Down the Home Stretch (Without all of that Stretching Nonsense)

Okay, I'm about ready to start doing a little rehearsal with a pianist before taking Cavalinni to the throngs. It's got spunk right now, but not a great deal of polish. Hopefully I can have both. (And maybe shiny pants.)

I've returned to the land of very quiet for this Berio 'Lied' and it feels like chocolate. I'm trying to get down below Morty F. on these 'ppp' sections, but I need to keep lyrical. I guess I just need to pay attention to the nonsense I'm always spouting at my students. Thank the FSM that I'm a good teacher. That way I can occasionally pay attention to myself when I need to.

Last year, I had a shiny shirt. Should I go for shiny pants on this one? Upstate NY: Are they lovin' the shiny pants? How about just shiny unmentionables? That way I feel shiny, but I don't feel lynched. How about that? I'm open to suggestions. Perhaps beautiful young ladies framing the stage? Okay, I'd better stop on this line of thought...

I guess that I'm getting back to the place where I'm thinking about starting back on the audition circuit. I'd like to see how the Old New Me favors on the high heat.

Mmm...food. There's bound to be a donut around here somewhere. I've always got a stash.

Barely There

Dum da dum da dum....Just a jaunty day filled with jaunty tunes...Fun fun fun...or something.

Scales, Bach, Britten, Cavallini

The Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes are really quite lovely. Nothing too shocking or astounding. Just lovely.

Hee hee...Cavallini will be a show. Now I've got to make sure the Berio is respectable. I can't possibly not finish with the Cavallini though. Nice smelling cheese. Yum...

That's all I got today for blogging. Deal with it.

Back on Topic, Now Without So Many Damn's

I'm getting back into the pattern of the school year already. I started teaching a few of my students this morning. Specifically, three had requested lessons already. It's nice to get them going back to work so early. It means that they will have all pistons firing by the time they have to play in school.

I actually got some quality time in on my own practicing too. Holy crap. How did that happen? Rather than rushing to get repertoire crammed in my head, I just went about my business in a leisurely manner. Nice. Hopefully, with certain developments in the works, I'll have more of that kind of time available for clarinet goodness in the future. It'd be nice to be able to grow as a musician while I pay the bills. So often, I get caught in the viscious cycle of just barely getting ready for that next concert. We'll see if I can't nix that.

Oh yeah, a movie I saw tonight: The Descent. Ha ha...Bloody fun...Nope, not "bloody" in the British sense, but "bloody" in the Stephen King's "Carrie" sense. Bloody everywhere (okay okay, in both senses in this case). I knew I was in for the schlock when a pole skewered a skull in the first 7 minutes. Not going to win any awards, but it was fun.

So, a review: Stanley Hasty's transcription of the Bach Chromatic Fantasy has come out, finally. I say finally because I saw this thing dozens of times while I was still in school. Tom Martin (a Hasty student) was always practicing/messing around with it when he had a spare moment between lessons. (A note: Martin's version of messing around is vastly superior to my own hard-fought practicing. Shameful, I know.)

Well, the transcription is quite nice. It seems to fit well on the clarinet, although I haven't tried to play through it yet. Here's the real kicker: The edition comes with a cd of Tom Martin playing the piece. The recording is an outstanding performance. Frankly, it's outstanding clarinet playing and music making. (I'm not a huge fan of the sound quality of the recording. The Temple where he recorded adds too much reverb, I think. Of course, I'm a whiner, so ignore me.) This is a rare recording from a clarinetist who should be recording a great deal more. It's outstanding. I'd recommend it to anyone. (Is the recording up on ITunes yet? That'd be a good idea. Clarinetists would certainly pay for this even without the music.)

Oh yeah, a disclaimer: I did study with Tom Martin for 6 years. As many authors say, any mistakes I make are entirely mine. He shouldn't be blamed for my heresey in any way. I'm debating on whether or not to blame him for my lack of a full head of hair, though.

The Horror...

The Horror..

My reeds can bite me...And anyone else.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll remember to review the Bach Chromatic Fantasy I got in the mail yesterday. A preview: Bitchin' with a "Oh dear God" thrown in for effect...More later.

A Damned Proper Rant

What I despise today: Lack of followthrough. If you say you will do something, do it. Don't let your mouth write a check the rest of you can't cash. Don't start something and then suddenly go silent. How does anything in this business get done when people don't do what they say? How the hell do we even make it up on stage with an audience in their seats. It's amazing.

