Robyn's Random Ramblings

Mrs. Spock was at my wedding

2011-11-16T08:01:00.001-05:00

Okay, another wedding dream. Shorter but just as detailed!

I dreamt that I was discussing college education and careers with some girlfriends (I think my mom was there, too). One friend started telling me about her brother and how the only reason he got into a good school is because he was dating a girl whose family had a lot of money. His girlfriend's father told him that if he wanted to go to a good school, they'd help him get there! Fast-forward to the wedding and now I'm the brother of my girlfriend, but I'm still a woman. I know, doesn't make sense. It's a dream from my subconscious, remember?? This actually happens quite often, where a person is mentioned or seen and then I become that person and take on a different point of view... Anyway, back to the dream!

I'm the bride but I'm wearing a long, strapless, Marine blue gown. I'm wearing a bridesmaid dress?!?! And with white shoes, no less! Ugh. No time to dye apparently. Also, I'm being rushed from wherever my hiding place was to the chapel to take pictures. As I'm running across the grass, IN HEELS and nearly falling over a couple of times (hello, how did we badly sprain our ankle on our 27th birthday? Walking in heels? Right...), I'm seeing people who want to say hello to me on my big day. Why are people so early for my wedding? Or is it that picture-taking is running behind? That never happens at weddings... *smirk* I digress.

I'm greeting the people and getting yelled at because I'm holding up the pictures. I grab hold of my future father-in-law's hand and he leads me toward the chapel. No more interruptions now! I get inside and there are a TON of people there. WHY were they let in already if we're not done with pictures? This is a disaster! I'm greeting more people and thinking of how wonderful my future father-in-law is and how awesome it was that I got into a good school with his help. Then I see my father. The slow pace that future FIL brought me to was completely abandoned and I once again endangered myself by running in those ridiculous white high heels but I didn't care--it was my DADDY! I gave him a big old hug and we stood embracing for a few moments. When we finally separated he took a good look at me and asked slowly, "So this is your dress?" (This is the first time I'm actually seeing the dress as well in the dream.) I'm not sure how I could tell all this in a brief moment but his disappointment was less about the dress and more about the situation with future FIL, the money for college, and possibly the groom as well. This was not the time to have such a conversation so I rushed away. I saw more people I knew, including my dear Uncle Barry (but where was Aunt Edith? Perhaps with my mom). I was near the back of the chapel at this point and had to run (walk, dangit, WALK) back toward the front. On my way I came across a rather large woman who bore a striking resemblance to Leonard Nimoy. She was dressed like somebody's flamboyant grandmother and she had a note for me. I stammered a "Th-thank you, Mr. Nimoy..." and made my way toward the front of the church where the photographers were no doubt impatiently waiting. As I rushed, the woman called to me "Nanny Nimoy, darling, Nanny Nimoy!" and explained that Toys R Us had gotten my note 10 years ago but just now got a hold of me. I called back "Thanks, Nanny Nimoy!" I opened the note to read what it said. Apparently I had written the store a decade before about a defective Star Trek toy. They were letting me know that the toy had been recalled and replaced with a safe one. I saw some children coloring with markers and borrowed one to scribble "Nanny Nimoy" on it. This would definitely go in my scrapbook.

That's the end of the dream, but I also made a mental note as I was waking up to have a scrapbook handy on my actual wedding day in case any priceless moments like that take place. I mean, if my actual wedding is remotely anything like all these dreams I've had, a journal/scrapbook will most definitely be needed. I'll put it in the trust of my Matron of Honor, MC Jules (not her real name!).

And here's a picture of the handsome Leonard Nimoy, because I want to share one. Unfortunately he's not in drag here. Sorry.

Robyn & Jamila's Excellent Journey

2011-10-03T20:31:00.000-04:00

I don't think my dad reads my blog but just in case he does--Dad, you'd better sit down for this one.

Any one who has known me for more than a few hours knows that I am a huge fan of pop music. If you just finished that sentence by saying "boy bands" out loud, you're on the right track. ;-) This is the story of how two young women overcame unbeatable odds--lack of transportation and lack of funds--in order to witness a wonderful event... an 'N Sync concert. Or was it Backstreet Boys? [blasphemy!!!] Read on, friend.

