I LOVE IT!!!

(As an aside: TrueTech is saving up for a large software package, which is only affordable because of my student status, yay me. Jeremy will need to learn the programs once he gets his mitts on the package, and I’m going to gently - ahem - suggest our website as a guinea pig. Here’s hoping.)

So, I’ve been jobless for two months, and I’m loving it more all the time. My grades are fantabulous, AND I have the time to actually learn the stuff, as opposed to holding it in my head only long enough to spit it back out. Even though I’m sitting at home alone for five whole days each week, I still have work to do on the weekends, because I have a group project due every Sunday night for my tax class. Grrrr. And sometimes, my time management is, um . . . not as good as it could be . . . and I end up working some evenings. But, I have not fallen behind, nor have I had to rush a single assignment in two whole months, nor have I had a single migraine (since I finished detoxing from work). Overall, this is great!!

Unlikely as I would have thought it, I seem to be busier than ever. In addition to the schoolwork, and so much more exciting (sometimes it’s the reason my time management gets a little sketchy, in fact), I’m diving back into the music world. Minus the cattiness and competition, too!

Long story short . . . ummmm . . . I sang with a friend at Jeremy’s church a couple of weeks ago. Five days later I got a call from the music ministry, and they asked me if I’d be interested in teaching their vocalists. It’s a little sticky because I’m not a member of the church, so it’s not completely set up yet, but of course I already have the first two lessons planned. Concurrent with that, I started giving voice lessons to Dawn - the woman who invited me to sing with her - and the leaders of the music ministry.

I love the challenge of teaching. I’ve been told that one of the women I will be teaching, but haven’t met yet, is very right-brained and doesn’t get very far with visualization. This, of course, is a tremendously important tool in teaching voice. The apparatus is so complicated, and involves the use of so many involuntary muscles, that it seems to me like there’s no other way to teach it. But I’ve spent all kinds of time on the internet researching vocal anatomy, trying to figure out how to explain the whole thing through logic, and in the process I’ve learned that 1. nobody really understands the whole thing for sure, and 2. a lot of the pictures I’ve had in my head for the last 20 years have been completely wrong! Obviously they work for me, my voice has never been better, but I don’t want to teach from a place of misunderstanding. So that was really interesting. In any case, I’ve had one epiphany so far, and I’m hoping it will be an important key.

Love it, love it, love it!

*Meanwhile, if you would like to send me a copy of Richard Miller’s _The Structure of Singing_, I will be happy to send you my address. It’s supposed to be the definitive work on vocal anatomy, but it’s a textbook and it’s hugely expensive. I will love you forever. Thank you.*

I also have a voice lesson scheduled with a teacher who just moved into town. I’m hoping that we hit it off and she can teach me how to transition from a classical sound to a musical theater sound. The music at Jeremy’s church is contemporary, and once I get their vocalists up to speed with basic technique, I want to be equipped to steer them in the direction of the sound they actually want to produce. Of course, I wouldn’t mind having a more useful sound, myself. Pretty is nice, and classical technique feels really, really good, but nobody wants to hear that sound nowadays.

In semi-related news, Jeremy and I have been looking around for a good digital piano. Our antique upright is just so totally dead, and we’re feeling a bad pinch. We found a digital we could live with, the Yamaha P-155, but it’s $1200 - and even that kind of money doesn’t buy a decent piano sound. We are so spoiled, with our ivory keys, and full-sized harp, and real hammers and real strings to provide real tactile feedback. No sampling can ever match that. We’re going to have to continue to live without, though, because . . .

We’re getting a new tankless water heater. Some of you are aware of our battle with the electric bill. We pay somewhere around $110-120 each month (WITHOUT air conditioning), for a 1056-sq-ft house that shelters just two adults and is lit exclusively by CFL bulbs. AND, I am a self-styled “light-Nazi”, which simply means that I chase down any source of light that is not coming from the room I am currently in, and extinguish it. Anyway, last week I found out for sure that the problem with the electric bill is definitely the water heater. Switching to a tankless propane is going to save us $61 per month.

We’re just waiting to hear from the plumber, and then we’re going to take care of it ASAP. Whoosh!, there goes our tax refund, but I tend to favor upfront investments that save me money over time; plus, we’ll get 30% back as a tax credit on next year’s return. I know, too bad I didn’t figure this out last November, right? We’ll have to wait a whole year to see the tax benefit! In the meantime though, $60 a month is going to make an appreciable difference in our budget.

So, to summarize, I’m happy as a clam. I’d be willing to bet I’m even happier, because I’m not soaking in salt water.

Ha ha ha.