Merry St Patrick's Day! Bejaysus begosh and begorrah and so on.
Today I'm celebrating the way all good TCRG candidates should celebrate - watching my ceili dvds and writing out the High Cauled Cap. Green jumper, green jewellery. Irish cider pencilled in for later on. I've got a dance class this afternoon and am home alone tonight so I'll finish writing out the first book (which means I'll've written out the whole thing) and tomorrow it'll be time to mark. Then I can start practice papers - my favourite! (I'm not being sarcastic, I love them.)
May the road rise up to meet you etc etc!
Saturday 17 March 2012
Thursday 15 March 2012
50 day goals
I'm a bit late in posting this as there are 246 days to go til my TCRG exam, but I thought I would separate out the next 8 months of my life into 50 day blocks and have a set list of things to achieve during each. Day 200 is on the last day of April so my deadline will be easy to remember and is what inspired me to do this.
So, the goals I need to achieve before the end of next month, in order.
1 - Learn Garden of Daisies once and for all!
2 - Complete another two non-trad sets as a minimum
3 - Finish writing out all the ceilis in full and after that, complete 5-10 past papers as pass them all!
4 - Teach three ceilis that I haven't yet danced or taught - as a minimum
5 - Dance in heavy shoes at least once per week
6 - Drill one traditional set dance per week
7 - At least one music quiz per week
That's plenty for 46 days I think. To prepare I've completed a list of ceilis I need to dance/teach to take to class, and to be honest I'm thinking of a few shortcuts here. For example instead of teaching the Eight Hand and Morris Reels separately, I'm going to combine the bodies - so it might go Extended Sides, Skip Across, Sides, Right Hands Across, Back to Back, Return Chain. I've already taught both figures so this might be a bit more interesting for the class.
I've pencilled in a private lesson of sorts to get Garden learnt and I have the version I'm learning on video (different to Olive's) which I will watch and try to work out ahead of my session.
I wrote out three more ceilis last night - St Patrick's Day, Trip, and An Rince Mor. I know I hashed up the second figure of Trip but I think Paddy's Day was right enough. I blanked on ARM so I doubt I got that right but I'm waiting until I've written out all 30 before I mark, so it will be another couple of days.
Dancing in heavy shoes, a must. I'm actually quite good in my socks but that's not going to go down too well at the exam. As a dancer, all too often I threw off the shoes and carried on in my socks because I knew I was better without them. Well what was the point in that?! I need to get used to them. Even if it means wearing them around the house and throwing a few trebles in as I pass from room to room.
I am REALLY fired up for this at the moment. So damn keen, thinking about dancing constantly, coming up with new steps all the time, wishing there was a feis every weekend....I even find I'm lilting to myself! Bring it on...but don't let the time go by too fast, I've still got a lot to do!
PS - in less than three weeks I'll be at the Worlds. Can't wait!
So, the goals I need to achieve before the end of next month, in order.
1 - Learn Garden of Daisies once and for all!
2 - Complete another two non-trad sets as a minimum
3 - Finish writing out all the ceilis in full and after that, complete 5-10 past papers as pass them all!
4 - Teach three ceilis that I haven't yet danced or taught - as a minimum
5 - Dance in heavy shoes at least once per week
6 - Drill one traditional set dance per week
7 - At least one music quiz per week
That's plenty for 46 days I think. To prepare I've completed a list of ceilis I need to dance/teach to take to class, and to be honest I'm thinking of a few shortcuts here. For example instead of teaching the Eight Hand and Morris Reels separately, I'm going to combine the bodies - so it might go Extended Sides, Skip Across, Sides, Right Hands Across, Back to Back, Return Chain. I've already taught both figures so this might be a bit more interesting for the class.
I've pencilled in a private lesson of sorts to get Garden learnt and I have the version I'm learning on video (different to Olive's) which I will watch and try to work out ahead of my session.
I wrote out three more ceilis last night - St Patrick's Day, Trip, and An Rince Mor. I know I hashed up the second figure of Trip but I think Paddy's Day was right enough. I blanked on ARM so I doubt I got that right but I'm waiting until I've written out all 30 before I mark, so it will be another couple of days.
Dancing in heavy shoes, a must. I'm actually quite good in my socks but that's not going to go down too well at the exam. As a dancer, all too often I threw off the shoes and carried on in my socks because I knew I was better without them. Well what was the point in that?! I need to get used to them. Even if it means wearing them around the house and throwing a few trebles in as I pass from room to room.
I am REALLY fired up for this at the moment. So damn keen, thinking about dancing constantly, coming up with new steps all the time, wishing there was a feis every weekend....I even find I'm lilting to myself! Bring it on...but don't let the time go by too fast, I've still got a lot to do!
PS - in less than three weeks I'll be at the Worlds. Can't wait!
