Back from camp!

[jennlk]

Lotsa notes played. Most in the right place, even. Did get lost on the back page of the big piece, but managed to join back in by the end. There was another bari sax player this year, so we were able to be a little more comfortable and not try to hit every. single. note. because we knew that the other one would probably catch it. And there was one figure that we were both flailing at, badly, and I looked at him and said "you get the downbeats, I'll get the afterbeats", and things got much easier for both of us. :) The tuba section was very good this year, which compensates well for infelicities in the barisax section. Add in the 'forest of bassoons'(5!), and there were very few places where we had to be sure to hit all the notes. To be fair, the director kept telling us "you don't need to hit All The Notes. There are enough of you that someone else will get them, and it's better to leave notes out and stay in time than to play it at the tempo where you can hit all the notes". I stayed off campus this year - I missed the three week window between when they opened reservations for the on-campus hotel and when it filled - and while it was OK, I think I'd rather stay on-campus, even with the flight and a half of stairs to haul a saxophone up. There are some really nice cabins down the hill (where the All State High School Girls cabins were, backinnaday), and that's a possibility too, now that they have studio cabins in addition to the really spiffy suites (at $250/night, they better be spiffy, eh?). They'd be a bit of a walk (many people who stay down there drive), but I walked it at least twice a day (round trip), carrying a tenor sax in a heavy wooden case, so rolling Esme shouldn't be a problem, right? Sectional rehearsals were in the new music building attached to Corson, so I "lost" a lot of my walking time - had to make a special effort to get in the two miles I usually get at camp. Had a nice chat with the drumline assistant for Pioneer, who was up there with their band and waiting for a golf cart to show up so he could haul the drum stands back to their cabins.

Missed Tuesday evening's LCCB concert, but I surmise (based on the email from the director) that it went pretty well. One performance left (next Tuesday), and then Esme goes in for service. Ideally, she'll be done by the first FCB rehearsal (which has not been announced yet...).

New car is nice to drive. The trunk is a bit smaller than the Fusion, so things don't fit in quite as nicely, but everything did fit. Mileage is 48 mpg. :) She parks a bit differently than the Fusion, so I have to get used to a different center point. (I've been driving the same car for almost 14 years, it'll take a while to get used to a new one.)

J and DB stayed on top of most of the things at home, although the pond got kind of scummy, and J didn't pick up all the branches that came down in Wednesday's storm. The birdfeeders got refilled on an irregular basis, although they did keep up with the hummingbird feeders and the burbler in the side garden.

Comments

[mrs_sweetpeach]

I enjoyed reading your update. Glad to hear you were able to go to band camp, that the house and yard weren't totally trashed when you arrived home, and that you like your new car.

[johnridley]

FWIW the pond mainly got scummy because of the 4 day power outage during which the waterfall wasn't running. Add direct sunlight...

[johnridley]

infelicities :)