Let's catch up.

1. The opera went from terrifying to decent to horrible to awful to fired. "Fired" is a misleading term, because I wasn't getting anything from the deal... but it's the word that sounds the best when I try to explain it. I have a number of things to say on the matter... few of them are appropriate, for an equal number of reasons.
2. Thursday at 11 = Percussion Tech concert (playing snare, timp, cymbals and guiro)
3. Friday at 7 = Spring Band concert (playing bassoon)
4. Saturday at 7 = Gospel Choir concert (singing alto) (singing! eep!)
5. Friday (4/25) = Spring Orchestra concert (bassoon/cb)
6. Saturday (4/26) = Jazz Band concert (trumpet)
7. Sunday (4/27) = gospel choir run-out concert (alto)
8. Some time that week (of Monday 4/21) = conduct Symphonic Winds for Inst Conducting final (baton) (Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy: "Lord Melbourne")
9. Some time the next week (Monday 4/28) = jury (Ferdinand David's Concertino)

And of course, almost all of those concerts want me to bake for them. What do they think I am, made of free time? And those are only my performance commitments!

I'm quite overwhelmed.

It's time for a happy list.

• Despite all of my worries that the opera would EAT MY LIFE, rehearsal actually let out close to an hour early last night. I took great advantage of the extra time; having already told Ken I couldn't come to jazz band I went home and got a head start on my study packet for InstMeth.
• Mr. Stith let me borrow his score to Lincolnshire Posy for my InstMeth study packet. It's kind of a big deal--the score was worth $30 when it was purchased nearly 20 years ago. It smells a little like dirt. There's something so fabulous about holding a real score instead of photocopies or excerpts. To a real peice of music!
• Said Lincolnshire Posy score has a "Grainger Glossary" in the back. That means I don't have to make one myself for my InstMeth study packet, which saves me quite a bit of score-scouring for tiny print.
• I got a 110% on this morning's Music History listening test! Quite reassuring, considering last time I got a 65% on music that was much easier to listen to.
• I thought I had a lesson this week, but it's totally next week. Amazing.
• It's sunny. Cold, but sunny.

I am often in awe of the number of people God has given me to love, especially in and around Houghton. Of course, I know I'm supposed to love everyone. But some people it's easier than others, you know?
One person I'm not always so committed to loving: Percy Aldridge Grainger. We're spending a lot of time together, and my feelings for him are as sporadic as his feelings on everything--sometimes I read a quote from him that swells in my heart or resonates deep in my music ed soul... and other times I find him frivilous and eccentric, tempermental, indecisive. He was an odd duck. Alas, he promises to be the majority of my spring break--though I will of course be cheating on him with Ferdinand David and Fernand Oubradous... maybe some Orifici for good measure? And there is always the possibility of Mozart....

What is it in a musician that drives them to become so overcommitted? Dear Houghton College: Please restrict ensemble participation. What? You can't fill all your ensembles without overtaxing your students? Well, I'm sure that's a great way to increase enrollment. I know you get upset when you bring tour groups through and there are clusters of us napping, paper-writing or making coffee in the hallways, I know you want us to do those things in our dorm rooms, but quite frankly--most of us have forgotten where they are! Please, let us out more often. Music majors deserve breaks, too!

Despite being on break, Wednesday I went to a UIndy guest recital and in a few short hours I'm going to the Symphony.
And to think that sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice in college.

Bassoon!

It's here. And it's beautiful. It's had a tough life so far, moving from Germany to PA to a freezing cold FedEx truck

to a clueless post office

to my 74-degree, 32% humidity practice room

to the Buffalo Airport, to the DC airport, and then to my house. Crazy. But it's beautiful and wonderful and I love it.

I think it's a girl. But the jury is still out on a name, so for now we're sticking with "the baby" or "the bassoon." This may seem ridiculous, but the name is an important thing to get right. The Bassoon and I are going to spend the rest of our lives together, hopefully, so it would be terrible to be stuck with a lame name like "Gunther" or "4real". It's a serious matter.

Yesterday was more emo than I had intended. I appologize. In my haste, I forgot completely about the Babysoon shower!

The Third Floor Lounge, which is quite possibly the best group of people ever, threw me a baby shower for my bassoon. Bekah told me that she and Clara were having coffee at 3 and that I should come. Instead, I took a nap. As I was slumbering, it occured to me that something must be up because Bekah doesn't drink coffee. When my alarm went off at 3 I turned it off and went back to sleep, deciding that was more important than third-wheeling. At 3:20 I awoke to both a phone call and Bekah knocking on my door. In my sleepy stupor I found myself led not to the coffee shop but up to the TFL, where I was met with loud cries of "SURPRISE!" There were brownies and cranberry bread, and a lot of people had made me cards. We played baby shower games and even Prof Cacie showed up with the little one. It was one of those positively wonderful moments that make Houghton a survivable place.
<3.

Appalacian Springs

It's over. It went well, but I would like one more concert. One more run through. No more rehearsals, no more practice... but one more chance. It's hard to put away a well-known work. It's hard to know that I'll probably never play Appalacian Springs again. Some music I'm happy to put away, despite knowing how great it is. But man... I could really go for one more. There were little parts where I didn't do so well, and a lot of parts where it went better than I anticipated. I know a lot of people made mistakes, but they didn't bother me very much. But there was one part... I forgot what key signature it was in, and I played a wrong note, and it's not even a huge deal, but it was a pretty exposed part and while I covered...decently? At least, people have been nice enough to not say they noticed. It's still gonna bother me for a long time.