What would happen to a widget distributer if the widget manufacturer just didn't make the widgets they'd promised that month. THEY'D ALL GET SCREWED, that's what.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that vertical integration is the only way to go in this business. If I want to do a project, I guess it has to be solo clarinet. If I want to record, I'll need to work the damned rig myself. If I want to have something to do with an orchestra, I'll have to hire the damned people myself (a gamble, as there will be other people involved...I'm not willing to learn all of the instruments and play them simultaneously.). If I want to give a concert, I'll have to rent the damned hall, turn on the damned lights, vacuum the damned carpet, play the damned concert, and set the damned place on fire afterwards (I'm not big on cleaning up after myself properly.). I'd have to sell the damned tickets and probably be the damned audience too.

Am I allowed to fire people that don't necessarily work for me?

Spending Money Like a Drunken Sailor

Don't drunken sailors need reeds? Hm? Well, this drunken sailor just threw down for about a dozen boxes of reeds and a little sheet music. Avast...ahoy...mateys...Er. That's all the sailor talk I know. It doubles as my pirate talk. Although, my pirate talk also has: Arrrrrrr.....

There used to be a restaurant in Amherst where, each time I passed, I consistantly annoyed my companion with a well-supported Arrrr in my best pirate voice.

Reeds...Mmm...I let myself play on old dead reeds for a little too long, I guess. Just got busy. My embouchure probably went to hell. Mmm....Reeds. I love when they show up, clumped in groups of 5...Even got a few boxes of Eb reeds. Watch your eardrums, neighbors.

Spent 4 hours making a full-sized opera score today. Pretty sure that's a sign of insanity...Or a cause of same.

Beethoven, But Better

Oi...(I thought I'd go with the British, punk rock version today. Usually, you get my channeling of a Jewish grandmother.)

I need reeds like Andy Dick (allegedly)needs cocaine...Gotta drop a couple of dimes on that stuff tomorrow. It never ends, this money sieve that is my clarinet playing.

Back to running, but no music yet. I need to load a few things on my Ipod so I can study the next orchestra cycle while I jog. Multitasking...Or, as Han Ji-Eun says, "Multi-player." Oh, the humanity. I'm constantly amused.

Yes, that useless quote means that I've gotten hooked on another show. I'm powerless.

Found a copy of the BSO and Ozawa doing Scheherezade. Mmmm...That's one piece I'm excited to hear them do...It was on sale too...

MiniRant: It's amazing to me that people feel that they need to rewrite Beethoven. I'm not positive why one needs to reorchestrate Beethoven. "If Beethoven had these modern instruments, he would have continued the melodic line." Blah blah blah...Whoopdee-freakin' do. I'm happy that everyone seems to be channeling Beethoven today. In fact, if he had the modern instruments, who's to say that the entire melody wouldn't be changed drastically? How come that's the only way Beethoven would react to the modern instruments' advantages? It seems to me that he didn't exactly stay within the old limits. He might feel the urge to just burst through those defenses as well...

Besides, isn't part of Beethoven hearing those little anachronisms? I love hearing the occasional flute go down the octave because he assumed they wouldn't be able to play those notes up there appropriately. To me, it's more honest when the horns drop out in chromatic voicings as the natural horns would have had to do. That's freakin' Beethoven.

I won't allow myself to address the stupidity of not only ignoring his dynamic markings, but blatantly marking your own over Beethoven's. It's times like these that make me happy I have a Dunkin Donuts habit and not a heroin habit. It's people like this who belong on the circuit with Yanni, not honest musicians. Screw 'em.

Eloquent, ain't I?

Workin' on the Chain...Gang

So tired...Took yesterday off. Today: JeanJean, Baermann scales, Cavallini, Berio.

Ooh...This Berio is going to let me quicken up my articulation. It's always nice to use and abuse a particular piece just to further my selfish clarinet needs. For now, I'll focus on "Burst speed staccato."

Well, my schedule has imploded and I have no idea how this season will turn out in the end. My performances this fall look like they might be limited to just two continents, though. Is that good? Should I shoot for another continent?

Something horrifying: I saw a bit of the movie Drumline on the road last week. Did anyone notice Orlando Bloom "conducting"? Holy Mary Mother of FSM. 진짜? That's conducting. Oy vey.

I gotta go listen to these Britten Sea Interludes now...Get my Peter Grimes on...

Wahoo.

Wahoo...Yippee...Yay...Whoopee...all of the above. Looks like my trip to PA paid off. Now I gotta keep it.

