What it is that I do

May 3, 2011 hannahviolin

I’m still surprised by the response to my earlier post on orchestra auditions. What’s funny (to me) is how angry some people are. Music is something that we should LOVE and feel great about. If you are angry and bitter at music maybe you’ve missed something along the way.

That said, people who know me and people who have read more of my blog know that I am NOT an orchestral musician. I do not have an orchestra job.

So what IS it that I do for a living? Primarily I teach, and secondarily I play gigs. We’re nearing the end of the school year so my life will change a bit, but right now this is what I do.

Teaching:

I have 15 private students, primarily 30 minute lessons. These folks come to my house for lessons.
I teach at the St Louis School of Music two days a week (right now—7 hours),
I teach at the St Louis School of Ballet (in Chesterfield) one day a week (2 hours)
Two violin group classes at a school in St. Peters twice a week
Two days of teaching at a school in Collinsville where I have about 10 private students plus after-school orchestra once a week.

Playing:

This varies.

I play many weddings, sometimes 2 to 4 in a weekend (a good weekend!).
I play for church services.
I play chamber music concerts.
I play with an ocarina trio.
I play with Winter Opera St Louis.

Basically if you need to hire a violinist, I’d be happy to play 😉

This is my life right now. This is my happy life, where I have time to work out almost every day and get plenty of sleep! I get to run 15 to 25 miles a week, work out with a personal trainer twice a week and still have plenty of time for friends. In the summer I’ll be able to work out EVERY DAY.

When I lived in Cleveland, this is what I was doing the last year there (to give you an idea of something a little different).

Teaching:

About 10 private students. I went to their houses.
Taught at the Fairmount School of Music two days a week. I had 10 to 15 students.
Orchestra Assistant with the Orange District Schools (8-10 hours a week?)

Playing (these are all part-time orchestras):

Concertmaster of the Mansfield Symphony
Principal Second Violin of the Canton Symphony
Violinist in the Akron Symphony
Violinist in the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
Violinist in the Cleveland Pops Orchestra
Assistant Concertmaster of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony
Played a variety of wedding gigs and other gigs

That was a ridiculous schedule. I worked on average 50 to 60 hours a week. Many days I didn’t get home until after 11:00 pm. Don’t even ask how someone can be a member of 6 orchestras. I certainly wasn’t going to the gym. I did enjoy it, though…

Did I make more money? Of course!

Do I miss orchestra playing? YES. I was playing a different concert every week. I miss it. I miss it a lot.

A LOT. Seriously. Orchestra is the best! There’s no other feeling like it—playing violin surrounded by that many other musicians.

But right now I’m not willing to do the travel it would require to do part time orchestra work. St Louis is fairly isolated in this sense. There is the symphony, and then there just isn’t a whole lot else, and what there is is filled with folks who have lived here a long time. In Cleveland one could travel 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes and play with all kinds of groups.

I played with the Illinois Symphony my first year here in St Louis, but the commute ranged from 1 hour 30 minutes each way to 3 hours! It was too much. I also continued to play with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and subbed with the Columbus Symphony (both in Columbus, Ohio) but I decided I wanted to focus more on my teaching this year and didn’t want to travel to Ohio monthly.

Am I happy with my teaching focus? Yes. Things are coming together here pretty well, and next year should be a lot simpler, easier, and better. I have become a better teacher also.

Do I miss playing in orchestra? YES.

Am I glad I have time for myself? YES. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love thinking of myself as a runner. I love working with a personal trainer. These are some of my favorite things.

I love the violin, I love classical music. I hope to spend the rest of my life passing that love onto another generation. I believe in what I am doing, and I believe in the music I play.

Running

5 most terrifying side effects of exercise

May 2, 2011 hannahviolin 3 Comments

Cracked.com’s 5 Most Terrifying Side Effects of Exercise. Please click through!!

I saw this on Eat, Drink, and Be Meiri’s Blog today and wanted to share with you. It’s very funny, especially if you work out! You should read her blog too, but I’m going to copy her idea and give my own thoughts. (Flattery, Rose, right? I hope you don’t mind I copied your idea!)

#5 Running makes you poop yourself.

