I’ve been helping Chris spruce up his résumé this past week. It’s not targeted for employment, it’s more of a snapshot of what he’s been doing in the past few years, which is lots, judging from the content. There’s all of his chorus and solo work as a member of a musical theatre group and the church choir, as well as community service work, along with his part time course work.
What is not evident from looking at this very impressive list of accomplishments is the behind the scenes frustration trying to make sure he got to the places he needed to be on time. There were so many no shows and late shows on his part. Chris often didn’t realize that a rehearsal had been cancelled or changed to a different location. He got on the bus, went all the way there, only to discover a darkened hall. Or, he was so slow getting ready to go out that I had to drive him to make sure that he made a timely entrance. He was usually late for choir practice. I can’t tell you the number of times that he was late to a class, so he didn’t bother to go. The number of missed or partial voice lessons: “I don’t want to receive a message Ever Again! on the answering machine from your teacher wondering where you are.” (And then it happens . . . Again.)
In reviewing the résumé, Chris told me that he recently went back and completed the two week certificate course that he had walked out on several years ago. (Too many people in the class back then, his head wasn’t in the right place, etc.) Tying up the loose ends by resuming what he started seems to me like very good news, indeed.
interesting that the English word “resume” is résumé in French.
Chris is finding his way according to his own lights, which of course you also have instilled in him. This news is encouraging. I still flounder with Daniel between my (often fearful) notion of what he should be able to do and his own awareness of what is beyond his capability. I am referring to his difficulty adjusting to his social reality since his healing that restored left-brain dominance in his cerebral integration. If I can encourage without demanding and support without directing he makes better progress. I have learned more about Chris’s process from this summary than I gleaned from the episodic accounts in The Scenic Route regarding Chris’s ongoing use of his voice. Despite the missed lessons and rehearsals, that vocal stimulation of his ears may be the primary activity that has ensured his progress, along with exposure to ambient sound at those venues and the boosts from the Tomatis Method. Ambient sound should not be overlooked. One morning, I came downstairs so dizzy with the onset of flu that I felt too ill to go back to bed. I turned on the classical station and had a peculiar perception of a piece that was playing where the tempo seemed interminably stretched out. By the end of the piece the tempo suddenly normalized I was feeling better and was able to get up and put in a normal day. I believe the odd dissonances of the particular piece gave my middle ear the adjustment it needed not only to correct my time sense but to rev my immune system. I was able to trace the item online at the radio station’s program list: Knut Nystedt’s “Komm susser Tod” (Immortal Bach) and I have found it a very helpful composition for ear tune-ups since then. When we understand the role of the ear in health, we have an awareness that allows us to usefully manipulate our environment.