This has been a far less busy fall than usual, but I’ve managed to fill my days enough that writing blog posts has fallen by the wayside. Partly because I don’t actually think anyone is reading, but if you are, I am going to write more about Yellowstone soon, I promise.

I can’t believe we’ve been back a month! So much has happened, yet so little. I applied for, interviewed for, and accepted a new teaching position. It’s just in addition to my other positions but in the early morning. And it’s online for now, so it doesn’t seem terribly real, but it pays decently, I’m excited (it starts next week) and I figured in today’s world it wasn’t a good idea to turn down jobs because they are too early (7:15 am). It’s a before school strings position.

I have often said I don’t love teaching groups, but I haven’t tried it in awhile so I have probably grown enough to be fine with it. I have taken the attitude towards my career that when things fall into my lap I should take advantage of them, and it has mostly worked out well. Worse case I end up being entirely too busy and have to quit something at the end of the school year, but since performing isn’t really on the table, and I’m not even sure I want to return to the level of performing I was doing before, taking on more teaching makes sense.

The more I think about it, the more I realize I don’t actually miss performing that much. I do miss the warm feeling afterwards, but I don’t miss the stress before, worries about getting places (even a wedding can be quite stressful, would you believe) and being in the right place at the right time. Rarely was I able to perform with people where I felt I was having a transcendental musical experience….my true performing love is playing with a full orchestra, and since I’ve only done that about three times in the last 10 years, I have already said good-bye to it and made my peace (mostly) with not having orchestra in my life anymore. (The wash of sound around you and the feeling of contributing to something so much bigger than you are, in addition to the amazing repertoire.) So leaving more performing wouldn’t be a big deal at all. I attempted to fill the orchestra void with chamber music, since so many others seem to love that more, but my experiences have never been the same as those people. I do enjoy playing in the pit because it’s a fun time (and the stress of actually performing is a bit lower, with the camaraderie bumped up) and will continue to play Broadway shows when I am able and when they come back, but I’m just not sure about the rest.

I have been working on my teaching, as I’ve mentioned, and been really going over everything and reevaluating my methods. I’ve also been taking a lot of online workshops and getting even more ideas. My teaching lately has never been so good (I hope my students are appreciating it, honestly!). Just last night I participated in a wonderful seminar about tension release and the teacher leading it was so wonderful and creative. I have also been learning more about improvising and teaching improvisation and am planning to do a twice monthly online class for my students (and others) starting in October, so yesterday I spent an hour working on those ideas.

It’s a lot to do, actually, even if I just feel like I’ve sitting around. I’ve also been practicing viola to make a recording to do a little bit of online Suzuki teacher training on viola. I don’t have any formal viola training at all, and though occasionally I think of trying to take some lessons I’m not sure with whom (perhaps my sister Carrie, online!) and I also figure I would be better off at the time simply attempting to practice the instrument more and figure things out by practicing. Unlike the kids, I know that learning an instrument isn’t a magical experience and it really does take hard work.

So there’s my brain dump. I do feel like I mostly just think about teaching. We also have had a few socially distanced gatherings with a few friends here and there, and my sister Leslie and her family stopped by for less than 48 hours while they were driving cross country back home to Phoenix from their summer employment home. (Unemployment in this case, since they are musicians, but that’s another story).

I made an excellent zucchini cake with zucchini from the garden. I made black bean burgers, baba ganoush. pasta salad, roasted eggplant and pickled beet sandwiches, and potato salad.   I have become a much better cook during the pandemic though I still mostly follow recipes. I was talking with someone the other day who was saying they get blue apron but don’t really follow the recipes, they just cook using the ingredients. Which seemed weird to me, because while it IS nice having the precise amount of ingredient to use, it is the precise amount for the recipe on the card, so why not follow it? Sure, use your best judgment on how long things should take if the numbers don’t work out, but it makes more sense to attempt to make the actual dish, otherwise you might not have the right amount of ingredients, which defeats the whole purpose.

Books: I never write about what books I’ve read, but I recently have been working hard trying to catch up on my kindle. Lately I’ve read “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “Hood Feminism” by Mikki Kendall, “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich, “Stony the Road” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr, and a decent amount of books from the cozy mystery genre that I will list only if somebody asks me to. (Email me or comment below for recommendations, I guess!).

Okay, it’s time for me to get going. Work out next, then get cleaned up and do some teaching.