Well as you may know I already covered this on my blog the other day (which led to my blog being found from a google search for the word “poop”). I personally have not had this issue…yet… I’ve gotten mixed opinions from my friends on whether pooping your pants is worth it to make it into the Olympics. Some say yes, some say, no, because even if you win the Olympics you are forever known as that woman (or man) who crapped their pants. I guess it depends on your level of vanity. How often do you fix your hair in the mirror at the gym? (way too often…and it continues to look bad)

#4 Constant, endless sweat

Yes. I do find that I sweat more these days. But I feel like that’s GREAT. Plus when I’ve had too many martinis or glasses of wine the next day I know I can just go to the gym and sweat that out and feel fantastic. Or get robbed. Either or. But I do throw my gym clothes into the laundry after every wear.

#3 Abuse to your feet, nipples, and “scrotal zone”

I agree with Rose, I’d rather have blisters than not be able to see my feet! But seriously, mine aren’t TOO bad, just blistery and some callouses that I STUPIDLY allowed my pedicure lady to shave off the other week. That made my run hurt on Sunday, but I learned my lesson. I have a little black spot on one toenail, but nothing really impressive. My friend Jen has a lovely black toenail (pride, Jen!) and Leslie got an awesomely nasty blister (oozing) after her marathon. As far as nipples and “scrotal zone”, well, I’m just glad I’m not a guy. And I recently discovered Bodyglide, which is helpful for wearing shorts (stupid thighs rubbing together).

#2 Swimming can kill you in endless creative ways

I can’t recall ever swimming for exercise. My gym doesn’t have a pool and I don’t think we are meant to swim in the Mississippi River? (can somebody clarify this? is that something people do? has the river ever been on fire?) But I DO know that you are supposed to wait 1 hour after eating or YOU WILL DIE IN THE WATER FROM STOMACH CRAMPS.

#1 Your junk disappears

Firstly, I really hate the phrase “junk.” Secondly, well, may I say AGAIN how glad I am that I am not a guy.

This comes to mind:

Jerry, George Costanza: Elaine!
Jerry: Do women know about shrinkage?
Elaine: What do you mean like laundry?
Jerry: No, like when a man goes swimming afterwards.
Elaine: It shrinks?
Jerry: Like a frightened turtle!
Elaine: Why does it shrink?
George Costanza: It just does.
Elaine: I don’t know how you guys walk around with those things.

My thoughts: it’s easy to come up with reasons not to exercise or not to eat healthfully. These are not good reasons! But it’s a funny article. People always seem to get upset over articles on cracked as to not being “accurate” but they must have missed the whole “America’s only humor site since 1958” tagline, which (to me) implies it’s a humor site.

Michael Scott: Finishing that 5K was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I ate more fettuccini alfredo, and drank less water than I have in my entire life. People always talk about triumphs of the human spirit. Well today I had a triumph of the human body. That’s why everybody was applauding for me at the end. My guts, my heart and well I eventually puked my guts out. I never puked my heart out, and I am very proud of that.

Cat, Random thoughts

Odds and ends

May 2, 2011 hannahviolin

Edited: I wrote this post before the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. Though I am a pacifist and do not wish death on anybody, I am only human and I must say I am not unhappy for the news. And that was a fantastic speech by Obama.

Back to our originally scheduled programming!

Chris and I went to Sage on Friday night for drinks. I had had a key lime martini there before and was craving it. (I love using “had had”). Here I am pictured with a chocolate martini, but it’s basically the same. The key lime was good though…still not as good as the place in Chicago.

Here’s an excerpt from my old blog, a post about my trip to Chicago where I had the most awesome key lime martini:

“We met Karen for dinner and went to a really cool place called “Avec.” We shared a variety of different dishes, including a focaccia with goat cheese in it, and dates filled with sausage and wrapped in bacon. Then we went to a bar and enjoyed a large number of key lime martinis…we had been there on our last visit as well, and I have never had a key lime martini so delicious. I don’t recall the name of the place, but it’s in the meat packing district. (edited: I realized I used my credit card, so I got the name: “Fulton Lounge”)”

So I just googled the place and it evidently closed a year ago! So I will NEVER have that most delicious key lime martini ever again. Hmmm…does it exist now only in my memory? Avec is still awesome though. I hope to go back this summer.

