Retirement… and the Seasons of Change
As I walk my two energetic dogs near our local school and park today, I noticed that the leaves are “holding on for dear life,” most have not fallen nor started their usual color transformations. This is Western Pennsylvania in mid-October. What is happening? What forces are disrupting our cycle of the seasons… from the normal spring re-awakening of our senses, to the heat and glory of summer, to the falling temperatures and brilliance of color in the autumn, just before everything shuts down for winter? Global warming? (Well, it was a balmy 75-degrees today!) Or, nature’s way of holding on to the past… and living every moment to its fullest?
Well, one thing is for sure. You can smell that change is in the air… and in our lives as we take on the great trek to retirement – a process, like the unpredictable and evolving seasons, which can self-empower and lead us to creative ways to self-reinvent and thrive.
If you stop to think about it, full-time retirement embraces many of the analogies we use for our changing seasons. If those early years of education, staff orientation and induction, job training, in-service programs, conferences, etc. stand for rapid growth and the budding months of spring, perhaps summer symbolizes our career accomplishments and professional journey towards harvesting our special skills, experiences, and interests in early fall. One may accurately depict the onset of a gloomy late autumn and stormy winter weather as our release from the employment routine, the sudden free-fall of retirement, retooling and coping with the emotional turmoil of momentous life-style changes, possibly even a short hibernation (rest, reflection, and a less frenzied schedule of activities), but eventually planting the seeds of new goals, habits, perspectives, and expectations… which leads us back to spring – the season of renewed hopes, revitalized rebirths, and new beginnings.
“Retirement is the last opportunity for individuals to reinvent themselves, let go of the past, and find peace and happiness within.” – Ernie J. Zelinski
Research suggests that, as wonderful as the retirement “voyage” is for some, many do not find it “clear sailing!” Dr. Robert P. Delamontagne wrote in his book Retiring Mind (Fairview Imprints, 2010), “50% of retirees will suffer some form of acute emotional distress. This is potentially a very large problem given the fact that 10,000 people are becoming eligible for Social Security every day for the next 20 years in the US alone.”
In the event your job was cut or downsized, or you were forced into “early retirement,” you may even be in the partial grips of post-traumatic stress disorder, or experiencing some of the stages of grief and loss (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-coping-with-grief):
Denial- Bargaining
- Depression
- Anger
- Acceptance
At the very least, the passage to post-employment boils down to coping with a few of these very common emotional “bumps” along the way:
- Loss of professional identity
- Loss of goals, daily routine, and purposeful activity
- Loss of social network and interaction with co-workers
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances.” – Martha Washington
- Prior to retiring, prepare for “life after work.” Cultivate interests outside the job, lead a healthier life-style, revitalize family relationships, and nurture friendships.
- Stay engaged! Understand many “high achievers” never fully retire.
- Take a break and self-reflect on trying new and fulfilling quests of work/life balance.
- Find purposeful activities to do during your retirement.
- Focusing on your talents and abilities, and set some new goals regarding how you want to spend your free time.
- Because your brain’s reward center likes variety, give yourself an assortment of new or unique experiences.
- Treat your first year of retirement as if you are interning.
- Reprogram yourself to be less addicted to achievement (or linking your self-identity or self-worth to a job).
- Limit your television viewing time (less than two hours a day!)
- Plan some regular physical activity.
- Revisit your creative roots and enjoy personal moments of “making music” – singing, dancing, playing instruments, composing, doing drama, writing, painting, sewing, woodworking, etc. – in short, CREATING SELF-EXPRESSION!
“If you were planning to spend the rest of your life in another country, you would want to learn as much about it as possible. You would read books about the climate, people, history, and architecture. You would talk to people who had lived there. You might even learn a bit of its language. Old age is like another country. You’ll enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go.” – F. Skinner and Margaret Vaughn in TIPS Retirement for Music Educators, MENC 1989
If you ask the average retired music teacher, “Let’s get together for lunch. When are you free?” you’ll probably witness the retiree whipping out his smartphone to check his calendar app. Retirement does mean freedom, but it often also induces a very busy schedule of new commitments, perhaps even related “encore career pursuits” involving music and education such as student teacher supervision, private tutoring, coaching sectionals or small ensembles, assisting local music industry in organizing music tours/trips or delivering rental or repaired instruments, babysitting grand children or others, care-taking for an elderly loved one, etc.
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.” – John W. Raper
A lot of our retired members enjoy part-time positions in guest conducting, teaching or presenting at the college level, providing private lessons, serving in state MEAs or the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), or other consultant services like the special interest categories on the PMEA State Retired Resource Registry Index. Many of these jobs can be started before retirement, just expanded to fit your new-found flexibility of fewer conflicts or time constraints.
