Last week, I wrote about Why I Quit. When my husband read that title, he blanched, thinking that I was announcing that I was quitting teaching (without telling him first).
Not quite.
As I said last week, that wasn’t the intended focus when I sat down to write. What I wanted to talk about was why I moved from Milwaukee ten years ago, and whether or not those reasons still stand up today.
This past weekend, I hosted my studio’s 25th anniversary party at a local restaurant, The Gourmet at Kenilworth (fantastic if you haven’t been there). I suspected that I would have a low turnout from my private students, so I decided to expand it and make it into a NATS chapter fundraiser. The restaurant agreed to give back 10% of the cost of food/drink purchases to the chapter – I’m guessing we’ll be getting about $100. They have a baby grand piano in okay shape and I brought a mic and monitor and we had an open mic.
It was largely the Christine-and-Kay-Megan Show because we sang the most, but others sang too, some of whom were former or on-and-off students, and some were friends from the NATS board and Baltimore theater community. And we had the wonderful Michael Tan at the piano, who also sang. One of my students posted pics on Instagram and wrote that it was a “live karaoke,” which I think is a great way to describe it.
None of my current younger students or their families came, and I have to say I’m very disappointed.
But it was a wonderful afternoon, and I sang and I was so happy to sing songs I love for people who wanted to hear me. One of my friends commented, in response to some pics on Instagram,
“You are in your element!”
And I was. I really, really was. And it made me remember why I moved here in 2013. It wasn’t to teach. I was already doing that. It was to sing.
That was something I reminded myself of when my studio enrollment wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be this year, and I got somewhat despondent. But then I reminded myself of the things I’ve done this year as a performer, and it was more than I’ve done since before the pandemic that didn’t entirely involve church.
- January 2023 – recorded “Resting” by Garth Baxter, a piece for marimba, B-flat clarinet, and mezzo, the video of which was submitted along with the music for publication:
- May 2023: Premiered Garth’s Music’s Path: Six Songs of Irish Poets with pianist Michael Sheppard
- July 2023: Re-recorded 4 of those songs to reflect changes by the composer (again, w/Michael S.)
- July 2023: Helped a friend with a self-tape by doing off-camera readings (she got the part) and now I want to explore voiceover work!)
- August 2023: Performed the Irish songs again at Edenwald Retirement Community, again with Michael S. (also, Resting was published)
- September 2023: See above – which made me want to write a cabaret show, and I’m working on it now to submit for consideration to Edenwald and other nicer retirement communities. The theme of it is also the topic of the book I intend to write, which I want to get on ASAP.
- In addition to the 16 gigs I did this summer, I’m still subbing and cantoring around town, and I just started rehearsals for the High Holidays at Har Sinai Oheb Shalom Congregation (HSOSC), where I’ve been singing since 2014.
I moved here because I wanted to sing. And I still have something to offer.
I still want to teach. I still have something to offer there. But my current mantra is –
I’m not done yet
As a singer or a teacher.