Must bake more brownies!

In spite of my late-to-bed of last night, I awoke just after 6:00 this morning with a sore throat. Horrors! The very last thing I needed this weekend was to get a respiratory-tract illness. It turns out that many people in the choir, including Herr Doktor Professor, have it too, but one of them, who got it yesterday, assures me that it is only a one-day affliction. In spite of it, and perhaps because of the extra-strength acetaminophen I downed, it was manageable and I was able to sing well, once more receiving accolades for my teensy solo spot. Little Princess, however, thinks I did better last night, but the general public would not know the difference.

After my rude, early-morning awakening, I tried to sleep in further, but eventually had to get up and have a bath and walk over to the u. where I sat in on three of my students� rehearsals with their accompanist. I made some appropriate comments about tempi, dynamics, ensemble, et cetera, and felt as though I had been useful. At this stage of the game, there is not much I can do. There isn�t enough time to get them to change things, and even if there were, they would still forget everything as soon they are caught like deer in headlights on the stage in front of their jurors. It happens like this every year.

The student who missed her lesson on Friday but was at the concert nonetheless but never greeted me was also there tonight, and during intermission I stopped her with a hand to her upper arm and said, �How are you feeling?�, since it was obvious to me from her solo last night and tonight that she is seriously under the weather. Her answer was merely a shrug and a �Meh�, which I don�t consider an adequate reply when your singing teacher asks after your vocal or other health. This is the first time I am seriously considering failing a student, and I�m not happy about it. As anyone who has taught one-on-one knows, part of the mark is on attitude, and when a student just doesn�t seem to care, that really prejudices the teacher against her. It�s not as though I have given her written exams where the answers are right or wrong; her sole basis for evaluation is what she does in studio: her practice habits, her improvement and her attitude. If it sucks as badly as this one�s does, I see no reason why I shouldn�t fail her, or at least give her a low enough mark so that her failure to attend concerts (which counts in one�s applied music mark) pushes her over the edge. She�s going down!

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