But perhaps you’ll be better at Handbell Hero. Give it a go. Me? I’ll stick to oboe.
So … I finished with the ballet today. Most of my colleagues will return on Saturday and finish up on Sunday, but I’m done, and I’m looking forward to family, friends and … get ready for it! … food! I have enough double chocolate cookies to keep all of us content.
I don’t really get to see much of the ballet when I’m playing, but I do have one of the better seats to at least catch a bit. For the most part ballet is about “heads and shoulders” to me, as that’s about all I can see. But one of the lead guys — and he was on today as the Nutcracker Prince — does this one thing downstage enough that I can see him. It does this jump thing over and over where he nearly does the splits (or at least that’s how it looks from the pit) and touches his toes. I’m sure that move has a name, but I know absolutely nothing about ballet. I think this is a newer dancer, and he’s pretty darn incredible!
[time lapse as I search online, since I think I saw an article by Beth Zare about him]
Ah-hah! Here’s Beth’s article!
Oh … and here’s a video of Ballet San Jose … at :19 you can see the move I’m talking about, although it’s not Meng Lu who is dancing.
And my “Oops” story for you: I managed to drop my favorite Nutcracker English horn reed at the start of the ballet today. Sigh. Now I did manage to keep playing on it; it didn’t appear to be cracked. But when I picked it up from under my stand, where it fell, I can’t even tell you how disgustingly filthy it was! The pit, by the end of the run, is not exactly spotless.
Oh well. Never a dull moment.
I’m not really interested in becoming a writer (I’ve run this blog through a site that determines my writing level and I believe it said I write at a third grade level. Go figure.), but if you go here you can see that the Examiner has openings for local writers, including the “San Jose Cello Examiner” and the “San Jose Flute Examiner”. There is no “San Jose Oboe Examiner” and I’m wondering if I should picket the paper. (Mostly because it really sounds so cool to say “Picket the Paper” … especially when it’s “Patty Pickets the Paper” or “Petty Patty Pickets the Paper” … hmmm. So much potential.
(Oooh. I also see “Monterey Bay Tattoo Art Examiner” and that does seem right up my alley. Yes?)
Meanwhile, one of Symphony Silicon Valley‘s own, French hornist Beth Zare, is already the Monterey Bay Area Arts Examiner. Yay Beth! Check out her Nutcracker Adventures article. (Maybe it should have been called Misadventures?)
Speaking of Nutcracker … one more for me, today at 1:35. Then it’s goodbye until 2010.
A fun listen! Give it a go …
