Category Archives: Performing

Deep Thoughts, Performing

Mid July musings

I realized my last trip recap was published without a title…oops! It seems like maybe my program could have reminded me of that, like when you try to send an email in gmail without a subject. Anyway, it’s fixed now, and I may even get a few more recaps written soon: there are probably 2 or 3 posts left and I’ve at least figured out what pictures to show you.

Mostly I just take pictures here, of Miles and sometimes Muriel (you’ll see her later in the post.)

But let’s catch up in the present, shall we? I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July (for readers from the US, that is, otherwise I hope you had a wonderful Tuesday.) I had one full week of regular work, and did some fun things as well. One of my students gave me tickets to see Ben Folds (so generous!) as they couldn’t use them, so Louie and I took advantage of our new proximity to the Metrolink (our light rail) and took it downtown to see the concert.

Ben Folds with his band. The cellist and guitarist on the left are a band called Tall Heights and they sang the first set alone–I really liked them as well.

Other social activities included having dinner with a friend who is moving, having dinner with Louie’s parents, and visiting with friends who had just moved and getting to see their new house.

Miles always has plenty to say

I also played a concert at a retirement community after some MAJOR storms–we got some crazy winds around here and a lot of trees got knocked down. Luckily we didn’t have any real damage ourselves, but some people in the city were killed by falling trees, so it was a good reminder of how dangerous these storms are.

The most recent week then: my sister Carrie visited, and we did a variety of activities. We had dinner at Olio and Mission Taco (separate visits), went to the Whitaker Music Festival concert at the Botanical Gardens, the Kemper Art Museum, and spent the 4th at two different parties with friends, both with pools.

The guest room is ready for more visitors!

I’ve been working on getting things done this summer. I’ve been doing more planning on paper (I have been inspired by a podcast I started listening to called The Best Laid Plans) and have really felt like I’ve been staying on top of my to-do- list and getting things done. I do enjoy taking my weeks and figuring out how to work things out within them, though with the caveat that it is a lot easier in the summer when my actual teaching hours are lower and my overall workload is more manageable.

Though, that brings us back to my evergreen problem of, how to work less while still bringing in the income I would like and feeling job satisfaction. I don’t see many freelance/teaching musicians who do this as a good example, so it’s a tricky thing to figure out. I will be setting up my fall schedule at the end of July, and I suspect the answer for that is, no more new students for the fall, even though I will likely get a dozen queries. For gigs, I’ve been doing some things lately I really enjoy, and I want to have room in my schedule for them. I also enjoy the weird thing of looking at my calendar empty and then gradually seeing it fill up with activities, concerts, gigs, etc. I do enjoy some days off, but I also enjoy seeing colleagues at jobs and playing fun concerts, so it is a constant game of give and take. When I do too much of any one thing I tend to wish I were doing something else.

Muriel, I promised I would share a picture! She loves jumping up on this wall.

Real talk: I do have a tendency to feel overly jealous of things I see other people doing, and some of my overscheduling is caused by a bit of FOMO though. I remind myself that nobody can play everything, and that I have had many wonderful opportunities and PLENTY of work, and I have a lovely old home which I love, and Louie and the cats, and that’s plenty to have. But I am not immune to the jealously factor, especially when so many people I went to college with or know are traveling the world playing music, or getting to sub with amazing orchestras, or who knows what. But it’s all relative, and I really try to focus on what I have in my life: for instance, I still haven’t even managed to finish telling you about my last vacation since it was so long! And I have too many students, and I am getting to play viola on a chamber music concert this week and playing four straight weekends of orchestra music with the Gateway Festival Orchestra. So, really, I am sure people are jealous of me, and I in return am jealous of them, and then we should all say, hmm, that probably cancels out, but that’s far easier said than done.

Other real talk: I think I mentioned that I slipped on the mud in May and hurt my knee? It had healed somewhat but was still bothering me so I went to the doctor last week. It looks like I sprained or strained my MCL, on the inside of the knee. It will likely heal up just fine but I am going to be doing some physical therapy, which unfortunately won’t start until later in the month. I did have the go ahead to continue running, which I have been trying to get back into, so I was glad to know that was okay to do. Hopefully the PT will get things back to normal over time!

