My fall semester has been crazy busy, even for me, thanks to what I have been describing as a “ferocious overload” at Carthage combined with an especially challenging fall musical at the Racine Theater Guild. The prospect of this semester was literally keeping me up at night through much of late August, so tied up in worrying about how I was going to manage everything. It was a case of how worry can be a perpetual vortex in which there is no escape – because worry itself accomplishes nothing, never achieves completion, never resolves anything. If you aren’t careful, it can go on endlessly. Fortunately for me, the fall semester eventually did begin- and with it, the end of the worry (mostly.) Now it was a matter of doing, of making the fall semester happen, one way or another. It’s been tricky, to be sure – at times even exhausting – but infinitely preferable to late August when I was laying awake at night, my eyes wide open like saucers, wondering how in the world I was going to remain afloat. It’s been much better to actually do it.
The worst thing about a semester like this is that it leaves almost no time at all for reflection on or appreciation for what I’m doing. Today, however, with 45 minutes suddenly available to me, I find myself thinking about what I’ve been doing today alone – and realizing anew that I am so blessed to have a life in which so much of what I do gives me pleasure and satisfaction. That’s why I am calling this not “overload” – but rather “over lode” …. with ‘lode’ meaning, in this case, ‘a rich supply or source.’
My day began with intense prep for four interviews at WGTD for the “Morning Show” – one live interview followed by three recorded interviews for future shows. My live interview was with a professor of history at the University of Gdansk, Poland who is visiting the University of Wisconsin Parkside. Of the four interviews, this was the one that made me the most nervous because the summary of her book (about political exiles from central Europe who settled in the West after World War Two) left me feeling completely intimidated – and a tad confused. But once the guest had come to the station, I felt completely different. She was friendly, approachable, articulate – and genuinely excited to be there – and our conversation ended up being a wide-ranging and very interesting survey of Poland itself and its recent history. (Nothing is better than pleasant surprises like this!) Pictured below: Parkside’s Anne Gurnack, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, and Anna Mazurkiewicz, Associate History Professor of
The moment she left, I had a record a series of three 20-minute interviews … with scarcely a moment of relaxation between them. The first was with a woman named Laura Pritchett, the author of a very intriguing book called “Making Friends with Death: A Field Guide for your Impending Last Breath.” The book only hints at the irreverence of her approach, which I found quite refreshing compared to the typical books about death that tend to be heavy and humorless. Prichett’s approach has a way of suspending the barriers that we tend to erect when a topic like death is raised. By the way, her book mentions one fascinating statistic that I had never seen before: that 1 out of 10 of us will suffer a sudden, unexpected death- and the remaining 9 will experience what the author calls a meandering death, in which we are able to anticipate the approach of death to some extent. The book also looks at how we prepare for our own death versus preparing for the death of someone we care about.
Right after that came an interview with Margot Kahn, co-editor of “This is the place: women writing about home.” It’s a collection of thirty essays by thirty women writers on the vast theme of ‘home.’ When I saw the title of the book – and its cover – I imagined that we would have one warm and fuzzy essay after another about the beauty of home and family. But once I opened up the book, I realized that I was imagining a ridiculously limited slice of life when in fact ‘home’ can represent so many things …. including fear, heartbreak, and worse. All of it and more are in this book, and it was one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a long, long time. By the way, I’m glad I had the guts to ask her a potentially uncomfortable question – which was “why only women writers? How come you didn’t want to hear from male writers as well?” She gave a good answer and that was my favorite moment of the interview. (And if you’re wondering what she said, you’ll have to listen to the interview when it airs.)
My last interview of the morning was with a veteran/actor/activist by the name of Stephan Wolfert who is bringing his one-man show “Cry Havoc!” to Carthage this Thursday for the second annual Vet Night for the Arts. I spoke with Wolfert not only about his own life and this one-man show, but also about the acting workshops he has done with veterans- and the Shakespeare plays that he has presented with casts comprised entirely of veterans. It was inspiring to hear him speak of this work, which obviously means a great deal to him- and especially to hear him explain how a veteran has something very special and perhaps even unique to bring to such an undertaking.
From there, I was off to Carthage to teach a voice lesson to Matt Burton, one of my seniors- and together we tackled some of the most difficult passages in Leporello’s aria “Madamina” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Leporello is the sidekick of Don Giovanni and in this aria he reads from a catalog he keeps of his master’s many and various romantic conquests – which by this point number in the thousands. (‘There are this many from Germany … from Italy … from Turkey … from France … and especially from Spain!’) The aria is tremendously entertaining but also extremely difficult … especially the moments when Leporello is firing off a torrent of words at a rapid fire pace. It fel good to dig into this- and I was gratified by the progress that Matt is making.
Matt kindly agreed to adjust his voice lesson time by fifteen minutes so I would have exactly one hour free for lunch …. which allowed me to rendezvous at La Fogota with Andrew Spinelli and his wife Colleen. (I can’t remember if she has taken the name Spinelli or not.) Andrew studied with me and was an exceptionally dedicated and enthusiastic voice student despite the fact that he was not even a music major or minor. Andrew is an actuary and Colleen works in wardrobe on various Broadway shows- and between the two of them there was way more to talk about than we could cover in the course of 50 minutes …. but we tried.
