The Fear of the New 2

Sometimes, I wonder whether I am living my life backwards.

I am at an age when most of my contemporaries are contemplating retirement from regular, remunerated activities such as teaching, to follow the “less well trodden path”. I have followed this path, which on occasion has resembled virgin jungle and required a machete, for thirty years or so, making a living in various countries by artistic means, but never ever knowing how much money to expect in my bank account at the end of the month. This has had its pleasures and its pain, but has never been boring. I have not been tied down by anything except the fact of my children.

Yesterday, I agreed to something which will change my life completely.
A job. A real, ordinary job. For a year.
With proper hours and all that.
At the same time, every week, I have to be in a particular place.

It’s true that it is just in the early evenings, and I will still have time to work on my book, and it is doing something I love (singing)…
But I won’t be able to just decide, Hey, I’m going to India for two months…
Unless I do it during the school holidays, which are quite long, come to think of it…

So say hello to the new singing teacher at the Centre de Musiques Actuelles, La Citrouille.
I shall be offering singing lessons on technique, soul and R n B music, pop rock from the golden age of Beatles and Beach Boys, Jazz Standards from the Great American Songbook, and last but not least, initiation to Carnatic music of Southern India.

Form an orderly queue.