Post by dallas on Nov 2, 2011 23:00:26 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LWSqSNpIToc/TYZTxT60WjI/AAAAAAAAAUg/kX0kRj5ZB6k/BlackWood.jpg); width: 437px; padding-top: 30; padding-bottom: 30;] THE DALLAS RHYS BAKER EDITION  THIRTY-FOUR , MUSIC TEACHER, MISC. , ADAM LEVINE "HELLO THERE. I'M SO GLAD YOU MADE IT HERE TODAY, BUT I'VE SEEM TO FORGOTTEN WHAT YOUR NAME WAS, IT WAS PAT... OR SOMETHING, RIGHT? NO, WELL, WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME IT THEN? FIRST, MIDDLE AND LAST, PLEASE. OH, AND PLEASE DO TELL ME ANY SCRUMPTIOUS NICKNAMES." Well hey! My name is actually Dallas. Thats D-A-L-L-A-S. Like the city? My parents were really big on Dallas for some reason. It was the place they met and felt a need to honor it. My middle name is Rhys which is a sort of family tradition. All eldest sons on my dads side have that same middle name. Goes all the way back from whenever my dads family lived in England. And of course my last name is Baker. "I HAVE TO SAY, THAT'S QUITE A NAME YOU GOT THERE. I DON'T THINK I'VE HEARD IT BEFORE. TELL ME, HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED IN PORTLAND OR HAVE YOU COME FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE?" Well, surpisingly (not really that surprising actually) I was born in Dallas. Fancy that! My family actually moved to New York after that and I lived there until after college when I attended Juilliard. Got my degree in musical education of course. Otherwise I wouldn't be here in Portland. I actually moved here because A: I really like the whole musical vibe here. Very artsy and B: I was asked to become the whole musical director straight out of college. Pretty crazy right? Guess they liked me. "OH, I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE. HERE, LET'S LIGHTEN UP THE TOPIC A LITTLE BIT. OUT OF ALL OF THE WORDS IN THE WORLD, WHICH FIVE DESCRIBE YOU BEST AND WHY?" Huh. You know it is really hard to talk about yourself. Well for starters I'm extremely passionate. I'm the type that doesn't half-ass something. If I'm going to do something it's going to be all in or nothing. That's why I love my job so much. Working with the kids makes my job so much fun. Most people look down on you if you are you're a teacher but this is what I love doing and I could imagine anything else. I'm also rather OCD about things, especially when it comes to teaching. I am a perfectionist one hundred percent. I can't function unless I have what I'm going to do laid out in front of me. But I do take what the students want to do into account. I am actually pretty laid back when it comes to actually playing music but if I hear something wrong I usually have to stop them. As a typical teacher I'm really protective of the people I teach and those that I'm close to. I have a paternal need to protect those that are being picked on. I do not tolerate bullying at all. If I see it in my classes or in the hallway I usually take the person aside and give them a talking to. I can actually be very intimidating. Most people think it's the tattoos but it's mainly all in the eyes. My eyes go all steely and blunt whenever I'm pissed off at a student. I normally try not to cuss in front of them but bullying is the one thing that really gets under my skin. If a person does it once it's pretty much garaunteed that they won't do it again. Otherwise they know they will have to deal with me. I swear if I didn't go into music I would have probably been a coach or something. But I love music too much. I'm usually the cool that teacher that is understanding. I get that people have problems at home or whatever and I hope they can see me as a person they can trust enough to come to me if they are having problems. The band and choir hall might as well be their own separate world on their own. The teachers know not to mess with the musical arts. This is my domain. "I'M NOT GOING TO LIE. YOU SEEM LIKE QUITE THE CATCH. I'M SURE YOU'RE ALWAYS BUSY, HUH? DO YOU LIKE WATCHING TELEVISION OR KNITTING? WHY DON'T YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?" Psh knitting? No. Like I said before music is my life. So that's a major hobby. Ive got a whole room dedicated to music. But besides music I so have other hobbies and interested. I really like tattoos. If you didn't already see that. Surprisingly the school was okay with me having tattoos. They knew that it wouldn't take away from me teaching. Plus I don't have anything vulgar. That's just trashy. According the the students I am considered that one "cool" teacher because of the tattoos. I don't mind that title at all. Besides that I also enjoy working out. I mean I am a guy. I prefer running and weights. Im not much of a swimmer at all but I do enjoy the others. I've ran in a