Category Archives: Performing

Performing, Thanksgiving

Nearly Thanksgiving Break

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

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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.

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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.

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

Performing, Random thoughts

Who?

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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

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

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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

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I thought the winter landscape was really nice.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Not a real raccoon, but it is real.

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

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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.)

Performing, Random thoughts, Teaching

Work, Work, Work

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Since the beginning of May I’ve had a little more time to think and breathe and reflect on my life. And since this week I only have a 4 day work week (thank you summers!) I have even more time. I thought I was busy today because I had students from 10:30 to 8 but I have had plenty of breaks and already did a great workout and practiced some (can’t overdo it as I’m still getting back into shape and my thumb is a little sore.)

I’m not busy though, by any stretch of the imagination. I was able to do a bit of housecleaning as well, and I’ve been working on booking some things for our August trip while I have time now to research.

Normally, as you know, I am busy. And I hear a lot on the internet about how being busy is bad, and I read posts and blogs from other so-called freelancers who tell me I need to say no to more gigs and I need to search within and seek what I really want out of life and cut out the rest. That I should focus all my energy into my absolute goals, which definitely can’t have anything to do with teaching children or being in an orchestra, or any traditional freelancing. And I read these posts and see many people saying in the comments, yes, this is great, this is exactly what new graduates need to hear…and maybe I’m not as busy as I think if I’m reading this junk, BUT…

Nobody told me what to do when I graduated either. I looked around though, and I saw what other people were doing, and I tried to do that, but better, or at least, as good. I networked (that means I tried to be friendly but I also let people know I was seeking work), I practiced (gotta stay in shape, no matter what), and I wasn’t afraid of hard work. In this day and age, if you have bills, if you are actually trying to support yourself as a musician, you have to work a lot. I don’t see anybody telling me another way to do it. All the blogs I mention, the posts on social media, these don’t tell me a way to make enough money to pay bills, to save for a rainy day, to save for retirement. What I do, this pays enough, finally, after years of living here, and before that, what I did in Cleveland paid enough…I’ve definitely made mistakes along the way, but I have had a lot of freelance success, and I hope to continue.

I guess my thoughts are a bit rambled, and since I am a working musician, I won’t spend a lot of time revising this. I am just getting my thoughts down here. Basically I’m saying, take it all into consideration. Listen to a lot of people. But don’t assume you can make a good living without really working hard. And that means that yes, you will take some terrible gigs. But you will also get some wonderful gigs, and sometimes that terrible gig means you meet a person who later gets you a wonderful gig. You will have some terrible students, but you will also have some wonderful students, and if you are lucky, they will all be awesome people and perhaps not always great students. And don’t be afraid to ask people to pay you in advance, and to pay you a little bit more than they are comfortable doing so. And check your email often and be quick to respond to inquiries. And when you do have a gig, show up early and prepared, and be nice.

One of my friends had a quartet gig the other year and she said somebody came up to them (all female group) and said, well, I know you all have rich husbands supporting you. She was insulted, of course, on a variety of levels…but the fact is that some musicians you see out there DO have that. Some have rich parents supporting them. But others are just hustling, working hard, and having to do a bit more to get by. If you are trying to support yourself (and I highly recommend it, as the satisfaction is high), don’t beat yourself up for being tired and busy. Find the quiet time when you can. But work hard, take those gigs, and show up early, well prepared, and always, ALWAYS, with a  beautiful sound.

And sometimes, maybe, maybe I work too hard. And sometimes I need to settle for a little less than perfection. And I definitely don’t have all the career answers, and probably in five years I will have a different opinion of this blog post…and maybe I’m being a little mean towards those well meaning people who post things, but I also know how monetizing things works, and that’s another question to ask yourself, if you are a new graduate, ask yourself what is the writer getting out of the blog post? Question things. And work hard. And did I mention, be nice and show up early?

I promise I’m still going to share my Colorado trip. It involves uploading and sorting pictures (so many!) so I’m putting it off until I have a larger chunk of time.

