You know the year is truly under way when the school term picks up from the summer break. I've often had to explain to people that January in Australia is the equivalent of August in Europe: everything stops, and people go on holiday (and vice versa, depending on the hemisphere in which you find yourself). In Melbourne, the summer slowdown really begins after Cup Day in early-November, and things remain quiet until Australia Day.
I'm one of those people who don't really know how to have the sort of holidays that involve lolling around on the beach and completely disconnecting from everything. I find that if I try to stop I get bored very quickly and start fidgeting. It's been a novelty to work in situations where I'm expected to take annual leave, so I had two weeks out at the end of January. I made a couple of decisions to help make the time off beneficial. Having some routines of quiet time gave rhythm to the day, not opening Publisher (temptation to do work), only using the computer to check email, google reader, and the news headlines, doing a bit of reading off my established tracks (of which more anon), watching the ABC iView repeats of the revived Dr Who series, getting back into swimming, not to mention quite a few long-deferred tasks around the house, meant that there was some consistency to the active parts of the day, while making sure there was an adequate balance of inactivity.
I haven't really had sustained time off like this since before moving to the current digs, so it was good to have the time to explore the local area a little more. There are some surprising cafes within walking distance; gentrification is making its way to this part of the world, if slowly.
Still, coming back to the regular routine feels more like having a rest than being on holiday.
Last year I spent two nights a week conducting for the Australian Youth Choir. It's work that I find stimulating, as it is a different level of discipline in how one plans and operates in the rehearsal room. Having spent much of my time conducting adult choirs in the past, having to teach primary school-aged singers puts a different slant on how to present and teach repertoire.
This year I've cut back to one night per week. Given that I now have a full load of daytime work, there needed to be some adjustment as one of the nights I was working last year involved a long commute to the outer south-eastern suburbs. After moving out of South Yarra the drive became even longer. So now I'm only conducting in one centre, which is enough to keep my skills up while making room for other things I have to do during the week.
One of the blunt pieces of advice I was given when I started at the Australian Youth Choir was that the attrition rate is high. When I started in 2010, my centre was one of the largest in the state, with an unusually large group of first year choristers. In 2011 about half of that group returned, and of those, only three or four haven't carried on in 2012. Now I have an unusually large group of third year choristers -- 20 -- including quite a few surprise returnees. At the first rehearsal last week I had a good number of parents say how much their children had been looking forward to coming back.
The repertoire is more interesting than last year. There's smatterings of folk song arrangements, a bit of Simon & Garfunkel, and more to come (so we're told). Only two concerts this year, which is OK, provided we're allowed to use the curriculum without the same limitations as last year. To be fair about that, 2011 was the first year of having a chorister portal on the AYC website where parents could download worksheets, newsletters, diary notes, and various other bits and pieces. Hopefully things will run more smoothly on that front this year. Concert venues are still in the process of confirmation, but the word is that the AYC end-of-year concert will be one of the first events in the reopened Hamer Hall.
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