few marathons and decathlons. Biking isn't my super strength but I manage. I don't want to be that one teacher that's a shell of his former self, with fat just hanging off. Plus I'm getting up there a bit in age at least. Gotta stay in shape you know. I've also got a nasty habit of smoking. Ive been trying to quit but it's rather difficult. I never smoke in campus though. Bad for the kids you know? "YOU SOUND PRETTY FEARLESS, BUT THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING YOU'RE AFRAID OF. ANY JUICY SECRETS?" Um...well one time I totally cheated on a test in college. I mean come on, it was Biology. I am a music major all the way, Bio doesn't work for me at all. It was the final and after a whole semester I still didn't get it at all. Fortunately my good friend let me cheat off him, only because I covered for him while he was passed out drunk which is against the rules at Juilliard. As for fears? Well I have this really big fear that I'll end up like Marty McFly in the second Back to the Future when his future self can no longer play the guitar after a car accident. I need music to survive basically. Without it I would just be taking up space. I don't know what I would do instead. I don't really know how to do anything else... "DON'T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY, BUT ARE YOU GAY? I MEAN, IT WASN'T SOMETHING YOU SAID OR ANYTHING. I'M JUST A CURIOUS OLD BADGER. UM. WHAT DO YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE? IS THAT BETTER? I GUESS YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO." Haha actually I'm straight. I do admit I had a bit of a curious mind during highschool but I found out that I prefer girls to boys. Um let's see...what do I like in a girl? I really like a girl who had musical talent. It is so hot whenever a girl can pick up a guitar and play along with me. That's not necessary of course. I like a girl that speaks her mind too. I don't really like it when girls are shy and demure and play games. I find myself extremely attracted to girls who know what they want and they do anything to get it. I guess you could say I like strong, independent women. I also like it when girls don't mind working out with me. Im pretty dedicated to my work out schedule and I wouldn't mind it one bit if a girl decided to join me. So..yeah. That's my ideal girl. "ALRIGHT, ENOUGH WITH THE HEAVY STUFF. LET'S TALK ABOUT... MUSIC. I THINK YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT POP OR HIP HOP EARLIER. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LIKE? RAP, COUNTRY, JAZZ? WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE MOST PLAYED SONGS ON ITUNES?" Oh my god. Don't even get me started about music! I'll never stop! And you only want me to pick five?! Ugh why must you make this so difficult. Okay. I love anything that has a punk/rock edge to it. Neon Trees, My Chemical Romance, you know thing like that. I like folk too, Mumford and Sons (I've actually met them. Great people. Love their accent), Florence and the Machines (I guess that's more of a rock edge but it's still folk), I also love the classics like the Beatles, Eagles, Styx, The Cars, Bon Jovi, Journey (Even though Steve Perry was a dick). I just have pretty much every genre in my library. I've got everything from Usher to Beethoven. You should see my apartment. I've got a whole room that's Judy my music room. I've got an A-Track, Record Player, DJ board, and of course iTunes and all that. I've got it all. "LISTENING TO MUSIC LIKE THAT? YOU'RE SURE TO BE A STAR IN THE NEAR FUTURE. YOU SEEM LIKE A WELL-ROUNDED YOUNG PERSON, MY DEAR. WHERE DO YOU FIND YOURSELF TO BE IN FIVE YEARS FROM NOW?" Well thank you. I love me some music. Actually in five years, twenty years, fifty years I still wanting to be doing this same thing. You have no idea how much I love teaching these kids. Seeing their talents and passion is something that I have to sometimes just stop and take a step back and thank my lucky stars that I got my dream job. Sure some people ask me why I don't move to college music or follow my talents to Hollywood or something and they look at me strangely when I say that I would never want that in my life. Fame is not something I want. I want to see these kids be famous and I can just sit back and watch kids that I taught using their God given talents and putting them use. And I can say that I was the one to point them in the right way. That is my dream. "IF IT MEANS ANYTHING, I'LL BE ROOTING FOR YOU WHEN THE TIME COMES. I'M SURE YOUR PARENTS WILL TOO. SPEAKING OF YOUR PARENTS, WHY DON'T YOU TELL US THEIR NAMES AND WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM! DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS, PETS, OTHER RELATIVES?" I love my parents