Over the last week I've been examining remotely for The Royal Conservatory. At the beginning of each session my studio is relatively organized, but over the course of an examining week descends into chaos, with volumes of piano books arrayed on top of my grand piano, on chairs, or thrown on the floor. It's fortunate that the candidates never see the messy backstage behind the professional tableau of the Zoom meeting. But it's important to have a bit of mayhem behind the scenes, as that's where a lot of our best work gets done.
One of my colleagues showed up on Zoom for an ARCT exam with a background of the The Royal Conservatory's facade on a sunny day - this on an afternoon where the temperature hovered around -10C. My first comment was "That's a great place to work, but I hope that you're dressed warmly if you're examining in front of the RCM this time of the year."
Articles I published this week:
- Erika Switzer on Collaborative Resilience - Erika just wrote an article on artistic sustainability for the NATS Journal of Singing that everyone should read. Restorative practice, communication habits, and celebration of accomplishments are three areas where Erika explores how sustainability can play out in our own work.
- Collaborative Piano Internships at the Trentino Music Festival - Summer programs are back with a vengeance in summer 2022 and this is the first of several that I'll be mentioning over the coming weeks.
- On the Call to Creative Work - I've recently discovered the works of Mary Oliver and found a quote that might resonate with many of us.
- Five Friday Links - Weekends should be a time of rest and creativity, and here are some ideas to help you refocus.
Brain candy from around the web:
- Solving Wordle with letter frequency - Ken Smith with some hacks on how we can take advantage of words that contain high-frequency letters, especially in the first two rounds of the game. It won't guarantee success but over time might get you more 3/6 scores.
- No time to read - Advice from Sam Radford on how to negotiate time with yourself and others in order to give yourself the slowness needed to bring reading back into your life.
- A Practical Guide to Reorganizing B.S. - "In essence, we've agreed that when we use the tool of language to inform, we'll do our best to be clear what it is we're talking about." Mike Sturm's article talks about what to do when you're served up word salad instead.
Wendy Hatala Foley's "Watery Sands" (acrylic on canvas, 48x24) is one of her most recent paintings, and can