Get ready...

Want to hear what it sounds like?

I'll explain a little.  I've been working with a fabulous recorder player named Lynn for the past month.  We did a little concert last night, and are hoping to do a bigger concert together in the near future.  Anyway, she has a collection of recorders ranging from soprano (very high pitched) to contrabass (very low pitched).  The contra is so crazy looking I had to share it with everybody.  In the last 5 minutes of rehearsal yesterday I remembered I had my digital recorder (no relation to the instrument) in my gig bag, so I set it up on the table next to us, and we hacked out a few quick recordings.  They aren't great, but for a very rushed, very unexpected living room recording session I think they came out decently.  

Then our violinist Elaine showed up for her half of the rehearsal, so Lynn and I changed into our trio hats.  I stupidly stopped the recorder before we started.  The first piece we read through was so cool that I immediately regretted my action and switched it back on.  I'll post some snippets once I scrub through the hour+ of footage I took.  :-)

When I tell people that I'm a cellist, invariably the first follow-up question that they ask is if I play with an orchestra.  I always say 'no, I do freelance work... weddings, lessons, pits, stuff like that'.  About 90% of the time I then watch their interest waft away and I change the subject.  The truth is, I do some subbing here and there, but I neither have, nor want, a full-time seat in an orchestra.  Don't get me wrong, the steady, reliable work would be nice, and I'd love to be able to answer that question with a big 'Yes, I do!' then ride the ego high I'd get from their impressed expressions, but that's about it.  Those are the only two reasons I'd take an orchestral job.  In the end, it's just not my thing, and I'm fine with that.  I get to do something better.

The other 10% of the time, the asker of that question keys in on 'weddings' and says something about how spring must be my busy season.  I laugh, and say it's actually fall.  People tend to be surprised by this, but September and October are by far my busiest months for weddings.  Why?  Because fall is when the always beautiful Adirondack region is at its' absolute peak.  Spring is great, because everything is that fresh bright green.  But things are green in the fall, too.  And orange.  And red.  And yellow, brown, blue and gray, crisp and crunchy, with a hint of wood smoke and (if you're really lucky) a light dusting of snow.  Who wouldn't want to get married then?

When I leave my house to play a wedding, but particularly a fall wedding, it's really hard not to appreciate how lucky I am to be doing what I get to do.  As I drive over mountains, through valleys and along lakes, I get to watch the scenery the whole way, and it's stunning.  If I were an orchestra player, I'd go from my house to the hall and back, and not have time for much else.  Instead, I get to do a wide variety of work in every corner of the Park at all times of the year.  I get to see it all through the windows of my little car.  I have the best seat in the house to the greatest show around.  

I played a rainy wedding last weekend.  I was under a tent, but everybody else got a little damp.  I've had rained-out weddings before, where they switched to the backup location, but I think this is the first wedding I've ever had where it started dry, then got wet just as guests started to arrive so everybody stayed in their cars, then dried up again right before the ceremony started so they were able to stay with plan A.  

The clothespins you see at the bottom are clipped to my stand.  They're official tools of the trade for outdoor players, and are usually just as necessary as your instrument or bow.  I keep 5 or 6 clipped to by gig bag at all times, just in case.

My case was sitting on the edge of the platform, and some rain blew under the tent.  It got a little sprinkled, but fortunately once the ceremony started it didn't blow hard enough to get me wet in the middle.  

Best of luck to the couple, Kyle and Lindsay!  May the rest of your days together be sunny and dry! 

Opera rehearsals started yesterday, and if those ~3 hours of putting things together and figuring out how to play with each other are any indication, it's going to be a great show!  I'm one of two cellos playing for Hubbard Hall Opera Theater's production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville in Cambridge, NY.  If you're in the area and are looking for a fun (it's a comic opera!), classy (it's still an opera!) way to spend an evening (or afternoon!), shows are August 16, 17 and 22 at 8pm, and August 24 and 25 at 2pm.  

Yesterday, August 5th 2013 I played the first Monday wedding of my career, at the always fabulous Whiteface Lodge.  But this time the weather outshone the venue!  Low 70's and breezy, sunny and no humidity to speak of.  I love summer in the Adirondacks!  (Although technically this was September weather, but if it stays like this the rest of August I'll be one happy camper.)  

Many thanks to the newlyweds, Hannah and Russ, for bringing me out on this perfect day!  Congratulations and best of luck as you start your new life together!

Real content will be coming very soon.