I raced back to Carthage in time to teach my second voice lesson of the day – to Andrew Dorst, a freshman at Carthage but someone I have known since he was a boy soprano, singing the role of young Charlie in the musical “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at the Racine Theater Guild. We spent most of the lesson working on a marvelous Craig Carnelia song in which a young man dreams of an exciting baseball game in which he hits the winning home run, as his proud father watches from the stands. Sadly, it’s only a dream – or at least that’s what Andrew and I think, and that’s how he’s approaching the song. He is already singing the daylight’s out of it but it was fun to lead him towards singing it even more vividly. What fun!
After that I had to teach Opera History – but one probably shouldn’t say “I had to…” when talking about something that I love to do as much as I love teaching this course. It has been an enormous amount of work because my lecture slides from the last time I taught the course were all lost when my old laptop died. (I know, I know- anything as valuable as that should have been backed up. I was dumb.) So I have had to rebuild them all through through the course of the semester- but I think it’s fair to say that the course is even better because of it. And today was a reminder of why I love teaching this course so much: we are in the middle of our Verdi unit and today we watched scenes from both Rigoletto and Il Trovatore, two of his most popular operas. My favorite was the last thing we watched- a heart-wrenching aria from Il Trovatore in which the gypsy Azucena recounts the horror of seeing her own mother burned at the stake, essentially accused (falsely) of being a witch. Determined to avenge her, she kidnaps the infant son of the Count who sentenced her mother to death- and builds a fire in which to throw him. But somehow, in the confusion and chaos of her anger and grief, she ends up throwing her own infant son into the flames. It sounds awful- and it is- but Verdi’s music is utterly magnificent … and the towering performance of Dolora Zajick, the singer we watched sing it, was awe-inspiring. Today was the first time all semester that I actually shed a tear from something we watched, and it won’t be the last time, either.
From there, it was time for Opera Workshop – but today I got to simply sit and observe while the class was led by a former voice student of mine named Tommy Novak, who is stepping into the shoes of my former partner, Matt Boresi, who has left Carthage to take a full-time job. Tommy has been leading the students through various games and exercises designed to free them up as performers and, we hope, let go of the inhibitions from which nearly all of us suffer to some extent. It is so fascinating to watch this kind of thing unfold- to see certain students throwing themselves into the exercises with abandon and enthusiasm … others more cautiously but making a concerted effort … and others clearly skeptical of the whole affair. (I have some sympathy for the latter, as I was in that camp when I was their age.) It very much underscores for me the reality that we often do not appreciate or understand the value of something when we are in the midst of it, but only in hindsight.
After a few minute’s break came Carthage Choir rehearsal. Last Friday, I had to lead rehearsal since Dr. Garcia-Novelli was out of town, but today I was nothing except the pianist … which mostly meant that I could simply enjoy listening to this terrific group and marvel anew at how far Dr. GN has taken them since he took over the group back in the fall of 2008. These students work incredibly hard on very difficult repertoire, and it can be a frustrating and exhausting gauntlet- but the level of excellence they manage to achieve is quite remarkable indeed.
After that was 15 minutes of rehearsal with my Lincoln Chamber Singers. Due to a vagary in the schedule, we have 4 15-minute rehearsals per week – right after Carthage Choir – which means that we have to make those 15 minutes count. Today we sang through all three of the pieces we are singing for Christmas Festival this year: Martin Luther’s Christmas hymn “Christum wir sollen loben schon” …. “Lullay my Liking” by Andrew Lawson …. and finally “Bright, New Love” by yours truly. And while there is work that remains to be done, I am feeling guardedly optimistic that we will get where we need to be. That is the hope, anyway.
Two jobs down … two to go. After I was done at Carthage, I headed up to Holy Communion for a meeting of the Worship & Music committee. I’m not a huge fan of meetings, but it helps when you’re sitting amidst intelligent and good-hearted people … and talking about things that really matter. In tonight’s case, we were tackling important questions about Advent and Christmas- and looking at our bulletin covers for Advent really made it real. Christmas is coming!
And from there …. as if all that wasn’t sufficient fun for one day … I headed up to the Racine Theater Guild to catch some of the evening’s rehearsal of “A Christmas Carol.” This is a big show with a big complicated score that I basically did not know at all at the outset. But I have come to absolutely love this show and the talented cast who will be performing it. And with the hard task of learning the music pretty much behind us, I get to go to these rehearsals mostly as an observer … but always ready to dive in when some sort of musical mishap requires my intervention. But mostly I just get to watch this wonderful show begin to take shape, which is so exciting. And one of the best things about being at the Guild, even for a few minutes, is that it was my first chance to lay eyes on Kathy since I walked out the door early this morning! (She is in the cast of Christmas Carol.)
And there it is …. an exceptionally full day …. but I’m not complaining. It was a day of good books, great music, and wonderful people …. great pleasures …. and one or two frustrations and challenges as well. And I wouldn’t trade any of it away for anything, because it was day spent doing things that give me energy rather than deplete it. And that’s what I want out of life more than anything: energy. And that’s my wish for you as well: no matter how busy you are or how challenging your life may be, I hope at least most of your life is filled with people and activities that energize and invigorate you and make you glad to be alive.