All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
Running

Benton Park 5k Costume

I’m trying this from my phone. Ran a 5k this morning. I wanted to share a picture of my costume since that’s more important than my time. (35:33).

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Faster than any of my training runs lately so it was actually a decent race. Gaining ten or more pounds really slows you down! *ponders*

But it was fun and I’m glad I forced, er, convinced Chris to run too. We had other people in our group but no one else in costume so I’m not posting pictures. I’ll probably share a bit more later about the race, and the rain, and the tornados last night, but I’m tired and have a concert tonight to mentally prepare for. Hope to see some local readers there!

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Random thoughts

Nearly TGIF

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Saturday is a big day!

Saturday morning: the 80’s race…(I haven’t totally settled on my costume, but I think you’ll love it.)

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(already got our shirts and race numbers)

Saturday night:

Chamber Project St Louis. 8 pm at the Chapel. Tickets on sale now.

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(from a couple years ago.)

And then…one more week of my school. I’m thrilled to tell you that I’ve gotten a bunch of new students going into the summer and feel confident that I’ll be at the same income level by fall (if not higher) through private teaching! Though I’ve enjoyed many aspects of teaching at the school I look forward to finally really working for myself 🙂 When a door closes, I find…another bigger door often opens. You just have to look around! (sappy inspirational paragraph) And yes, I’m still accepting new students, gladly!

Wish me luck this weekend!

(Did I use enough exclamation points for you?)

Food

Eclair Dessert

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I don’t remember the first time I made this dessert, but it’s from a cookbook I got from my grandmother called “All Our Favorites: from a Mother’s heart” sold for a fundraiser for the MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers) at West Clinton Mennonite Church in Wauseon, Ohio. The original recipe is attributed to Staci Hartzler, and I’ve made a few small changes to the original. The edited one is below and I hope you enjoy!

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Ingredients:

2 (3 oz.) packages of French Vanilla Instant Pudding

1 (9 oz.) tub Cool Whip

Whole graham crackers

1 can “ready to spread” chocolate frosting

3 cups milk

Directions:

Prepare pudding as directed on the package but with 3 cups of milk. Set aside. Line a 9 by 13 inch dish with crackers (whole, do not crumble) on bottom only. Mix Cool Whip with pudding. Pour 1/2 of this mixture over crackers.  Add another layer of graham crackers on top of the pudding mixture. Then spread the remaining pudding mixture over the cracker layer. Put one last layer of graham crackers on top.

Microwave the icing until it is soft enough to pour over the top of the mixture (my microwave takes about 1 minute, but check often and stir. Caution: remove lid and foil lid first!) Once the icing is soft enough to pour, pour it over the top of the dessert, being sure to cover all the area.

Store in refrigerator 12 to 24 hours before serving.

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I’ve made this a bunch, and this was the first time I divided it into two containers. Still good! If you can’t find french vanilla pudding, try another kind—perhaps regular vanilla or boston creme? You can eat it sooner than 12 hours but if you wait a day it’s even better!

Running

Happy Memorial Day!

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And Happy Birthday to my Dad. (Interesting read: the wikipedia article on Memorial Day, in case you aren’t sure what it’s all about.)

How’s your weekend been? I hear it’s one of those “long” weekends for most people? I don’t know about you guys, but if I have four days off, I call it a vacation, not a weekend. I did not have four days off. That must be really weird! (I rarely have two days off in a row—such is the life of a musician. And as a self-employed musician, even when I have a day off, I’m usually still working in some capacity. I’m not complaining, just puzzling over all of this.)

For instance, today, I should be practicing for this weekend’s Chamber Project St Louis concert. And I think I shall, after I blog and finish watching The Mentalist.  (Does that make me sound old, watching a show on CBS?) I’ve got plenty of teaching busy-work to catch up on but I think that can all wait until tomorrow.

It’s been a fun weekend though. Saturday’s race didn’t actually happen for me. Chris and I went for a lovely dinner Friday night at Sidney Street Cafe.

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Salad and Bouillabaisse. Delicious. Except that I woke up in the middle of the night with some, shall we say, stomach issues. I think maybe the bouillabaisse was too rich for me or something? So getting up at 6:30 to go run was…not happening. Not wise at all. I felt bad missing it, but I think I would have felt worse trying to do it. Instead I ended up sleeping until around 11:30.

Then I had to work. Two weddings.

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Oh, wait, that’s a cat.

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First was a Quartet with Serenade Strings for Nicole and Braden’s wedding at Trinity Lutheran Church. We were in the balcony for it, which is fun because you get to see almost everything that is happening.

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If by everything one means the audience. The minister was a funny guy and had the audience in stitches on more than one occasion.

Then it was off to the Botanical Gardens to play for a trio gig with the Rosewood Ensemble.

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Katrina and Clark got married at the Lehmann Rose Garden. I loved this picture because of the reflection in the water, and I loved her dress!

We played for the ceremony and then raced over to the Ritz in Clayton to play for the cocktail hour. It was an exhausting day especially since I didn’t feel terrific.

Yesterday was a relaxing day off (as is today). I made dessert for a potluck (recipe to come, ha!) and then attended said potluck AND an engagement party.

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I made chocolate eclair dessert. It’s a graham cracker and pudding type thing and is both easy and delicious.

