A month ago I found another position as music teacher with a large chain of private schools throughout Thailand. The result is that I've moved all the way across Bangkok twice. I haven’t had much fun yet here in Thailand, it’s been a fair amount of stress and worry. I keep looking around me and seeing many foreigners who are happy as larks, so have begun making a point, when I can engage in conversation, of asking for reasons to love this place. The responses that come to mind are largely ones of dissatisfaction with their home country. That’s not my reason, I think the US is great. Others stay here because they now have a family to support. I don't have much to do with fans of the sexy fun times available here and I won't go into their reasons. I wanted to live in and experience a foreign country before I get too old to do such a thing. From what I read Thailand seemed to be the easiest of places in Asia to get one's footing. I think I had a harder time than most getting a job, maybe now I can begin to relax and try to learn how to have more fun.
My plan was to spend one year here and reassess. Now it will be to finish out the school year to March 2014 and be able to call myself a choir director. I do have high hopes for this new school. They give actual feedback by assessment, and opportunity to change instead of wheeling you out to the curb if you aren't making the grade for some unknown reason. The pay isn't good. The good things I see is the aforementioned feedback, they hire directly, have good holidays and don’t seem to discriminate against age or race. There are plenty of older guys here, a few have been here at this one school more than 10 years. There’s quite a bit of grumbling in the lunch room, but apparently they treat you well enough that most stay. It's also interesting to note that they employ more Filipinos than farangs as well as a Ghanaian and a Nigerian.
Yes, music teacher. I really didn't think I’d get the job but I applied for it anyway, and what do you know--anything can happen in Thailand. Helping to start a choir is in the job description. I’ve never taught music before but music is what my degrees are in, albeit performance. I’ve been looking around online for instructional articles doing Google searches like “How to start a choir”. One of them advised simply announcing a date and time, and then just do it. I liked that one the best, though I am now lurking around in ChoralNet hoping to pick up some tips. After thinking about buying some book or other that will go into depth on the subject, I realize I’m not quite sure how I would get a good one delivered here. Amazon will ship here, but last time I checked into buying something and having it delivered to Thailand I learned shipping cost was way more than the cost of the item. That may be my only option if I can’t find a comprehensive instructional on the web somewhere. Well, sink-or-swim is another option but I’d rather not do that. I’m haven't found an Amazon.com alternative here in Thailand.
Also have been thinking I should get my butt in gear, dust off the lutes, tune them up and begin practicing again. When I moved here there was the thought that I might need them at some point as the only way I can prove I’m a musician. I am assuming there’s a possibility I may need to perform something when I start the job, just to show I’m for real. I can show my degrees and transcripts, but performance is the sort of thing you have to put up or shut up. The guy who interviewed and hired me actually asked me to bring my instrument with me to the interview. He is not a musician, and cared only to listen to me tune, noodle a bit, describe the instrument/history/repertoire and then play a one-minute long prelude from a French lute composer. “OK that’s enough” he said, and I was hired. It strikes me from that experience and others (Saturday morning readings at a Chatujak coffee shop) that such music might not fly in Thailand. It’s much too sad and slow, too subtle, complicated, quiet and introspective. There's so much noise here. The average Thai cannot be in love with noise, but they are surely inured to it. It's pervasive and nobody seems to care. I’m sure there are some who would like this music if they could experience it. A society of classic guitarists seems the most obvious place to look, though I never know. I once experienced a most appreciative audience long ago at one of my first concerts, attended by some retired Episcopal organists in town for a convention. Would Buddhist monks or English professors appreciate lute music?
Perhaps English lute song would be most interesting to people who are engaged in English language study but who aren't particularly interested in solo lute playing. For that reason it’s been lute song that I've been looking at brushing up, the more spirited the better but stopping short of the bawdy. I’ve tried singing naughty songs, but I just can’t pull it off in front of and audience of strangers. I tend to blush. I used to know 3 or 4 lute songs by John Dowland to play and sing as well as Morley’s great “It was a lover and his lass”, which is about as close to rip-roaring as a lute song gets. I used to be able to nail it, and yes I simplify the most difficult tablature passages if I’m singing as well as playing. I’ll probably do “Flow my tears”, one of Dowland’s most depressing but substantial songs, back to back with “It was a lover”, one of the most spirited lute songs ever. There are easier ones like “The lowest trees have tops” and “Come again, sweet love doth now invite”, both still really nice. It might be best to end on a high note so maybe start low and subdued with “Lowest trees”, followed by the delightful “Come again”. If I fit the dark “Flow” after that I could end with a bang with the cheerful “It was a lover”. I don't know, if these seem too hard I'll replace one with "Now, oh now I needs must part", the easiest lute song I know. But programming can wait, for now just need to get them back in shape.
