We set the date.  I guess I’m getting married!

Don’t think this necessarily means you’re invited 😉 It’s not like these events come cheap!

Here’s where we’ve chosen to have it.  We’ll be having our ceremony in the Chouteau Room and the dinner/reception in the Centennial Ballroom. 

There’s a lot more planning to do, but I’m glad we’ve decided on the biggest part.  (Well, second biggest really…the biggest part was deciding who to marry!)

Here are some pictures from their facebook page:

Those are all the Chouteau Room

These are all the Centennial Room (up a floor).

Obviously my decorations will be a little different, but you can see the exposed brick and the wood floors.  I think it’s awesome!  The woman in charge, Ann, reminded me of my friend Melissa.  She had a great sense of humor as well.  I am psyched. 

I realized that the main reason I couldn’t deal with this all a few weeks ago is I just had too much other crap going on.  Now that I am almost done with school, I am ready to brainstorm centerpiece arrangements and discuss bridal party teeth whitening strategies to my heart’s desire.

Does anyone else hate the phrase "Hump day" for Wednesday?  I know I do.  Then again, maybe that’s the point?

So far this week is going pretty well.  The sun is shining, how can I be upset?  I have realized that my mood seems to be strongly correlated to the weather.  Or the ability to run outside.  The two are strongly connected.  Yesterday I had a workout with Mike and then ran around Tower Grove Park.  It was great!  Then I went to teach for four or so hours, including getting to work on the Bach Double with one student, and then met my friend Laura for a drink.  We ended up at Frazer’s. 

Today I have classes in the morning and teaching in the late afternoon and evening.  In between Chris and I are going to visit a wedding venue.  Things are really coming together, and it’s possible by the end of today we will have something booked. 

Another ridiculous picture of my cat.

Random thoughts:

A few weeks ago I took two days off from working out because my legs had been sore for quite some time.  This really helped!  Since then I’ve been running better and walking normally.  Though I was going crazy during those two days, it was truly a wise decision.  Don’t let your exercise addiction keep you from taking rest days. 

Real friends are people who you can do or say embarrassing things in front of and they still want to be your friend.  Throughout my life there are many instances of me saying or doing truly embarrassing stuff.  I have only a few friends in my life who don’t hold that against me.  I suppose it’s because they like me well enough already.  You worry that the next time you see them they will act awkward or different (because this has also happened countless times) but instead they make fun of you (or not even!) and then continue on as if nothing humiliating was said or done.  Many years ago I was just becoming friends with my friend Sarah and this was an ability of hers that I truly appreciated and needed at the time.  I have a couple of newer friends in my life now with this same quality, and I truly appreciate them.

I woke up before my alarm again this morning.  It’s so bright now, starting around 6 am, that sleeping until 7:30 am sometimes feels long.  It’s a bit crazy…

Well, I’d better finish getting ready for my day.  I’m sitting here with a towel wrapped around my head, drinking coffee.  There is something to be sad for getting up earlier—makes for a very relaxing morning.

Who isn’t a bit envious of this ridiculous creature? Of course I love my Tuesday students….but still.

I have a love hate relationship with my readers.  I want you to read my blog.  I tweet about my blog, I post it on facebook.  I use it in my email signature.  I love you all!

But I get embarrassed when you want to talk to me in real life about it.  Weird, huh?  Of course I thrive on embarrassment in my life, but that’s another story… but seriously, my blog is on the INTERNET.  What happens on the internet stays on the internet, right?

(and remember, friends, the internet is NOT a big truck, it’s a series of tubes.)

I know many of my friends read this.  Thanks guys!  In fact, sometimes I just assume my friends HAVE read and reference it as if they have not only read but memorized my words.  So I am a very hypocritical attention seeker.  There, I said it.  If any of my readers have a blog, you probably know exactly what I mean.  You want traffic, you want attention…but not too much.

Today was one of those times where I got exactly what I deserved.

Do you remember the “poop” picture and story about the woman who, well, lost control of her bowels while running the Boston Marathon?  Of course you do, even though you’d probably prefer not to.  In any case, earlier this week the photographer emailed me and asked me to please take the picture down.  He said that he had thought it was a funny story but it ended up being a huge hassle for Caroline White.  (Evidently he is new to the internetz).  He also corrected me and said she was trying for a PR, and had already qualified for the Olympic trials the year before.  In any case, I felt really bad and of course took the picture down.

I was in the middle of my workout with Mike (you know, Mike, my personal trainer) this morning and I brought this up.  I had mentioned my blog in the past, and I told him the story of the guy asking me to take down the picture.  He said, “oh, yeah, I read that on your blog”.  Then he said, “next week I’ll teach you how to run airborne.”

It took me a few seconds, but then I realized that he had read this post.  I think I turned beet red.

Mike went on to tell me how he was looking for the Ocarina concert and couldn’t get it to load, but instead was poking around my blog and just happened to notice a picture of himself.

I think that time stopped due to my extreme embarrassment (Chris is also embarrassed FOR me and I think for himself as well to be engaged to someone like me).  I was trying to play it all cool, but I’m pretty sure that I was bright red and perhaps sweating profusely.

I asked if he minded, and he said no, it was fine.  I hope he wasn’t just saying that.  Maybe I’ll never see Mike again, or he is going to file a restraining order against me…I DID tell him about my blog, and I DID somewhat encourage him to read it.  So it is entirely my fault (see previous comment re: being a hypocritical attention seeker.)