On an unrelated note: Snakes on a Plane...Mmm...I only jumped in my seat once. It was a great deal of fun. I'm afraid that I cannot go see it again in good conscience, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good ole' fashion'd death n' destructshun e'rywhere. (Too many apostrophes?)

Oh yeah...

Yippitydodaday...

Took the day off from the clarinet. Stop gasping. I freakin' deserve it. I'm back on the horse tomorrow.

Stocking Stuffed With Care

Mmm...New music in the mail today. It's like a mini-Chris-mas. Britten, Beethoven,Faure, Liebermann. That last one seems to have some tricky licks in it. It's nice to start thinking about performances again. Gotta start cycling that stuff back into my routine. Got about a month on this particular cycle. Plenty of time if I'm at all decent at the practicing portion of things. It'll get really interesting as I start adding other concerts to the mix.

Tomorrow is the last day of teaching at my summer digs. It's actually gone by fairly quickly this year. There are always students that flabbergast one, but there's usually at least one new one that turns out to be fun. This time, an old one turned on the high heat and made huge advances this summer. It was great to see. I look forward to jumping back to work with him during the season.

So, this Berio business. I've decided to make this piece an excuse for regaining my pianissimo. I've been playing so damned loud lately that I figure I need an excuse to go back to the Morty Feldman end of the dynamic range. All those p's Berio writes weren't for exercise, after all. Let's see if I can make a beautiful sound, huh? Game on.

Someone has visited this wayguk's blog from -very- far away very recently. Who could it be? Is all the awful grammar in several languages drawing attention?

I think that I may know 김삼순. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've been in all of those situations where she has to speak English/Konglish/Korean. Go-Stop? Been there. Coffee? Been there. Couldn't stop laughing.

Back isn't feeling good yet. Afraid to start running without crippling pain. Alright...maybe not crippling...How about annoying? Yeah, that'll work. I'm not into the pain. I'm into sleep.

Speaking of which...

왕자

I'm so impatient...Always want what I want when I want it. This waiting is driving me up the wall. Gurgle gurgle...

I actually saw an old edition of Beethoven 6 tonight that listed an arranger. What the hell is that? Arranged for orchestra with the same instrumentation. Weirdos...

I've been told that Google's Translator is producing a grammatical mess in Korean. Oh well, that's not too different from my English. Given the probable similarities in incomprehensibility, I've decided to leave it up.

This Cavallini Adagio and Tarantella really is a cute little thing. Like a little Terrier. Cute and harmless. Should I tell the audience that I'm presenting a pair of Jack Russell terriers for their listening pleasure? Two cute little 4 minutes puppies to nip at their heels?

Going to sleep now...If you can't tell, I've lost my mind again.

Drive-By Blogging

Back to the salt mines today. Warmup, Scales, Cavallini. I've only got a few weeks to learn it and spit it out on stage, but it's a fun little piece. A little bon-bon, if you will. Hey, what's an Italian bon-bon called?

The Berio Lied gets to wait for another day. It's not exactly a knucklebuster.

Oh, after revealing my former TV shame to someone, they recommended I watch a different show: 내 이름은 김삼순

Pretty funny...No wasting diseases in sight. Just funny...Oh, and it's got lots of good looking food in it. Mmm...

That's all I got.

The Morning After...Or the Evening After the Morning During

Holy crap am I tired. Today I had an audition. In another state. Then I drove to still another state for lunch. Then I drove back to Boston. Did I mention that I'm tired?

The audition had a pretty interesting format, just me onstage for a while. I spent very little time playing music from the repertoire list that was sent me. Instead, I was playing solos from alternate movements in the same pieces and solos from other pieces altogether. I wasn't perfect by any means, but I'm happy that I got the chance to play. In fact, I think it's a wonderful idea to have a player go through other repertoire. So many players have ages to learn specific excerpts and can sound great on them. Of course, this could explain why so many positions filled by this excerpt means have been opening back up after the trial period.

Instead, perhaps we should find a way to go back to the Szell period, when it was just assumed that a player could play the repertoire. After all, concert repertoire changes all the time. For Elvis' sake, look at the Boston Pops. They hardly look at most of the repertoire before taking the stage. They know it. Of course, they have fantastic sight-reading skills as well. Much of the Pops repertoire consists of new arrangements that couldn't be found elsewhere. You've gotta stay on your toes.

