interdisciplinary

went to a ballet class yesterday morning (can't walk today...) and it was GREAT. i have NEVER been "the good dancer" in the class, but i do LOVE it. the music: chopin, tchaikovsky, prokofiev, others...is a huge reason i get so much out of the classes! i love the accompanists, too. when i took classes my freshman year of college at st. olaf, my friend sam was our accompanist! i will always remember him playing "in a sentimental mood" (one of my favorite standards!) for the adagio. in boston, our accompanist was an older gentleman who was blind! i would see him come down the street with his cane, find his way to the theater door, down the hall and step into the studio. can you imagine? class in st. paul on saturday mornings (the later class) is accompanied by a crazy person. 100%. but: very VERY good pianist. just a little scary, though. seems like one of those cases of talented classical musicians gone crazy later in life. (i remember a certain violin teacher at hartt telling me how sad it was that so many musicians go crazy later in life, after so much devotion, going through so much, then not "making it"-->then they seriously lose it...ugh...) the girl for my class yesterday is just a sweet, young, good pianist. not crazy. i think i'll stick with this class.

ballet has influenced my clarinet playing since the beginning. if my fingers get locked and crazy from a difficult passage, i change my mindset to dance, (the graceful part of it, not the strained muscles part) and i dare say the passage becomes easier. "looking through a different lens."

but, wait? how is clarinet going? actually...it's going! yes, i have been practicing, sort of. it still counts if its not 4 hours everyday, right? i've been doing an hour here and there. still waiting for my new reeds to arrive. where are they?! i sound like poo poo! and as i usually do, "I blame it on the reeds!" ok gotta go--it's duet sunday!

xoxo