At the potluck I had some issues drinking wine out of a plastic cup—ended up spilling on my skirt in FOUR different places.

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It was a nice skirt while it lasted. Hopefully the stains will come out.

And then this morning I went for a run. I was hot and sweaty, so I took a selfie afterwards.

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Tonight we are grilling steaks and veggies, assuming the storm passes through quickly. Otherwise I guess we’ll just sit around in the dark crying.

What have you been up to?

Performing, Running

Deturtle June Tour, Fitness Event Stuff, and Brad Pitt

Deturtle June Tour:

So my little sister (that’s CARRIE) is touring with her band Deturtle and thought I’d mention it to you guys in case you were interested in checking them out. They combine a jazz trio and a string trio to make a whole new kind of sound world. (Pretty good stuff. I recommend you listen to the tracks they have online.)

From their website:

“At the crossroads of the Oberlin Conservatory is the Kohl Plaza, the space between the classical conservatory and the jazz building. It was in this space that deturtle, an ensemble combining jazz and classical music, could be conceived. In September 2012, guitarist Matt Gold brought together a jazz guitar trio and a classical string trio to play original compositions and arrangements. He aimed to create an unconventional, modern sound by merging two traditions of music. The goal was to create an ensemble not only fusing traditional sounds from the jazz world and the classical, but to go beyond that.”

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I’m honestly pretty bummed they aren’t coming to St Louis. I offered room, but I guess transportation was the issue. Maybe it you all go out and support them someday she can tour my neck of the woods!

Did I mention that Carrie plays the viola??? I mean, really, a band with a viola. If you’re at all interested, listen to the tracks on their website to get a sense of what they are doing. I’m pretty impressed by my little sister sometimes.

Fitness Event Stuff

Saturday is the CDM Body and Mind 5k.

Next Saturday (June 1) is the Benton Park Remembering the 80’s 5k—if you are planning to run this, let me know and I’ll look for you!  I’m somehow less excited about it this year than in the past but I still have a myriad of outfit options. I sent a few sample pictures to Jen the other night and her response was “how do you have so many choices?”

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June 8: Get Outdoors St Louis

I was also told about another event the morning of June 1 that might interest you if you don’t care for the 80’s.

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Bethesda Hospice Care Hosts First-Ever 5K Memorial Walk/Run

Free event honors loved ones with remembrance ribbons for participants;

local St. Louis guitarist Lisa Jones to perform at opening ceremony

WHAT: On Saturday, June 1, Bethesda Hospice Care will host its first-ever 5K Memorial Walk/Run at Queeny Park in Ballwin. The walk/run will celebrate the lives of participants’ loved ones.

The 5K walk/run is free and welcome to all ages.

REGISTER:   Registration form and more information can be found at http://www.bethesdahealth.org/pics/db/document_library/64_MemorialWalkInformationRegistrationForm.pdf

 

BRAD PITT

YOU GUYS!! BRAD PITT EMAILED ME!

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Random thoughts

How to tell if your violin is depressed and what to do to help

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Somebody found my blog the other day by searching for “how to tell if your violin is depressed.” I thought I’d use that as a prompt and tell you five ways to tell if your violin is depressed and five ways to help. (Note: Depression is a serious illness and in reality, the best and sometimes only way out is to seek medical help. )

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How to tell if your violin is depressed:

1. It won’t stay in tune. You’re constantly tuning it and wondering if it’s the weather or if it’s the humidity. It’s neither.

2. It’s covered in cat hair. All different kinds of cats. Violins tend to seek out cats more when they are sad.

3. It only wants to play sad pieces like Barber’s Adagio. If you try to play something happy like Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony it transposes it into a minor key and before you know it, you’re back in Barber’s Adagio.

4. Your violin won’t eat and sleeps all day in its case.  It refuses to come out even for its previous favorite activities like Kreutzer Etudes and Scales.

5. You find a lot of empty alcohol and prescription drug bottles hidden in the trash and you don’t remember drinking or taking any of them yourself. That’s just your violin, self-medicating.

How to help:

1. Blast happy, joyful tunes at your violin all day long. I recommend a lot of Mozart and perhaps the last movement of the Organ Symphony by Camille Saint-Saens.

2. Practice, practice, practice. Aka, fake it till you make it. If you pretend it’s not depressed, on occasion, your violin will pull through. Try scales, Sevcik, etudes, and your violin’s old favorite pieces.

3. Sometimes putting your violin together with other instruments can help. For instance, consider another violin, a viola, and a cello. Get them to play some Beethoven String Quartets (personal favorite, opus 132). DO NOT let them play Barber’s Adagio. If this fails, try a larger group—include woodwinds, brass, percussion. Mahler Symphony no. 2 might be a good option for that. (You’ll need a chorus too.) Again, do not let them start playing Barber’s Adagio.

4. Buy it a new, colorful case. Studies show that bright colors can help. Continue to avoid direct sunlight though as violins, unlike humans, do not like direct sunlight.

5. If all else fails, your violin will need professional help. Take it to a luthier for repairs. Consider planing the fingerboard, a new bridge and/or soundpost, an adjustment, a thorough cleaning and polishing, and of course, all new strings! If that doesn’t make your violin happier, then nothing will.