Category Archives: Cat

Good Things Happening

The big news: I am going with Louie’s family on a trip to Italy in May. I am so excited! We will be going to Rome for sure and the rest is TBD. I’m so thrilled to be going to Europe again and feel so lucky!

Until then, life is crazy as usual. Thursday my quartet played a concert at the Kemper Art Museum at Washington University. I had been really stressed out about it because we were playing about 7 pieces by student composers and they ranged from difficult to exceedingly difficult. We also played Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 8 (again) after all of that. The concert ended up feeling like it went really well, and the crowd was appreciative.

perseidkemper

As you can see it was a really neat space to play in, and we had a full house.

IMG_2343

The less good thing happening is that our white cat, Chloe, has been diagnosed with diabetes. Poor kitty. She has to have twice daily insulin injections, which has been a challenge. I’m sure it will become part of the regular routine (wake up, get attacked by loads of overly hungry animals who were sure they were going to die, feed animals, give Chloe a shot?) but it’s been one more added stress. She doesn’t seem to mind the shots other than an initial discomfort, and I’m sure that she must be feeling better than ever with the medicine!

So I’ve been doing an instagram challenge, taking/posting one photo a day. I’d read that it makes people become better photographers, or that it will change your life. Well, I’ve definitely become a worse photographer, because sometimes I’m at the end of the day and realize, oh no, I didn’t take a picture yet! Plus the added stress…did I get a picture today? Does stealing one from somebody’s facebook count? I guess I’m learning something about myself (that I mostly like to take pictures of my food and cats) (or that I’m pretty boring) and it’s a good challenge. I imagine I’ll look back on the year and feel super accomplished.

I did finally recover from my cold (look at me, following up on things) though I have had low-grade congestion all week. I’m thinking that it is allergies at this point: I feel mostly good, except a little tired still, but that gets better each day. This weekend I was able to do a fair amount of relaxing and sleep in one day. I’ve got some really fun performances coming up and so much to do before Italy, but I’m walking around in disbelief (something awesome happening to me!) and with lists in my head—I have been trying to stay on top of things by using my to-do list on my phone a lot, plus I totally made a packing list for Italy. I want to fit everything in my smaller suitcase and not overpack for once in my life, but I also don’t want to miss anything. And generally I don’t mind overpacking—for instance, if I’m flying to a destination where I will be picked up from the airport in a car, and then spend the whole time somewhere, I’d actually rather have brought too many clothes than not enough. I’ve often been in Phoenix and regretted not bringing more clothes or shoes. But this is different because it’s international travel, it’s possibly five people squeezing into a car with five suitcases, and that means to pack as light as possible.

Did I mention Rome?

I was there in the summer of 2001 for a couple of days. It was on a tour of Italy with the Erie Youth Symphony (speaking of lucky and amazing things happening to me—I just got asked to go along to fill out the section!). I just found these photos online at Snapfish and wondered at first why my albums only had 24 pictures in them…haha! That was back when photos cost money to see. I’m lucky I have them online! I remember trying to figure out how many rolls of film to bring along. What a wonderful trip though. I wish I’d been a blogger then or kept a better journal so I could reminisce more…well, things have changed now! You know you’ll be hearing all about Italy after it happens!

March Madness

Time flies! I’m in the middle of opera rehearsals which always throw off my schedule and make me busy. Winter Opera St Louis is performing Otello this weekend.

I’m also playing some Irish music this weekend (Saturday night) with a pick-up group. Visit the facebook event page for more information, but it’s a lot of fun, we sound pretty good, and $5 gets you two drink coupons plus the show. A fantastic deal! And seriously, playing Irish music has been really fun for me.  Here’s a video we took at a rehearsal. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153093443515853

So as much as I haven’t been sitting down and blogging I’ve been having fun taking at least one picture a day and posting it to Instagram, so I’m documenting my life that way. It’s fun and mostly it’s food, pets, and the occasionally selfie. When I think about my life it’s probably pretty boring right now: students, pets, violin, repeat! Which is partly why I haven’t been blogging, but the other part is, I haven’t had time…or haven’t made time at least.

I have been making efforts to be more social and ask friends to do things. I think the cold weather always makes me want to be a homebody but then I start feeling sorry for myself for having no friends…then I remind myself I’m in control of that. Mostly. So I’ve been making an effort to leave the house more and not just sit around watching Dr Who with Louie in my downtime. Not that that isn’t actually one of my favorite activities, but does it really make as much of an impact on my life as having a lovely dinner with friends? (and any friends reading this saying, hey what about me, just ask!)

We had a decently successful Perseid Quartet concert last weekend. I say decently successful because I was quite happy with how we played but wished a few more folks had come. Perhaps the weather kept them away, or maybe we didn’t promote as well as we could have. Nonetheless the audience we did have was wonderful and supportive and seemed to really enjoy the concert! We are repeating the program on April 19 with an additional piece by Hindemith and doing some other things in between.

My friend April took some pictures at the show.

