A mixture of stuff.

I wandered over to the music department yesterday for the first choir practice (we actually sang, boys and girls, didn't just take attendance) and was pleased to see that we'll be performing Bach's Wachet Auf and Benjamin Britten's A Cerem0ny of Car0ls on the November show, along with M0zart's Te Deum. I was not pleased to see that the chapel choir will be taking up a rather sizeable chunk of the programme with nine of Brahms' LiebesIieder WaIzer. The director of said choir, someone whom I befriended in all sincerity only to have her turn around and do something very unprofessional and hurtful, as well as, along with her smarmy mate, drive an irreversible wedge between me and someone I thought was a very good friend, took over the chapel choir in a most suspect manner, the position always having gone to a music student in the past in the form of a scholarship (and believe me, those students need that kind of financial assistance as well as actual conducting experience), just because the husband of my former best friend (who is on the chapel committee) caved in to her request that she "needed something to do." Now that was a very long sentence, but I think it conveyed the idea that I'm not terribly fond of this woman. The chapel choir performs every Sunday morning in the university sanctuary and they also have their own carol service every December to herald the Yuletide season. Why the fuck are they performing on a university choir concert? Riddle me that, Batman. Well, I already know the reason. This woman, the usurper, is also the university choir assistant director, a position which is totally superfluous, but was created to "give her something to do" when she first arrived here. So, this makes her visible in that capacity, even though she is not conducting the actual choir of which she is (in name only) the assistant director. In fact, wouldn't it make more sense for her to conduct the university singers in some piece, rather than the chapel choir, which was so ill prepared for their carol service last year due to all the time they had spent preparing for the choir show that many extra rehearsals were called and it all came together by the skin of their teeth?

I have to take a brief break from all those long sentences and multiple commas.

Right. So I was at the music department yesterday and I got to hug all sorts of returning students. It was quite nice, actually, to know that I am so loved. The one girl, a phenomenal talent actually, who was supposed to have been at a bible college in Texas (of all places) is actually back. She changed her mind, and the first thing she asked me, after "how was your summer?" was "when we can start lessons?" Woo hoo! Also, a young man whom I thought was finished with his lessons is also studying with me again this year, and this makes me very happy. I thought I had no returning students, and here I have two.

I also got into a conversation with Patty and Dana, two ladies who work for food services. They were not happy. In fact, they were miserable. The university did not continue the contract it had with the former campus caterer because people were generally unhappy with the quality of the food and the prices. The new contractee has made large changes, and even though it rehired all the people who used to work for the former company, it did not take into account the fact that many of them have been there for years and years, nor did it grant them the holidays they were entitled to under their old contract. Many people have already left for greener pastures, and the two I spoke to were dusting off their resumes as well.

I really sympathise with them. Having hung around the campus for nearly 20 years now, I've gotten to know a lot of the staff quite well. Around the same time that part-time profs (that's me) were admitted into the faculty union, the staff joined them as well. There are still two separate unions, but they do have joint bargaining power for things that count. It would be great if the food services employees could be brought into the staff association and then they would work for the university, not for whatever caterer has the current contract, and get the perks and seniority they deserve. None of them are in a position to further the evolution of this matter, but I promised Patty I would talk to people who know people, and see if I couldn't get some kind of ball rolling to protect these guys. They are really miserable. I'm not Norma Rae, but I try.

Today was the beginning-of-year meeting for all music students, and I realized that the new guy (the smarmy guy) who has now taken over the duties of department chair, even though he still lacks official sanction, has effectively rid himself of another task that has always fallen on the chair's shoulders, namely the organization of the annual fall barbecue. The event used to be held at the house of whomever was chair, buildings & grounds would deliver two big barbecue troughs to the house in question, and the students would experience directly the hospitality of their leader. In recent years, however, this got to be too much, and the barbecue ended up being held in the quad directly outside the music department's front door. It was still up to the chair to organize it, supply the charcoal for the barbecue and paper plates and plastic cutlery for the consumption of food, while it was up to the individuals in attendance to bring their own barbecue fodder. The faculty would split between them the bringing of other delicacies, and I always make a huge potato salad (from M00sew00d) which is devoured right down to the last chopped celery leaf. However, our new leader has somehow got the music students' association to take on this most onerous of tasks, and it now appears to be one of their events. This guy is so slippery. I am really curious to see what else he weasels out of.

Our blues band had its first rehearsal this afternoon, going through a bit more than half of our repertoire. It went extremely well, better than I ever expected. We have a new bass player, Guy, and a keyboard player, J.J., who are both fine musicians. Afterwards we congregated at The Lion for a few beers, enjoying the fine fall weather (I know, it's not officially fall yet, but this is Quebec, you know) and admiring all the cool cars that went by. Well, I was admiring the cool cars. I think the guys were looking more at the female students in their scanty garments. Ah, summertime.

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