February Slop

So after a freakish spell of snow last night, February is truly turning into slop. About 95% of the population has Spring fever. The mountains of snow are receding gradually. March is still a long way off.

School's been keeping me terribly busy. The Lionel Hampton Jazz festival is quickly approaching and I've been scrambling like a mad person to prepare. At the end of last semester I was contacted by Mead Middle School's choir director about accompanying a couple of choirs, and I agreed. It seemed at the time to be a relatively easy way of earning some extra cash.

That was before I found out Judith wanted every piano student on scholarship to audition at the SMTA adjudications. I got a panicked phone call from Bev Rhodes over Christmas break exhorting me to practice my Brahms and Haydn. Well, I would have, but I thought I only needed to audition if I was going to take lessons next year, which I unfortunately am not. I've been studying classical piano for 12 years now and I'm not looking to become a concert pianist. I just feel like I need to be focusing on jazz with the little time I have left. Unfortunately this doesn't change the fact that I have to participate in these adjudications, so in addition to pulling together some pieces for jazz combo and Mead I'm preparing for the first masterclass I'll have taken since junior high. Yay.

I am very excited for Hampton however. I haven't gone since high school and I've really missed it. I'm working hard to incorporate all the things I learned at the EWU jazz festival.

As for the rehearsals at Mead, let me just say that junior high is one of the most terrible institutions on the face of the earth. And middle school kids are so WEIRD! Especially the kids I was working with. Most of the girls look like Bubble Gum Barbie and the guys look like Ringo Starr with shaggier hair and low-slung jeans. Yeergh. And of course the little mini-adults all have attitudes the size of Bob Ross' hair. Don't know where that came from. I guess they are human on some level, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, I was glad I wasn't teaching them and I even more glad that I haven't succumbed to a music ed. degree. I think I'd rather live in a cardboard box. So I'll just have to remember that when the cardboard box becomes reality.

That's not the end however. I'm also a member of the Whitworthian staff this semester. This was something I kind of wanted to do last year, but it was terribly over-staffed. Now they actually need people. I don't know why I think I have the extra time to do this, but I've just completed my first assignment for them so I guess I'm on whether I like it or not.

Luckily classes haven't been too demanding so far. I'm very happy with my schedule this term. I have NO 8 o'clock classes, yay. I only have lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays AND I've started taking 2 credits of jazz lessons so I'm hoping my playing will improve that much more. I have Music History I first thing MWF, which is cool even if Dr. Brody's lecture style is a little all over the place. Interpersonal Comm with Alan Mikkelson is hilarious and pretty easy. There are some cool people in that class. Business of Music is small and hasn't really picked up yet, but I'm hoping it will be useful. And Jazz in America is going to be really good for me as a jazz musician. I'll finally have a more solid jazz background and hopefully be exposed to some cool new stuff in the process. The guy who teaches that directed bi-county honor band back when I was in high school. He was the best director we ever had. He's quite the character. I don't know that I should elaborate here.

So that is my life at the moment. I just got back from a pretty good practice session at the music building. I'm going to try and get there at least once more today (I'm becoming a glutton for punishment!) Right now, though, I'm feeling kind of lazy. Almost like a nap, but not quite because I slept pretty late this morning. Hope your weekend is relaxing.