Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Sumer Is Icumen In

I am taking a bit of a Choral Ethics break during the summer, and this is the first of my Choral Ethics Blog repeats, taken from Choral Ethics blogs from 2018 through 2019. We will also have a guest blogger a time or two.  I will be working on the fall’s Blogs during the summer, so if you have a Choral Ethics dilemma or query or comment, please email me: .

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” Gertrude Jekyll

It is SUMMER! Or will be tomorrow. It is the time of year I most look forward to. I am busy, but it is not same sort of busy as my usual “busy.” I bet it is the same for many of you.

I try to use this time to refresh and reboot my life; both personally and professionally. With no regular rehearsals or performances, my time is flexible. I am able to do some planning for the next concert season, and the season after that. I read mostly for pleasure and take a workshop or go to a conference if I can find one to fit with my vacation plans. We often vacation in an area with a music festival and go to concerts between resting and hiking and biking. We also go to the occasional outdoor concert venue; it is often noisy with the sounds of nature—or trains—but that’s part of the fun!

If I don’t get some time to refresh myself during the summer, my fall is not as organized. I feel stressed beginning the new concert season and things seem harder than usual. I have learned to make down time and to enjoy the down time and, since I am a planner, to plan for my down time. My favorite down time activities are baking pies and then lounging on the patio on summer Sundays, with a cool drink and maybe a piece of the above mentioned pies! Enjoying my flowers, delighting in the sunshine and the breezes and relaxing, truly relaxing, helps me reboot for fall and my seasons of busyness.

What do you do to reboot and refresh yourself during the summer? Are you able to take a vacation? Do you teach or do you take a class or a workshop? Have you taken a conducting Master Class, either close to home or out of the country? Do read or do research for your upcoming concerts? Do go to more concerts and shows, or less, than during the choir year? What do you do to relax?

Have a GREAT SUMMER!