If Music Sends Shivers Down Your Spine, You Have a Special Brain

I saw this headline in my Facebook feed on Friday morning, & my first reaction was, hey, that’s me! When the morning music starts at the beginning of Period 3, preceding our daily announcements, everything in my brain stops in its tracks & zeroes in on whatever is playing. Could be Motown, or “Chandelier” or a song I’ve heard at one of our proms that I have no clue who’s singing it-music does indeed send a thrill through me, which is what makes me so very grateful to be on this trip with Mossy and her gang of super special music makers. With this blog, I will try to share enough to give you some of a sense of how and what we’re doing here in Texas, with enough doses of beautiful music to give you some shivers too.

Let me introduce myself: Genevieve Hammond, erstwhile high school teacher and, for the purposes of this blog, the biggest fan our your AB music program. Honestly, swore I'd never travel with students (we all need a break, right?), but when you're known to spend your free period sitting in the corner of the Chorus Room during Concert Choir, and then they ask you to chaperone, you don't have a lot of reasons to say no. And on this morning of our third day in Texas, I have exactly no regrets. That said, I have 40 minutes until we board the buses to go sing at the state capitol (!!), so I'm going to get everything in that I can and then promise to be back later. 

You probably know that we left Acton on Thursday by bus, heading to a hotel at JFK, where we slept for what felt like an hour & a half before waking up to go to the airport. Our flight was approximately 1 hour longer than I expected, as I had forgotten about time zones, but even at 4.5 hours, it was still great fun to be surrounded by kids who are brimming with energy, good nature, strong opinions, & comedy routines.

We landed in Austin at around 12:00 LOCAL time, and learned that one of our 2 buses had broken down and we needed to wait for a replacement. This was, in fact, a bit of a bummer, but we were among friends, the weather was literally perfect (70s, dry & sunny), and in a pinch, you can always sing - which they did (Iindonga zaJericho, a  Zulu folk song about breaking down walls of Jericho, nice theme of persistence!). I will confess that this song brought a tear to my eye, even if the singers would rather have been lounging around the hotel pool. #firstmomentofgratitude 

The buses did, of course, arrive, and placing ourselves in the very capable hands of tour operator Maury Schulte, we were off to the LBJ Presidential Library, which is located very close to this college football stadium that holds 103,000 crazed Longhorns every Sunday in the fall. 




The LBJ is an amazing place, as you can imagine if you've been to other presidential libraries. Exhibits about the times, its culture and music (a special Motown exhibit!), and of course the tortured legacy of the Vietnam War. Students and adults took it in, referencing their US 1 & 2 classes and then running out to the plaza in front of the library to bask in the perfect sunshine. For your reference, here's a picture of your faithful correspondent trying to stand up to the infamous Johnson Treatment:



From there, it was on to our first (of at least two!) Texas barbeque joints! This time, it was ribs & brisket at Stiles Switch BBQ, including a visit to the smokers, which apparently run 24/7 and there are never leftovers. And after filling up in Texas proportions, we took off for our home for the next 3 nights, the Hampton Inn & Suites on Pecan Park Boulevard, which has pools & workout equipment which many people younger than your chaperones have enjoyed regularly! 

I'm going to hit Publish now, just to get started. Preview of coming attractions: boats in the rain, fish tacos, and sacred music - as well as so many more #momentsofgratitude.

Yee haw, y'all!
Genevieve