Happy New Year

I am back in New Zealand after a most amazing time, 3,128 photographs, 19 flights, assorted train trips, many many new friends met along the way, incredible church services in languages that I could not understand, and now a week of recovery and unpacking, and planning.

Congratuations to the Hilda Ross Glee Club who did so well practicing in my absence, special thanks to Ngairi Fraser and Elizabeth Carlisle who did an amazing job of co-ordinating the rehearsals.

Projects now are:
The 8 - 80 Show Stopper Concert on Friday February 25th at 4:00p.m. in the Pavilion as part of the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival This will involve separate, and combined rehearsals with the Rotokauri Tuis, when schools go back at the beginning of February.

Contacting my singing students to get lesson times planned.

New repertoire for the Hamilton Chorale to work on when choir starts again in February.

Ongoing negotiations with a major provider to run a 3-mth trial to show outcomes, which then leads on to a firm contract.

Getting in touch with the local newspaper health reporter, to talk about my new work.

Composing some songs for retirement choirs to sing. Roy Ernst of the New Horizons Organisation suggested this gap in the repertoire, and it would be good to get back to composing, which I have not had time for in my last position.

As I told my grand-daughter, I have now left school, after 51 years!!

November 28th from Rome, Italy

It seems that such a lot has happened, in such a short time!! After seven farewell events in my final week at Waikato University (which was somewhat humbling), I left New Zealand on October 16th.

During the two and a half weeks that I was in the United States I visited two choirs from the New Horizons organisation: Paul Bruggemeier conducts the women's choir that rehearses at the Holy Cross Music Centre in Spokane, Washington State. This was such a fun visit, as the women were so welcoming and Paul and his wife Sue are docents at the Davenport Hotel In Spokane which is the most amazing place. Do visit the site if you are interested in beautiful buildings that have been lovingly restored at any expense. The choir is aged from later 50s to one member who was turning 90 the day after the rehearsal!

I returned to Seattle from Spokane, for my niece's wedding, and then flew to Washington DC and met up with Jeanne Kelly who runs the Encore Chorales which are nine choirs based around the Washington DC area. She is very busy with these choirs, including taking them en masse to the Kennedy Performing Arts Centre annually, for a concert. I sent her a thank you email after the visit, which included the following : I envy you the population to draw on for your chorales, but not the rush-hour traffic that goes with it :-) Jeanne spends up to 20 hrs a week driving from chorale to chorale, for rehearsals.

I have continued on my trip around the world, and am seeing and hearing such amazing things, including going to church in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.

The Hilda Ross Glee Club have the repertoire for our Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival concert on c.d. to learn while I am away, and I wil be back with them mid-January, and with the children early February, to put that concert together, and to enjoy some summer as well!!

More progress

My website is almost ready to go public. Note to others who decide to try and design their own web-page for the first time: How much is your time worth, and how much are you prepared to waste before asking for help????

I have a colleague who is a musician (we have played duo and dueling pianos together, on a number of occasions) who is also a web designer and he has done an excellent job for a very reasonable price. Tozan Delman is someone I would be very happy to recommend for this task.

My webpage address is http://www.harmonichealth.co.nz and there you will be able to see about my company, about what I am offering, plus a link back to here to get updates on my activities.

I have a phone conference planned for next Tuesday with a retirement provider. Watch this space.....

On a more personal note, I have seven farewells planned for next week.

1. My family are coming for the weekend from Auckland and New Plymouth to say goodbye
2. My Arts colleagues here at the Faculty of Education, Waikato University are taking me out to lunch Monday
3. My church homegroup is taking me out to dinner Tuesday night.
4. I present my final performance at 12@12 Wednesday midday to colleagues and students
5. My Faculty formal farewell is Wednesday afternoon 4:30
6. The Hilda Ross Glee Club are taking me out for coffee after our final rehearsal next Thursday
7. My final class next Friday are giving me a poroporoaki (formal farewell).

There is a bit of a sense of attending my own funeral. Why do we not say these things to each other at normal times, instead of waiting for special occasions??

The young@heart choir is coming to New Zealand!!

I opened up my Sunday Herald newspaper and this page jumped out at me!! How exciting and how frustrating because I won't be here! This choir is the epitome of how effective a singing programme can be for enhancing and enriching people's lives. The performances, the brain stimulation of learning and remembering words, the euphoria of going onto that stage, the camaraderie, the life experience of going places they would not go by themselves, the unity of purpose, the inevitable losses that come with working with people at the latter stages of their lives, and the emotional journeys that these engender. Such big experiences, such empowering life experiences. Congratulations to the Summerset company for taking this initiative

Women in Leadership presentation

I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a recent day-conference here at the University of Waikato. The topic for the conference was "Finding your voice".

I think that there was an expectation that I would give them a good singing session, to fire off the endorphins and give them a light vocal exercise to start the afternoon session. However I valued the opportunity too much to just do that, and talked about the use of voice and what effect it has on how we are perceived. I illustrated, gave them exercises to do, did some singing (good speaking voices use the resonation that is used in singing) and took questions. Along the way much laughter, especially at some of my demonstrations. This is strategic, learning is significantly more effective, when people are having fun. I left promptly to go and take a singing session with the Rest Home at Hilda Ross, and then returned to the conference.

Margaret Wilson (ex politician, and now law professor here at Waikato University) chaired the session, and shared stories of how she used her voice when speaker of the house, to keep order. In summing up at the end of the day, she enlarged on that, re-enforcing all that I had said and done. At the post conference drinks time there were many people who wanted to talk to me about working with them, their team etc. I have subsequently had an email from an Associate Dean to come and talk with engineering students about use of voice. Unfortunately I am not available any of the times mentioned, but this is a whole new area where I have future possibilities.

So many opportunities

I am now in negotiations with two retirement providers. I spoke with 60 final year MMP students (teacher trainees who do most of their study via the computer, but come on campus for block courses) yesterday about being available for: singing lessons, help with school choir, help with use of voice as teacher, face-to-face and via skype. I enjoyed socialising with them last night at the Sahara Tent, and had good conversations with interested students. My list of singing students for next year grows each month.

Today I go to speak at a Women in Leadership conference being held here at the University of Waikato. The Hilda Ross Glee Club is going to come and entertain at lunchtime, and then I am going to talk to the conference about use of voice, and I am sure the same things will come up with them as came up with the trainee teachers; how to preserve your voice, sound authoritative, affect display, and of course we will do some singing, because it will make them feeel good, and help them to remember my messages.

I am also going to talk with the professional studies people here in the Faculty of Education about me coming and guesting in one of the years of the student teacher's study, to give them these messages sooner. Anectodally, and from my own experience, so many of them do not understand how they sound, and how they can sound better, more effective, and be more aware of the tool that their use of voice is in the classroom.