Performing

Beginning of the Week

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Today is Monday, which is technically the beginning of the week for most “normal” people. For us musicians there is no beginning of the week, nor an end of the week…the week just continues on and on.

Well, except I’m free today until late afternoon. We finished the Phantom of the Opera run last night, and I am sad to be done. It was a fun show to play and the most fun I’ve had in the pit! I know that many “serious” classical musicians like to hate on Phantom, and like to hate on playing shows, but the truth is that it’s an amazing paying gig here, and I have learned I quite enjoy doing it. Each time you play the same thing, yes, but you try to do better every time.

Today I’ve cleaned the bathrooms and done some vacuuming already (much to the chagrin of my dog Mackenzie—she is only afraid of one thing and that is the vacuum cleaner) and soon I shall do some exercise before starting on my practicing. I also have to run some errands with Louie and then I have about 3 hours of teaching. Not a bad day, really!

This week is the calm between the storms, as next week I’m playing Book of Mormon. It’s been a great month as far as opportunities go, and don’t think I’m not thankful for the work. I feel like it’s taking me a long time to get established here, but as I’ve said recently, I’m starting to feel comfortable enough knowing that if I keep playing well and showing up, people will keep calling me. And that the students will keep coming…hopefully this is all true and writing it here doesn’t change everything Winking smile

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Have a great Monday, readers!

Performing, Random thoughts

May Flowers

I keep waiting for the extra time I calculated from no longer having college classes to materialize but it really hasn’t yet. Of course, playing 8 shows of Phantom of the Opera each week cuts into that time…

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I attended a board meeting for a music teacher’s organization I’m a board member on. While I haven’t been able to contribute as much to my position as I feel I should, I’m still glad I’m doing it. I learn so much from the meetings and the other people! Most of the other members are piano teachers, but they run such creative and amazing studios and want so many opportunities for their students and I find it inspiring. It’s also nice to learn about organizing events, disagreeing with other people yet remaining civil, and how to stay organized while remaining so very busy. Though as the woman sitting next to me said, well of course you’re busy—you teach at so many different colleges! I realized, as I’ve said here, I may have bitten off too much. I’m allowing a small amount of attrition in my private studio to let myself breathe a bit (though, in all honesty, it’s mostly because I have 7 weeks of shows booked for the fall and that means so much evening teaching I’ll need space for rescheduling.)

Nonetheless, there were years here in St Louis where I felt like my musical experience was completely underused and underappreciated, and the other day when I got another request which I unfortunately had to say no to, and was feeling bad, Louie said, well, isn’t it great to feel so in demand? And yes it is! Right now I feel like things are at a point where I will continue to have a reasonable amount of work without panicking …and that if things start to dry up because I had to say no to too many things I have so many contacts that I will have no problem making things flow again. And that feels positive!

Of course, often I worry about being positive because then that’s when things go wrong, right? Eh, I think this time things are looking up. I just have to figure out how to balance it all so I’m a little less overwhelmed than I was last semester!

I was delighted last night when one of my student’s families came up to the pit at the end of the show. They didn’t even know I was playing, but were just looking into the pit to see all the musicians, and we were surprised to see each other. I love that they were curious about the music!

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I’m lucky to have the opportunities I’m currently having too—as much as I complain about my stress levels and such, I’m lucky, I’m grateful, and yet I also know I’ve worked hard and deserve some measure of success, even though that measure is different for everybody.

The other thing I deserve IS time off. I’m looking forward to taking a short trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We are camping for four nights at Glacier Basin Campground (we’ve stayed there before) and I’m really excited. I’ll be celebrating my 40th birthday while I’m there, and we are definitely taking another downhill bike tour. Other than that we plan on lots of hiking, hopefully seeing a bunch of critters and animals, taking pictures, and hanging out by the campfire.

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Planning is in full force! It isn’t a crazy trip like we’ve done in the past, just going there, camping, and coming back, and I’m really looking forward to it!

Until then, teaching, playing, and lots to do around the house! I’d better go work out, run a few errands, hopefully do some practice, and then teach.