Choral Potpourri: Pausing and Taking a Breath

   “Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings.” Victor Hugo

I am taking the week off (and wrote this several weeks ahead of the actual Blog posting). My concert was last Sunday, and I have gotten into the habit of taking a bit of a breather, if I can, from all things choral right after a concert. This means I don’t listen to choral music or do any score study or plan any concert or program. In fact, I try to NOT listen to any music at all if I can help it. I have found, “cleansing my palate” from music for a short time, right after a concert, actually helps me focus better later and I feel refreshed.

During my time off, I will probably clean out a few kitchen drawers. And sip one or two sparkling beverages on my patio, while paging through a magazine. I’ll probably watch the Food Network in preparation for a cooking marathon later in the week. There is a lunch or coffee planned with a non-musician friend I almost never have time to see once I’m in a concert cycle. And I will stare into space and not feel guilty about it, worrying I should be doing something productive.

Once my week off is over, summer auditions start, then our choir retreat in July, with a break-out gig five days later, and auditions starting up again a few days after that. I will be doing research for our fall 2017 concert cycle during the summer too; it never ends. Auditions continue until rehearsals in Augusts begin, with a few days off in there someplace out of town with my spouse.

I hope you have time for a real break this summer. You deserve some sort of short pause, a rest, and a down period so you are able to truly re-group and refresh for the fall. We all need that bit of a break so we are able to come back to the profession we love so much with renewed energy and a fresh ear so we may sing our song.