I’m off to do some errands around the house, as one does: laundry, and probably more laundry. Oh, and for local readers, tonight is the first Gateway Festival Orchestra Concert, and the weather looks great!

Performing

Storm predicted

1 Comment

This month, you guys. This month has been insane.

It’s been absolutely nonstop since we returned from Thanksgiving. I’m not sure where things went wrong. I mean, on the one hand it’s been great having so much to do, but on the other hand it’s been stressful and I’ve had to spend more time than I would want to dealing with some difficult people (professionally.)

I look back to all of my COVID thoughts of, let’s do less, isn’t this great! And then I got back into things, and I just didn’t feel like a professional performer anymore, and I realized I wasn’t happy with that either, I didn’t want to only teach, and so I have been doing other things too, but only adding them on, and not taking away from any of the teaching I’m doing. The issue I run into is that I CAN do this schedule, mostly, and that the playing work is irregular and the teaching work is regular, and I want the regular income during the times without as much playing work. Sigh. I expect I will spend the next 20 years trying to figure this all out, but I’ll tell you, this past week almost did me in.

I tried to take a picture of my Christmas displays in the dark but my phone made it look kind of crazy!

I was supposed to do a few social things on Friday night and I told Louie I just needed a night in, so I did that (he had something to do and went without me) and I enjoyed dinner in the quiet and read all evening. That helped me get to yesterday in a better state and I really enjoyed all the activities I did yesterday, and I’m looking forward to today.

It’s been a lot. I was thinking about the last week, what did I do in addition to my normal teaching schedule? Well, I played for a funeral, had my last physical therapy session for my rotator cuff (it’s doing MUCH better), I had 3 additional lessons at Wash U to teach to finish up the semester, I had a jury to attend at St Louis Community College, I had a rehearsal and concert with The Beach Boys (super fun show, so energetic!), a rehearsal for this morning’s church service, some errands including picking up my violin from being cleaned and fixed up, and then a holiday party at work (which was super fun, but still an extra thing). Then yesterday was Saturday and I had a morning rehearsal, afternoon makeup lessons, and then drove Louie to the airport for a trip he is taking to visit his family (we are doing different things over the holidays due to work schedule issues).

You can find me onstage with The Beach Boys in this picture if you look carefully.

Last night I was exhausted and would have just crashed, but I’d bought a ticket to go see two of my students in Elf with Insight Theatre, and I’m so glad I went. It was fun to see the production, which is all young people, and it was delightful to watch my students onstage doing something different than playing the violin. Their dad played violin in the orchestra too, so it was a big family thing for them, and I had a great time. Today is a church service, then I’m stopping at a friend’s for his birthday party, then a church choir concert, then I am relaxing tonight and possible baking cookies. My mom said not to bring anything down to SC, but I haven’t baked any cookies this season and wanted to do at least one batch! It’s the first night of Hanukkah but since Louie is out of town I won’t be doing anything until he gets back, but Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!

Oh, and last weekend Louie walked in a recognition ceremony for his doctoral degree. He is still eligible to attend the big graduation ceremony in May with the hooding by his advisor, but he thought it would be fun.

I feel like this blog post is a bit overwhelming to the reader, but that’s where I am right now. I have another week of fairly intense craziness and then I’m driving home to SC on Christmas Day. It looks like we’ve got some potential snow messing up plans here on Thursday, so fingers crossed everything gets worked out with that. This week’s agenda: 3 more days of early morning classes, regular private student teaching (finishing up this week for the year of course), hair appointment, dermatologist appointment, a lunch date, a coffee date, seeing my friend April who is visiting from Atlanta (!!!), rehearsal for Christmas Eve, three Christmas Eve services, and that’s about it.

