Slump

It's the midpoint of SongFest and everyone is just exhausted. Graham Johnson has left, Ricky and Jake (yeahhhhh, we're on a first-name basis, why not?) have left, and it's a little bit like the air has gone out of the room. Of course, the rest of the faculty has arrived, and they are wonderful, but we haven't had any kind of a break. Saturday and Sunday were no different from the rest of the week in terms of classes and private coachings. If I could change anything about this program, it would be adding a little bit of fun time in the middle so people can stop griping about how exhausted we all are. Have a talent show (that doesn't involve singing), order pizza and set up a big screen to view a movie, take us to the beach for an afternoon, whatever! We just need one day or afternoon where noone is scheduled to do anything. The singers' voices are fatigued, and it's starting to show. And the pianists? We're just walking around in a bit of a daze.

That said, I'm still having a good time, even if I'm getting a tad weary of sitting in masterclasses. Oma has gone home, Uncle Joe is the new "nanny," and Daniel has decided to relinquish his afternoon nap in favor of going to bed at 6:30. (God knows what time I'll have to get up with him tomorrow morning; I don't even want to think about it.)

Let's end on a positive note, though. Heh, pun intended. I had a fabulous, fabulous coaching on the Harbison pieces I'm playing Thursday night. Harbison isn't here, but his good friend and fellow composer James Primosch is in residence, and he had lots of really helpful things to say. I think we're going to be really, really good. This isn't ego here, this is confidence going into a performance (an important performance), and that's a good thing.