Once upon a time, in a magical place called undergraduate school, Robyn and Jamila were boy band fans. They saved up their money and bought a couple of tickets to see one of their favorite groups, 'N Sync, at the Charlotte Coliseum. [Now, this is where the story gets fuzzy, so I might have some of the facts wrong. But I've lost touch with the one person who could fill in the blanks*, so here goes nothing. Also, I'm switching to first person.]

My parents couldn't take us to the Charlotte concert but could take us to another concert, in Raleigh. They said to sell the Charlotte tickets and they'd take care of the Raleigh concert plus transportation. Sounds like a good deal to me! So we tried to sell the tickets online. No luck. We lowered the price a little. Nothing. We spread the word on message boards and whatnot. No one was buying these tickets. So we made the only logical decision at this point: To go to the concert anyway, without telling the parental units.

Now, keep in mind that we're two college students with no transportation (well, I think Jamila had a bike but...). "No sweat!" said Jamila, who took advantage of one of those college discount membership things that I miss so very much and went to work at getting us from Greensboro to Charlotte and back.

When the day of the concert came, we were stoked. Not nervous that our parents would find out or wondering how in the world we'd managed to pull this off. Just very excited!!! Our first mode of transportation (that's right, there will be several) was bus. We walked to the bus station from campus and started our adventure. Once we were in Greensboro we got a cab to the coliseum. The show was AWESOME (I think it was the No Strings Attached tour). Once the show was over we hit the ATM to get a little more cash. That's when we learned that we'd both overdrawn our bank accounts.

Oops.

How would we get to the train station for the final leg of our trip? Hitchhiking? Thankfully we didn't have to go that route. Instead we got a ride from a guy and his little boy, who'd also been at the show. Yeah, you read that right--we got a ride to the train station from a total stranger. You know, the people you're not supposed to talk to, let alone get into their vehicles and go places. But God was watching our sorry little butts that night because we made it to the train station safely. The best part: I think the dude was driving a van. Sounds like the beginning of an episode of CSI, doesn't it?

Now, I'm not one who usually falls asleep when traveling. I just can't ever get comfortable whether I'm in a car, on a plane, or anything else. But on that train ride from Charlotte to Greensboro, I was out cold. Maybe it was the punch the dude in the van gave me (KIDDING, geez!). Anyway, once we got back to Greensboro we got a cab back to campus. And I managed to not tell either of my parents about that trip until a few years ago. The cat finally came out of the bag when my Mom and I were discussing never having taken a train trip. I told her "Well, actually..." and filled her in on the whole thing. Mom's response? "Don't tell your father until you're 62 years old!"

So, for those playing at home, let's recap all the modes of transportation used:

Foot
Bus
Cab (twice)
Good samaritan/Axe murderer
Train

If there are no more journal entries after this, it's because my dad read it and I'm now locked away...

*I unfortunately lost contact with Jamila before I graduated so I don't have her side of the story for verification purposes. Jamila, if you're reading this, I MISS YOU! Let me know you're alive and well and still love boy bands...

Righting yourself

2011-09-28T08:27:00.004-04:00

I love learning things as much as I love sharing things on my blog. So today I'm going to share a little and then hopefully learn something from my readers (I know you're out there!). ;-)

This morning I was plagued by strange dreams, and also memories of a gruesome musical in which I performed in grad school. I decided these were not good things to start my brain up with, especially since one of the dreams involved the class I was about to go teach. Things didn't end well in the dream and though I doubt they would've been repeated in my waking state, there's no use in taking chances, right?

So after my shower I put on the music with which I relax and clear my mind. It's an instrumental from the Stranger than Fiction soundtrack called "In Church," by M83. It's a little over 5 minutes and it's perfect. The goal is to get in a comfortable position, whether sitting or lying down (or even standing, I guess, if you like), and let your thoughts float by. You don't judge them as you name them and watch them go; you just notice them and don't let them affect you. It may sound cheesy or impossible or just plain stupid but it works for me.

