Competition

This is the season of competitions for the young musicians and the older accompanists. The Saratoga competition is already done, the North Solo and Ensemble is this Saturday and the South Solo competition is next Saturday. Those three represent a tremendous amount of work for the soloists and for their accompanists. That in mind, I have tried to figure out why in the heck I do this again and again when I detest competition as much as I do. And, truth be told, I think most of the kids are in my camp, the "I don't like it" camp! So why do we put . Yah, I like that!


Adam plays Fenzi 's five bagatelles for Clarinet on the 6th of February. 2 of the 5 bagatelles are this years offering. He has gone from thinking the Choral was too easy to realizing that playing musically is never easy and counting complex rhythms is never going to be a simple thing, to thinking he could never master the Fhughetta. He plays them both extremely well now and is a pleasure to listen to. Will he win the covetted nod to go to state? Probably not, he is only a Freshman and they always weight it to the older kids and I agree with that for the most part. Will he win? Oh yes, major big win. He grew in understanding, in self discipline, musically and in self respect. He knows he is playing well and he knows he is playing stuff that is very difficult. Yes, he will walk away a winner no matter what any judge says to the contrary.


And that is the reason I put myself through this year after year. I love to watch these young musicians open their eyes and realize that they need only please one person, and that person is themselves. Besting a piece of music is a heady thing and it is fun to watch them discover what it feels like to best something. Will I do it again next year? Probably, but I will not do it with this many students. Some will have to move on to another accompanist as this one is getting tired of the routine. But I will still keep the few that I consider magical, the few that I feel a real connection to and marvel at all the things they have taught me as we perfect music.


And no more saxophones! It taxes my limited hearing in a major way. I play blind as I cannot hear myself at all. One of these years I will have to admit I just don't hear well enough to do this super sensitive work, but not yet. I will cross that bridge when it comes.

We had ourselves a memorable day down at the Center Grounds and their ice skating rink. We went down knowing that none of us were going to be stars of the show, but came home with the sure knowledge that one of us can actually skate pretty well. Little Claire Mo is a going concern on the skates. She fell down (photo one) but got up again and just kept at it. She put in many more laps than the rest of the family added together! Kristin was a trooper and tried her best but I think the face says it all. Stuart is a mad-man on the ice, legs every which way and Peter managed to leave some leg skin there. Don't know how he managed but the blood showed he had success! And sweet little Amy did her best to skate around in her shoe and cast....not a really fun day for her but she had a great attitude all the same.

We then walked a block or so and had some amazing pizza for lunch, collected our tired bodies and came back to the Island. I love these kinds of low key outings that are just designed to have fun. How can you go wrong?

Got home and talked to Linda on the phone, then Emily and James came over with brownies to celebrate the day. You don't do much better than that! So the adults played a few hands of Peduncle and called it a day. Larry even agreed to learn how to play the game and did a fine job holding up his end of the game. Emily, true to form, had the winning hands but we expect that so it is OK. James managed to pull of a substantial win too....but the geriatric set didn't get any hands dealt to them. Bummer....but a good game all the same. It is nice that we are all learning how to play so we can do it en mass. Peter, Stuart and Kristin already play a pretty descent hand of peduncle. (how do you spell that game, I swear that is not right but it is what the computer gave me!)

New Decade world

Another decade starts for the world and for me. I couldn't let this date pass without writing it down, today is 01-01-10. I think that is a cool date, nice symmetry and unique. So what do I expect of this decade? I expect to expand my sphere of influence. In more direct words, I plan on traveling more than I have in the past. I am going to visit a few of the places I have talked about visiting and I am going to have a wonderful time doing so. I have also made a commitment to spend a little less time at work and little more time at service. I love teaching lessons but it is becoming more of a job as I see things I want to do and can't do them because of the lessons. I figure this coming decade is my best shot at travel. I am young in an older sort of way and old in a younger sort of way. I have really good health, mental and physical abilities so I need to use them. The following decade will bring challenges I suspect. And, besides, I want to do this!

And I will welcome two little boys into my posterity. After starting this generation with a definite lean towards female we have certainly turned the corner to having more boys. My three little Campbell girls seem to be unique in the family what with Linda coming on board with 3 boys this year, Lawrence with one and Nancy with one. Then add Luzvie with 2 boys, yah, we are going heavy to the male gender these days. I am fine with that, I get to go to the Ballet with Kristin whenever I want, and I get to enjoy boy things too. Not a bad way to do things.

And now I will celebrate the day by practicing the piano. I have said I will do a solo for church in February and I like to do things that are challenging to me and not just brain-dead notes. I am going to do a Rachmaninoff that I have never taken to performance level. Not only doing, I intend to take it to performance level but it is extremely demanding on my very weak Left hand so it is therapeutic too. I swore I would not play pieces that so greatly exposed my handicapped Left hand, but, you know, no pain no gain. Maybe I need to face the monster and just see what happens. The piece is huge but still Sacrament OK as it is not showy. It sounds rather easy but it is a real bucket of notes with a miserable key signature and technical challenges. Yah, it is a huge step but I feel pretty good about it. Page one is memorized and the rest is coming along. I will not play from memory but I will played from open book memory.

There it is, the plan.....now the reality is that I must make it happen!