Recital

I left work at 4 to head to the studio for recital. After helping with set up my students start arriving about 5:15. I have 9 students singing in recital- 8 of them are doing great. All have warmed up, are dressed appropriately, seem just the appropriate amount of nervous and are running around the studio like lunatics (which is normal).

Meanwhile in the music room, one of them (my seventeen year old) is sitting on the floor convulsing through tears. I'm not exactly sure what had set her off so much (it wasn't just the singing- there is some personal stuff going on), but she is the same one I have been having a rough time with over the last few weeks. I let her aunt (my boss) and the other adults in the studio take care of her and concentrated on the rest of my students.

We pulled my sobbing student out of the line up for the evening and progressed without her. About half way through recital my boss pulls me aside and tells me that she will sing, but only if I sing with her. So I ended up singing with her. If I got quieter, in an effort to hear her sing, she got quieter too. My boss understands completely- it doesn't reflect poorly on my job performance- but if I had been a parent paying for voice lessons all year and that was what I got I would be angry.

None the less it did not ruin my night. The rest of my girls did fantastic and their parents were very happy! It was a great way to end the year. I will only have three or four students over the summer and then we will see what happens in the fall! Year two of teaching is coming to a close!