Pauses that refresh. (College Faculty Forum).

I am writing on a hot and lazy summer day, but as you read, the leaves will have begun to turn, the days have become noticeably shorter, and we will have been back at work for a month or more.

Arrangements for lessons and classes are in place at last; some of us will be contemplating mid-term grade reports! No doubt there has been excitement about beginning a new term: helping returning students build their repertoire, performance skills and pedagogical know-how, and planning for the development and progress of new students. However, along with our feelings of expectation and renewal, from time to time we may muse wistfully about the time and space of summer, when we pursued challenges and projects for our own personal and musical refreshment. Are there lessons we learned from the summer that can give us energy and help us to feel restored and nourished?

I asked colleagues from the CFF Advisory Committee to share their summer experiences. Two major themes emerged: The first was the satisfaction of delving into nonmusical areas, allowing our "other self" to come forth. The second was decidedly more musical--finding refreshment in new kinds of teaching, reading books about our professions, attending conferences that offer new perspectives and immersing ourselves in different ways of practicing.

Some of us voraciously read novels, worked on learning a new language or exercised more regularly. Others traveled, walked barefoot and spent unencumbered time visiting grandchildren.

Jean Stackhouse mentioned "the absence of the workplace sounds and clutter, planting, picking and arranging the flowers, cooking and savoring the vegetables, intentionally spending time with folks who are not my age, whose lives are spent in professions/vocations other than music." Judy Baker, NCTM, found musical refreshment in giving a pedagogy workshop for piano teachers. "The best thing we did was a hands-on portion, three pianos in one room, watching and working with each other," she said. Singer Melanie Kay Dement, NCTM, enjoyed reading many new books on vocal science and pedagogy. "This is an exciting time for singers and teachers of singing, as we learn more and more about the intricacies of this natural instrument," she reported. "One summer event I never miss is the Voice Foundation's Symposium on the Care of the Professional Voice in Philadelphia, which offers an amazing amount of information in all areas of voice science, performance and teaching."

Giving an "Inner Game of Music" workshop at the International Society for the Study of Tension in Performance (ISSTIP) in London allowed me to reconnect with transatlantic colleagues. I was inspired by the roundtable discussion that followed my session. Pianist and journal editor Malcolm Troup chaired the event. Physicians, psychologists, dance consultants and physical therapists discussed ways they are addressing physical and psychological problems of artists. It was heartening to hear that the music medicine clinic, established for musicians by Carola Grindea and Dr. Wynn Parry, is now serving music students throughout London. It was sobering to hear Parry's data on problems related to recurring injuries, injuries due to hypermobility, and dystonia suffered by several hundred pianists and orchestral musicians. Particularly relevant to music educators was the finding that 83 percent of orchestral musicians surveyed said they were "not prepared for [the rigors of] a life in music."

A musically memorable and culturally unique part of my trip to England was attending a superb performance of Don Giovanni at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival. There, long gowns and tuxedos are de rigueur for the audience, as are the elegant picnic suppers held during the "interval" in the meadows adjacent to magnificent flower gardens, lily ponds and grazing sheep.

One irony of college teaching is that we often do not find a way to connect to our instrument unless the deadline of a recital is looming. Robert Weirich began keeping a promise "to practice something for no other reason than loving the music.... I wanted no anxiety over playing it anytime soon, just the joy of daily communication with greatness. Like many pianists before me, I chose Bach's Goldberg Variations. I've only reached the sixth variation, but I cannot remember a time at the piano that has been more satisfying."

There will be the inevitable moments when we wish we could return to the smiles of summer. Perhaps we can keep those promises to nourish ourselves both inside and outside of our musical lives and use our memories as points of reflection and meditation. The benefits will extend to our students as well.

--Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, NCTM National College Faculty Forum Chair Kendall Park, New Jersey She is a professor of piano at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, New Jersey.