Monday, August 31, 2009

Eleven Down (the week in review)

Originally posted here. Used with permission.
Comments from the week of the 11th annual Baroque Flute and Continuo Player Boot Camp. Photos forthcoming.

(Names withheld to protect the innocent . . .)

-- Had a GREAT WEEK !!! The BC gets better each year. See you next July.

-- Thanks, Kim, for a wonderful week. I learned so much, and I hope I'll be able to return again next year. I will send you some photos, once I upload them from my camera.
I have a funny story...it worked out that Kevin and I gave Lisa a ride to her home in southern Oregon (so she wouldn't have to do an overnight on a Greyhound bus) and we stayed the night at her place (instead of a hotel). Well, on the way, we ran out of gas--the heavy traffic out of Seattle/Tacoma area had distracted Kevin enough that he forgot that we needed to get gas. So, Lisa and I were in the back of the van, playing flute duets, when all of a sudden, Kevin hollers, "Oh no! We're running out of gas!" The car conked out on a ramp, and while Kevin took a jug to get gas, Lisa and I set up a music stand along the side of the road and kept on playing! It all resolved itself amazingly within about 20 minutes, because a woman saw Kevin with the jug, picked him up, took him to the gas station a couple of miles away, and brought him back to the car. So, Lisa and I packed up the music, hopped back in the van, and we were back underway once again!

-- Hi everyone - It was fun! Thanks SO much to everyone.

-- Thank you for a great week at the Baroque Boot camp and introduction to baroque flute! Special thanks to Kim for organizing it, and to Janet and Kim for their teaching, and Ronnee for his patience, and all of you for being welcoming to a greenhorn. It was a pleasure to meet all of you and a delight to hear the progress as the week went on. I learned much.
After reading almost everything possible on the internet, I screwed up my courage, disassembled the flute and oiled it for the first time. Fortunately it isn't very old and seems not to have suffered from the delay nor my "work" on it.
Now to practice.

--Thanks for the week. It was a nice group of people. I'm practicing every day again now, and what's better is I feel I have a strategy that means I might not have time to practice a lot, but I'm practicing better ( I hope).