The jury is out.

You know, we never really think about the subjunctive mood in English. Most people are totally unaware of it, and only students of foreign languages actually experience it. I use it in French when strictly necessary, but according to my francophone friends, it is falling into grammatical limbo. However, Latin is rife with the subjunctive, and I have spent most of the day putting together my grammar booklet to hand in tomorrow on that subject. I�m not finished yet, mostly because I got hooked on spider solitaire (again), and not because I ran out twice to attend two students� final juries.

My first-year soprano was absolutely phenomenal. Her parents were here and got special permission to sit in on her exam, so she actually had more of an audience than just her jurors and me to sing to, which probably made a difference. This girl has a gorgeous voice and she�s a complete natural. It helps that her mom is a music teacher, but she had never studied singing formally, and all her previous performing had been in the �pop� genre. What a pleasant surprise then to discover that she has great high notes. I gave her the M0zart aria Bester J�ngIing as a coloratura starter, and she sang it beautifully. She did her other stuff really well too. Since she�s a �natural�, much of her lessons has been spent on getting her to analyze and understand what she does so that she can improve on it and make changes. I think we made some headway, and her mom commented to me afterwards that she seems to have so much more control than she used to.

The sad part of this story is that I found out a few months ago that she is not coming back next fall, but is instead going to a bible college in Texas. WTF? This was a decision she made last fall and had already set the wheels in motion before she realized that she actually liked being in music school. So, hopefully, and with the continued bugging of her friends (and her parents who really think she ought to continue her music studies), she will see the error of her ways and come back here the following year. In the meantime, I am very sad to see her go. She has been not only a good student, but a very fun person to have around. Plus, she has the best collection of earrings I have ever seen.

The second jury, which I ended running for after parking in the upper lot and arriving at the hall totally winded (I am so out of shape, something must be done), did not go as well. This was my other voice-as-a-second-instrument student, the one who saved my sanity after my annoying clarinettist�s lessons. She got nervous and forgot to breathe basically. She�s musical, she�s not got a bad voice, but her breath support was nonexistant and she was gulping air in the most inappropriate places. I can only attribute it to nerves since she has done much better in rehearsal. She looked great though, putting on a very sexy dress and gorgeous high-heeled sandals. Ah, to have a 24" waist again.

The other high point to my day was the arrival of the tea I ordered last week. Red R0se (Only in Canada you say? Pity!) has been bought by SaIada, and while they�re still selling Red R0se tea (in the characteristic bags with the little roses on them), I have a feeling the quality may be suffering. I�m very particular about my tea, you know. I�ve already been buying No. 22 BIend by mailorder for quite some time, so I thought I would try out the same company�s orange pekoe, of which they have three grades. I went for the middle quality, a blend of Ceylon and Assam teas. I�ll let you know how it is.

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