Regular Band: I can take 'em
We got an email on Sunday stating that, due to the weather, if it was unsafe for us to come to band, or if we weren't comfortable doing so, to please stay home and practice instead. (Monday, we then got an email saying to contact our section leaders if we were not attending.) Given that I work so close to band, I planned on going. I was a bit leery of bringing my wooden piccolo but I did it anyway. At least it's small.
I did get to band later than usual. I wasn't going to go before 6:30, and that's the time I started getting ready to leave work after dinner. It was roughly 0F on Monday, so brutally cold for us, meaning I had to layer up. My bottom layers--nylons, long underwear, regular pants, two pairs of socks, and the boots I've had since senior year of high school (read: older than Puffy)--didn't change. I had to add to my top layer. I started off with a regular top plus the famous sheep sweater, the one I only break out when it's below 20F outside. To that I added a face mask, then a balaclava-style headband, then my hat and matching scarf, then the red coat mom gave me last winter and I'm finally starting to wear. I've had my black winter coat since fall of 2002, purchased while out of town for a friend's wedding, and the snaps have stopped snapping properly and the zipper doesn't stay in place, top or bottom since it's a two-way. I kinda need it to not move when the temps have a minus sign in front of them. I get so bundled up that you can't really tell who I am, and like everyone laughs when they see me. My parents, on Monday morning, literally stood there watching me get ready to leave for work, like it was the 1800s and there was no other entertainment for the day. How do you not have something else to do, people.
So, anyway, I get to band and discover there's a bunch of new music in the slots, and we're down 4 or 5 flutes. I'd say probably about a third of the band was gone, so AD2 requested that we move to the center so no empty chairs were in the middle of the band. With the piccolo player, DB, and E all missing, this put me next to Two-Chairs-Down for the first time in a long time. All three bassoons showed up, including the one who lives close to Wisconsin, so that was impressive. Both oboes showed up, too, so give it up for the double reeds! Those are delicate instruments that are temperamental when the weather is perfect, so it is a big deal.
One of the new pieces of music was a warm-up sheet, and AD2 had us use that this week. Just as we were starting, I could see a jolt run through TCD, and her hand shook like she'd forgotten to do something. She then spent probably the next 10 minutes typing furiously on her phone. This was pretty unusual behavior for her. A while later, she would tell me that her sister, who already has major health issues, not only had fallen and broken her hip, but had had surgery; she was reacting to a message that the surgery had already happened. As she might say, she was fit to be tied. She can be a little...oblivious to certain things at times, but she never wants to be rude, and after rehearsal ended I saw her go over and talk to AD2 and ADB, and from AD2's reaction I'm guessing that's when TCD apologized for not participating in the warm-up. I'm glad she told me what had happened, because it was strange to see that. She also was a bit off with the music at times so she may have been thrown off for the evening. That can't be a good situation for her sister. It's not far off from what my boss' brother had experienced in some ways, minus the broken hip, so I can empathize with her distress, and it doesn't help that her sister is out of state so it's not like she can easily go visit. It's hard.
I was dressed pretty warmly, but the band room was cold. This was evident based on being someone who switches horns. I kept shoving my piccolo up my sleeve to warm it up. That's one convenient thing about playing the smallest wind instrument in a band. The Eb player also plays her regular Bb clarinet and she was having to switch every few songs, and she'd have to take apart her Bb and hold half of it under each arm to warm it up. Cold wooden instruments plus warm air expelled from the body equals cracking. That's bad. This is why we were working to warm our horns before playing them again. I didn't have to warm up my flute, which is metal, but dang it was cold when I would pick it back up! That affects tuning. It's not as bad on flute, really, but piccolo can go out of tune easily even when it's not freezing. Other instruments had trouble playing in tune; at one point, AD2 had the three whole French horns that were there play their part, and they were all playing the same part, 2nd. It was hard to tell that they were supposed to be playing the same note, that's how out of tune their instruments were. It's tough. Playing in less than ideal conditions is tough.
We did get into a few things. With that many people missing, and it only being the second rehearsal for the next concert, they didn't delve too far into the music. We did at least go through the Lion King medley that we'd skipped last week, and I was really glad I'd been practicing it. I was able to play through it with few issues, as some of the counting is a bit tricky.