This is interesting enough to me that I'm going to go into repertoire specifics:

Initial Repertoire List given about 3 weeks ago

Rimsky Korsakov Capp. Espagnol
Kodaly Dances of Galanta
Schubert 8
Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf
Rimsky Korsakov Scheherezade
Ravel Daphnis and Chloe

Revised List about 2 weeks ago:

Mozart Concerto 2nd and 3rd mvts
Beethoven 6 2nd and 3rd mvts
Beethoven 8
Brahms 3
Stravinsky Petrouchka
Strauss Heldenleben
Wagner Siegfried Idyll
Bizet Carmen Suit #1
Shostakovich 9

What I actually played (that I can remember):
Mozart Concerto 1st (recap) and 2nd mvts
Beethoven 6 1st mvt
Beethoven 8 Trio from 3rd mvt
Brahms 3 1st and 2nd mvts
Shostakovich 9 3rd mvt
Mendelssohn Scherzo (Midsummer Nights Dream)
Respighi Pines of Rome last mvt

Someday, I'll admit to my Respighi con. I'm shameless about that piece, I guess. When I've played it sitting near (within sight) other clarinetists, they always stare at me and my clarinet in disgust/disbelief. I'll wait before I admit to my trick. No one cares as long as it sounds good, right?



I probably ought to have changed reeds as the one I had was a little flimsy for the articulation. As my Grandmother says, though, "You dance with them what brought you." If you need me to translate from "Feisty Southern Woman" back to English, just let me know.

Oh yes, a reminder: If you show up an hour (or more) early for an audition (as you should), be prepared to find a locked door. That's what books are for, right? It was a beautiful day outside, though. I actually just used it to pace a bit and work off some excess energy.

가자

(I understand I've rather avoided my standard musical topics lately. My regular readers who are friends understand why. I'll return to that business later. For now, I'm just checking in and informing in my way.)

I kicked the Harvard drama habit. Congratulations to me? No. I didn't quit it cold turkey. I went the sly route and just finished all of the supply. All 16 episodes. Oh dear...so ashamed. Thank god there's no more of it. I'd watch it. It's like my hand moved of its own accord and I just kept clicking play. Horrifying, I tell you.

I was sure that someone was going to die of lymphoma, or some such wasting disease. Almost, but no. This one went against stereotype. 김태희 certainly tried, though. I've already been warned that Stairway to Heaven is just horrible about that stuff. That one I'm afraid I'll have to avoid.

(Then again, I tried to avoid this one...)

I"ll be away from this neck of the woods for a couple of days starting Sunday. For those of you who want to get ahold of me, my cell is the only way. Please feel free to call as I'll be driving and bored. Or I'll be sitting in a hotel room and bored. When I'm practicing, I just won't answer. Gotta have priorities, after all.

In case you're wondering and it's too late to call and ask: I feel good. 나는 준비되어 있다. 이것은 나의 제일 음악이다.

Otherwise, I hope you'll get and agree with my final little statement:

파이팅!

Have you beaten the bed-bugs 'til they're black and blue?

Take a Look Around

Ha ha...Occasionally I remember that I don't quite a handle on this blogging thing. For one, I sometimes get confused when I send out emails from a variety of accounts. As I type nearly as quickly as I think (neither of those would be clocked that fast), I can spit out emails fairly quickly without the time to realize whether or not I'm sending from the right account. That's what I get for being all clever-like and sifting my emails down to one address.

Why is this not wise, you gamely ask? (Thanks, by the way, for asking.) It's not wise, because my old, non-business email account lists my blog in my signature. My respectable account conveniently leaves the blog address out.

Thank goodness I occasionally take a look to see who's visiting.

Well, at least I'm smart enough to be horribly vague most of the time. After the Delta Flt. Atdt. got the boot for her inappropriate blog, I've tried to keep specifics out of things. It's pretty easy to tell where I play, but I would be rather unintelligent to go on rants against specific people. Of course, you all know I can rant...I'm just not willing to create an archive of my vitriol.

Wait a minute...What if some of you have been wired and recording my rants in the past? Damn...Does that mean that I can't rant at all? Even my house could be bugged...Does anyone know a way to make an origami hat out of tinfoil? If I'm going nutty, I'll be damned fashionable doing it.

Saw more of the drama today. I'm not sure why I admit this. Perhaps it's my version of self-abuse.

Back to topic: It looks like I may not be a shonda after all. As soon as I finish this cycle, though, there's that looming Sequenza and Cavallini concert in Sept. So much music to learn, so little time.

