Segue
(Ed: Looks like this got stuck in my Wordpress queue and never got published.)
It’s hard to comprehend, but I’ve run out of April here in Seattle. Tomorrow I head for Milwaukee for a week; on Friday, I fly to Atlanta to attend a Microsoft software extravaganza called Convergence; on the following Wednesday, Mrs. Perils will join me in Atlanta, and we’ll fly on to Myrtle Beach, SC for our annual family reunion at the Litchfield resort. When I get back to Seattle, it’ll be May. 2010. The lilacs, just budding now, will likely be gone.
I continue to play my trumpet. The Rainbow City Band has entered its summer “marching season”. I was wary at first, because what I liked about the band was the quality of musicianship and the challenging music we have played in our concert incarnation. The “marching” rehearsals have sorta disabused me of this wariness, as the director has carefully chosen pieces to perform, and breaks us down and makes us play them with a high level of musicianship. He avows that we’re a “concert band that marches”, a theme that I like. A sampling:
- Jai Ho - the Bollywood-ish theme from Slumdog Millionaire. It’s an interesting mix of Indian meter and American song standard, and the rhythms are challenging.
- Soak Up The Sun - I have always liked Sheryl Crow
- Let’s Groove - Earth, Wind & Fire is great outdoor music
- Mas Que Nada - a little Brazilian touch to offset the funk
- Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
What I think is happening here is, we’re reprising our director’s salad-day soundtrack. We’ll perform in several parades during the summer, and I’m thinking it will be a lot of fun.
I’ve also been whoring around with another community concert band on Thursday nights that plays more standard fare like Oklahoma, Music Man, etc. Not as demanding as 1812 Overture, to be sure, but amiable, and I find it preferable to lace up and play with a group than schlep down to the basement to practice. And I continue to take a lesson now & then, and play trumpet trios with my teacher and another of her adult students. We may do a recital later this summer, if we can settle on 4 or 5 of the gaggle of stuff we’ve been experimenting with.
