Vocal problems
5:14 p.m.
I told Hubby about it and he asked me what I would tell a student to do if one had this problem. I would have her sing lightly, almost breathily over the break, with a completely relaxed jaw and focusing the sound in the head, along the "plumb line", always maintaining strong support. She would do exercises of five notes stepwise up and down, starting on various pitches, until the area was totally relaxed, and then gradually start putting more "resonance" into the sound.
So he said maybe that is what I should do myself. I agree with him, and I have been doing some exercises to try to loosen up and smooth over the break. But then I start practising my pieces and it gets all tight again. What I need to do is not work on repertoire, just practise getting my voice back in shape. But I feel a little desperate with teaching starting up again, and all these new Rossini arias to learn. Also, I've been so tense lately, with my mother's visit and all the stuff surrounding the university, that it's difficult to relax my jaw and tongue.
Speaking of the university, I shot a letter off to both my union rep and my department chair about my teaching assignments. Since I'm senior, I get two new ones at first, Gail gets one, and then we get one apiece in rotation. Well, that's what they did, except that three of mine (one returnee and two newbies) are registered in voice as a second instrument, meaning they only get 3/4-hour lessons as opposed to 1-hour lessons. So for my 7 students I am in fact teaching only 6 1/4 hours, and Gail has 6 students and 6 hours. Now there is nothing in the wording of the collective agreement about this situation. It refers only to warm bodies. But I think this is wrong, and the distribution should be made more in the spirit of the document, meaning that the senior tutor gets the bulk of the teaching, not necessarily the bulk of the students, even though that is usually the end result.
The rep wrote me back right away saying he would get on it. I probably won't hear from the Duke. I'm sure he's thinking of me as being a real trouble maker, since I'm always complaining about something. Last year I got mad when he gave a couple of students to Gail, without consulting me. Then there was the whole business about his treating complaints as evaluations. Now this. I'm sure he would like to wash his hands of me. Unfortunately, he's now stuck with me, as the collective agreement ensures my employment. So there, nyah!
It's funny, I've worked at the U for 15 years, and I never complained about anything before, except that I wanted a mirror for the studio, and that wasn't a big deal and one was installed almost immediately. Other than that, I have been a most compliant employee. Now that I have a little bit of power, as a result of the part-time teachers being unionized, I'm asserting my rights. Crazy.
My mom phoned to say she arrived safely. The phone rang, I picked up and said "hello" and I hear my mother say "I arrived home five minutes ago". No hello, no preliminaries, just right to the point. If I hadn't recognized her voice, I would have been wondering who the hell was calling. Fortunately I had to take Son to karate, and couldn't talk to her. So that saved me an earful. But her trip was uneventful and she arrived safe and sound, and she told me again what a wonderful weekend she had.
Okay, boys and girls, I have to make supper for Hubby and me. Both kids are at karate and have to be picked up at 7:30, so we'll be dining a due this evening. Hmmmm�
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