There was also a march that we'll be doing over the summer, one that ADB arranged. I'm really glad to have looked that over before rehearsal, because there ended up being a piccolo solo in it. We got to that section and he stopped us, then asked me to play the first measure of that section. He then pointed to the low brass and said, it's you guys against her. Hey, I mean, I can take 'em. I play piccolo. I can project over many instruments, heh. But okay, perhaps they can back off a bit. It was a fun little solo and not too terrible to sightread. There was a lot of music between my slot and the piccolo's so I will be busy copying all that this weekend.
Leaving was fun. I talked some more with TCD, then went to use the bathroom. The thing to know is that the bathrooms are off the lobby, and the lobby had been open to the cold. That means, when I sat down to do my business, it was quite the special experience. And the faucet was running, but with cold water. It has the kind of hot/cold handles that you press down, and that lets the water run for 5-10 seconds, and then as the handle returns to the up position the water automatically turns off. I'm not sure how the handle remained down so that the water kept running, but it did.
Lastly, AD2 brought up the director emeritus. His family has set up a CaringBridge page and I've been keeping up with the journal entries. It's not good. As of today, he was moved out of the hospital and into a care facility. I know his wife was trying to make that happen or at least get him home. Clarinet D, who is our current band president and who also works at the local hospital, said DE had been there since December 2nd. Wow, I hadn't realized it had been that long. Clarinet D even shared which room DE was in. I learned that trumpet P's mom, who at one point played in the group and has known DE's family for many years, went to visit and she'd relayed some of what DE is dealing with. I won't share it all here, but he is in rough shape, and it sounds like DE's wife is staying with him as much as possible. Those must be some long days for her. I finally wrote them a comment, thanking the family for sharing the updates and wishing them lots of love. I'm so thankful that we were able to fete DE last summer, when he was in better health and able to experience it. It sounds like he is doing a lot of sleeping these days. Some have commented that perhaps it was stepping down that has led to this health decline, but I feel like he had enough to keep him busy with the band that it would have been adequate for him. His body had different ideas. It's a shame when our bodies betray us. I wish him and his family peace and love. That's about all we can do now.
I did get to band later than usual. I wasn't going to go before 6:30, and that's the time I started getting ready to leave work after dinner. It was roughly 0F on Monday, so brutally cold for us, meaning I had to layer up. My bottom layers--nylons, long underwear, regular pants, two pairs of socks, and the boots I've had since senior year of high school (read: older than Puffy)--didn't change. I had to add to my top layer. I started off with a regular top plus the famous sheep sweater, the one I only break out when it's below 20F outside. To that I added a face mask, then a balaclava-style headband, then my hat and matching scarf, then the red coat mom gave me last winter and I'm finally starting to wear. I've had my black winter coat since fall of 2002, purchased while out of town for a friend's wedding, and the snaps have stopped snapping properly and the zipper doesn't stay in place, top or bottom since it's a two-way. I kinda need it to not move when the temps have a minus sign in front of them. I get so bundled up that you can't really tell who I am, and like everyone laughs when they see me. My parents, on Monday morning, literally stood there watching me get ready to leave for work, like it was the 1800s and there was no other entertainment for the day. How do you not have something else to do, people.
So, anyway, I get to band and discover there's a bunch of new music in the slots, and we're down 4 or 5 flutes. I'd say probably about a third of the band was gone, so AD2 requested that we move to the center so no empty chairs were in the middle of the band. With the piccolo player, DB, and E all missing, this put me next to Two-Chairs-Down for the first time in a long time. All three bassoons showed up, including the one who lives close to Wisconsin, so that was impressive. Both oboes showed up, too, so give it up for the double reeds! Those are delicate instruments that are temperamental when the weather is perfect, so it is a big deal.