So Very Ashamed

Oh dear god, I'm so very ashamed. Beyond ashamed...I'm positively a puddle of what could formerly be considered human. Today, like a naive future junkie's first prick of the needle, I watched a drama. It had to do with Harvard...well, supposedly. They were all wearing Harvard sweatshirts, hats, and many other branded clothes. The acting is horribl, the stories convoluted and absurd, and the text hilariously incompetent. Oh, how I'm hooked. I saw 3 episodes. Oh dear god...

I'm sure that some of you know exactly of what drama I'm speaking. I'm too embarrassed to even speak its full name. Even the soundtrack is horrendous. Oh dear god. What's next, Sonatas that take place in Winter? Oh dear god. Have I picked up a habit here? I'm not sure if I can quit any time I want.

On a better note: I like reeds (except when I don't). I especially like them when they do what I want. Even more when most of them do what I want. Mmm...no mule whippings this evening. Instead, this particular jackass actually had a decent showing.

I'm sure I'll be back to putrid playing by tomorrow. Never fear...

Oh dear god. Help me.

Today's Diagnostic

Back: MUCH better, but I still don't trust it. I'm going to go with Adm. Ackbar's advice on this one.

RunningMusic: See above trap.

Practicing: I'm starting to feel like a real musician again, thank the FSM. I'm pretty sure the only reason I can even remember how to play is the daily practice of scales. Yum...it's like eating collard greens...Tastes good and good for you.

Energy Level: Well, you needn't shove your head where the sun doesn't illuminate, but I'm not exactly Pollyanna today. I can't wait until I can sleep occasionally again. I'm hoping that might be in a couple of weeks. At least I can relax a little after NY/PA on Monday.

So, whose coming with me on Monday night? We're going to find some good food. I'm not sure if it'll be for a celebration or a prelude to self-immolation. Either way, I like to eat well.

'nighty night...Don't let the bedbugs bite...Actually, I was going to go through the entire rhyme as my mother taught it to me, but I'll just stop after the initial warning. Apparently, bedbugs have reappeared in the US recently. Saw it on the internet, so it must be true.

The Quick Rundown

Back: still a little tender, but much better than past occurrences

Running: You've got to be kidding me. You should be caned just for thinking it, much less asking.

Practicing: Currently being beaten like a rented mule by the 3rd mvt of the Mozart Concerto...and everything else on my music stand. (I do love new reeds though. Manna from heaven and all that. Passive-agressive much?)

Energy Level: Just Bite Me...That a good enough answer for ya?

I'm Healed (But Not Really)!

Oy vey. I've figured out how to keep the muscles in my back from spasming or locking up. Instead, I just exhuast my body to the point that nothing in my body has the energy to move. That way, I don't have the extra calories to burn on those "oh dear god, it hurts like I'm giving birth from my scapula" moments. Instead, I just drag myself down the street on inertia alone.

Sleep...I need sleep. Shostakovich 9 had its way with me this evening.

And not in a good way.

A Real Genius, I Am

Ack...Went running without properly stretching my back, which has had a slight twinge the past couple of days anyway. Genius, I'm telling you. Chunjaeda.

For those of you who prefer it, I have provided what should be an update Korean translation of the blog. The link should be at the right. How's the translation quality? My Korean certainly isn't good enough to tell whether or not this Google Translator can even get the gist across. Of course, I don't make sense in English. I'm sure I'd be horrified at my coherence translated to Korean.

Ouch...Back...erg. Gotta stop moving. Should have gone to Nantucket or some other resort like other people I know. Nope, I instead commit exertion, which is always punished.

So, my super-human marathon practice session yesterday quickly brought me back to sapien status today. My lip was shot...a real through and through. I managed to get through the Jean-Jean Vade-Mecum (Just the Trill, Left, and Right Hand sections), some scales, and a little Bach before everything gave out for good. I was able to get a little of the Mozart's 3rd mvt. feel back into my system, but my lip wasn't having anything of substance do through it.

Instead, I'll be studying the rest of the night. I need to get back into the Strauss Heldenleben. It's hard to keep all that business in your head at once. Huge swathes of sound washing this way and that. One must remember when to poke one's head out and then be consumed by the orchestra again. Strangely enough, I have a little easier time making those decisions with Strauss than I do with Beethoven. Sometimes, especially in soli wind sections, it's extraordinarily difficult to decided exactly how the voices should be balanced. Of course, balance almost NEVER involves different voices playing the same volume. Even at the start of Schubert's Unfinished, the unison oboe and clarinet shouldn't play perfectly equally loud. That would show an almost laughable lack of taste and a certain sign of a hearing problem.