I feel a little silly though because this morning when I stretched across my twin XL bed I had to work around a body pillow I sleep with. It was under the sheets and spread and I didn't feel like moving it all so I just laid around it. It was slightly awkward--I had one arm above my head and one at my side, one leg bent and the other straight. But I was comfortable, even though I was shaped exactly like a chalk outline of a dead person on a crime TV show. I came to that realization at the very end of the music and felt guilty; is it okay to laugh at the end of a relaxation session? I guess there's no right or wrong way...

So what do you do for relaxation? How do you step back, take 10, and get yourself right (or, at the very least, righter)? If you never do this, why not? Not having time is an unacceptable answer (I've used it)!

Music in Dreams

2011-09-18T11:05:00.001-04:00

There was a song in my dream this morning. I'm sure that's happened to some of you before. But do you remember the song when you wake up? With perfect detail? This happens to me maybe once every 2-3 years or so and usually the song fades away as soon as I start waking up.

But this morning was different. The song stuck with me, even became clearer. It's like it wanted me to write it down. Usually I convince myself that the song isn't new. I must have heard it before; it's like a combo between that Sting song you heard last week and the Richard Marx song the radio played before you went to bed, right? Even though I always think I'm being too hard on myself I rarely write the tunes--or words, because sometimes words come along too--down.

I laid in bed going over the tune in my head, remembering the chords. I finally came to the conclusion This song isn't going to leave me alone until I write it down. Goodbye, warm sheets. As I wrote down the chords and spelled out the melody I realized that there were also some sentence fragments attached. I wrote those down, too. It's still fuzzy to me right now, but not fuzzy as in not clear. Fuzzy as in confusing. Why in the world is this tune different? Does this happen to people often? Any type of musician? Or just songwriters? Is this one of the ways your muse can speak to you? Just waking up with a tune in your head, one that won't let you be? It's never happened to me quite like this, and I definitely don't consider myself a songwriter.

I guess I should tell you what was happening in the dream. Parts of it were the usual fare for a Robyn Dream (TM pending): One minute I'm trying to fix the time on my phone alarm clock and it's giving me all these weird time zone options I've never heard of...I also can't get it to just tell me the regular old, current time. Another minute I'm in a huge housewares store with my parents and, the way Mom was standing in front of the ceiling fan section, it looked like she had ceiling fans for earrings. I was about to chastise her because she didn't take the packaging off of her earrings before she put them on, though I was also wondering why ceiling fan earrings would have to be so authentic that they came in packaging.

But the last part of the dream, and the source of this song, is the most important part (IMHO). I was hanging out with a group of people (maybe friends?) and we were walking through a city at night. Probably a downtown parking area because it was a kind of rundown garage, with graffiti and trash that the rain had washed away from other places and no one had bothered to clean up. I was going up the stairs with a dark-haired guy (Richard Marx, LOL? I don't know; we'll call him Dick) when the trash got a little out of hand. I asked him if he'd mind clearing it away for me; maybe my hands were full or maybe I was testing him. Whatever the reason he obliged. I think I did help a bit because when we got to the top of the steps we found a large, round mesh trash bin and we both dumped a bunch of papers and things in there. In my haste to abandon the waste (I totally didn't mean to rhyme that but I'm leaving it there!) I accidentally dropped some paper I meant to hold on to. Dick asked what it was and I explained slowly that I'd written down how I felt about him, how he made me feel, and that the piece of paper was now lost to that rainy mess of refuse.

I was sad because I'd have to pour my heart out again at some point. But then someone started singing. We were at the top of the parking area and people were milling about on the white-lined pavement. I think some people had made fires in trash containers and others were warming themselves. As I strolled around such a dark, rainy scene this man accompanied himself on guitar and spun a beautiful song using the words I'd written; the words no one had seen before I accidentally discarded them. Yet he knew them. He knew my heart's melody and was singing it for me, weaving in amazing arpeggio harmonies with his instrument. "Who am I?" he asked. "Who am I to feel this way about you, when I'm sure countless others feel or have felt the same?"

