A Slice of Musical Life

I am both a 4th grade teacher and a musician. I went to music school before returning to earn an elementary education degree. I still play (French horn) in three community groups and now and then for other occasions. This past Sunday was a special day in my musical life. The concert band that both my husband and I play in had its last concert of the year and our daughter, who also plays horn, and I were featured on a solo.

The road to this solo performance was winding and full of roadblocks.

Every fall, any band member who is interested can audition for a chance to play a solo with the band. Generally two or three players are chosen. The first couple of years it was all woodwind players and I thought the brass really needed to be represented. However, I didn't want to play a solo by myself. So, I asked one of the other horn players if he wanted to audition with me on a concerto for two horns. He said sure. He also felt that we needed to give the woodwind players some friendly competition. We planned to work on it over the summer. Well, it seemed we were never in town at the same time. Fall came and he said he just didn't have time to learn the part, which was quite challenging. End of story, I thought.

I was telling my daughter Jamie what happened and she said, "I could do it with you." Well, she's not a member of the band. She's a busy graduate student. She doesn't live with us. But she already knew one of the parts. So I said I would ask the conductor if we could audition even though she isn't in the band. Much to my surprise he said yes. She did fill in at one concert, so he said that was close enough.

The next challenge for me was that the part Jamie already knew was the part that I had planned to play. So I needed to learn the other part, which is very high, requiring strong muscles to repeatedly hit notes at the top of the horn range. Like training for a marathon, say, this required a lot of practice time to build up the endurance.

This "double concerto" for two horns was written by Antonio Rosetti, a contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rosetti was German, despite his name, which he changed, probably because Italian musicians were paid more than Germans in the 18th century. He was a court musician in one of the many small courts in what is now Germany. He had two outstanding horn players in his orchestra, for whom he wrote at least 17 concertos, plus 6 double concertos. His music is rarely played today.

We auditioned last September and were one of three soloists chosen. Our concert was the May performance.

Next roadblock: The Band music is rental only. The school district that sponsors our band ordered the music. Through some miscommunication somewhere, the wrong concerto arrived. It was only 4 weeks before the concert. The conductor told me he thought it was not possible to return the parts and get the correct music in time to prepare it for the concert. End of story, I thought.

But no, my husband was determined that we would play. He called the rental company and explained the problem so persuasively that the correct music arrived at our house two days later! We had two rehearsals with the band and then it was time for the concert.

People are surprised that I get nervous when performing, but it's true. This time, though, it was such a joy to play this charming little piece with Jamie, that my mind was only on the music and the pleasure of playing. A perfect performance? No, but I think we communicated the spirit of the piece.

Seize the moment! So many roadblocks along the way and this may very well be the only time that Jamie and I solo together in public. It's a great memory to have.

Late Night Adventure, tame variety

One of the pleasures of being on spring break is having no schedule to stick to. There are only a few times this week that I need to be somewhere at a particular time. Last night was one of those times - I had an orchestra rehearsal from 7:30 to 10:00. My husband is not playing this concert (coming up in April), so he decided to go downtown (Chicago) to see a concert. He asked on Facebook if anyone wanted to go with him. Facebook can be so useful! And a young friend of ours said he wanted to go.

They went off to catch the train to Chicago and I drove in the opposite direction to my rehearsal. After two and a half hours of Beethoven I arrived home at 10:30. This is normally after my bedtime. But the two of them were sitting at the kitchen table, eating cookies and talking about music, so I joined them. We talked about the concert they saw (mixed reviews), Robert's new job which starts new week, his plans for the future, orchestras, conductors, concerts, and recordings old and new. We talked about people we know in common and what we're all doing this summer.

By then it was 1:00 am. We still hadn't run out of things to talk about, but it was definitely time to go to bed.

And since it is spring break, I slept in this morning!

After hours musician

Today, Wednesday, is the first day of the third trimester at my school. This means I have stacks of things to grade while also working on report cards, which are due on Monday. Tomorrow my class is having an essay celebration to which we have invited the parents. Some of my 4th graders are still revising their essays. I will be talking about writing being a work in progress when I kick off the celebration - organization, spelling, word choice - every child is at a particular place in his or her growth and so all their essays are not perfect.

So life is somewhat stressful this week. Too much to do! However, last night I was at a band rehearsal. Monday night I was at an orchestra rehearsal. Last Saturday I played a children's concert. In addition to being a 4th grade teacher, I play French horn, or horn as we horn players call it. I play regularly in three different groups - a concert band, a community orchestra, and a horn choir. Sometimes my fellow teachers ask how I can find the time for all this music making. My answer is, how can I not? I love teaching, but I also love music.

I was a musician before I was a teacher. I attended music school and was fortunate to study with some awesome musicians. I spent hours every day playing my instrument, listening to music, talking about music.

I no longer do all that, but it is unthinkable to me that music would not be a huge part of my life - playing and listening. It does take a big chunk of time, because I also have to practice on the days when I don't have a rehearsal. I tell everyone that I don't watch television because I play horn instead, and that is pretty much the case.

A question that I get a lot when people find out that I have music degrees is, do I use music in my classroom. Not much. I find it incredibly distracting.

And now, I should go practice.