Mid September Already??

How does the time go by so fast?

September is almost over, and I feel like it just started. I know I say this a lot, and everybody says that busy isn’t a good word, but oh my goodness this month has been busy.

My before school classes started last week, so I was waking up early and going to teach a bunch of 4th graders how to hold their violins. I have two new colleagues in my classes and they are both amazing! We have three new people total, and I’m sure the third is amazing as well–I just haven’t worked with them in the same way.

I also had a performance this past week with several evening rehearsals. It was a solo part in the premiere of a symphony written by a really nice cello player named Alexander Groesch. The performance went well, though I was relieved to have it behind me. It turns out that many of my colleagues turned down the solo part because they thought it was too hard. I tend to not shy away from difficult parts, and frankly, it wasn’t that bad, just a few tricky spots and some things that just needed to get into my ears. I may simply be a sucker for punishment though!

I had an extra busy week as well due to a few appointments: the doctor, the dentist, and the vet. In the future I will try to remember to space these things out into different weeks!

We went to Urbana last weekend to visit our friends Michael and Heather and to see some concerts/shows at the Ellnora Guitar Festival. It was a wonderful trip–we saw three concerts: Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sharon Isbin and the Pacifica Quartet, and the Ron Carter Trio, which ended up being minus the guitar player who couldn’t find a flight after his initial flight was canceled. We stayed over one night, and also got to enjoy meals at a few local restaurants. It was a lovely time and we loved the variety of musical experiences!

Sharon Isbin and some of the Pacifica Quartet

Selfie with Sharon Isbin who was fantastic!

Last night we saw “Space: A Celestial Circus Show” which was put together by a wonderful colleague of mine, Abbie Steiling. She composed and played the music (with some other players as well) and it was a fun show with circus performers and pictures of Space by Abbie’s husband, Frederick. Some of the audience didn’t know how to behave in public (a woman in front of us actually had a video playing on her phone WITH SOUND for her young child! you could only hear it during very quiet parts, but WHAT?) but we still enjoyed the show.