I can still hear his deep, baritone voice singing my words. It's haunting and rather disconcerting. How does my subconscious do these things while I sleep? And what does it mean?

Whose Wedding is This Anyway?

2011-03-24T23:57:00.001-04:00

The wedding took place in this HUGE, almost cathedral-like church. The pews were slanted, like stadium seating. It was absolutely beautiful; all wood (medium dark color) inside with a really nice piano and pipe organ if I remember correctly. There were light fixtures of some kind illuminating the sanctuary but there was also sunlight coming in through some windows, and perhaps an overhead window as well?

The processionals were odd because the women went in before the men. The women were all lined up at the top/back of the sanctuary (the vestibule, if you will) so I took a moment to survey the bridesmaids because—guess what?—I didn’t choose them. In fact, I had very little to do with the planning of the entire ceremony. I didn’t choose the location, the music, the wedding coordinator…anything!

So, back to the bridesmaids. My cousin Nneka was there :-) and I think a couple of random acquaintances from junior high school were there. I think there were 4 or 5 in all. I don’t remember exactly what their dresses looked like but I remember not totally hating them; I think the cap sleeves were a little too frilly but I liked the material (faded yellow chiffon, maybe?*). I don’t even remember what my dress looked like!!! I remember not being uncomfortable, though; that’s something. The organist started playing the Mendelssohn Wedding March. Um, hello, that’s exit music. That’s when it occurred to me that I hadn’t spoken with anyone about the music. Was this even my wedding?! I started making notes in my head of what music I wanted played, assuming that the organist had typical wedding music and perhaps a hymnal with her. I don’t know when I was going to be able to discuss this with her, but there it is.

Anyway, the bridesmaids walked in one by one, and then the doors were closed in front of me. I got a little excited at that point. Even though I knew that they were going to do that, I still got butterflies in my stomach when it actually happened. I’ve always been on the other side of the doors when they close, playing the music (or, on two occasions, standing in the wedding party).

This is where it starts to get weirder. Once the doors reopened, the wedding planner strongly took hold of my arm and led me down the aisle. The wrong aisle. I was thinking “Shouldn’t we be going down the aisle to the right?” but was too in shock to say anything (I was also thinking “Where is my father???”). I even saw the bridesmaids still walking down that aisle (shouldn’t they have been in place already?). Thankfully someone whispered (loudly) to the wedding planner that we should be in the right aisle. The woman corrected, practically dragging me down the correct aisle. I tried to see my groom but there were so many people in attendance (and all standing) that even with stadium seating I couldn’t really see him. I think I spotted Jake for a quick second but it might have just been a vision through hopeful eyes.

The bridesmaids, the wedding planner and I all made our way down the aisle and toward…well, I would say the minister but he wasn’t there either. Then we made a beeline for an exit to the right of the choir loft area. Um…? I thought this was odd but I did notice that there was no direct path to the altar from the aisle we were in so I figured we were taking a detour…outside?!?! It better not be hot out there!! I can’t stand sweating and I’m definitely not going to sweat in this dress!!!

This is where it gets a little fuzzy. I remember seeing the men make their entrance so somehow we got back inside. It was the exact opposite of most weddings—I was at the altar with the bridesmaids and the men were processing down the aisle. I looked up and finally saw my groom walking toward me—Robbie Williams? Or maybe Sam Witwer…Jim Parsons?? It was a man I’d never seen before, but his face was kind of a combo of those guys.

I woke up shortly after that sighting, thanks to an unneeded alarm that I forgot to turn off. But I do remember one other thing that happened—at some point after the ceremony began (because it was after the entrance/exit music fiasco) I went over to the organist and asked what kind of music she had with her. I flipped through the wedding music book she had. Then I noticed a hymnal and asked if it was a Baptist one (I grew up in the Baptist church). I flipped it over and the title was something weird…it wasn’t Baptist, that’s for sure. It looked like one of those non-denominational deals. I asked Random Organ Lady if I could choose a few wedding pieces and hymns for her to play for the ceremony and the prelude (even though the prelude had already passed). She said I could, so I went to work. Why did this not happen before now?!?!
________

So there you have it. The second ridiculously detailed wedding dream I’ve had in my life (the first one is also on my blog, here: I Almost Got Married! ). I hope you enjoyed it! What's the weirdest dream you've ever had?

