Hits and Misses (April 17-23)

Here's a look back at the week that was.....

HITS

• In the midst of a very busy season of playing and rehearsing, I simply haven't had time to learn the repertoire for my scheduled Duo Piano recital as I would have liked. Honestly, I was getting quite nervous and wasn't excited about the possibility of putting up a short program. So I was thrilled when we decided to postpone the recital until next school year. Yeah!
• Of course, this is also the time of year that we begin talking about upcoming recital projects as well. There are a couple that are in the planning stages for me and sound as though they will be very exciting and a pleasure to prepare.
• On Thursday afternoon, the School of Music announced the fall musical. I'm looking forward to diving into the score of Little Shop of Horrors this summer in preparation for rehearsals. The show will be mounted in Plainview over the weekend leading up to Halloween, ending with a late night performance on the spooky evening. I'm so excited to get back to my musical theater roots....it has been far too long!
• Friday afternoon brought an excellent recital experience as I performed on the junior recitals of Jonathan Trevino, clarinet, and Heather Miller, trumpet. Even though I did have to fight with the air conditioning during the performance, I was pleased with the final outcome. The smoothness of the recital just goes to show what preparation and adequate rehearsal can accomplish.
• No matter how long I perform, it's still nice to get unexpected compliments. My colleagues complimented me on various technical aspects of my playing as well as the "aggressive" passages that they had not heard from me before. As I was exiting the building, a parent stopped me to tell me that while the student performers had done an excellent job, "they couldn't have done it without your outstanding playing." I was humbled that a non-musician recognized the work that had gone into making the performance the best it could be.

MISSES

• Monday night was a restless night for me. When I arrived to work on Tuesday morning, it became obvious that I wouldn't have many students in class due to the UIL Band competition that WBU was hosting that day. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was doing a pretty good impression of Oscar the Grouch most of the day. The only thing I was missing was the trash can. Needless to say, lack of sleep is never a good look on me.
• Ant hills are popping up all around my apartment these days. It seems that the largest are appearing in sidewalk cracks. I didn't really notice them until I stepped into one in the dark as I was coming home. I quickly made my way to the shower and started to become more conscious of the ground as I was walking. Now that I'm looking for them, I'm seeing that they are EVERYWHERE!
• I simply have to laugh when I realize that I'm too tired for phone calls. I realized that my friend was celebrating her birthday on Wednesday. I contemplated calling her that night, but decided my bed was much more compelling. (Happy belated birthday, Tiff!) On Friday evening, my mother called to catch up. After a full day of rehearsals and the recital, I was in no condition to carry on a conversation. I told her I would call on Saturday......oops.......sleeping in, resting on the couch with a novel, and an evening performance got in the way again. (I'm such a bad son!)