - January 19, 2010 at 09:47 am
George, what a great list!
Like Brian, when a classroom has an audio system I often take advantage of it to play music during the "filing in, taking seats, fidgeting about, small talk" time before class starts. The music can provide a helpful transition to course material--before discussing Yeats and Irish Politics I've played Elvis Costello's "Oliver's Army" (the relevant Oliver being, of course, Cromwell--a good starting point for the 5 min. digest of Irish history necessary for Yeats); when doing the Auden's "Spain" I've opened with "Spanish Bombs." (I've contemplated playing The Smith's "Girlfriend in a Coma" before a discussion of Terri Schiavo, but fear that may be tasteless).
In fact, I've used the wonderful first verse from Case's "Star Witness" (with its condensed description of tripping and falling), which appears on your list, as the lead in to a discussion of imagism.
The music isn't central to the discussion, but often helps to spark discussion in those otherwise fallow moments before the hour (or 50 minutes) formally begins.
9. Chris Clark - January 20, 2010 at 06:05 pm
I like "That's Not My Name" by The Ting Tings; it reminds me about the importance of learning students' names. Then there's "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters. If students don't get enthusiasm from the professor, they're not likely to become engaged in the course.
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.