A Next Generation
The amateur musician group had another concert two weekends ago. I thought the turn out wouldn’t be good, since it was raining and it was in the smaller (and cheaper) performance space, and a couple of people dropped out at the last minute. But there were a lot of new people performing. So the turn out was much better than I thought, and we almost ran out of chairs.
As it turned out, most of the new people were beginners, so I stuffed them all (10 groups of them) in the 1st half, leaving 4 advanced performers in the second half. The concert was fun, and reminded me of how it used to be for amateur performers to share their craft, rather than for emerging professionals to test out their repertoire.
Lots of the new people came up to me afterwards, saying how amazed they were by how supportive the group is. I’ve lost count of the waves of new members who have become active in the group and then moved away, but even though the people are different, they always appreciate the supportive atmosphere. So that was nice, and that’s why I am happy to take over. I was at the box office and I saw some performers skip donating, but still we made back the rental and more.
Not sure if it’ll still be the same after we require membership fees, but I decided to book the last concerts of this season in the larger space - the crowds in May and June are usually bigger.
- N
Melt in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands
The group doing the 8 hand piece for the Christmas concert at the cemetery had two rehearsals this month. I think it’s coming together, but we now need to figure out the antics. There’s a lot of rests in the piece - there are only 88 keys on the piano, and if each hand occupies an octave, there’s one hand left with nothing to do. There are also long sections where it turns into a 4 hand, so two of us will have nothing to do.
The surgical nurse pianist, who plays quatra (and so can easily get off the bench), will use her break giving the seconda a massage, and conduct the audience. I’m playing prima and can also easily get off the bench, so I’m thinking I should walk off stage to bring some snacks back to share with the others, and to eat them while playing. The only thing is I don’t want to get the piano dirty, so I’d need a snack that doesn’t stick to the hand. Like M&Ms. Or white rabbit. Or lollipops.
It’s going to be fun; I just hope the music doesn’t fall apart.
- S
Contingency
La Professure came back from her parents last week to help out around the house while her mom had a surgery. She was sad after coming back because, according to her, her dad is going downhill quickly. The contrast she says between now and when we saw them in August was stark.
I hope at least this should motivate her mom to get a home healthcare aid, but they really should consider looking into assisted living solutions - if her dad is going downhill as quickly as she says (I’m not sure how accurate her assessment is), they should have something lined up, if not to use it immediately, to have it ready in case.
On the up side, her dad is not turning grumpy like other dementia patients. Apparently he is losing weight, and sleeping more, which is a sign of depression, so he’s on anti-depression medication.
It is going to be a worry if this trend continues.
- D
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