We are definitely having the weather whiplash this month! Winter, spring, winter, spring, tornados, winter, etc.

It’s been a busy month for me, which is partly why I haven’t written here. I haven’t felt creatively inspired either, just sort of busy and like what I am doing is the same thing over and over…teaching, concerts, watching tv, reading, teaching, concerts, watching tv, reading, etc.

But a few highlights! Or lowlights, depending. I had a wedding in Paducah, and Louie came along for the ride. He had a lovely time exploring downtown Paducah while I played the wedding and we had a great time in the car chatting and listening to a podcast together. Then I headed to Cape Girardeau for a few nights to play with the symphony there–I played viola and carpooled with a few friends. It was a nice respite from the usual schedule, so I’m glad I did it, even though it was a pain to get my schedule organized.

Pictures of me walking along the flood wall in Cape Girardeau. It was a nice time and I would do it again in the future. I met some wonderful people and got to know people I already knew a bit better, and played some fun music.

Oh, and we had tornado warnings Friday night. I was playing a concert with the Irish tenors and we had to stop the concert and evacuate the entire audience to the basement. This luckily went very smoothly and after the storm passed (an hour or so) we played the second half of the concert and then we all went home.

One thing that is finally in progress here is that we are getting the old house ready to sell. It’s been a slog and there were a lot of decisions to be made (by Louie, as it is his house, not mine, I am just support), and now the decision is made and we are cleaning it out and hope to have it on the market by the end of the month, ahhh! Louie spent most of his spring break there doing stuff. We are selling as is which was part of the decision making. I think it will do wonders for our mental health to unload that property and be able to fully move forward and not have it hanging over our heads.

The cats enjoy the sun but get confused when the radiators aren’t warm anymore. Full disclosure: I don’t actually know how they feel, but I imagine they wonder why sometimes they are warm and other times they aren’t. Perhaps they even forget over the summer that they used to be warm and then are pleasantly surprised all over again? Oh to be a cat for even an hour to understand them more.

Remember how I mentioned we are going on a cruise? When we first booked it, we invited a couple we are friends with and have traveled with before and they said the dates didn’t work out, but we just found out their schedules changed and now they are coming! So they will be there too, which we are excited about! We will do some things together and other things apart and it will be great fun.

This week is lighter on teaching since many students are on spring break, or is it Spring Break, but of course since when I see a blank space in my calendar I fill it, I have a variety of extra gigs: two concerts this weekend, one with Brahms Requiem and another with Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, so lots of fun!

Musicians probably already know this, but the rest of you may not. Sometimes (rarely) I get questions, like how do people know to call you? Or another question I got recently (okay, in response to a prompt, but still: how do I organize my time?)

Okay, so let’s start with my system. Currently I use google calendar for my everything, and I use My Music Staff to organize my private teaching studio. My Music Staff syncs with my google calendar so it’s all on there, but it makes it easier to keep track of attendance and for students to do their own canceling and rescheduling, plus it sends them reminders via text and email.

I get asked to play for things all the time! I’ll have days where I get asked for a half dozen things at once, and then perhaps a week where nothing happens. Sometimes I try to track these things, but it’s hard to stay on top of, and honestly, it’s pretty much throughout the year. So when I get asked to play something, it could be via text, email, phone, whatever. I try to respond as quickly as possible, and if the answer is, not sure, let me check, I’ll let them know that as well. I want to be the person people ask because they know I’ll respond right away.

How do I decide whether to take a job? Mostly the question is, am I free, and does it pay reasonably for effort? And, if it doesn’t pay well, is it something I want to do for another reason (usually that reason would be, because it is a chamber music opportunity to play something that isn’t commercial but really feeds my soul). I also play things that pay a little lower if I know it keeps me on the radar for other things.

Oh, and it’s always important to consider the location of things: you have to factor in, is there enough time to drive there and not be stressed out about arriving on time? And on time means early for musicians, with different (often unspoken) arrival times expected depending on what the gig is. So I always put the address into google calendar so I know that too, as well as putting important information in the “notes” part of the event.

The question as to if I am free can be a little tricky something. Let’s say I’m not technically “free” but I need to move two students to do something that pays decently–I’ll do that. Unless I look and see that I’m moving those same two students several weeks in a row, maybe, or if I notice that it’s the week before a big performance for them. I might know they are students that aren’t flexible, or perhaps I know they ARE more flexible. So a lot of things go into consideration with that.

Let’s say it’s a several week long show, and yet it conflicts with a small gig or two that I already have (for instance, a wedding)–if it’s a lot of money for one larger job and it’s a decent amount of time away, I might ask the contractor for the one-off job about finding a sub instead. This is where things can get tricky: you want to be seen as reliable and not constantly chasing something higher paying or better, but yet there are obvious times where one job is worth finding a sub for. You have to weigh these options as well.