*OMG, I think I know what dresses the bridesmaids were wearing! Many moons ago, for my 7^th or 8^th birthday, my Best Friend Since the First Day of First Grade’s (BFStFDoFG for short) mom made a dress for one of my Barbie dolls. It was beautiful—it was faded yellow and looked like chiffon or something similar. It was a springy dress, maybe mid-calf length. It hung straight, no shaping seams or anything. I believe it had a ruffled hem at the bottom and the cap sleeves were also ruffled. To this day I still frown when I think of that dress because it disappeared before I could ever put it on one of my Barbies. After my party we checked all the trash cans, all the bunches of wrapping and tissue paper, under furniture…but we never found that beautiful dress. That is the dress the bridesmaids were wearing, I’m almost sure of it.

It's the most wonderful time...

2010-11-29T21:42:00.000-05:00

If you're anything like me, you feel a slight (overwhelming?) sense of dread this time of year. You haven't started your Christmas shopping yet. You don't celebrate Christmas and you hate hearing the music in every single place you walk into (I celebrate Christmas and I still can't stand the music). You're a gigging musician and you're stretched waaaaaaaaay too thin next month. Or perhaps you have lectures and tests to prepare and exam time is looming.

Whatever the reason, there has to be at least ONE thing that you can look forward to during this crazy season! Maybe it's the work party where everyone gets to let their hair down. Or a big family dinner where you can stuff yourself with food right before you join the gym for New Year's...

I look forward to the time off from school, but not because I'm away from the students! It gives me time to review the previous semester and figure out how to make the next semester better. During the break between this Fall and Spring I'm going to brainstorm new ideas for my Music Appreciation class. I'm always looking for ways to get more interaction. This semester I tried some new things and my students absolutely loved it, so I'm also going to work more of that into my Spring plans.

So what about you? What are you looking forward to this holiday season?

Fall 2010 - Favorite Moment

2010-11-01T00:11:00.001-04:00

This is my favorite moment from the semester and quite possibly from my entire career at Pellissippi:

ME: What was I going to say next?
STUDENT: [Answers correctly] Do we get extra credit for being inside your head?
ME: No, you get counseling!

Career Choices

2010-10-10T13:31:00.000-04:00

If you've known me for more than 2 seconds, you know that I love music. As one friend put it, I live music. I've spent my entire life, including the time in my mother's womb, surrounded by music. I was never told that I had to make a career in music; in fact, my mother asked me specifically not to become a music teacher because she basically wanted me to make a living in which I could afford nice things. *Side Note: Mom's a retired music professor. ;-)

Believe it or not, I actually started out looking at colleges for engineering. I had one or two schools offer me a full ride if I majored in engineering! I courted a few of them during my junior year of high school but by senior year I knew it was music for me and nothing else. I didn't even want to major in one thing and get a music minor, or work toward a double major. I wanted to absorb more music--as much as I could--into my brain and soul for the next four years.

I changed my major from Music Performance to General Music so that I could focus on theory (UNCG doesn't have an undergraduate theory degree) and prepare for a Master's degree in theory. But wouldn'tcha know it--I got to UT, started off in music theory, then switched back to performance. I came full circle!

So here I am with a BA in Music and an MM in Viola Performance. I teach part-time at Pellissippi State Community College, teach privately (violin and viola) in my home, perform with symphonies and chamber groups in the area, and manage my own group (Robyn James Trio).

But I want more. I'm happiest when I'm creating music in smaller settings (read: not on a huge stage with 100 people) with other people who eat, sleep and breathe music like me. Occasionally I see glimpses of a life like this--when I perform with my friends and colleagues in the faculty recitals at Pellissippi, when I record and perform live with talented artists like Adam Whipple and the Dirty Guv'nahs, and also when I'm writing transcriptions or arrangements for assorted gigs and whatnot. The more I get involved with projects like these, the more I get compliments and encouragement from complete strangers (like students I cross paths with at Pellissippi), friends and peers, and even mentors (i.e. a former teacher from my graduate work saying "I didn't know you had 'rocker' in you. Don't hide it!").

