Whew! I'm back! (I think)

 After a very busy couple of months, I'm finally writing my long-overdue update! Thank you for your patience. You know, I never realized that I'd be one of those bloggers... the kind who has intentions to blog... but the weeks slip by... and next thing you know, it's been months since I've actually written anything. 

   I think, though, that today's post will prove, if nothing else: I really have been busy. Very busy. 

Weddings

   Within the last six months, two of my friends have been engaged and blissfully wed. Congratulations, ladies!

   Their weddings, as it turned out, wound up happening one weekend after the other.

   Both asked me to play for them. 

   Now, to make it clear, I don't advertise playing piano for weddings. As part of my career, I'd be too picky about which ones I took and which ones I didn't to make it worth my while. However, this was different. These are my friends we're talking about. So I was honoured to meet their requests.

   And stressed. 😓😆

   It was fun, though. The first couple, a very musical couple, wanted piano and violin, and provided most of the arrangements that we needed. Their violinist is a fellow teacher, and highly experienced in teaching, playing with other musicians, and yes, wedding music. Things went quite smoothly... almost without a hitch. Anyone who's done music for any length of time knows it never goes entirely without a hitch. ;) 

   The second couple wanted piano, two violins, and flute, and had five congregational songs they wanted sung. But, unlike the first, they really hadn't given any sort of thought to prelude or postlude music -- they pretty much left us to our own devices there. Also, we were mostly inventing our own arrangements. I worked with some of the girls from The Fehr Family Band; our families have been good friends for a very long time, so that was really fun. This wedding felt a bit more stressful, but at the end of the day, we could look back with satisfaction at a job well done. (Hint: If you are planning a wedding, and you're not having a program that you're distributing to everyone, make sure you have some sort of order-of-service thing to give the musicians -- enough for each of them to get a copy, preferably. Just saying. 😊) One of my favourite things about this wedding, besides the church itself, was the piano!!! I actually snuck back into the sanctuary between the service and reception, just to go play it a little for my own enjoyment. 

Photo credits: James Fehr. 

Parkland Music Festival

   Seven songs?! I looked at the stack of accompaniment music my voice teacher had just handed me (this was shortly before Wedding #2). She'd given me a quick briefing on the normal three students and their musical theatre pieces, and then added, "And So-and-So is doing seven songs, five classical and two musical theatre."

   At the time, I had about a month to learn them. Except I was still working on wedding music. By the time all was said and done, I had three weeks to learn a total of fourteen songs for five young vocalists. 

   Just a bit nuts?! 

   Oh, plus, I was also performing in the vocals department. I had two voice pieces of my own. 

   So, anyways, my PMF experience this year wound up being split over two days in two disciplines -- starting with vocals on Tuesday. On Tuesday, I arrived in the early afternoon and jumped into accompanying. My accompanying work was split into afternoon and evening classes. The afternoon classes went overtime, leaving me a one-hour window to dash off and grab some supper from Superstore. Then, before the evening session started, I spent some time primping, knowing that I would not have the time after I finished accompanying to fix my hair, makeup, and costume for my own musical theatre piece. 

   Things went smoothly in the evening. After finishing up my accompanying duties, it was my turn. And I was nervous! No, make that terrified. When I finished singing my first song, my hands went numb from lack of circulation. (It was "June Magic" by Marguerita Spencer.) The second song, "Without You" from My Fair Lady, went much better. I don't have pictures, and the video recording my mom took is not public, but it went pretty well. 

   Then, on Thursday, I went back to listen to my students play. I had six students playing in the festival. The adjudicator, Marlis Gunderson, was so fantastic with the kids! I enjoyed watching her working with them. 

   Two of them won scholarships, one of which was also a recommendation to Provincials! That's a first for me (the Provincials recommendation, not the scholarships), and I am so thrilled! (Part of the reason is that only level 1-and-up students are eligible for Provincial recommendations, and up until last year, all my students that I had entered were pre-Level 1.)