Back into the "swing" of it...

I make no apology for my absence. A girl can only do so much.

Christmas shot past me in a blur of sheet music in preparation for my Cole Porter workshop. All I need now is for some students to actually turn up for it. I have a nasty feeling that I might be the only singer in France whose heart burns with a fiery longing to sing as much of him as possible. He had this terrible habit of writing vast quantities of witty lyrics…in English. So you can see how this might be off putting to the francophone.

Still, at least his lyrics are relatively clean cut, due to the era in which they were written.

Frank Zappa is another story. The conservatoire have proposed a collaboration with our school for a performance of some of his many works… and it falls to me to explain to my adolescent girl teenagers what they are actually singing about. I am pleased to say that my French vocabulary is not always up to it…

News from the autistic musicians is mixed. The new boys are settling in well. There is a lot of swaying in time to the music, and one of them actually claps really well in rhythm. The boy who looked like he might want to hit me with the toy microphone still salivates like the Niagra falls but has ceased to pose a danger to the electrical keyboard. He likes to sit underneath it with his head jammed against the speaker to enjoy the vibrations, and so gravity is now on my side.

The overexcited Boy who just says “oui” has been hospitalised since Christmas. He has been very agitated and shouts all the time. They are trying to get his medication balanced, but his unhappiness is thought to be linked to his need for a placement in an adult establishment and there doesn’t seem to be one available anywhere. He is after all a young adult at the age of 23…

I miss him horribly. He was definitely the most musical of them all.