to death. My mom, Cynthia has a job working as a vocal coach for the actors and actresses on Broadway. My dad actually works at NYU as a music professor. So yeah, music runs in the family. My dad was a bit peeved that I went to Juilliard instead of NYU but he quickly got over himself. I have one younger brother, Denver, who is currently working as a documentary film maker. He's the only one in the family that didnt really get the music gene but he sure got all the artistic eye. He and I are really close. We talk on the phone all the time. Perhaps a little gay of us but whatever. Right now he's in Australia studying the Aboriginees. Pretty interesting I think. Speaking of which he better bring me back a gift... "OH, I SEE. WELL, WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME. WHY DON'T WE WRAP THIS UP WITH YOUR STORY? HOW DID YOU END UP IN PORTLAND, OREGON?" Well, as you know I was born in Dallas. My dad grew up there, surrounded by country music. His dad was a well known oil trustfund baby. My mom was actually just starting out in her voice coaching business and my dad heard her sing when he was working at the recording studio that he started out in the industry. My grandpa didn't really approve of my dad going into music but he couldn't deprive his son his happiness. My dad had gotten back from NYU whenever he and my mom met. They tell me this sappy story about a whirlwind romance and all this crap but anyways they got married and I came along soon after. My dad had gotten a job at NYU for a teaching job as a music professor, teaching music theory. They moved to New York soon after I was born and of course I kept Dallas with me. Fastforward several years, I started school. My younger brother, Denver (he was born in Denver. Fancy that!) was about four I think. I was put in a private school and they had music classes which quickly became my favorite class. My mom had already began teaching me piano and my dad already had me going on guitar. I latched on music very tightly. They tried the same formula with Denver later but he hated it. Anyways I excelled in school, minus math and science. I was definitely a right brain. English and Art and Music all the way. In middle school we had full band. I started on the Trumpet and soon mastered that and became bored. I loved my middle school director so much because she understood that I needed some extra teaching because I was so eager to learn. She put me on a bunch of different instruments and privately tutored me herself. She would always be my favorite teacher of all my schooling because of the passion she had for her craft. I also got into singing of course. I got both sides of my parents talent. My dads knack for instruments and my moms voice. I didn't actually join a formal choir until highschool but my mom and I would sing together. My dad called it angel music. I think he was just flattering my mom. During highschool I actually started a garage band on my own. I was vocals and back-up guitar. Being lead and vocals were too much even for me. That was the best thing ever. You have no idea. Also during highschool I got more involved in real band and during my senior year I became head drum major. That was the moment when I knew that I wanted to teach music to highschoolers. Being in front of the band and leading them to create beautiful music was something that I could not get enough of. It was an amazing experience. After highschool I got a full ride to Juilliard to become a music educator. I made friends that would stick with me for the rest of my life. I would consider myself a rather popular person in college. And in highschool too. During my junior and senior year I became the drum major again. Junior year I was assistant and senior I was head. Again, amazing experience. After I graduated I had planned to go back and live with my parents and send out a bunch of resumes but almost a week after graduation I got a call from a highschool in Portland. Their head musical director had recently retired and they wanted some fresh blood to lead the musical aspect of their cirricumlum and they wanted me. I accepted right away. It was too good to be true. Since my degree allowed me to teach both choir and band and orchestra I was the perfect canidate they said. So now I've been here for seven years now and I love it. I teach mainly the band aspect and orchestra of course and I do have some say in the choir lesson plans. I'm more of the lesson person for choir, you know the guy the students go to for more instuction. But I still love it. The kids may be a but of a handful at times but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I hope to be here for a long time. ROLEPLAY EXAMPLE um...no. HATTIE, LONG TIME, UNDER A RAINBOW, ADMIN EDIT |
