Thoughts on the Eve of a Sabbatical

I am officially on sabbatical from the University of Utah. Some sabbaticals are the result of a process, others are enforced by circumstances. My on-again-off-again sabbatical is an odd combination of both, and it has indeed been a strange journey.

This “first sabbatical” of my university teaching career was originally granted in 2018, to be taken in the spring semester of 2020. Fall of 2019 had a surprise in store for me, however, one where I would find myself climbing onto an operating room table and voluntarily allowing someone to crack open my chest and stop my heart for several hours in order to add new plumbing…(That was fun. No need to rehash any more of those details…)

Recovery from that experience was one of those “enforced sabbaticals,” so the actual one got shifted ahead a year. The recovery and return to duties went swimmingly well, and by December of 2019, everything was back on track. But the Fates were to throw another curve at me (and you, and the entire planet) — COVID-19.

So, all of humanity got an enforced sabbatical in 2020. Not surprisingly, my planned sabbatical would not happen, once again. The pandemic canceled my plans to conduct that year in Finland and teach and conduct in China (in Wuhan, of all places). Instead, the situation required my attention at home for over two years, helping to navigate how orchestral ensembles could operate during such unprecedented times. All that resulted in amazing experiences, and yet another delay in sabbatical plans.

There were more than a few moments when I thought I’d throw in the towel, just forget it. It’s hard for an ensemble director to step away during the best of times, and I was already behind in the count—two strikes down. Yet now, here I am, on the cusp of swing number 3. Part of me is wary of another curveball, but so far so good. (I’m planning to tear the cover off the ball this spring with that final swing, BTW).

Tickets are booked for Spain. Tickets are being booked for Florida/South Carolina. Tickets are soon to be booked for Kansas. Those are the trips—2 conferences, a self-guided writing retreat, and a concert/residency at KU. In addition I’ll be writing a couple of articles; developing a new class for DMA conductors at the U (perhaps the first of its kind in the world), and also be developing a new-concept conducting masterclass that involves theatrical improv techniques, movement, and focusing exercises. Yes, I’ll be busy, but I also am counting on writing a poem or two, because there are also beaches to comb, trails to hike, and about 120 sunrises and sunsets in the semester ahead to experience as well.

Copyright 2022, Robert Baldwin, Before the Downbeat

Image credit: https://www.nealrantoul.com/posts/sabbatical