I return

On this day I return to the office at Webster, after having had eight months of away time since Spring 2023 Commencement exercises.

The new semester began yesterday, and I did some teaching and coaching, but this is the official first day of classes.

This semester, I’ll teach 10.5 hours of voice lessons each week, teach a music theory class for first-year musical theatre majors, and teach conducting and performance classes in support of the music direction for musical theatre degree program.

And yesterday, this is what greeted me on the window in my office:

In other words, the arctic chill is causing us all to feel like this is WINTER semester, and not “Spring.”

Over the last eight months, I’ve had some adventures! Witness:

• wading in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over the course of about ten days
• composition of a new Advent anthem, one that premiered on the Third Sunday of Advent
• several trips to NYC including two in support of students who were performing
• NATS workshops in both San Diego and NYC
• taking my youngest nephew on his 16th birthday trip, to San Diego
• visits to England, France, and Switzerland
• attending an international voice pedagogy conference in London and southeast England
• a tourism day to Lincoln Minster in the northeast of England on the eve of the William Byrd 400th anniversary symposium
• winning the church chili cook-off
• successful completion of the Central Region NATS conference, and launching of a professional development series in the region
• service to the profession including external promotion reviews, external program review for the National Association of Schools of Music, adjudication for NATS national audition rounds, associate editor responsibilities with the Journal of the Music Theatre Educators Association, and co-chairing of the Webster University Committee to Review Faculty (sounds ominous, but it’s not)
• bonding with Mistress Maisie
• continued work on my operetta research project, and course development of a new course to be taught in Fall 2023
• and hundreds of voice lessons with private students.

This is a good list, I think!

Photos along the way the last eight months (in reverse chronological order):

Ronan is one of the swings for the show.