So my non-rhetorical question is this: How do I make this happen? How do I go from doing this occasionally to doing it regularly and making a living with it? I don't want to give up teaching because I enjoy it, but I have lots of free hours during which I'd love to be making the music I teach people about every day. I'm open to suggestions, reprimands, cookie recipes...basically anything. Take the mic (aka the comment box)!

What if I don't wanna be 20 again?

2010-09-15T02:11:00.001-04:00

As I approached my twenty-tenth ;-) birthday many people tried to encourage me with words like "30 is the new 20!" I don't know what their college days were like but I don't want to be 20 again! I was awkward and underweight and trying to find myself. I do miss having time set aside to practice though. And late night Papa John's and TV with Beth, one of my BFFs. If I could just have that part, I'd totally do 20 again.

To celebrate the beginning of a new decade in my life I had a party. I mean, really--what better way to do it? The theme was game night, as this is my favorite pastime. We sat around and talked, listened to music from Arrested Development*, watched the extended pilot from said show and ordered pizza. Once we actually got to the game part of game night (Apples to Apples, one of my favorite games) the pizza arrived. But we had fun! And I think we got through 1.5 rounds of Apples to Apples.

All in all, a good time was had. And I have photographic proof here! Enjoy.

*One of the best shows on the planet, in my humble opinion. I own all three seasons thanks to a ridiculous sale on Amazon a while back

Special Requests

2010-08-07T16:01:00.000-04:00

Some of you may not know this but I not only teach and perform music--I also arrange it. Sometimes for fun (yes, I'm that much of a music nerd) but more often than not it's because of a request, usually for a wedding. I try to honor all requests, as long as they're logical. I once had a friend ask if my string trio could perform "Rhapsody in Blue" and I had to politely decline.

Thankfully, ninety-nine percent of the requests are doable and I've had a BLAST with all of them. I just finished working on a couple of tunes for a friend's wedding next month--a theme (the main theme??) from A River Runs Through It and "The Blood of Cuchulainn," aka the Irish tune from the movie Boondock Saints. I think the bride and groom will be happy with my versions (arranged violin/viola, cello and piano).

My very favorite arrangement of all time, hands down, is "The Throne Room" from Star Wars: A New Hope. The bride sent me an mp3 and I purchased an arrangement for brass quintet. I changed some keys, re-worked some modulations, threw in some doublestops to fill in the harmonies and voilà--a totally friggin' AWESOME arrangement was born. And I'm not just tooting my own horn--you should've been there the first time we rehearsed it. We stopped somewhere through the first run-through because my violinist and cellist were majorly geeking out!! This arrangement is several years old but had never been recorded until yesterday. So here it is for you to enjoy!

I've also written arrangements for show choir. Boy, is that a different beast than string trio! I've done a few "oldies" as well as more recent pop tunes (couple of *NSYNC songs). A friend just asked if I'd arrange some current hits for her string orchestra, so I'm looking forward to that as well!

I really enjoy the process of learning a piece inside and out--really living with it--and then reworking it to fit whatever new configuration it is I'm arranging for. I've had the "Blood of Cuchulainn" stuck in my head for about five days now, but I love it! Any other arrangers out there have words of wisdom they want to give? Any other musicians have arrangements you'd like to share/geek out about? And of course, if you have any requests send them my way. I'll do my best to honor them!

I dream of... a music composition seminar?

2010-07-20T15:28:00.000-04:00

I found another fun dream in my old blog and I had to share it with you. It's from about four years ago but as I read it, it feels like I dreamt it yesterday. It involves a little music composition/theory AND a former boy band member. Gotta love it.