How far in advance are things booked? Well, I already have some things on the calendar for May, but nothing past that at this time. I’m sure wedding contractors have weddings on the books already for next summer but haven’t asked people yet. That usually starts happening after the new year. Easter and Christmas Eve usually book up 9-12 months early for me, and jobs in December will come up at any time from February on, with some early and others late. People definitely hire musicians last minute, but they also hire them early! I’ll get last minute gigs that fill in a gap sometimes, but other times everything on my calendar will have been there for months.

How do people know to find me? Word of mouth, internet, I don’t know! The more you play out, the more people you meet. My goals are to arrive early, be responsible and organized, be friendly and polite, and of course, to do a terrific job on my instrument. I never want to play a job and have somebody feel doubtful about hiring me again based on my skills or how I do the job. And I always try to give my best effort, regardless of what’s going on around me.

What kinds of things do I play? Everything! Weddings, funerals, church services, small orchestras for choirs, string quartet concerts, other chamber music, pit orchestras, regular orchestras, recording sessions, baroque ensembles (this is a new things to me!), background music for touring artists, and more! One thing I love about being a freelancer is the variety of stuff I do, though a LOT of it is weddings, the wedding business is booming apparently.

The one thing I haven’t mentioned is practicing: I usually don’t worry too much about getting music learned. Generally for difficult things you’ll get the music far enough in advance to learn it, and otherwise I’ll fit things into my schedule as needed. I make time to practice when I can, though it’s never as much as I “should” or as much as I used to when I was younger. Sometimes it would be nice to have more time to practice, but that’s really hard to make happen. I’m also a really skilled sight-reader and I have decades of experience behind me with repertoire, so often what I’m playing I’ve played in the past. So for a less experienced musician, this might be more of a concern, but I don’t worry too much: I figure I’ll make it happen, and I pretty much do. Occasionally I’ll have a performance where I wished I had been able to put a little more time in (usually some difficult chamber music piece) but I do have to treat this whole “thing” as a job, and sometimes that means you take the gig when you get it.

So, let me know if you have more questions! I never feel like an expert (being a classical musician means constantly questioning your skills) but as I get older I realize, maybe I am in some senses.

I promise I’ll get back to the last two trip recaps, but for today, you get a more present post.

It’s pouring rain outside! I’m old enough to say, aha, we needed it, and it’s nice and makes things feel cozy inside, but I also do need to leave the house at some point, and that is less fun.

Life has been super hectic and crazy these past few weeks, and it continues for a few more. I’ve had so much work, it’s been great and awful, all at the same time. I’ve had a bunch of fun gigs, taught some neat students, done a short recording session, spent a morning judging students at a contest, played a fun concert and there’s more to come!

Notice how fabulous my right and left hands look. Also notice my expression, I seemed doubtful over what I was reading, perhaps. This was an outdoor gig at the Art Museum the other week.

Recorded a few things the other day, it was super fun. I enjoy the permanence of recording, when so much of music is fleeting.

My friend April took this picture from last night’s concert of the St Louis Chamber Soloists. She is in town (one night only) for a work thing. We went to Blueberry Hill after the concert for dinner and hanging out.

So, there’s my pictures. Life: practice, teach, play, try to get some exercise in, emails, and just barely keeping up on stuff around the house. BUT it’s so nice, so DECADENT not having to get up at 5:30 am, so I can sleep until after 7 am most days (there were a few earlier mornings last week, but that’s not the norm). We did manage to get out to eat one night (we sat outside and I’m still suffering from bug bits, those ridiculous bugs even bit my finger!), and Louie and I went to see “American Idiot” one night. It’s based on the Green Day album and a friend was playing in the orchestra so we thought it would be fun.

I’m very much in “get things done” mode, as you can probably tell. This week is baroque violin prep for a concert this weekend, in addition to a gig on viola in Paducah, Kentucky (!!). Also a couple of weddings, plus the dentist, probably book club (if I finish the book, which I’m a little behind, gah) and the usual students. My parents are popping in this weekend and will come to a concert, so I’m super excited about that! And the day they are here I’m not as busy, so I’ll be able to hang out mostly. But getting to that day will be a bit busy…

I had sort of forgotten how car rides to gigs with friends can be a fun diversion. I had a few out of town things the past weekend, and while I hate wasting the time, it was actually quite fun and relaxing to spend the time in the car chatting before and after. I used to spend a lot more time carpooling and driving to gigs–when I lived in Cleveland I played in a variety of regional orchestras that were a drive away, so each week I might drive 45 minutes to over an hour each way for rehearsals and concerts. I had put in my head that that was awful and annoying (and it WAS) but doing a bit of driving for this or that isn’t so bad, and maybe is even a little bit fun.

Anyway! As much as I’m enjoying this time of the year and happy for all the work, I am also looking forward to mid-October when things slow down just a little bit more. I do hope to finish my last trip blog posts before then…but you’ll just have to wait longer.