sick-o

So I have been sick sick sick, Monday I thought it was just a little coldy thing, but after my coaching session (hahaha) I basically came home and did nothing for 3 days. I am soooo glad D is in school all day! But I had great plans for this week- oh well, tomorrow I plan to rehearse SOMETHING (who knows what) for church. And tonight I actually showed up for bell choir (more than I can say for some of the ringers). And the DOM was so great, she had put copies of the music we will play on the 23rd in my box!!! This is a week earlier than I usually get it, and we really need at least two weeks even to play chords. It is hard for them to get it in their ears without endless repetition. So I survived, and I'm feeling pretty good right now - hopefully the afliction has passed!

lessons/coaching

I have reached a point in my "career" when it seems weird to talk about taking lessons - so I like to call them coaching sessions. But they really are lessons. Anyway, I haven't been doing it regularly, but now that D is in school I hope to practice more and maybe even make my own reeds all the time! G is my "coach" and also makes AWESOME reeds, which I have used since D was born. He isn't taking new clients or I would totally recommend these reeds. Lucky for me I can afford to just buy them, I think he charges $20 unless I get snazzy staples. But sometime I do reed-making lessons, sometimes I play for him, and usually it is very rewarding.

Today we played through the Bach double - he played the vln part and it was so fun! There is nothing like playing with another oboe to tell if you are really in tune - there is no hiding and there are several unison parts in the Bach. But this is excellent prep work for playing with P (our concertmaster) later. Having lessons seems to focus my attention on what exactly I'm working toward in my playing.

And the DOM asked me to play something in church this week, so I'm kicking around ideas - have already done Gabriel's Oboe (perfect for many things and easy), Abinoni, Bach Arioso and several solo arias, and a bunch of other stuff; was considering slow mvts from Saint Saens or Nielsen or one of the French Recital Pieces...if anyone has any thoughts please let me know!

Orchestra

Thursday was our first official rehearsal of the season. I am kind of disappointed by the music, but I was prepared to have not much (and I was right!) We are playing the Haydn 101 (clock) and Brahms Double (vln & cello). Both kind of a snore for the oboe, although I'm sure the Brahms will be lovely when the soloists come. No Brahms Vln Conc kinda solo for me though! Which is many ways is a relief. Also doing the Rimsky-Korsakov Procession of the Nobles, which is fun but we won't rehearse that til Oct probably - our first concert is Oct 13th. This is a drag because we will play this boring music for SIX more rehearsals *sigh*.

I think our group is really ready for some serious management. Like these rehearsals - this concert could be put together in 3 rehearsals easily. And we could be looking at other music instead of twiddling our thumbs now.

My personal pet peeve - not telling people who only play in one or two things (like the EH player!) when they will be needed at rehearsal. Thursday our picc player came and she didn't even need to be at the rehearsal at all! Fortunately she was up for reading the 2nd oboe part on flute, so that was kinda fun.

We are still looking for someone to play oboe for this concert, but I'm staying out of it after the fiasco last January. I gave them a list of all the oboists around and I hope they get someone, it makes such a difference to have a good second. After this concert, K, who played the pops concert, has agreed to play the rest of the season. I don't know why they just don't have auditions for all the empty spots!!! They seem to think no one will audition, but honestly, what harm will it do to advertise? And then, they can always turn people down if they show up and aren't good enough - and then we would be no worse off than we are now (scrambling to fill the spot for EVERY concert!) I think the 2nd oboe is the only solo spot not filled, but we always have auditions for strings of every sort. *sigh*

School

Well, now that the first week of school is over (!) I thought I'd get a pic from the first day...also shows all the important things in Jim's life (except me, but I'm taking the picture!). His old boat which his family got when he was young, his old car which is actually our newest acquisition, and his sweet son who is being quite a pain in this pic. He calmed down a lot after school had actually happened, just like Dad he doesn't like change!

why why why????

Why do I always put things off until the last minute??? I am scrambling to get music ready for bells tonight, but I just got the hymns for Sunday yesterday, so that part I couldn't have done ahead. I think I have some stuff to read for Sept 23 (coming right up) - we play about once a month.

I really must get a new version of Finale/Sibelius, don't laugh but I have Finale 1.0 - I don't know how many iterations it has gone through, but my copy is on floppy disks! I know we DO have computers (yes, plural) that could run that program, but I just don't want to deal with getting them running, and figuring out how to hook them to the printer/internet etc. Jim saves EVERYTHING, but the fact is I would rather buy new software than deal with the old!

The reason I need an engraving program is just to print quickie parts for accompaning praise songs (retch) and if hymns are too hard to simplify them - for instance this week we will just play chords on beats one and three - so much easier especially since it is our first week back. And of course I have no idea how many people will be there (rather important for bells! Most of my ringers are 2-bell people, so they would ring two consecutive notes on the scale (like D and E on the bottom of the treble clef) along with any accidentals on those notes. When ringers get more advanced, they can cover more notes depending on the music. Really great ringers (like Campanile) don't ring consecutive notes, they figure out what works best and just split up the parts. WAY beyond my choir (and me!) Although I did ring a duet last year and it would be fun to do a solo (easy!) sometime, now that I am loaded with free time. hahaha

Wednesday

Middle of the week, how did this happen?! D survived his first day of school. We went out for ice cream after, messy but fun. Then I had opera rehearsal - did I mention that this is rather long? I guess not as far as operas go...but we are guessing it will run about 3 hours and 20 minutes. GAHHHH. My chops tremble at the thought. That is longer than our rehearsals, and by the end I am barely coherant. So I guess it is back to the chop exercises, at least on the nights I don't have rehearsal.

We sound good though, at least I think so. We have one more rehearsal before the sitzprobe (with singers), and usually I would be unhappy that we are wasting time. But this opera I know *I* need the rehearsal, so I won't complain!

I am really hoping to get some good practicing in today, but of course I have procratinated about bell choir, and we start TONIGHT! Argh. I just got an email from the DOM about which hymns we are doing Sunday, and I hope I can figure something out before tonight.

war is a science...

Hahaha, this was created by the son of an IDRS member - I had to put it up for all my bassoony friends.