The best advice I can give to newbie retirees is to learn from your peers and the successes of others who have come before you. Read everything you can get your hands on from these online “gurus” of retirement:
- Dave Bernard http://lovebeingretired.com/
- Ken Dychtwald and others at AgeWave http://agewave.com/
- Dave Hughes http://retirefabulously.com/
- Kathy Merlino https://kathysretirementblog.com/
- Jean Potuchek https://stepintofuture.wordpress.com/
- Barbara Torris http://www.retireinstyleblog.com/
- Ernie Zelinski http://www.retirement-cafe.com/
Check out other articles at this blog (click on “Retirement Resources” at the right), and peruse my two blog-posts at Edutopia:
- http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/advice-music-teacher-retirees-soon-be-retirees
- http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/surviving-and-reveling-retirement
Finally, if you are a NAfME member and want to see a little of Atlantic City next spring, come to my session, “Living the Dream – Survival and Celebration of Retirement” at the 55th Biennial Eastern Division Conference April 5-8, 2017 (I believe I am presenting on Thursday.) Join us, retirees! It will be FUN!
PKF
© 2016 Paul K. Fox
Here is your next installment (part three) on a collaborative exploration of “teaching more creatively and teaching creativity.”
Catmull, Ed (2014). Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming Unseen Forces in Way of Inspiration. Random H. From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, the Academy Award–winning studio behind Inside Out and Toy Story, comes an incisive book about creativity in business and leadership.
Robinson, Sir Ken (2013). Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions. The Element gives readers an inspirational and practical guide to self-improvement, happiness, creativity, and personal transformation, introducing the concept of self-fulfillment through the convergence of natural talents and personal passions. Among the questions that the book dives into include:
The authors have made an online version of this work available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. For details, go to
While she suggests new ways to “activate your students” developing neural networks of skill-sets for “cognitive flexibility,” she defines several new opposing concepts: “inattentional blindness” vs. open-minded vision, and divergent thinking vs. the factory model of education. She provides excellent examples of lesson activities as she sums up her thoughts on learning transfer: “When you provide learners with opportunities to transfer their learning to novel applications, you’re extending their cross-brain connections and creative potentials.”
You may be asked to say something about another student or applicant. Speak only of your abilities & strengths. It is acceptable for an interviewer to ask you about other interviews, job offers & salary offers. You are not under an obligation to give a direct answer.
Nope. I cannot accept these archaic definitions! My translation for what it means to face this life-style shift of changing perspectives and expectations, “Crossing the Rubicon” into retirement, is finding alternative but purposeful pursuits, fulfilling “bucket lists,” and reshaping fresh new goals leading to creative ways to self-reinvent and thrive.
five stages of retirement that he predicts most people go through after leaving their full-time job. 
“The Five Top Stressors in Retirement and How to Cope” by Nanci Hellmich (2014) at USA TODAY 
y engaged man. One example, he transformed his backyard by moving a truckload of large rocks around his garden when he was 80 years old. I attended his 100th birthday party where he played an hour-plus recital with three generations of the Reichenfelds. He always told prospective teachers, “Surround yourself with young people and you’ll never grow old.” The comment I wrote in memory of Eugene Reichenfeld in the online guest book (legacy.com) came from the heart: “With our mentor’s passing, orchestra music and education in our area will never be the same. However, thankfully, Maestro Reichenfeld’s legacy is that he ‘passed on the baton’ and inspired so many future teachers to follow in his footsteps… sharing his love of and skill in strings for eternity! The music lives on!”
The number one “tool” for finding a job is not a tool at all – it is all about modeling professionalism, networking with other college students and music teachers, and becoming actively engaged in your state/national music education associations (click on the acronyms to go to their websites) – National Association for Music Education 
Your “travel document” (paper copy you bring to the interview or “one-of-kind” attachment in response to email application) should be easy-to-modify based on the specific job posting to which you are applying. Your philosophy, goals, education, and teaching experience should focus on and reflect your competencies in alignment with the requirements for the music position. Your professional website and online resume should be more “general” and not rule out being considered for employment assignments outside your major. The PA teaching certificate states you are licensed to teach music in grades pre-K to 12… which means you should be qualified for any opening in elementary, middle, and high school general music, band, choir, jazz, keyboard lab, and strings, right?
band for a year, conducting a small instrumental ensemble to accompany your youth church choir, giving a few summer lessons to the bell players in the local drum line where you live, etc. In addition, prior to the first employment screening and mock lesson at the interviews, you could “bone up” on your instrumental methods, suitable middle and elementary band warmups/literature, the meaning/concept of “middle school education,” and perhaps even pull out and brush up playing a few scales on that flute (or whatever) in your closet.
Another great reason you should be a member of your professional association (PMEA or PCMEA) if you are looking for a job in PA is… the PMEA Job Board. Many PMEA members have relied on the Job Board for the most recent information when it comes to available PA music teacher positions.
