Just spent the last four days at a whirlwind of a conference at the Metropolitan Opera.  Spent time listening to people from Yale and Juilliard , a Tony award winner, a broadway producer and learned to beat box.  When asked today, at the end of the conference, what was one thing that I was going to take away from the conference, it was very simple.  Move the trash can.

Think about those things in your life that are predictable, like where you keep your trash can.  Mine is under my kitchen sink.  It’s like always sitting in the same pew every Sunday or going the same route to work every day.  Things that eventually become mindless.  I do that in my classroom a lot; the room is arranged the same, I use the same posters on the walls from year to year, the routines are the same.  Organization is a great thing but when things get too safe and too predictable, creativity can disappear.

As this past week went on, I began to notice little habits that formed even during that short time at the conference.  Like always walking to the same stall and sink in the bathroom.  Eating at the same restaurant because I know what to expect.  There were activities that I stepped into comfortably, some that were similar to things I had done before in past years or tasks that were in my wheel house, like writing new lyrics to an aria based on a theme.  However, when something out of my comfort zone would pop up like sewing or helping to create artwork for a comic strip, I found myself stepping away and allowing others to take over.  My trash can had been moved and I found myself not knowing what to do, so I would avoid.

But how does this affect my students then?  If, for instance, I am afraid of improvisation because it’s not in my comfort zone, then how can I possibly help them to get over any trepidation they might have?  For a person like me, who always has to have everything prepared and in place, this type of exercise can be very frustrating.  I just want someone to tell me what to do rather than just experiment and figure it out myself.  How can I expect them to try if I’m not able to model it myself?

Making music is a collaborative effort of course.  Perhaps I need to step out of the teacher role and we all need to be students together.  Right now I have class of sophomore practicum students who come to join us for a class each week.  I have no problem getting those college students and 5th graders involved in activities together, but I tend to just stand around and facilitate.  I’ve been told that that is what good teachers do.  But it’s difficult to facilitate effectively if you’ve not at least tried the activity yourself.

So, what to do?  Move the trash cans in my life.  Look around me for the predictable and make a change.  It doesn’t need to be change just for change sake, but really being mindful and making decisions to change or adjust those things in my life that I perform mindlessly.  How much of my life do I miss because I just drift from one mindless activity to another?  The same foods, the same restaurants, the same place on the couch, the same place on the bed.  There is comfort knowing what to expect but life can also lose its zing that way.  Where is the line between comfort and escapism?  It’s a daily, sometimes hourly struggle.

So, of all the intellectual discussions and activities I experienced this week, the thing I remember is to move the trash can.  Pretty sure this simple message can be the impetus  for big changes in my life, and maybe for others as well.  We’ll see how many trash cans I can move in the days to come.