Smoke gets in your eye.

I was just checking my site meter and noticed I had been googled for "Twinings Christmas Tea", which brought the googler to this entry. Upon rereading it I realized that there will probably be no more three-lady lunches. It is too sad. Vlad has suggested that we could perhaps have a three-singing-teacher lunch, with Gail replacing the fickle Flor. It sounds like an excellent idea to me. At least we three are basically all on the same side of the fence here.

Speaking of which, students of mine have been complaining to me regarding the distribution of solos in the choir shows. My senior student, especially, is a little miffed that she wasn�t given more to do. I have more solos than she has, and I never even requested any. It does seem blatantly unfair. Besides that, the one solo she really did audition for and would have done exceedingly well was split between two mezzos, one of whom is not a voice major and one who is, although you would not know that from hearing her, and the one she (my student) did get is about eight measures long, and I get the rest. She says that she could make a big fuss and complain, but she doesn�t want to get the grease because she squeaks, but because she truly deserves it. I can understand completely her point of view.

Anyway, there is discord fomenting in the choir and I have encouraged her to take others of like mind and go talk to the director after the concert is over, like next week sometime, to make their concerns known. If they continue to seethe without venting, things will only get worse. Herr Doktor is actually quite naive when it comes to the �power play� that goes on in the group. He wants to give everyone who asks something to do, whether they are actually capable or not. As a result, the solos start to get spread a little thin, and the ones who are actually deserving get short-changed. He doesn�t make the decision alone, but has a �committee� of choir members plus the �assistant� director who help with the distribution. Unfortunately, they have agendas and play favourites, and my particular student is at the bottom of that list. She might not even be on it, for that matter, but they are obligated to throw her a bone because she really is deserving.

This entry is a freebie. There�s a short one from last night, and if I�m not too exhausted, I�ll try to update after tonight�s choir concert. The jazz ensemble, however, plays at The Lion tonight for free beer, so I might adjourn there to unwind after the concert. Or maybe I won�t. They still aren�t enforcing the �no smoking� ruling yet. Harrumph!

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