Friday, May 22, 2009

Whirr Whirr Whirr

That's the title of a composition by a friend. There's a personal story behind the title that I won't share (as it's HIS story) but the basic premise is that his mind was spinning a mile a minute....Whirr Whirr Whirr.

That's how I feel right now. Too many thoughts going through my mind, too many situations that need sorting out, too many frustrations to think straight, too many, too many, too many.....

I'm taking off for the weekend to try and clear my head.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Lonely "fruit" list

There's a joke out there about every woman's melon list...the Honey Do. As in, "Honey, can you do..." The problem with being a single woman homeowner is that I'M the fruit. The regular chore list would be doable with a normal job. But just like most good band directors, I put in extra hours.

A typical day involves leaving the house at 7:30 AM, returning at 6 PM to walk and feed the dogs and PERHAPS shove some food down my own throat and then tear off to whatever is planned for the evening (community band, school functions, dog school). I can try and catch up on weekends, but judging, more dog school, school trips and other functions all seem to take the first bite out of my time.

I need to call a plumber, a landscaper, a bathtub refinisher, the termite inspector, the paver guy, the handyman, an auto body shop andmy doctor.. Three things stand in the way: 1) finding time in the day to make the call. 2) finding time in the schedule to have an appointment. 3) finding money in the budget to pay for it all.

Pray for me....the next month or so are going to be a rough ride.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Weeping and Gnashing from the podium

Our community band had a concert last night. It's an 85 piece band with members ranging from college-aged to our Grand Dame Adah, our 95 year old horn player. We have some GREAT musicians and some who MAY have been great back in the day. Still, we play some great literature and have an active concert schedule. We have 3-4 guest conductors each year and at least one soloist. Colonel Gabriel even comes down every year. All in all, it is a respectable group.

We had a guest conductor for this concert whom I still can't decide if I liked or not. His musicianship was good, his stick technique was fine, he was an authority on the style and pieces that he conducted. His sarcasm was just a little TOO passive aggressive for me and some of his comments were just plain mean.

Granted, some of the things that he commented on NEEDED to be addressed, like talking during the rehearsal or not marking parts for repeated mistakes or special instructions. The group is notorious for not paying attention and they drive ME crazy at times. I just wonder if a guest conductor should address those issues in such a biting fashion. He even made a comment to ME about not being prepared and why did this group beg to have the music sent so early if we weren't going to practice it? (I was sight-reading the bell part on a ragtime lick at the time; not my strongest instrument but then again, they NEVER let me play horn!) I know that it instantly made me raise my eyebrows and my gut said "unsafe person - be careful."

I saw other members of the band trying to play up to him to make sure they were on his good side. I couldn't be bothered. I practiced the lick a bit to "show him" and then ultimately knew that any lashing I might get in the next rehearsal for even a single missed note was not worth any stress and aggravation. I passed the part on to someone else (who is ACTUALLY a percussionist) and said "Have fun!" I just made sure all my other parts were ready.

At the concert, I noticed that every time there was even the tiniest flaw, he would wince, frown, scowl, shake his head or otherwise react with negative body language. Conversely, I didn't see as much positive reinforcement for the things played well. Then I noticed that the mental focus of the group deteriorated a bit more with each "negative" feedback. There was even one point where the opening of a piece fell apart; he stopped and quickly said "Start again" and the re-opening still didn't come together. He then made light of it with the audience and tried a third time.

I was reminded of two Dr. Tim quotes in this whole experience:
1. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
He didn't take much interest in some of the personalities of the group. He even went overtime at Sunday's rehearsal even though knew there was a celebration planned for Adah's 95th birthday right after rehearsal. (She let him know he was out of time. Loudly.)
2. Fear will get a team to the finish line faster than encouragement. In fact, people will run OVER each other to beat the others to the end if they are afraid of the team leader. But once you finish the race, nobody wants to be on that team any more. Encouragement takes more time, but people will actually help each other get to the finish and then be excited to start the next race.
People may have worked harder with this conductor to avoid his wrath, but it's more fun when you work harder in order to please someone. All I know is that I really am indifferent as to whether this conductor comes back again in the future.