Good old Goethe

I am taking a break from copying. I�m not sure how it�s a �break� when I�ve just changed computers, but somehow it makes a big difference to me. Today was my big teaching day, starting at 9:30 with my anarchist and going until 3:30 with my Mexican exchange student. They have one thing in common: their German sucks big time. They�re both doing the same song, Heidenr�slein by Schubert, and neither of them can pronounce the vowels with umlauts. The Mexican�s �s� in R�slein becomes �zs� as in Zsazsa Gabor, and the anarchist cannot for the life of him pronounce the �ch� in steche dich. I spend most of the lesson on pronunciation, paying only lip service to singing technique. It would be so nice to have a diction course here for singers, but it is not to be.

In between was my third-year student who will never be a singer, although she tries really hard, my other third-year student who is actually doing a half-recital this term (and we�re going to have to have two lessons per week to get them all done in time), a quick lunch, and my pay-as-he-goes guy whose ear I am trying to develop so that he can actually match pitches. I earned my keep today, believe me!

Thanks for all your thoughts on what I should say to my daughter. I have been thinking about how to start the conversation, since I don�t want her to think that I am snooping in her stuff, and I thought a good opener would be, �So I guess it�s no secret that you�re on the pill, since you left your garbage where I couldn�t help but find it. Do you want to talk about it?� or I could ask her in all innocence if she find�s that her acne is improving since she�s on the pill, or some such approach. The last thing I want to do is alienate her, or make her think that I disapprove. Believe me, I would much rather that she be on the pill than not if she and her BF are having sex. For sure! Ah, the joys of parenthood. The things they don�t prepare you for in pre-natal class!

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