Neckstraps

Me: Don't accent that note! It's supposed to be legato style!
8th-grade boy: I didn't accent! I just added more air!

8th-grade girl: Did you hear [John] dropped his saxophone again? Mr. [Smith] is making him wear 2 neckstraps.

7th-grade Boy: Ms. Winston, did you know that practicing actually works?

Me: You're starting to sound really good!
7th-grade boy: I know!
Me: *glare*
7th-grade: Thank you!
Me: That's better!
7th-grade boy: My manners are also getting better... on the second try!

Me: Sorry, I think I'm losing my mind!
8th-grade girl: Been there, done that!

8th-grade boy: "This music looks too low..." (turns page right-side-up) "Actually, it's particularly high.."

Me: How often do Mr. Smith and I have to ask you to raise your neckstrap?
6th-grade boy: Semi-often-ly.

Hair

Me: How was your break?
Junior boy: I had to wrestle a Rottweiler.
Me :What?
Junior boy: He was being territorial so I drop-kicked him with my fist.
Me: You can't kick with your fist, by definition.

Me: I like [John]'s hair short! Looks better!
Sophomore boy: It wasn't that bad before. He kinda looked like a beetle...
Me: Oh, you mean like Paul McCartney or John Lennon..
Sophomore boy: No, I kinda meant like a bug... like the ones on the floor.

Me: When are you going to learn those last 4 scales?
7th-grade boy: Soon... like summer.
Me: I thought you meant soon.... like next week.

Me: You need to practice your solo!
8th-grade boy: It's not my fault! It's just that I have such a hard time remembering to practice.

E sharp

Me: "Play your F# scale.. Stop, finger and say note-names."
Junior Boy: "I was doing it right until I got to the upper-upper-stupid-note."

Junior Boy: "You have a blog? What's on it?"
Me: "Quotes from my stupids... I mean students."

Me: "What note is D flat the same as?"
8th-grade boy: "Hold on... Let me do the the math.... E sharp."

This is a Facebook message I received:
      
7th-grade boy wrote: [John] keeps saying that you accepted his friend request. But Im sure you didnt, since it never said it did. Can you tell him that you didnt accept his request.? Cuz we had a bet;; $20 ;D money. & never accept it. :) Thank You 

Paranormal Activity

Me: "How was your Thanksgiving?"
6th-grade boy: "Good. I ate so much at the Thanksgiving feast, that when I was running, I fell down on my stomach, and threw up, and it came out like a water-gun."
Me: "Awesome."

Same 6th-grade boy: "Oh, man, I have one of those throw-up burps right now."


7th-grade boy: "Mr. V banned scales from the building, so we can't do any in lessons today."
Me: "OK, get out your arpeggios."
7th-grade boy: "OK, I'll do my scales."
Me: "That's what I thought."

7th-grade boy: "I HATE THIS REED!"
Me: "Are you OK or do I need to put on a helmet?"

8th-grade boy: "We were too scared to watch Paranormal Activity directly so we watched the reflection of it on my lizard's cage."

7th-grade boy: "OK, so I'm going to play my solo for you, and you're going to tell me what I'm doing wrong. OK?"
Me: "Yes."

Chips!

8th-grade boy: "Let me start over.  I was hustling it a bit."

Me: "Are you going to carve pumpkins this year for Halloween?"
9th-grade boy: "Nah...." 
Me: "That's not a tradition for you?"
9th-grade boy: "No, my tradition is to hide in the bushes and throw hard candy at people." 

7th-grade boy: "I put on a new reed today, and it tasted like a chip!"

Senior Boy: "I lost my mouthpiece over break and found it yesterday.  I practiced my balls off...."

Human Aren't Plants

Me: "Louder!"
8th-grade boy: "Louder... What a weird word... It's like if someone's name was Lou, it would be like, 'Lou, DER!!!'"

Me: "What did you have for lunch?"
7th-grade boy: "Ham and Cheese...What? Don't you like Ham and Cheese?"
Me: "I'm a vegan... I only eat plants."
7th-grade boy: "So nothing that even comes from animals, like milk or eggs?"
Me: "Yes, exactly."
7th-grade boy: "So no fish?"
Me: "Fish aren't plants."
7th-grade boy: "OK. So you might as well be a cannibal and only eat humans."
Me: "Humans aren't plants."

7th-grade boy: "Is it make fun of [John] day?"
Me: "No, it's make John better day."
7th-grade boy: "When will it be accept John the way he is day?"
Me: "This isn't personal.  It's my job. I'm paid to make you better at the saxophone."
7th-grade boy: "But don't you get paid either way?"

8th-grade girl: "I eat when I feel scared..."
8th-grade boy: "I crawl up into a ball when I'm scared..."
Me: "You, scared??? Never!"
8th-grade boy: "Oh, yeah I am... like when I'm at home and I think of zombies."

Ta-Ta-Ya

Me (talking to someone else): "We should play that Ibert chamber piece with sax... harp..."
Junior Boy: "What's a sax-harp?"


Me: "I'm going to say something harsh.... You're playing like a--"
Senior Boy: "Girl?"
Me: "No! I'm a girl and I play better than you! I was going to say 'wimp'... Don't be sexist.."
Senior Boy: "I'm not sexist... I LOVE women..."

8th-grade boy: "I wrote in the dynamics on the lyrical etude... but they're hard to read.... because I wrote them in with my left hand."


8th-grade boy: "Do you know Chris? [another student]"
Me: "I've seen him around."
8th-grade boy: "He's a background person."
Me: "And you're a foreground person?"
8th-grade boy: "Yes." 

Me (singing articulations to him): "It goes ta-ta-ya-ta-ya-ta-ya-ta-ya."
7th-grade boy: "So do you want me to tongue when you say ta or ya?"