I have this morning off! Mostly I’m responding to emails, but I figured I’d put up another post after last night so you know I’m not totally off the deep end Freelancing IS hard though!

The new cat, Muriel, is doing well. We got her spayed last week so she still has her stitches, but she’s starting to act more and more like herself. Yesterday she kept trying to sneak out while I was teaching, and one parent actually let her out—she was so insistent that he assumed she was an indoor/outdoor cat. Luckily she had only gone a few feet…I don’t know. I don’t WANT her to be an indoor/outdoor cat but she is really pushy at the doors. I think we can get through this period though, right? Any advice?

In the above photo she looks like she was mid-crawl, but she was actually just sitting like that. Below she is stalking the front door.

I still can’t believe I have several months off from college teaching. The college year is strange! It is nice having the extra time, because while this week is pretty darned busy due to playing a show (Phantom!) at the Fox (this is the big venue for traveling musicals in St Louis) at least I only have my private students to worry about.

I never mentioned a really fun workshop I attended last weekend. I went to the Max Aronoff Viola Institute Workshop on Saturday. One of my colleagues helped to put the event on here in St Louis and I spent the day learning about viola technique, teaching, and repertoire. I had a private session with one of the teachers, Joyce Ramée, which was informative and helpful. I’ve been a little uncomfortable asking for help with my viola journey from local people…(not sure why, variety of reasons) so I’m really glad I attended the workshop. Of course many things are similar between viola and violin, which meant that during the day I kept being reminded of important points to help my students with regarding bowing and vibrato in particular. I love attended educational seminars and workshops and always come away with valuable information that I mean to go back over and really study…and then often run out of time! Joyce also gave me some ideas on exactly what to practice on the viola in order to improve my skills, and gave me the confidence that I was already doing many things well, which as a professional I needed.

I then spent the week being incredibly picky with my students on their intonation and posture. Which I think is good: I didn’t make anybody cry, at least not IN the lesson. And sometimes I have weeks where I’m more particular, and other weeks I’m not, because it’s hard to pull teeth every week.

Another nice thing I was able to do was get my hair done last week!

Next week I hope to get a pedicure. It’s sandal weather already and I LOVE starting the summer with nicer feet. I am okay with paying somebody else for that.

Okay, I’d better get off the computer and get to a workout. Then it’s a matinee show, a few lessons, and another show…did I mention it’s a busy week? The show is so much fun though, and low pressure because I’m sitting with their traveling concertmaster. I just have to do exactly what she does, unless it’s a solo in which case I have to be certain to NOT play. It’s much easier than being the concertmaster (this is why concertmaster pays more!). And tomorrow morning we are planning on a bike ride, if the weather isn’t bad. I’m afraid to look, but assuming it’ll be warm with a small chance of storms.