Oh, and one of my rehearsals yesterday and the concert today, I’m playing viola. I was a little stressed about it, but the rehearsal was a lot of fun, and I’m sitting with a colleagues who I really like and I’ll tell you what, playing with another violist is very different than playing with another violinist. The vibe is just more relaxed. I can’t explain it, but it’s there. And the conductor just pays no attention to you at all and it’s wonderful 🙂 Hopefully I will get to do more viola stuff in the future, as I enjoyed it, I have a viola, and the best way to get better at it is to do things under pressure, like in front of other people.

Anyway, I’m off to start my workday. I am playing this morning at Ladue Chapel, which I love doing: the music director is unbelievably kind and wonderful and the people are also so nice.

Performing

Fall is definitely here

5 Comments

October is most definitely fall, so I can say that fall is definitely here. The weather this week in St Louis has been phenomenal, and I wish I could be outside enjoying it more, but oh well! It’s the perfect weather to throw on a cardigan or wrap and be totally comfortable.

In the pit, headphones on and ready to go!

I’ve been incredibly busy this week, but today is the last day of double shows, and then the show wraps up tomorrow. It’s been really fun as they always are, but it’s been exhausting! I am looking forward to a week of a more normal schedule.

Onstage at the Fox Theatre, I’m on the far right side, dancing and playing.

I made a few mistakes with overbooking lately. I don’t mean doublebooking, but taking on too many things. I took on a job next weekend with a group I enjoy playing with, but I think in retrospect I should have taken the weekend off. I’m missing a wine dinner and losing two weekend nights for it, and I’ve been feeling so run down that it would have been worth saying no. Nonetheless, I am doing it, and I’m sure it’ll be enjoyable and all of that, but I find myself falling into the old trap of “empty space on the calendar can be filled” and maybe that’s not the best way. I’ve taken on more students that I probably should have as well, but there aren’t any I’ve taken on that I wish I didn’t! It’s hard to find the right balance, and we are considering buying a new house as well so I feel like I need to be maximizing my income and savings.

How I’d like to spend my time

Anyway, I’ve got a couple lessons this morning and my usual Creative Ability Development class, and then two shows. Tomorrow is only ONE show and nothing else, what a glorious day of relaxation it will be! (I’m being serious too, I’m really looking forward to have a morning and evening off!)

Performing, Thanksgiving

Nearly Thanksgiving Break

You guys! It’s Tuesday, and I am nearly on vacation for three days. It will be glorious.

FB76443B-4BB9-4588-ACDB-7D2E58035AAE

Well, it will be busy. I have some work to do around the house, getting some areas organized. This is a constant battle, mostly because when I moved into this house it could have been on hoarders…I say that will all due respect to Louie…and then I brought my stuff too. And both of us like to have our things, and Louie is one of those never throw something away because it might be useful people, and I enjoy saving paper things…and we both have a lot of books. I do try to cull and give things away, but the reality is: I can only give away my things and I can’t decide what of his things to give away, and this can cause issues, because there are areas of the house that are his things. I’m not trying to air our dirty laundry on the blog, but just to say: you can’t Kon Mari somebody else’s stuff. And when that person works full time and goes to grad school, time is a premium.

But I’m hopeful to get a few more things gotten rid of over the break. I have a list and a plan of attack. I’m also hoping to do some holiday baking (cookies and breads), get some good exercise and get outside, watch a few tv programs, and finish at least one of my cross stitch projects. Oh, and decorate for Christmas! This is likely too much to fit into three days, but I’ll try. Three days, you ask? Why, don’t you have 3 days, plus the weekend? HAHAHA you must be new here. I don’t have weekends off, I’m a musician! I work again starting Saturday noon, and then until Christmas. Not constantly, of course, as college is winding down and therefore I have much more time during some days than before. Oh, I love the holidays though…I love baking, and I love having a fat bank account from all the gigs. And I got all new wrapping paper this year: I’d forgotten until recently that some of my old wrapping paper got wet in the sewer backup in the spring and it was for the best—that stuff was too thin anyway. I splurged and got some thicker paper.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. I played two shows for Mannheim Steamroller on Saturday, really getting into the Christmas spirit. It’s a little early still, even though everybody is going crazy and decorating—for me the Christmas season officially starts after Thanksgiving and not before, though if I have to play some music before, fine. I just feel like if the festivities start taking up too much of the year, then it isn’t special enough when it does get here. This is not to say I haven’t spent the past few months planning for Christmas: planning and actually decorating/celebrating are entirely different.