Okay. So that was Friday. Saturday I played two weddings and hit up Frazer’s. I went with my friend Melissa and then some other friends joined us later. It was great. I mentioned it in this post also.

Sunday—beautiful run around Forest Park with Jen. 5.5 miles. I need to rebuild the callus that got removed during a pedicure, because my foot was killing me. It’ll grow back, stronger than before 🙂 Then I went to Best Buy with Chris and got a new laptop. It’s an HP, and it was on clearance!

How adorable is this small creature? Do I talk about my cat too much?

Do I post too many pictures of my cat? Certainly not! (Please don’t answer that question)

How about a picture of me in the car after the run?

I urge you NOT to enlarge that photo. I don’t understand how it is possible for a 32 year old woman to have 400 zits on her chin. I do love my orange tank top though. Also a new hairband—polka dots! I was wearing green shorts. Body glide is a wonderful invention.

Okay, seriously, this whole robbery thing is causing such mood swings. I’m angry at the financial loss, the sense of security in one’s own home, and the TIME spent dealing with this shit when I really have better things to do (like blog, or practice, or maybe just relax, or you know, WORK). I’m sorry for the negativity on the blog recently, but it’s just been a rough time. I know things will get better and easier, and things could be worse, and for all of that, I am thankful. It’s just been a bad week which ended a bad month. Grrrrr.

Yes, that’s a bruise on my arm. No idea what it’s from! Probably a gym-related injury though. Speaking of, my pinky is feeling MUCH better, luckily.

How was YOUR weekend? What are your plans for the week?

Random thoughts

Good Riddance to April

May 1, 2011 hannahviolin 2 Comments

It seems ridiculous to do my monthly goals post, but I’ll do it anyway. As you all know, this month totally sucked. My race sucked, we got robbed, basically the whole month sucked and I’m really glad it’s over.

Monthly Goals:

Books: one classic, one related to teaching violin or children, one non-fiction. Great Expectations, The Social Animal, and Moonwalking with Einstein. Yeah, well, my kindle got stolen halfway through The Social Animal.

One or more new restaurants: Frazer’s

Weekly activities with friends: I did a lot of activities with friends

New recipes (three): I’m sure I tried some recipes. I didn’t do three, but I did a new stuffed chicken or something. I don’t feel like looking.

Race: April 9 Go! St Louis Half Marathon. Goal: 2:30 or bust. Ha! Follow that link.

Mileage: 90 miles (run or walk). Is 64 the same?

Lose a couple of pounds: under *redacted* by April 30 or bust. (I do have a number in mind, and this month I will meet or beat it). Might have lost a pound.

Career: Schedule Student Recital for Early June. Plus some other stuff that will happen in April. You’re on a need to know basis. Check! My student recital will be happening.

Fun: Did a lot of fun stuff, mainly to try to distract myself from the awful-ness that was the rest of the month.

Financial: Well…I did MY taxes. But I promised Chris I’d do his, so that’s this month. Check!

Fingernails/finger biting: Must continue trying to stop…gah, so difficult as I usually don’t notice I’m biting until it’s already been going on for a little while. Hmmm…this is not working.

I posted a widely successful post: Orchestra Auditions for Non-Musicians. Over 2500 page views (quite a lot for me).

Okay. So that’s April. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Random thoughts

Computer shopping

May 1, 2011 hannahviolin

I am waiting in best buy after a great 5.5 mile run. There was a shower before, of course.

I went with Jen and the weather was perfect. We didn’t see any larpers today, unfortunately. The best thing is that I feel like a runner again!

Now we are dealing with Chris’s broken computer and then I am going to buy a new laptop. The insurance settlement is on its way. State farm is really a great company! It’s likely that Chris’s desktop was damaged though and hopefully we can prove that….they didn’t steal it but it hasn’t been working right all week and today wouldn’t turn out at all. Grrr. So a beautiful afternoon is spent picking up the pieces from jerk criminals.

Last night I met a friend for dinner at Frazer’s. After dinner a few more friends showed up and we were there until midnight or so. For dinner we split chorizo stuffed dates, a tasty bottle of malbec, and then I had a brie, pear, and arugula salad, and shrimp and scallop pasta. I will definitely go back there!

Ok, time to shop for a new computer!