Next Sunday, Palm Sunday, I am a short (but not too easy) piece on my clarinet for an Arrowhead Chorale recital. It’s nice to have a reason to practice, and I really do enjoy playing the clarinet even though my thumb feels like it’s going to fall off, my right hand cramps up from the tension in my fingers that I’m not supposed to have, and my embrouchure is extremely out of shape so my whole face kind of ends up hurting. Those painful reasons are why it’s difficult to take my clarinet out of its case when I don’t have a reason to practice. However, the clarinet is always the instrument that comes back to me the quickest when I’ve had a break, and strangely the instrument I feel the most consistent and confident on, so much more than singing or playing the piano. Playing piano for other people is an experience especially full of trepidation for me. So many things can go wrong so quickly, no matter how prepared I am. Most of the other people performing will be singing, but there wasn’t really anything I was dying to sing for other people right now. The clarinet was a wise choice for this recital. I’m playing a movement from the Saint Saens Sonate. It is fast and loopy and full of strange fingerings. It’s also fun to play.
It’s a beautiful day to be outside today, but I will be inside teaching all day.
The Banana walked around with a dish of Cheerios while I was in the shower, taking time to run to the baby and share the Cheerio love with him. This has resulted in Cheerios all over the house. I’m trying to decide whether it’s a good thing to have small pieces of cereal strewn about on the floor for the baby to find and eat or not. Hunting for the Cheerios keeps him busy, and they are less harmful than the small plastic pieces and other nasty remnants he usually finds on the floor and eats.
The snow has melted off half of our deck! It’s nice to go for walks on the street and not have to contend with ice and frozen slush. Soon the forest floor will be devoid of hard slippery snow and the trails will be dry enough to do some easy exploring. Hiking in the winter is fine (although I didn’t get to do much of it this year) but hiking in the spring is oh so much better.
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