________________________

I was at a HUGE church (we’re talking the size of a nice mall) with my friend Tyra for some kind of seminar. I guess it was on music composition or choral music because I remember having sheet music with "Ode to Joy" on it (although it was in Renaissance notation?!). I also remember a large overhead projector-type thing being set up and "Ode to Joy" being projected on the screen. One of the speakers (or maybe the only one?) was JC Chasez, formerly of NSYNC. He was very energetic and excited about the subject he was discussing, and he reminded me of a couple of teachers I had in college and grad school*. During his discussions, he would practically run around the room (a HUGE sanctuary) in order to make eye contact with more of the attendees, and several times I got to interact with him (*schoolgirl squeal*).

At one point we were discussing harmonization, and he sang a simple motive on the words "Alleluia, alleluia." Before harmonizing it, he wanted someone to change it up a little bit. I immediately thought of a simple change that would make it really awesome (and make whatever we wrote after it that much cooler) but of course, being me, I hesitated. He was RIGHT next to my pew (which was on the "stage left" side of the church, right next to the wall and windows; Tyra and I were sitting all the way on the end) when he asked, too. I finally got up the courage to raise my hand when he was on the opposite side of the sanctuary. I think he was actually hoping that I would raise my hand, because by that point several other people's hands were raised, and he looked around (right past some people directly in front of him who were volunteering!), craned his neck, and finally pointed across the sanctuary back to me!

Since I’m a music nerd I actually made visual aids. Here's what he sang:

As I said, I made a slight change, but it totally made it more interesting, harmony-wise:

After I sang it I explained that I'd changed the last note to give more possibilities for harmonies and he got all hyper and went "Yes! That's great! I'm so excited that I want to finish the whole song right now!" [This scarily reminds me of my own teaching style…!]

I remember two other things happening besides that:

1) At some point I ended up at the front of the room with JC, and I think Tyra was up there with me (maybe he was using us as assistants?). He mentioned that he needed to eat something during the upcoming break, and I JUMPED on that—no hesitation this time, haha—and in a split second I went "I can go with you if you'd like." Unfortunately he didn't seem to hear me (I think he went on talking about something else, or maybe I said it too quickly). So I turned to Tyra and said "He didn't catch that, did he?"

2) I wanted to go find my viola so that I could show off my instrumental skills to JC (since I'd already wowed him with my vocal prowess, HA!). So I went outside to find my car, hoping that I'd left my viola in there from a gig I had earlier [in real life it would’ve been inside with me, geez!]. But it was pitch black outside and I'd arrived when it was still light, so the parking lot looked very different. I could NOT find my car. I ran around in the cold and rainy night, dodging past the few people who were standing out in the lot talking (what were they doing?! It was COLD, and raining!). I started to panic and maybe even cry a little, and this sinister-looking guy asked me "You're afraid, aren't you?" (implying that I was afraid of getting mugged/attacked). I told him that I wasn't afraid; I just couldn't find my car.

Then it took me forever to find my way back into the church. Oh sure, there were lots of doors, but which one led to the sanctuary?? I finally found some big double doors that looked unfamiliar but safer than the smaller side doors I kept finding, and I asked someone nearby where these led to. They said "to the stage," in a very "duh" manner. Well exCUSE ME!! So I pulled back one of the huge doors, walked in, and ended up in the very middle of the pulpit in the sanctuary. That's right—on stage, front and center. But I didn't let it phase me. I just hurried to some stairs, hopped down, and ran to someone (but I don't think it was Tyra?) to tell them that I couldn't find my vacuum.

That's right. Somehow I'd gone from looking for my viola to looking for a vacuum. Some nosy guy overheard me and said "Since you're wanting to vacuum, could you use ours and vacuum the church?" I couldn't believe he'd just asked me that, and in front of all those people (although the group size had gone down, since we were apparently on a break)! I panicked because I didn't want to vacuum this place (wouldn't a church that big hire like, a team of people to do that work?), but I was afraid that it would get back to JC that I was a selfish and lazy person...?! But I still said no. The end.

________________________

What’s unique about this dream is that so many elements of it were taken from snippets of actual situations in my life. I guess sometimes my subconscious runs out of fresh, crazy material and uses actual memories and events!

