music, and the performance thereof.

Esme was back from the shop, so off I went to FCB rehearsal last night (there's a fairly major concert coming up in 3 rehearsals, so I needed to be there). She's much happier now, and I'm much happier -- we can do the octave jumps a lot more easily with a working octave key. I'm actually pretty good at getting the octaves with air pressure and embouchure, but there are a few places where the music starts off in the upper octave and she didn't like starting there. I also had the neck cork replaced to fit the mouthpiece I use -- the cork that was on there really was intended for a mouthpiece with a slightly smaller inside diameter, and it was occasionally hard to tune.

And then the maestro started in on the 'more volume, more attitude' (by which he means growl and edge on the sound -- I've got plenty of attitude). Which is not what I'm used to in concert band -- my previous CB/Wind Symphony directors have wanted smooth string sounds out of the baris, which is why I'm playing a wide open mouthpiece with a hard reed. So I either go to a softer reed or back to the general purpose mouthpiece. I got softer reeds today, and I'll try them out tomorrow when I practice.

No knitting on Monday -- unpacking + laundry + an evening's worth of rehearsal + con decompression pretty much ate the day. Nothing yet today, either -- stuff in the workroom and errands to run. WAY behind schedule right now, but there's still time. I hope. :)