The Un-Ending Adventures of Jenny Jumps

One summer in particular, I put in a good few days as a freelance lifeguard.

Actually, as I recall it was my boss at the Georgina Leisure Pool who put my name forward and recommended me to a woman who was holding a private pool party in her backyard.  She had a son with a severe physical disability and had invited several children with similar diagnoses and their parents.

I arrived at her home unsure of what to expect, and when I realised the extent of the children’s condition, I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage what she was asking of me.  She wanted to put the children in lifejackets, and then with the assistance of one other adult, allow them to float around her pool while herself and the rest of the parents relaxed on the deck.

So I did just that.  I was apprehensive at first.  I took one child at a time and lowered them gently into the water.  Most experienced at least  severe paralysis, if not some degree of blindness, reduced hearing and various cardio-vascular difficulties.  Their conditions prevented them from making sudden – if any – movements but one wrong move by the other adult or I could flip any number of children over,  turning them face down in the water and effectively ending their life.

I lay each child into the water face-up in a lifejacket.  Then, one by one, bringing each child close to my body, I looked them in the eyes and moved them gently through the water.  The parent who stood in the water with me, watched the children to be sure that they remained face-up.  After the first round I felt more confident, and one-at-a-time, removed each child from his or her lifejacket and allowed each child to experience the sensation of floating in their own skin.

I fell in love which each of those children.

Apparently the parents were watching in astonishment from the balcony above.  Not only did I love the children, but I handled them physically with skill and finesse.

Suffice to say, that mother paid me double what she had originally offered, and continued to recommend me to other parents and organisations throughout the community.

The influx of requests resulted in a fairly busy summer for me that year, and at $25 per hour, I was continuing to develop my intuition as a successful entrepreneur.

I think it was probably in or around 11th grade when I discovered my teenage angst.

Anyways; I suddenly discovered that I met the requisite age for co-operative education and seeing it as an opportunity to both a) skip school and b) prove to my old-country father that I was also the requisite age for a paying job, I signed up for the programme.

Every co-op student participates in an informal meeting with the co-op co-ordinator during the term before your co-op term begins.  During my meeting I told the co-ordinator that I wanted to play the piano for the rest of my life.  This is the same answer I later gave my father when he asked, “what do you want to do with the rest of your life; what will you study in university?” .

“Play the piano?”

Apparently the ADULT response to the aspirations of an angsty teenager is, “Yeah right; What’s your backup plan?”

Which is HOW, I was ultimately placed in a teaching position at Pickering College for two school terms, or 10 months.

I won’t say that I enjoyed every moment of it.

I will say that at the time, I :

• loved the good days
• hated “dressing appropriately”
• felt cursed by the GoBus schedule
• felt awkward most of the time
• was embarrassed by the eighth graders more often than not
• grew a sense of humour
• improved my sight reading skills
• learned to conduct a musical group
• taught junior school music classes both independently and as an assistant
• made lesson plans, prepared supplies for classes
• helped to grade assignments
• worked with other staff & teachers to develop concerts & performances
• learned the basics for most orchestral instruments and how to teach them
• loved the perks! the free lunches, the field trips!
• experientially discovered and categorized developmental traits by age
• experienced staff meetings & private school politics

I’m not finished.

This was one of the coolest experiences of my life – but I can only say that in retrospect.

In retrospect, my father was right.  Prior to my co-operative placement, I was not prepared socially or intellectually to work in a paid position.   The co-op programme prepared and coached students through the application process, counselled students on an ongoing basis, checked-in with employers and students on-site during the workday and acted as a moderator throughout the working experience to ensure that all parties acted responsibly and appropriately at all times.

Additionally, I discovered a deep and profound love for teaching.  I carried that love throughout university and applied it to my education related courses, and my education related work positions.

Having worked in this environment when I was very young, I know that I could return to this position at any time, and be an even more effective school music teacher than had I not had this opportunity.

Now then,

As you know, I was helping out and hanging around the church folk choir since I was very young.  I started by looking after the transparencies, then training other kids to look after the transparencies, and then soon I started singing into the microphone with the other vocalists.

What you didn’t know, is that quite a while before that, the family had purchased a grand piano, and a bastien’s primer book for children.   I used this book and this instrument to aid and develop my natural musical curiousity, improvisation and creativity.

Something I rarely share, is that shortly after beginning to sing with the choir, I took an interest in my father’s guitar playing.  He supplemented this interest with a child sized guitar and some of the sheet music that the choir was using during the services.  We practiced together.

Additionally, my mother’s participation in a more traditional choir and her operatic aspirations gave me ample opportunity to flex my vocal chords and experiment with range and dynamics.

