Assembly Line

What's on the stand today:

Baermann - Book 3 (tons o' scales)
Kodaly - Peacock Variations
Brahms - Violin Concerto
Schumann - Rhenish Symphony (3)
Elgar - Sea Pictures
Bernstein - Sonata
Mozart -Clarinet Concerto
Carter - Pastoral
Hughes - Wingtones
Barash - Talkback
various opera tunes

That's just for the clarinet. I'll refrain from posting the repertoire I've got to conduct for rehearsals and whatnot.

Long Day

Yesterday took forever...at least 27 hours or so, I'd think. This whole "There are only 24 hours in a day" thing is obviously a liberal ploy to make us all lazy communists.

I went to sleep from a long day of teaching, rehearsing, and writing on Wednesday at 4:15am early Thursday morning. Oy...I spent a great deal of time putting thoughts of genius to paper (except digitally).

Two hours later, at around 6:15, I woke up and got my rear end to a sectional for a Brahms Violin Concerto. Let me tell you, it's hard to whip the folks in shape when you're that tired. Of course, then I had to sit through another 2.5 hour rehearsal of my own. My afternoon was spent running errands and yelling at my clarinet.

At 730, a concert in Jersey that was wonderful. Of course, I wasn't playing, but was supporting a couple of friends in their new chamber music series. (Cough cough...for which I'll be playing in April. More to come later on that.)

Then, catching a band at a local establishment at around 1230. Went to bed at 3am. Okay, so only 23 hours yesterday. Hyberbole....sue me.

Today...Halloween! I'm wondering how many ghoulies will show up at the house this year. Seems like a very suburban neighborhood, so I stocked up on the candy just in case.

Rat Race

What the hell? This place is like a ghost town. Nothing is here.

Here's the lay of the land. I've been able to get a handle on reeds, a mouthpiece that's acceptable but not ideal, and am working on plenty of music.

On that note, why is Schumann's 3rd Symphony so boring? I've got to play it for the first time ever in a few weeks. I seem to remember conducting it with a lab orchestra in school, but I haven't sat in the orchestra yet and played it. Honestly, it's just not up to snuff. It's not nearly up to the same standard as his art songs or even his piano concerto. I hope I don't have to spend too much effort to learn the clarinet part.

Another shot at the Brahms Violin Concerto coming up soon. The last time I played it was with Leonid Kavakos on the solo part. That guy was a stunningly beautiful player. I don't remember who will be playing it this time. Some new (to me) Kodaly on the same program.

Also working on a new piece for clarinet and laptop for a concert in Dec. Will write more about that.

Also, I'm also getting to learn the Bernstein Sonata for the first time. In total, I'm learning a ton of music. Life could be worse.

Happy New Year!

Alright then...nearly another month between posts. Apparently, the intarwebs are moving away from blogs and into social networking. As I've never been one for doing the smart thing, I figure I'll just keep prattling on for a bit.

In the last month, I've moved to a lovely new place with room to teach and practice. I've also started back in the new school year. I've got a load of teaching to do with my main university, some private students, and a none at all at my new additional teaching position. Overall, plenty of work to do with a number of potential-laden students. Of course, in the midst, I've got plenty of my own work to do. (cough cough...reeds...cough cough)

Since the concert season hasn't really started yet, I haven't started posting concert listings yet. The first, I think will be with the D minor Franck Symphony and some Schwanter, but I'm not exactly sure what's right after that. I'll try to update the Myspace page (link to the right) with all of that sometime soon. First, though, I must spend the rest of today trying to adjust my coaching schedule so the coachings actually happen. Lots of phone calls...(on phone that won't work in my apartment!)

Can you hear me now?

Okay, so I can hear now. It's a miracle of modern pharmacology. Of course, I went a week without playing the clarinet. Oy vey. I'm back on it, but I sound quite wretched. Scales: that's what I'm prescribing now.

Also, I'm finally going to have my own in home teaching studio. Cheers all around. So far, my cds and books have made it to the promised land. As of yet, however, my scores and actual clarinets haven't. Over the next two weeks, everything else will make it to the new place. Since I haven't taught outside of academia in the last year, I'll be able to go back to teaching younger students. Also, I'll be able, for the first time, to have everything I could possibly need to teach my students right at hand. Books about composers, cds, my complete clarinet library, orchestral scores...all ready for a quick check when I go off on one of my tangents. My students thought my stories were long before! Ha ha!

Miracles of Modern Medicine

Today, someone heard Joplin in the distance and I didn't. Harkening back to my music history knowledge, I remembered this:

Ludwig van Beethoven at Heiligenstadt

Ludwig didn't have amoxicillin, Benadryl-Allergy, Sudafed, and Advil at the start of his sickness, I'd assume.

Past little bit...

The basset horn...ah...the basset horn. I had the great fortune to be loaned two basset horns for my concerts up in New Hampshire. The second horn I came across was stunning. A gentlemen in Brooklyn was nice enough to loan me a basset horn that required no adjustments at all. He had treated this instrument magnificently and created something that played without worry at all. As a result, I was able to think merely of making music and, of course, adjusting reeds during my stay in the North Country. The final result? A wonderful experience and some fine music making. I do hope that I am able to play with these gentlemen again. I learned something during every rehearsal.

Sadly, I'm not sure if I'll have a recording of these concerts. There were some technological hiccups.

The Pops concerts were fun, if a bit of a trek. For one of them, I drove from New Hampshire to Lake George on a Thursday afternoon following a morning Mendelssohn rehearsal. After arriving in LG, I ate, played the 730 concert (including some early fireworks over the lake), and drove back to Franconia, NH. I was energized after the concert, but worried in Vermont when I began seeing thick fog on a road I didn't know. After slowing down and making steady, but not speedy progress, I also began seeing increasingly dire warnings of moose on the signage. At first, the signs just indicated that moose were around. Then there were moose crossings. Then there were signs that said that hundreds of people die every year from crashing into moose. Combined with the fog, I was convinced that I had played my last basset horn (which by the way, had stayed in NH so as not to subject it to the adventure).

After arriving around 230am, I passed out and slept soundly. Over the next few days, however, everyone I met with any experience in the area spoke ominously of moose and the consequences of meeting one. Of course, after all that...I didn't see a single moose.