IMG_1950 IMG_1951

IMG_1953

I love how intense I look when I play. And that I don’t know what to do with my feet!

Okay, random picture and thought time! I’m done being quasi-serious for now.

IMG_1971

Trader Joe’s pizza with sauteed mushrooms and egg. Just crack the egg on the frozen pizza and bake as usual!

IMG_1975

Too many flats!

IMG_1934

I got new glasses. Normally I wear contacts, but these are cute and (finally) come with an up to date prescription that I can SEE with.

IMG_1966

I love our fruit bowl. I’m not saying a red pepper is a fruit though.

IMG_1899

I haven’t taken as many pictures of the fatness lately for a variety of reasons. One was that we were dog sitting for another dog and she was hiding out the entire time. She basically moved on top of a tall dresser for the week and only came out when absolutely necessary. Things are back to normal now though, so perhaps she’ll start feeling comfortable again.

IMG_2003

We went to a couple of symphony concerts recently. This was from one with Augustin Hadelich playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Oh my. He was wonderful! Impeccable technique, great sound, and wonderful musicianship. I was blown away. And he played an encore of Paganini’s 5th Caprice “because he can” as a friend said. It’s weird going to symphony concerts since my ex-husband is a member, but it gets less weird as I keep going. I guess it’s only weird now because he’s ON the stage. But he does live here in town somewhere, and we are both musicians (yes, I am a musician even though I’m not in the symphony, ha!) so I suppose we do co-exist. Sometimes it’s hard for me knowing he is here and is of course more respected since I’m “just” a freelancer, teacher, (and woman), and I wonder if I’m missing opportunities because of him. But I can’t really let that bother me, and I just have to do my thing, don’t I?

That being said (I’m putting on a brave smile and thinking of how much happier I am today), the Tchaikovsky Concerto was excellent, Tchiakovsky Symphony no. 6 was great the week before, and then we braved the snowstorm on Saturday to see Stephanie from my quartet play baroque cello at the Tavern of Fine Arts with another group of hers. The program was Vivaldi and other composers I’d never heard of, and it was great. I love seeing concerts at the Tavern, and I enjoyed hearing “new” music and supporting a friend.

(The large necked instrument is a theorbo.)

IMG_2008

To end on a funny note, here’s something a friend posted on my facebook wall.

Groundhog Day

When I lived in Cleveland I always felt that “only” having six more weeks of winter was a pretty nice thing.

It seems that most people like to look to the groundhog in New York to see if the winter is ending but growing up we considered Groundhog Day to be a pretty local thing, not something nationwide. If it was cloudy that meant that winter was over. It didn’t always work though.

IMG_1608

Either way though, it seems that six more weeks of winter are in order for me. If I believe the whole groundhog day concept, which I’m pretty sure is definitely scientific fact, even more so than climate change and vaccines saving lives.

IMG_1599

Look! A cat in box…in a box…

 IMG_1606

Look at those eyes. Is it empathy….or murder?

Yes, this is a gratuitous cat pictures blog post. I thought it might help your Monday be more enjoyable.

L’Amico Fritz

This week is an opera week. I am concertmaster of the orchestra for Winter Opera St Louis and this weekend we have performances of Pietro Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz. A joke I heard was that this is the second opera of a one opera composer.

IMG_1524

So here’s a funny story  about the music. I’d heard from my friend Sarah that there was a big violin solo in the music so to be sure to look at it in advance. The music was ready after the new year, so I picked it up, went home and didn’t find any “big solo.” I texted her that she must have been mistaken…then I decided to listen to the opera online. About 13 minutes in there is a GIANT violin solo. Which wasn’t in my music! So I began panicking and shooting off a large variety of text messages to Sarah about the solo and not being in my music, and then about how AWESOME the solo was and finding the music online. Anyway, in a nutshell. The publisher didn’t have the solo in the part. In fact, the publisher didn’t have the solo at all. But it’s a really fun, giant, huge, violin solo in the opera that I’d never heard before but had a wonderful time working up. And honestly, it is one of those pieces that sounds harder than it is. Anyway, if you are interested, come out this weekend to see/hear the production! Friday at 8, Sunday at 3 at the Skip Viragh Performing Arts Center.

IMG_1566

I’d love to report that I’ve been up to really interesting things not related to the violin, but I’d basically be lying or definitely be exaggerating. As soon as vacation was over I was basically back into teaching 70 million students a week and complaining about how much I needed to practice for my various rehearsals and stuff. Oh, and also actually doing some practice, but I find it’s more important to walk around sighing a lot and stressing over the work that needs to be done while drinking coffee…

We get to that point of my blog post where I mention the weather. AH. It’s been gorgeous. Which reminds me we have done a few things. Saturday we ran around Forest Park and Saturday night I played on a New Music Circle concert on this piece.

IMG_1581

The rest of the program was really interesting too. I don’t always enjoy listening to new music, but I do enjoy learning new things and new ideas, and I found the whole experience to be really great and I’m glad we went. And if you’re looking at that music, we added the little bar lines to make it easier on the eyes—they weren’t there initially.

