All my duckies...& then some.

I had all my ducks nicely lined up in a row. Truly I did. O.K we were over extended but that's life when you live on an island & have to travel for everything & have lots of kids all doing different things but you know I had my duckies lined up beautifully....


Because I'm not good about giving my mind to mundane but necessary matters. Line 'em up & hit the automatic pilot is my motto. So making adjustments throws me into a panic. It takes me weeks to realign my automatic pilot. I forget things ~ like kids. I miss boats. I don't get to where I should be & I certainly don't get there on time.

All this to say Liddy brought home her shift schedule & I flipped. I have a major reschedule to do. In the middle of term. Halfway through the year. This is not good news for anyone. Dearest must be roped in to do car runs so we can juggle everything. Dearest prefers not to be roped in but sometimes it is unavoidable. I don't want to think about it so I'm not going to anymore. Instead I'm going to bore you with yet another ensemble tale because watching a truly professional teacher at work fascinates me. The rest of you might prefer to skip this bit.

I can't help myself. I go armed with a book, preferably thick & fascinating; in last night's case, M.M Kaye's autobiography about growing up in the Raj's India & I read...at least until something grabs my attention & I get drawn in to the fascination of seeing how a musician pulls together her ensemble. I can't help myself....I already said that. What people do & why they do do it is riveting stuff.

Last night I watched Alison match up voices, pair by pair, explaining as she went about colour & tone & competing for *airwaves*, looking for voices that complemented each other, then voices that would complement them, voice by voice, section by section. It took all rehearsal ~ mature voices to ground fly~away ones; rich voices to undercut clear ones, voices like the deep swell of the sea & voices like ringing crystal; thin whispery voices & voices rasping like gravel. I think that's the first time I've listened to the ensemble voice by voice. It still amazes me that just by standing a singer on the opposite side of another singer the whole sound of what they are singing changes! At the end everyone had their ensemble position for the Britten carols. Ditz, for the present is on her own. I ain't a~goin' there!