Monday 5 March 2012
Congratulations Nina!
If you follow this blog you might just find something interesting over at After the 40 Bar Finish. Nina's blog isn't just about the TCRG so it's much more interesting than mine, with pretty pictures too! The reason for posting this is that Nina received the all-important email today and found out she passed her TCRG exam. Congratulations! Nina's teaching partner Mary is the reason I know the set of Job of Journeywork and because I'm nosy I started following their school on Facebook. Big well done to Nina - me next! :)
Friday 2 March 2012
Where I'm at
March already?! I've no idea where this year has gone so far but it really needs to slow down as I've got a lot to do. I'm confirmed for an exam at the end of the year, and as you'll probably have guessed by all this talk of set dances - I applied for the TCRG exam rather than the TMRF. Teacher, friends and family all thought my TMRF idea was a waste of money and I just needed some more confidence in myself, so I followed their advice. I certainly don't feel as desperate as I did at the very start of the year, when I had very little solo material under my belt.
Here's what I have so far:
Reels - plenty of grade level dances for the teaching part, plus enough steps for the dancing exam
Hop and light jigs - plenty of steps for the teaching
Slip jig - grade versions for teaching and a full dance for the dancing part
Heavy jig - beginner steps for teaching, a solid step for dancing
Hornpipe - beginner dance for teaching, two steps for dancing
Trad sets - Paddy's Day, Blackbird and Job
Sets - two! White Blankets and Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree in full.
So I still need:
Reels - a boys' reel! Maybe another step to be sure as well.
Slip jig - My dancing version is prelim level so I'll need a more open-level step for teaching
Heavy jig - primary and intermediate level steps for teaching, plus another step for dancing which will need to be a bit harder than the one I have
Hornpipe - again, grade level steps for teaching, and a boys step for teaching would be good too as the ones I have are nice and girly
Trad sets - just Garden
Sets - seven!
It's shaping up quite nicely I think. I could do with picking up another solo class per week but it's difficult with work and so on, as it's further away than the Monday class and starts earlier too!
For the writtens, I'm regularly scoring 100% on music which is my target for the exam. Ceili written is where I'm falling behind a touch - I still remember all the movements, formations, music notes etc for each dance, I'm just slipping on being able to write them out in full. Still, I know they're in the locker and I can brush up on them any time - dancing is the priority for the moment. I will make the effort to write a couple of dances out this weekend though, as our class is cancelled. I'm still regularly dancing ceili, too.
I can't tell you how proud I am of myself. They might be meagre little achievements in anybody else's book but I've learned two hornpipe steps in one class after not dancing it for years, and I've choreographed two sets all by myself. I've still got 7 or 8 months to go, too, so the straits are not yet dire.
Physio has prescribed me some gym time (my hips need loosening, a lot) so I'll be getting fitter and more able to practise for longer.
I can't wait to be a teacher :)
Here's what I have so far:
Reels - plenty of grade level dances for the teaching part, plus enough steps for the dancing exam
Hop and light jigs - plenty of steps for the teaching
Slip jig - grade versions for teaching and a full dance for the dancing part
Heavy jig - beginner steps for teaching, a solid step for dancing
Hornpipe - beginner dance for teaching, two steps for dancing
Trad sets - Paddy's Day, Blackbird and Job
Sets - two! White Blankets and Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree in full.
So I still need:
Reels - a boys' reel! Maybe another step to be sure as well.
Slip jig - My dancing version is prelim level so I'll need a more open-level step for teaching
Heavy jig - primary and intermediate level steps for teaching, plus another step for dancing which will need to be a bit harder than the one I have
Hornpipe - again, grade level steps for teaching, and a boys step for teaching would be good too as the ones I have are nice and girly
Trad sets - just Garden
Sets - seven!
It's shaping up quite nicely I think. I could do with picking up another solo class per week but it's difficult with work and so on, as it's further away than the Monday class and starts earlier too!
For the writtens, I'm regularly scoring 100% on music which is my target for the exam. Ceili written is where I'm falling behind a touch - I still remember all the movements, formations, music notes etc for each dance, I'm just slipping on being able to write them out in full. Still, I know they're in the locker and I can brush up on them any time - dancing is the priority for the moment. I will make the effort to write a couple of dances out this weekend though, as our class is cancelled. I'm still regularly dancing ceili, too.
I can't tell you how proud I am of myself. They might be meagre little achievements in anybody else's book but I've learned two hornpipe steps in one class after not dancing it for years, and I've choreographed two sets all by myself. I've still got 7 or 8 months to go, too, so the straits are not yet dire.
Physio has prescribed me some gym time (my hips need loosening, a lot) so I'll be getting fitter and more able to practise for longer.
I can't wait to be a teacher :)
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