But I’m not a stalker.  Just a blogger who likes to borrow other people’s photos on the internet.  And sometimes I have a lot of free time.

Here’s a picture of my own cat, judging me:

So…hi Mike, welcome to my blog!  I promise I’m not a crazy stalker, I’m just crazy 🙂  And seriously people, he’s a great trainer, you should sign on with him.  I plan to continue until at least my wedding, if it’s possible.

Does anybody else want a shout out?

This weekend is the final concert series for the SLSO.  After this, they play with Opera Theatre St Louis and have a few other lighter classics concerts until the end of June.  Then the season is over.

I was talking about this with Mike the other day and he asked, when does the season start up again.  I told him, September.  He asked, oh, so do they spend the summer rehearsing for that?

No!  They have time off.

It’s not like middle school band when you spend all semester rehearsing for a concert.  Orchestras generally only rehearse the week of the concert for that weekend’s concert.  Let me repeat that more specifically:  orchestras generally start rehearsing on Tuesday for a Friday concert.

I realized at this point in our conversation that most people (yes, I’m taking Mike’s innocent question as what most people think.  I don’t know THAT many non-musicians, so I take these questions seriously.  Statistically I believe that works.)—most people have no idea what members of symphony orchestras do.  I wrote a wonderful post about how to get a job in a symphony orchestra (or not, really) but  then what?

What do they do in the off-season?  I’ll start with this question, even though it might be a bit backwards.

It’s not like sports, where the team needs a few months to get back in shape.  First off, the team (well, orchestra) never gets OUT of shape.  Most of the members continue working during the “off-season” at various summer festivals.  Other members take some time off and travel or relax, but generally keep practicing throughout the summer.  Or, to be honest, they take some time off, but then make a valiant attempt to get back into shape before the season starts again. Other orchestras don’t have summers off at all, and so the orchestra never gets “out of shape.” Either way, please keep in mind that outside of orchestra rehearsals and concerts, the musicians spend several hours a day practicing on their own.  (I know there are people who don’t, but I’m talking about conscientious musicians that care about their skills, their careers, and their self-worth.)

What happens during the season?  What is the work schedule like?

Generally an orchestra’s work week goes like this (and please don’t yell at me about how YOUR orchestra is different or tell me classical music is dead because I don’t care, I’m just generalizing here for the public):

• Monday:  OFF (Monday is pretty universally the off day in symphony orchestra world.)

• Tuesday: OFF or perhaps one rehearsal of 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Wednesday:  Usually a “double”, meaning two rehearsals, generally one is 2 hours and one is 2 1/2 hours long.
• Thursday:  Often the same as Wednesday, unless the orchestra  plays Thursday night concerts, in which case Tuesday might have been a “double”.  Either way there is generally a morning rehearsal of 2 1/2 hours OR a double.
• Friday:  Depends.  Maybe a morning concert, maybe an evening concert, maybe a morning rehearsal followed by an evening concert.
• Saturday:  Generally just an evening concert
• Sunday:  Matinee (afternoon concert) or OFF.

To complicate matters (or further clarify, depending on your interpretation), each rehearsal or concert is called a “service” and each week would have between 7 and 9 services.  Each orchestra has various rules and restrictions on how many services there can be in a given week or perhaps a limit on the number of say, 8 or 9 service weeks over the course of the season.  Also, in each 2 or 2 1/2 rehearsal there is a break in the middle of 15 to 20 minutes.  Generally for the weekend’s concert series of 2 to 4 concerts (all the same), the orchestra will have had 4 to 5 rehearsals.  The number of concert weeks ranges for each orchestra, but even an orchestra that only performs 5 concerts a year generally then only rehearses for 5 weeks.

Some of you might be saying, wow, that sounds like a pretty light schedule.  Is it?  Let’s see, 8 services, why that’s only 16 to 20 hours of work per week!  But add in 2 to 3 hours of practicing each day, and that’s another 14 to 16 hours of work.  Plus it’s not as if you simply show up right when the rehearsal starts.  Most players are there warming up 15 to 30 minutes early for each service, so that’s another 2 to 4 hours of work.  Last but not least, when you are at work, you are working.  You cannot take a phone call, you cannot respond to an email, you cannot eat a snack (well, at break you can), you cannot do countless things that it seems to me people with other jobs do.  Not to mention that it might actually take MORE practicing that 2 to 3 hours a day sometimes.  Let’s average it out to a 35 to 50 hour work week counting practice.  Oh, and remember that many orchestras make 30,000 to 40,000 a year, and many musicians have a master’s degree.  Not a light schedule, and not a cushy job.  And you do have to keep up a certain standard of playing throughout your career, a standard that is constantly getting higher.

Next, the orchestra might expect the musicians to do community service (and they SHOULD do this, community service or outreach is very important.)  This service would generally be extra pay (the symphony here trades for a week off if you do a certain amount of outreach) but would also be extra time.

Additionally, many orchestra members teach.  They generally do this on Mondays as that is pretty universally a day off (note there is no real weekend then…).  Of course, it’s extra money.  But when the orchestra gets locked out, goes bankrupt, or simply cancels the rest of the season,  those students can be a lifesaver.

That’s the day to day life of an orchestral musician (in the USA) in a nutshell.  Any questions?

(this sums up the life of a freelance musician such as myself)