A91BDF09-2051-45E0-A6D8-30D989887D14

Sunday Louie and I got up early to run the Hot Chocolate 5k in Forest Park. It was fun, but I was disappointed in my time. I will just have to keep at it and get faster! (I have been running more regularly only since May of this year, and one goal for next year is to keep at it.) I was annoyed by the crowds of walkers and those who enjoy walking in horizontal lines 3 or 4 across…even as we approached the finish line and the road was narrower!

After the race I didn’t have too much time to relax as then it was Studio Recital time. I had 18 students play on this one and it was a great success. I suppose I might try to hire a pianist for the next one, as some of the parents ask about that. Others are perfectly happy to have less to worry about, which is why I don’t bother! I play a lot of duets with them in the lessons, but for the recitals, with a few exceptions, I tend to let the kids stand alone. They were mostly Suzuki book 1 to 3 level, with a few in 4 and 5 (and a few O’Connor tunes) in case you are a teacher reading this. Oh, and I have one viola student, who played a book 5 level piece as well. I do have a few more advanced students, but I didn’t get any of my high schoolers on this recital…they are just too busy, and I don’t require recital attendance though I strongly recommend it.

And then yesterday I was at my one college all day, and had a string ensemble concert at night. I coach the string ensemble class there, and this semester has been challenging. They managed to pull off a decent performance, but it wasn’t what I’d hoped for the semester. It’s a small class, and when one student doesn’t pull their weight it brings everybody down, and we had some attendance issues. But nonetheless I was pleased, and they did something hard! To me this is the essence of performing when younger, to push yourself to do something hard that you might be dreading…it makes you so much stronger! As I get older the more I realize that such struggles as a younger person are so important…it’s a balance between pushing them to challenge themselves and setting them up for failure though. Oh and sometimes they enjoy performing and realize it can be fun, or they love the accolades after, and those are the ones that really get into music.

IMG_3256

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Are you going to be Black Friday shopping?

Performing, Random thoughts

Who?

1 Comment

I had a few days off and we took a trip to Eureka Springs. It was a really cute little town and we had a very nice trip. I will tell you all about it soon! But that requires a little more time, so I’m just doing a quick pop in to say hello.

Last Thursday I played in an orchestra with The Who! It was pretty fun. I’m a classical music nerd, so I don’t get overly excited about rock gigs, but even I knew some of their songs, and other people were very excited, so let me brag here Winking smile

IMG_1665

Not sure why that one has to be upside down, but it does.

IMG_1675

If you know The Who, you’ll see them if you look closely. This was our sound check before the show.

People ask, how did you get that? The same way I get other work: I take jobs, I show up early, I do my best, I am grateful, and hopefully, I get another job. It’s a lot of skill, a lot of luck and timing, and trying to be someone that others think highly of!

IMG_1685

Here’s a link to a story with pictures. You’ll see me behind the concertmaster (who was traveling with them).

Anyway, it was a fun job, even though it was mostly a lot of waiting around! We had a short rehearsal, a sound check, a looooong break, and then the concert was long and late. Sometimes we play Bach, sometimes we play Borodin, sometimes we play music by Pete Townshend.

This week is another busy week (how is this still happening, ha! I thought it was summer! lucky me!) with teaching (last really full week), a retirement community concert, church job, a couple band things (coffeehouse gig and final mixing session for our CD), and a couple of weddings. Plus a few random appointments (hair, for instance) and trying to sort out car insurance. I got a long weekend, but I won’t get anything more for awhile!

(too many exclamation points?)

Oh, and I have a new nephew! Luca. I’m going to visit him in mid-June. I wasn’t going to go out there (Phoenix) because things seemed busy for me and for them, but I realized I had another weekend that was free and I just made a decision to go. I’m glad! I’ll see him again in July, but babies change so much so quickly anyway.

