A Time for Change

This past week a large handful of my students left for college. That should be cause for rejoicing, of course, but for me it was a painful reminder that relationships can be so very efemeral. These eight kids had in many ways not only been my students, but also my legacy. A couple of them had even been my friends.

They are off to a great new adventure now, spread to all parts of the country.

Will they forget me? Perhaps they will. I know that from my high school days I remain in touch with but a single friend. Even my "best friend" and I haven't spoken for more than two years.

Lives change. We move on. Old friends pass into memory, new ones take their places. For my nine, well, I should be thrilled. Alas, that thrill is tempered by an emptiness that I cannot explain, and even though there is a new crop in the studio this year...those that have gone were my first class to go since I started teaching full time.

Good teachers care and remember. They stay abreast of what their charges have gone on to do. I hope that my students do the same for the old man.

Andy, Robert, Alex, Brian, Will, Michael, Montgomery, Tasha, Rachel: Good Luck, Godspeed, Bon voyage. Do well. Make me proud. And I hope that some future success will have had something to do with some little thing you might have learned from me.

I miss you all already, and I am delighted that a new and exciting adventure awaits you. Keep me posted. I know it will be great!

Catching Up

It has been some weeks since I have posted. A goodly amount of travel and a lot of on air duty at WRR have kept me very busy, and tomorrow I head out once again for Seattle to spend a week with the ineffable Madame Z to learn all about Baroque Opera at the Accademia d'amore.

Meanwhile much has been going on. BPI was an interesting experience this year. Not exactly the mountain top that was 2004, but a growing (if somewhat painful) experience nonetheless. I learned much about myself this time and interacting with others.

September will have me back in Amsterdam to work with Max van Egmond. I can't wait to get back to this fabulous city and to spend some quality time with Schubert and Schumann under the tutelage of a master.

This morning's Dallas Morning News front page prompted a letter to the editor when there was a big article on the front page about "Justice Sunday" a rally of foaming at the mouth evangelicals who want to advance their political agenda by disguising their cause in the clothing of morals and standards.

Imagine my vicious delight when I read that their keynote speaker would be that paragon of virtue, House Majority Godfather Tom DeMoney, er, DeLay. Let's see, just how many investigations and inditments are swirling around the head of the most Rev. Mr. Bombast at the moment? I've lost count.

How funny that the very people who want prayer in schools, the ten commandments on the courthouse lawn and judges who hate gays and moms put up the most corrupt congressman in decades as their standard bearer. I guess though that it is completely appropriate. It shows that the agenda of the so-called Christian right is anything but Christlike. Why don't they just come out and tell us what they really really want (to quote the Spice Girls)?

C'mon neo-con-men, why don't you spare us all the self-righteous Jesus rhetoric and tell us all what you're really up to? You want power, and you know that from time immemorial, you can gain power by playing on the fears of the ignorant and the afraid. It's been going on since the middle ages. Threaten the plebians with eternal damnation, convince them that you know better than they do what's best for their immortal souls and you have them in the palm of your hand.

Well, that's enough for today. Tune in later for a report from Seattle and the Baroque Opera Workshop.