After taking Jameson to school for the vacation music tour at 5:20 in the morning, I crawled back into bed. I knew today was busy, and I knew I’d need a bit more rest. After waking and doing a bit of cleaning I had a student to teach; lots of schools have break this week, so some students cancel (how dare they go on vacations!) and some reschedule to earlier times. Then it was “catch up” time with the house (again). What a mess! Having finished lunch I leave soon for opera.

The first sitzprobe went fine, but it is more difficult than ever to hear the singers; there are more musicians in the pit, and for some reason the word of the day must have been LOUD because that’s what most players were doing. We are working with young singers. Loud isn’t a good idea unless we are all alone. Today we work with the second group, and we’ve been told that they aren’t quite as powerful as yesterday’s group. I do hope we can manage to hold back a bit. After all, Butterfly isn’t about the loud orchestra. My ears would appreciate it, too!

I’m thinking about starting a page about the reeds I purchase. I am always on the lookout for reeds that would be reliable for my students. Heck, I’ll use them myself if I’m able. (Yes, I have no pride.) So I may start a “Reed Assessment Page”, on which I’d include information about how long the reeds take to arrive, the “playability” right out of the box, and any other information I think would be useful. I’m guessing some reed makers may not be too happy with me … I can’t lie and say I liked something that didn’t work for me! I do ask reeders here to be understanding, though: reeds are so personal, and what doesn’t work for me might be heavenly for you!

Well, off to work I go ….