Take a deep breath, find an easy chair, ignore your cell phone’s texts/calls, and plunge into her full website: 
As a music educator, this last title peaked my interest. We urge every retiree to revisit their creativity roots and seek renewed opportunities to enjoy music as a lifelong pursuit. (We have already posted reprints of several of my articles on this subject from PMEA News, the state journal of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, including 
Generally, I am not much in favor of perusing commercial websites on planning for retirement, especially those by investment counselors, but Ernie Zelinski (author of bestsellers like How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free) sent me this link: 
The final entry at goldretiree.com, AARP is worth mentioning here 
p Guides,”
Updates to my presentation “Surviving and Reveling in Retirement” for the PMEA Summer 2016 Conference are posted on the PMEA retired members website: 
My “soapbox” in this forum has always been that we need to do things in education intentionally – in the classrooms, written/posted weekly lesson targets, and curriculum. In school, we have spent an inordinate amount of time developing convergent thinking, a.k.a. one-answer-only principles/laws/inarguable facts.What is needed is MORE divergent thinking – multiple solutions or pathways to the resolution of a problem, open-ended “out-of-the-box” proposals – generating fresh views and novel solutions. Best practices in education would be a combination of both convergent and divergent thinking techniques – the ultimate role of our profession – mastery of the essential 21st century learning skill of critical thinking.
I stumbled on a free ASCD webinar for July 28, 2016 that will “detail ways to foster student curiosity through novelty and play; questioning and critical thinking; and experimenting and problem solving.” Based on Dr. Wendy Ostroff’s book, 
The “power” of journal writing and brainstorming is so essential to the creative process. Author and educator Julia Cameron has written a series of books on the subject of “unblocking your inner artist.” The Artist’s Way, the title of one of her international best-sellers, has been transformed into a movement of artists helping other artists, a program she says is “used in hospitals, prisons, universities, human potential centers, and often among therapist doctors aids groups in battered woman’s programs, not to mention fine art studios, theological programs, and music conservatories.”
One of my “heroes” on the subject of instructional strategies in creativity, critical thinking, motivation, and collaboration is Professor Curtis J. Bonk, Indiana University (Bloomington) School of Education and author of 
For school music directors, I would suggest to offer a weekly “create a warm-up” opportunity run by student conductors. Many well-intentioned “school maestros” are guilty of setting up the rigid format of a “benevolent dictatorship” (“my way or the highway”) and not allowing the individual participants to share any input in running practices or interpreting the music. For the first five minutes of the rehearsal, ask student volunteers to choose the articulation or key of a scale, and even create a drill from the challenging rhythmic motives introduced by the music in the folder. Variations on tempo and dynamics can be lead by the student leaders.
As quoted on the back cover of the Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms, “We learn by engaging and exploring, asking questions and testing out answers. Yet our classrooms are not always places where such curiosity is encouraged and supported.” As important as literacy and logic, how can we nurture creativity in the schools? For this forum, can you share your thoughts on additional lessons in creativity?
I submit there are basically three ways to learn something new by reading about it. One is the tutorial format, a.k.a. an instrument of “programmed learning.” Another approach is the comprehensive reference manual or user guide. Finally, many people prefer a narrative story, perhaps a fictitious account that features characters exploring and revealing insights on the topic you are studying.
If you were looking for the reference manual, I recommend Ernie Zelinski’s How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (2016). The chapters are laid out by general concepts you need to understand. However, as in many user guides, you could turn to almost any page in the volume, jump around (in any order) to specific areas on which to focus, e.g. tips on travel (page 165) to health/wellness (page 109), and not lose the overall meaning.
The contents of It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again are divided into a weekly course of study:
The fictitious “Larry and Janice Sparks” share anecdotes of their experiences, modeling potential opportunities of retirees enhancing their relationships, stimulating their minds, revitalizing their bodies, growing spiritually… basically rekindling passion in every area of their lives.
You will notice that all three texts cover many of the same subjects, but are vastly different in methodology, style/design, and overall structure.
at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania on July 11-13, 2016.
Be prepared for anything, and don’t slip up on “interview potholes” – any of these “terrifying, treacherous, tricky, and troubling” inquiries or potentially hot topics like…
According to Lee E. Miller at 
Instead of a traditional interview (like most of the above) stating opinions about yourself, you may be faced with a behavioral interview. This type of employment screening requires job candidates to relate stories about how they handled challenges related to the skills and qualifications the company requires for the position. For this, you are encouraged to read “Acing the Behavioral Interview” by Jeanne Knight at 
In the unlikely event it gets asked, how would you respond to, “You say you are a musician? Are you temperamental?” Administrators want assurances and evidence that you are levelheaded, responsible, organized, reliable, and indeed NOT temperamental. Freelance singers and instrumentalists often have active performance calendars. Your principal may come out and ask if you will be available to “make the music” with your students after-school or evenings, and that your “gigs” and other non-district related activities will not interfere with school concerts, open houses, field trips, festivals, parent meetings, and other educational events for the growth and development of the total music program.
Do music teachers ever retire? Not really!
Practice and go out on a few gigs with your own jazz, rock, Barbershop, or chamber music group
education? Of course, the best part of retirement is that you get to pick what you want to do every day for the rest of your life. So go ahead and say yes to those extra conducting gigs, writing/publishing your own “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” working with the church or community choir, accompanying a handful recitals, volunteering to help your favorite local marching band or civic theater, serving as an adjudicator for a music festival, supervising student teachers or teaching college music education methods classes, etc.
As long as I am alive, I will continue to inspire in others that music makes a difference!
paulfox.blog 