IMG_1740

No sign of Miles, though another potential black cat sighting, this time in a different direction but not terribly far from our house. We’ll go over there tonight to walk around again, and get our scent into the neighborhood again. Muriel spent the weekend at Louie’s mom’s house so the house here is still very quiet.

That’s all for now! I will tell you a blog post on Eureka Springs is coming, and I really loved the town, so go visit it.

Hiking, Performing

Winter Hiking

Louie and I have been prioritizing doing some hiking when possible this winter. Sometimes we have too much going on to manage, but again we were able to last Saturday! We hit up Russell E. Emmenegger Nature Park (another 60 Hikes in 60 Miles hike) for a short hike first. It had snowed the night before, but much of the snow had melted off the paths already.

IMG_1040

You start the loop by crossing that bridge. Then there are some paved paths at first, but an unpaved trail went off to the right, so we took that. It actually wasn’t exactly right, we don’t think, or we missed something, because we had to cut up ridge and then we found the trail again. This was a nice hike, with some elevation change too. The main downside was the highway noise—the park is located right near the intersections of Interstate 44 and 270 and the noise is LOUD. An advantage to the location is that it’s closer to get to, since it’s just off the highway Winking smile

IMG_1041

I thought the winter landscape was really nice.

IMG_1042

I have a friend that likes to hashtag some of her posts “nerdmarriage”. I think this picture of Louie doesn’t need a hashtag.

IMG_1044

I think my eyes are shut, but my eyes were shut in more than one of these photos. I got a lightweight winter coat for hiking. It might make me look more like a potato than I would prefer, but it was comfortable, and it’s lightweight and squishes down quite a bit. Amazon basics, y’all.

IMG_1048

One part of the trail took us up on a ridge over the Meramec River. It was pretty! There’s quite a lot of development around the park, but that doesn’t mean that the park isn’t pretty.

IMG_1049

After our hike, we decided to head to Powder Valley Conservation Center which was also in the 60 Hikes book and which we had passed on our way to Emmenegger.

Powder Valley has a very nice visitor’s center with some lovely displays and taxidermy. I think especially kids like it, as it looks set up well for families and field trips. We poked around a bit after using the restrooms.

IMG_1051

Not a real raccoon, but it is real.

IMG_1055

I don’t think that is the bear that broke into our car.

IMG_1056

While posing for this photo we got passed by a couple with two small children who likely thought I was strange. I enjoy posing with fake animals at zoos and whatnot.

We started to take another short hike, but the path was paved and ICY and I decided I didn’t want to risk falling, so we turned back. Evidently all the paths there are paved, which isn’t my favorite—I understand they are more accessible, but they are also harder on the knees and not quite as nature-y. We might head back someday to check it out further.

After that little jaunt, we went to the symphony that night and saw an all-Prokofiev concert. It was great, particularly one part in Alexander Nevsky where the choir was absolutely screaming at us in Russian (they put their hands up by their mouths and everything.) The concert was a little long though, and I was exhausted…am I the only one who things that concerts should be on average two hours long and max 2:15, and this one was over 2 1/2 hours. Or they should start earlier, or something. I know I sound old—I feel old and tired! A funny thing at the concert was at the beginning when an elderly woman sitting in front of us turned around to yell at either Louie or the woman on his other side for kicking her chair.

We booked a weekend trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas with another couple in May, and I’m excited. Between Branson, Eureka Springs, and then the mega road trip this summer it will be a fun travel year! I find that I’m mostly enjoying reading and planning travel lately, as I’m a bit unmotivated and worn down by music and life generally. I don’t know if this is a midlife crisis (mid-career certainly—I realized I’m basically at the halfway point if I plan to retire around 62), or what, but like I’ve been blogging about, I’m tired. I probably need to seek out a few more new things to mix it up, but I’m okay just coasting right now.

And we are supposed to get more “winter weather” this evening. Hopefully this doesn’t keep people away from our quartet concert at the Sheldon. (Probably it will…ugh.)