Developments on the Sylvia Front

Our adorable baby girl is growing up so fast! In the last couple of weeks she has utterly mastered crawling and pulling herself up--she always grins a goofy toothless smile when she gets praise for that. She has also recently discovered how to speak in syllables. She spends long periods of time saying "Ga-ga-ga-ga" and my personal favorite "Da-da." Of course she is referring to me!

One downside to her mobility and insatiable curiosity is that she is GETTING INTO EVERYTHING. And she finds herself trapped in predicaments like these...

Easter Festivities

We enjoyed a fun and busy Easter last week. Because I had so many musical responsibilities, the day itself was a bit stressful for everyone (until the Howdens invited us over for dinner--then we didn't have to cook). Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of our holiday activities.

Fire Chief George made sure egg dying procedures were followed to ensure optimal safety.

The Easter Bunny left a generous spread for all this year.

Sylvie channelled her inner Aretha to put together her Easter look this year. Tres chique!

George's egg hunting skills were markedly better than last year, but we still couldn't hide them TOO well...

Of course there was time for the mid-hunt snack. To the finder go the spoils.

From the looks of these kids, Easter was a success.

Job Search Update

If you regularly check the blog, you are probably wondering how my job search goes. In all honesty, it hasn't gone well. I've sent out around two dozen applications and gotten exactly zero interviews, let alone job offers. The biggest disappointment came yesterday. Recently Dr. Russell informed me the Metropolitan Opera had contacted him about my qualifications for the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program for Pianist/Conductors. Apparently they had a very positive discussion (Dr. Russell made me sound like I walk on water) and the indications were that I would be invited to New York for a daunting but exciting audition. For three uneasy weeks no news came, until yesterday. As we suspected (given their long silence), the Met opted not to invite me for an audition.

While disappointing, I am not too upset by this outcome. When it comes to "big breaks," you want them to come at the right time. If you get your chance before you are ready, you can do irreparable damage to your career. Nobody wants to eat a cake before it has fully baked! So I am happy to continue working hard and getting better at what I do before being exposed in the big leagues of the music profession.

There are some glimmers of hope. Along with the Met's interest, I was encouraged by a call from the Calgary Philharmonic. They let me know that they were very interested in me but that my lack of Canadian citizenship would exclude me from being a candidate for their resident conductor position. Also, a colleague of mine recently won a conducting job at Michigan Technological University. This is good for me because his resume looks almost exactly like mine (he studied at both BYU and ASU) but he graduated back in 2006. So when our applications go to the same search committees, they likely preferred him over me due to the fact that he has a bit more experience. So, phew, he's out of the job market and my resume no longer has a twin!

The job market has been very quiet since January, but in the last couple of weeks a few last-minute positions popped up. Here are job applications I'm waiting on:

Simpson College (Indianola, IA). Vocal Coach/Opera Conductor, One-year sabbatical replacement position. I've had this one sent off for more than a month; likely this committee has already passed on me.

State University of New York, Purchase. Assistant Professor of Conducting, part-time position.

Metropolitan State Collge of Denver. Director of Orchestras and String Studies, tenure-track position.

Elon University (NC). Music Director of Music Theatre, tenure-track position.

Interschools Orchestras of New York, Music Director. This is a youth orchestra position.

Orchestra Toronto. Apprentice Conductor, part-time position with community orchestra.

Royal Conservatory of Music (London). Professor of Conducting, part-time position teaching class conducting courses to music majors.

And that's it for now. If I haven't secured an interview by the beginning of May, we will likely be staying in Mesa for the forseeable future (possibly six months, maybe until the 2010-2011 school year begins) while I continue the hunt for employment. That's not all bad; we have great friends here, Meghan has a good job, and I can have time to find the very best opportunity.

We feel hopeful that this will all work out in due time, and lucky to be living a happy, healthy, and provident life! And we are especially grateful all of you care about us and give us your support and well wishes.

We'll keep you posted!

Matthews Safari: A Crawling Tour...by Sylvia

Today we will be exploring a wild and treacherous land known as "The Matthews Home." My name is Sylvia and I will be your tour guide this afternoon. (Spoken in a highly affected British accent).




Notice to your left the hind quarters of a ferocious animal the natives refer to as "Bobo." Rather a ridiculous name, if you ask me, but what can you expect from people who use their feet to walk around on. Everybody knows that feet are meant to be sucked on, anything else would just be vulgar.



Moving on. Oh my...hmmm...it appears as though the Redheaded Milk Machine has not mopped this floor in weeks. It is exceptionally deplorable. I did warn you that this was a treacherous place.



Ah, we have now come upon a truly majestic creature; full of both terrifying mystery and irresistible fluffiness. If only he would let me grasp him for just a moment...Alas, every time I get close he looks at me with contempt, bites my arm and scampers away. I have heard rumors that the animal is possessed of an evil spirit, inflicted on him by the Bald One's constant abuse.

I can see how this is possible; I too am often a victim of this man.






Never fear, one day he will be paying my therapy bills.



Oh, I see we have come to the dangerous precipice. One must navigate carefully.




Slowly...

Slowly...

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I curse you, unfinished and useless step! Why must you impede my journey into the land of moving pictures?

Oh. You saw that? Well, perhaps we better conclude this crawling tour. As you can see, the peril is great. Maybe at some later date we can explore the black snakes that grow out of the wall or the green bowl that holds those delicious brown pellets.


Until next time.

Starting the Indoctrination Early

Sylvie and I had our first Mother-Daughter outing this past weekend. We took a little roadtrip up to Southern California with my good friends Jessawhy, Holly, G and EmilyCC to attend this conference. Sylvia was an angel during the drive and exceptional for the 8 hour conference. She was the best baby there! Okay, she was the only baby there but I think she added a much needed cuteness factor to this serious academic conference.

After the conference we headed up to Lake Arrowhead with some more friends for a two-night stay at a cabin in the mountains. It was so wonderful to talk and laugh and play with friends. And Sylvie had more snuggles and loves from her mom and the other curmudgeonly feminists than she could hope for. All in all, it was a wonderful trip!

Hopefully all the intelligence, empowerment and assertiveness seeped into Sylvie's beautiful little soul. She could do a lot worse than become like these women. And if she needs reminding, I'll just round them all up again in twelve years for a menarche ceremony :).

(Thanks to Jana and G for taking the pictures.)