Sometime around 1995, I was enlisted into regular piano lessons and it was assessed that I was playing piano at level equivalent to level five in the Royal Conservatory of Music without any formal training.

I wasn’t immediately accepting of this new formality, but quickly grew to enjoy the  progress I was making in sight-reading and technique.

In the meantime, I found some opportunities to share my talents at school services and concerts which put me in contact with other similarily talented and musical children in my age group.  We immediately began engaging in competitive behavior in addition to inviting each other to participate in musical opportunities throughout the community.

Did I mention my sixth grade teacher started a 50’s and 60’s rock and roll band which toured York Region and collected donations for the local foodbank?  I played keyboard in the “Junior Band”.  One of my classmates mentions it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTrDETGAIdI

I continued to regularly study piano in a formal setting and cycled through a number of teachers while progressing through highschool.   In my first two years of highschool I took vocal music.  In my third year I taught music in a co-operative position at a co-ed Preparatory School in Newmarket called Pickering College. In twelfth grade it was back to vocal music and then in my last year of school I applied for instrumental music, I had  committed to studying music in university and believed that participation in an instrumental music class would be developmentally beneficial and altogether good preparation for post-secondary education.

I had yet to seriously study an orchestral instrument, but told the department director that I would play clarinet.  I had heard jazz clarinet and loved it, day dreamed about the opening line in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and had helped the clarinet sections develop their embouchere while working at Pickering College.  I thought it was a safe choice, and set down to develop my skills during the summer before the term began.

I rented a clarinet, bought all three levels of the Standard of Excellence series and some additional songbooks.  The summer came and went, and my grade nine piano exam was scheduled for September.  Suffice to say, my piano exam preparation was going along well, but the only progress I had achieved regarding my clarinet studies, was that ever growing blanket of dust covering the books.

September arrived and the new school term began and I sought out my upcoming music instructor directly.  I told him the situation as follows, “Hi. I’m registered in OAC instrumental music for next year. I’m going to University for music next year.  I only play piano.  I told the director that I played clarinet.  I don’t.”

He gave me a wide eyed look, smiled and said, “That’s ok”.  And it was!  He arranged the coolest, most chilled-out music class that I have ever witnessed.  We played jazz, wrote electronic music, soloed and performed concert series.  We studied music history, music theory and music appreciation.  It was the most comprehensive highschool level course that I have ever taken.  Most importantly, he encouraged, motivated and inspired his students.

I worked harder in that year than ever before.  I was trying to make it through my level ten piano examinations before the school year ended in June.  I had a series of 6 auditions across Ontario scheduled between January and April.  I spent every free period and every lunch period practicing in the vacant music rooms.  Teachers would stop by and stare, or come in to comment.

Retrospectively it seems as though every one of my teachers knew what I was up against.  My projects and due dates all started to slide, but my teachers were all supportive and helped me to keep my grades up.

I’m glad I made the most of that OAC year – because I was going to need to hold on to those feel-good memories to make it through those next auditions.

I’ll never forget the day I moved away from home.

First of all – where did I think I was going?

I had been accepted into the Honours Music programme at McMaster University, into on-campus Residence in Brandon Hall and to a job for which I had never been interviewed at the East Hamilton Y.W.C.A.

When the day came to move-in to Brandon Hall, I packed all of my things into my rickety old panel van, waved goodbye to my dad and gunned it down the highway towards the big cities in the south.

Never mind that I hadn’t kept a dime in my pocket from all those odd jobs and lifeguarding shifts.  Never mind that I had spent all my money on transit passes, cafe mochas, wendy’s lunches and lifeguard training.  I had my golden ticket and was driving down to Hamilton to call Mr. Wonka to task.

As I was rounding the bend on the 403, where the highway curves around the bay, and slides between the massive Christ the King Cathedral and the Hamilton Spectator, my cellphone started ringing.  Despite the precariously undulating highway lanes, I reached out and answered the call.

On the line was a young, motivated T.D Bank employee calling to let me know that she had just rushed the paperwork through and I had qualified for a line of credit which was large enough to cover any of my educational expenses, living expenses and a large amount of incidentals for the next four years.  I thanked her profusely, explaining that I was enroute at the moment.  She wished me luck, and told me to “have fun!”.

Elation – was what I felt.

The next week – and let’s face it – the next four years were a whirlwind of emotions, experiences, opportunities and excitement.  University was my chance to shine and to realise what endless possibilities I could attain for myself.  I made the most of those four years of academia and applied myself not only to my studies but also to as many organisations, projects and work opportunities that I could fit into one week.

The next entries will touch on a number of those activities hurdled through during my years at McMaster – but first, we must discuss my burgeoning career as a performance pianist.