Wait, I’m back on music again! WEATHER. RUNNING. FOOD.

IMG_1544

CATS IN BOXES!

IMG_1573

BREAD PUDDING

Okay fine, dear readers. I’m off to drink more coffee, practice, run, teach, and play an opera dress rehearsal. Fun day ahead! Think of me and send me your cat pictures.

Goals, Plans, and Cats Oh My!

Many years ago, when I was freelancing in Cleveland, a small group of friends and I would get weekly lunches at a nearby sushi place and talk about all kinds of important stuff, as small groups of friends tend to do. (yes, Ginny, Sally, and Leslie, if you’re reading, I’m talking about you.) Ginny—I believe it was Ginny–once asked us what our five year plans were, and to be honest, I’m just not a five year plan kind of girl. I’m not really a plan kind of person: I try to do my best with what I have and figure it’ll all work out for the best in the long run. Whether it has or hasn’t is definitely questionable, but I just find it…pointless…to make specific plan when we all know that life will just throw stuff at you anyway. I’m not sure what the other girls’ five year plans were (I tend to focus on myself more than I should, and I just don’t remember) but perhaps they have achieved them and more!

IMG_8256

Sometimes I feel like  my career could have benefitted from more plans or goals. I’ve had various goals, and achieved some and failed miserably at others (I see a difference between goals and plans, maybe you do, maybe I’m silly, maybe it’s late and I’m rambling)…but long run I feel like I’m just pretty much doing what I was doing back in the days we were having those sushi lunches, and maybe I’ve been wrong all alone for not having specific plans. I don’t know. The older I get, the less I know.

 IMG_8261

I think I’m doing what I do now BETTER than I did then, but I’m no closer to feeling like a success than I was, and in fact, might be a lot further away. I just don’t know.

IMG_8265

I may never be a success. Now, before you get all concerned, and make a comment telling me otherwise, hear me out. I think it’s time I admit I should just focus on what I do well. I was talking with a good friend recently about this. Frederick Sanger had his first Nobel Prize by the age of 40: what have we accomplished? More importantly, what do we HOPE to accomplish in the next five years? And I said well, ideally my cat will be an internet meme by then.IMG_8263

Yeah, that’s what I do well. I think back to a blog post where I asked you guys to let me know if you thought I posted too many cat pictures or not enough. (I searched for said post but couldn’t find it.) Results were mixed—VERY mixed. Some of you said, I like your blog except you post way too many cat pictures, and the rest of you said, I wish you would post a lot more cat pictures. So that was super helpful, in that I learned you can never please anyone. If you follow me on instagram (and you should, hannahviolin is my name there, surprisingly) you’ll see that at least half of my pictures are of my cat.

 

I’m not sure what that means exactly. I could use this space to write more about music and violin, and more funny teaching stories (and, oh, I have some good ones from today, especially one student who managed to get from “why do we read music on a five lined staff rather than some other possibly superior system” to “Vampires would be able to count the number of pieces of rice you dropped on the floor really quickly”).

(Sometimes they bring cool gifts too, like things to put on your music stand—yes, it is purple—to keep the feet from scratching the floor!)

IMG_8272

I suppose, my students generally seem to love me, and I think I am turning them into far better violinists than they would otherwise be, and I play a mean Pachelbel Canon AND Meditation so…I’m probably going to be just fine. Maybe I am a success, just not financially, and that’s okay. I didn’t go into this stuff to be rich, I did it because I love playing the violin. (Yes I do even though some days I forget that!)

hannahviolin

That is, if I get some sleep. And yes, I did get my car back this morning and then I barely drove it, so I’m not sure it is fixed but I will know in a few days, and I SURE HOPE SO.

Mini poll time: are you a more cat pictures or less cat pictures reader? Maybe my demographics have changed…though keep in mind, your answer will not affect the blog in any way, unless you all want more cat pictures, in which case BEWARE WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

This post has a cat picture but it’s not my cat

You guys know I love twitter, right? (Come follow me there, @hannahviolin)…

Anyway, I played a couple of weddings on Saturday, of course.

IMG_7676

The first was a Catholic mass at St Francis Xavier College Church. What a beautiful church!

IMG_7679

The second was a wedding and cocktail hour at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park.

IMG_7682

We were told by the wedding coordinator that Claire McCaskill (Senator) was in attendance. I didn’t see her, but later that night she tweeted some pictures, so I tweeted at her that I had played at the cocktail hour (and that the wedding and weather were GORGEOUS—seriously, it was the most perfect weather for an outdoor event—) and she sent me a direct message saying…

IMG_7687

She doesn’t follow me on twitter so I couldn’t respond privately, but I was so touched!

IMG_7683

My fingers at the end of the day…

I’ll leave you with an adorable cat picture courtesy of my sister Leslie. We were chatting on the phone when this happened at her house.

IMG_7664