Teach?

Finally. I had my first two singing students today.

To be honest, I could have skipped all the way home à la Gene Kelly, umbrella in hand from the exhilaration from having taught for the first time in years. I REALLY LOVE TO TEACH. I have always said that I’m a much better teacher than singer. No idea whether that’s actually true or not, but one thing is for sure: I love teaching, whereas I am only just now beginning to appreciate performing. Is the universe telling me something? I guess when Obama wins the election and begins to turn the country around, I should think about teaching positions in the States…

Tomorrow is my big recital--my first big “exposure” to the Berlin crowd. I am actually looking forward to it. I love the music I am singing. I had no idea how fun ultra-sappy operetta-esque music could be to sing. I am really enjoying it. This music reminds me (not surprisingly) of Art Nouveau architecture, so laden with frills, but never enough to seem heavy. And, I am happy to know that I do not need to feel as confined in my sound as I had been during rehearsals, where we rehearsed in a smallish room. In the church, I will be able to use more of my “real” voice, which is another wonderful development worthy of shouting from the treetops.

Anyway, I am so loving Berlin. Things are just right here somehow. I cannot readily define it in any specific terms, but I am truly happy. There’s something to be said for that.