I'm afraid I might be babbling incoherently again. We'll chalk it up to back pain...These are the times I wished that I was into self-medicating through Mohitos. That would be lovely right now.

Damnit.

(I want everyone to know that Blogger doesn't recognize "Damnit" as spelled properly, Dagnabit. [Let's see how it likes that one. I'm from the South, where we have creative curses, consarnit.])

Tidbit

Saw Taming of the Shrew tonight. Good production, well-acted, not Bill S.'s best work.

To keep some of you interested and comfortable:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fctbush.blogspot.com&langpair=en%7Cko&hl=en&c2coff=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Sorry that the link is so long and aesthetically displeasing. There's more amusing stuff after the jump.

Into the Coal Mines

Well, it looks as if the next week may be sparse as far as long, rambling blogposts go. I've got to get my butt back to grindstone a little harder as far as the clarinet is concerned. That probably means that any posts I manage to throw up will be full of foul language and the occasional condemnation of Reality (yup, all of it). This is what happens when I get very tired. Okay, it actually happens pretty much whenever I am awake.

How do I get back to work? Baermann scales...yum, tastes like chicken. I spend more time on scales than repertoire. That way I make sure I know how to play the damned thing. The repertoire will come shortly thereafter, I'm sure.

So, I'm pretty damned tired and in need of sleep. I'm thinking about giving in to that particular need right now and getting up early to start my shift in the practice room. By early, I mean before noon. I've got all day, after all.

The FSM is still providing inhabitable weather. All hail the the meatballs!

The Fever Broke

In a stunning repudiation of evolution, the FSM has seen fit to attend to our needs here in Boston and provide us with weather fit for humans. Pass the marinara!

I'm just exhausted. I've been puttering along since 7am and I got home tonight at 11pm. That's...more than a few hours in a row. How many of them did I use for just sitting on my bum and vegging out? 1 hour...Of course, that hour was used to eat and watch Steven Colbert clips, so it was well spent.

I didn't even get to see the Golberg Variations played on marimba, as I had planned this evening. I'm pretty sure I missed out on an excellent performance. Instead, I made a great big score...kind of...And by score, I mean score. (See, I'm so tired I can't seem to provide a highly inappropriate joke here. Think of your own.)

This whole double-lip thing on the clarinet has been overdone this time. I pinched something on my top lip last night, only to suffer through practicing with it for 4 hours tonight. I have a feeling that it won't be happy tomorrow.

A flute player put pigtails in my hair when I turned my back on her yesterday. I'm not sure if that's a misdemeanor or not, but it may be a hate crime. That's what the lawyers are going to claim, anyway. One young lady was impressed by them, but I'm pretty sure she was being sarcastic.

I'm mulling over a LONG post about Conservatory students with rose-colored glasses, but I'm too tired to even mull now. My main fear is that it would just pour out for the next 3 weeks, eventually reaching book length. Of course, no one would be interested in a book of me bitching about the horribly unrealistic "education" so many music students are receiving around the country.

Alright, HjB, I see that you read occasionally. Make sure you keep studying. Your job is to ace those Doctoral's so we can celebrate later. My job is to...er...oh crap...Too many jobs. I'll pick one and go with that:

Sleep.

I Knew I Was Going to Hell and All

But does it really need to be this hot here? I mean, come on people.

Well, my New York readers, I'll not be there this week as initially thought. I'll be there and in the environs around Aug 13-15. I'm pretty sure that I'll be booked during the day on the 14th and pretty busy prepping on the 13th, but the evening of the 14th might be free for socializing.

Life has meant that I haven't been able to practice much the past two days. Only a few hours each day. Sunday was an marathon...an impressive show of inhuman clarinet-playing stamina. That was all the way back on Sunday, though. What have I done for me lately?

I've got a short time to learn a bunch of orchestral repertoire, some of which is pretty regularly on my plate: Kodaly's Galanta Dances, Beethoven Sym 8, Brahms 3. Those should be reasonable assuming I'm any kind of musician at all. I've got to get the Mozartiana up and running from scratch though...and Petruchka. Awesome. This is a great excuse to study both. Petruchka was always fun to study in score form (and piano form), but it'll be nice to have it under my fingers.

Mozartiana may or may not be the bane of my existence. I'll have to get to know it better before I decide on its manner of death.

A hundred degrees? Farenheit? Is that even legal? I think I need to call someone about this. Anyone know who I can call to get a couple of stormclouds delivered ASAP?