One of the new pieces of music was a warm-up sheet, and AD2 had us use that this week. Just as we were starting, I could see a jolt run through TCD, and her hand shook like she'd forgotten to do something. She then spent probably the next 10 minutes typing furiously on her phone. This was pretty unusual behavior for her. A while later, she would tell me that her sister, who already has major health issues, not only had fallen and broken her hip, but had had surgery; she was reacting to a message that the surgery had already happened. As she might say, she was fit to be tied. She can be a little...oblivious to certain things at times, but she never wants to be rude, and after rehearsal ended I saw her go over and talk to AD2 and ADB, and from AD2's reaction I'm guessing that's when TCD apologized for not participating in the warm-up. I'm glad she told me what had happened, because it was strange to see that. She also was a bit off with the music at times so she may have been thrown off for the evening. That can't be a good situation for her sister. It's not far off from what my boss' brother had experienced in some ways, minus the broken hip, so I can empathize with her distress, and it doesn't help that her sister is out of state so it's not like she can easily go visit. It's hard.
I was dressed pretty warmly, but the band room was cold. This was evident based on being someone who switches horns. I kept shoving my piccolo up my sleeve to warm it up. That's one convenient thing about playing the smallest wind instrument in a band. The Eb player also plays her regular Bb clarinet and she was having to switch every few songs, and she'd have to take apart her Bb and hold half of it under each arm to warm it up. Cold wooden instruments plus warm air expelled from the body equals cracking. That's bad. This is why we were working to warm our horns before playing them again. I didn't have to warm up my flute, which is metal, but dang it was cold when I would pick it back up! That affects tuning. It's not as bad on flute, really, but piccolo can go out of tune easily even when it's not freezing. Other instruments had trouble playing in tune; at one point, AD2 had the three whole French horns that were there play their part, and they were all playing the same part, 2nd. It was hard to tell that they were supposed to be playing the same note, that's how out of tune their instruments were. It's tough. Playing in less than ideal conditions is tough.
We did get into a few things. With that many people missing, and it only being the second rehearsal for the next concert, they didn't delve too far into the music. We did at least go through the Lion King medley that we'd skipped last week, and I was really glad I'd been practicing it. I was able to play through it with few issues, as some of the counting is a bit tricky.
There was also a march that we'll be doing over the summer, one that ADB arranged. I'm really glad to have looked that over before rehearsal, because there ended up being a piccolo solo in it. We got to that section and he stopped us, then asked me to play the first measure of that section. He then pointed to the low brass and said, it's you guys against her. Hey, I mean, I can take 'em. I play piccolo. I can project over many instruments, heh. But okay, perhaps they can back off a bit. It was a fun little solo and not too terrible to sightread. There was a lot of music between my slot and the piccolo's so I will be busy copying all that this weekend.
Leaving was fun. I talked some more with TCD, then went to use the bathroom. The thing to know is that the bathrooms are off the lobby, and the lobby had been open to the cold. That means, when I sat down to do my business, it was quite the special experience. And the faucet was running, but with cold water. It has the kind of hot/cold handles that you press down, and that lets the water run for 5-10 seconds, and then as the handle returns to the up position the water automatically turns off. I'm not sure how the handle remained down so that the water kept running, but it did.
Lastly, AD2 brought up the director emeritus. His family has set up a CaringBridge page and I've been keeping up with the journal entries. It's not good. As of today, he was moved out of the hospital and into a care facility. I know his wife was trying to make that happen or at least get him home. Clarinet D, who is our current band president and who also works at the local hospital, said DE had been there since December 2nd. Wow, I hadn't realized it had been that long. Clarinet D even shared which room DE was in. I learned that trumpet P's mom, who at one point played in the group and has known DE's family for many years, went to visit and she'd relayed some of what DE is dealing with. I won't share it all here, but he is in rough shape, and it sounds like DE's wife is staying with him as much as possible. Those must be some long days for her. I finally wrote them a comment, thanking the family for sharing the updates and wishing them lots of love. I'm so thankful that we were able to fete DE last summer, when he was in better health and able to experience it. It sounds like he is doing a lot of sleeping these days. Some have commented that perhaps it was stepping down that has led to this health decline, but I feel like he had enough to keep him busy with the band that it would have been adequate for him. His body had different ideas. It's a shame when our bodies betray us. I wish him and his family peace and love. That's about all we can do now.