Wearying Wednesday.
8:01 a.m.
8:00 a.m. � The guys arrived to pave the driveway. They ripped up the sod along one side where we wanted it widened and, in the process of digging and grading with the front end loader, came within 2" of the house with the big shovel. It was very disconcerting to watch. Then the guy on the compactor set the place to shaking, and I felt my bones rattle. We got out of there just after 9:00 and drove to the U for a change, where Hubby found a place to park (it�s a miracle!) not too far from the music department.
10:30 a.m. � I taught my first lesson of the day to my baritone from last year who is always a joy to me. We picked right up where we�d left off five months ago with the aria from Bach�s Mass in B Minor, �Quoniam tu solus sanctus�. It was a good lesson.
11:30 a.m. � My next student did not arrive. After 10 minutes of waiting I went upstairs to the music office where I inquired of some students if they knew this girl, and if they had seen her. One of them not only knew her, but gave me her phone number, since he moved out of his parents� house and she is now renting his room. Convenient. So I called, and lo! she was still home, sleeping, and suffering with both bad menstrual cramps and a sore throat. She also felt really stupid. So, we rearranged her lesson for 12:30 and I went off and had lunch in the cafeteria, a hummus sandwich on brown bread, and ended up joining �tienne, the singer in my daughter�s band, who was having a hummus-on-pumpernickel sandwich, and we proceeded to talk about his ongoing research for Dr. M. in the area of women and magic, something one of my faithful readers knows all about.
12:30 p.m. � My tardy student had her lesson, and while she is a really sweet girl with a pretty good voice, she is a complete neophyte in the area of musical notation. To be more blatant, she can�t read music, and I found myself in the awkward position of a singing teacher demonstrating rhythm and pitch, where is middle C, what is a flat, what these little flags mean, and how you interpret the �dot� after the quarter note. Oy. She doesn�t take rudiments until next term!
1:30 p.m. � My next student was on time and proved to be a wonder. She�s tiny, the same height or shorter than I am, 18 or so, and has a wonderful mature sound and a beautiful soprano voice. She�s already taken lessons for about four years, reads music, and will be a joy to teach.
2:30 p.m. � This student never showed up. Not a hair of her. I called her residence room and left a message and when I got home I was expecting a message on my machine, but there was nothing. I will see her in choir this afternoon and explain that a missed lesson is a forfeited lesson. I spent the time instead singing through a book of songs I had brought with me for teaching purposes.
3:30 p.m. � My graduate who is continuing privately with me arrived, and I realized how much she had backslid over the summer. Basic principles that she should have incorporated into her technique by now (this is her fourth year with me) are still lacking, such points as support and, most of all, perseverence, i.e. singing the phrase past the point where you feel like you�re running out of air just to see if maybe you can actually do it. She wants me to prepare her for an audition for a music therapy programme at one of Canada�s better-known universities, in the heart of Oktoberfest country, and I can do that. My biggest challenge is getting her to sing in tune. *Elgan throws her hands in the air and says, �Why me, Gourd?�*
4:30 p.m. � Hubby and I drove home. We admired the newly-blackened driveway and felt the heat rising from its smooth surface. We can�t put the cars on it until Saturday. As we were driving across the bridge, we noticed all the heavy equipment travelling in the opposite direction. We are now $2,600 poorer, but Hubby has assured me that the value of our home has just jumped by $20,000. I�ll believe it when we try to sell.
We had an early supper, Buddy Boy had karate and Hubby and Little Princess had orchestra practice at 6:00 p.m. This gave me a short respite which I spent at the computer (where else?), actually getting in a brief MSN conversation with zitagsd. I miss her. We hardly ever connect since school started and the seven-hour difference means we are not usually in the same place at the same time.
7:00 p.m. � Writing group! Yay! Except I was so tired I wondered how productive I would be. As it turned out, I did some very good writing last night which I might post here or over at Cassandra�s Tears. When I got home I didn�t have the energy to update, so I went to bed early. Unfortunately I had a headache and one stuffed nostril and lay awake waiting patiently for sleep to overtake me. It must have eventually, because I�m feeling rested but not recovered this morning.
And now that I have taken 40 minutes to get this down, I�m running late and must forego my bath. A quick shower will have to do.
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