*In case you were wondering, the aforementioned teachers are Dr. Walsh, my theory teacher from undergrad, and Clay Higgins, a Spanish teacher from grad school. Two of my favorite teachers!

We didn't start the fire...

2010-07-05T22:50:00.002-04:00

This is an entry from an old blog (from summer a year or two ago), and I thought I'd share it with you all. It reads a little bit like one of my crazy dreams but it's a true story!
______

Okay, so yesterday was cool. I went to the KARM Thrift Store off Western and got an AWESOME coffee table and end table. They are all nice and dusted and Windexed now, and in my living room. My friend Glenn helped me pick them out and then had to run somewhere, so another friend Erik helped me move them. I then treated Erik to Ben & Jerry's to thank him for his help.

And that's when my car caught on fire.

Well, not the entire car. Just the alternator. But it was totally on fire. I smelled something funny as we approached Ben & Jerry's, so once we got there I popped the hood. We saw smoke, and then we saw the flames inside the alternator. Fun times. I called AAA for a tow, but they said that before they could tow it the fire had to be put out (duh). I was told to call the Fire Department, get them to okay it, then call AAA back. I called the Fire Dept. and then called my dad, because I didn't really like playing the Wait and Watch Your Car Go Up In Flames game. Dad said to put dirt on it. I was panicking and going "There's no dirt, I'm on a paved parking lot!" Then I had an idea. "Wait--Erik, go grab some of that mulch!!!" So he did, and I know it could've been a disaster, but the fire eventually snuffed out. And of course it was out by the time the Fire Dept. arrived to okay the car to be towed. *sigh*

So long story short--I went home (after Erik and I had B&J's sorbet, YEAH!), then this morning around 9:00 AAA towed me to Gabby's Alternator Repair. Thank God for living on Sutherland--it seriously has everything you could ever need. And I got my car back around 2:00. How awesome is that?
______

I'd say it's pretty nifty. Unfortunately I don't live in that uber-convenient part of town anymore but I still take my car to Buckner's, which is also off Sutherland. They're trustworthy guys and they do great work (and the same goes for Gabby's).

So, any memorable car/truck/bike moments from the peanut gallery? ;-)

I dream of... Seth Meyers and the RNC???

2010-06-23T13:31:00.000-04:00

Time to share another weird dream with you, my faithful readers! ;-) This is fresh from my subconscious, as I dreamt it this morning. My dreams often occur in scenes, or at least that's how I remember them. So each paragraph is a scene.

DISCLAIMER: My subconscious sometimes endorses ideas/beliefs with which I and/or other people in my dream don't agree. Also, this is exactly what I remember; any social commentary you read into this is unintentional. I hate politics.

First I remember my friend Matthew sending me an email. Apparently he'd sent me a survey earlier and I hadn't completed it. The survey was hidden within the website of the Republican National Convention. I thought it was a little odd, but I said I'd complete it.

Next I was actually in a meeting of the RNC. We were in a large room with long banquet-style tables arranged into a square around the room. For some reason I think I was sitting at the head table. During the meeting I felt a drop of liquid hit my hand (my hands were in front of me on the table). I looked up and noticed that the ceiling was damp. The dripping was getting faster so we moved a bowl or something to catch the water. Unfortunately the damp spot on the ceiling was growing and starting to sag. Something was about to fall through and I was not staying around to find out what! A bunch of us scurried about trying to gather our belongings and leave before the disaster hit, but some people remained in the meeting as if they refused to acknowledge what was happening.

I remember running to the parking lot with some friends, including Seth Meyers. We were hauling all the stuff I'd managed to take out of the meeting hall. I'm not sure why, but this bundle included a Christmas tree. As we ran around in search of my car, Seth showed me some sheet music. It said "Smallville" across the top and he announced that he was playing Clark Kent in the musical adaptation of the TV show. I would've congratulated him but I was really frustrated that we couldn't find my car. I kept pushing the buttons on my key fob to make the car beep but we still couldn't find it.
________________

So that's my most recent weird dream. It's shorter and not as eventful as others, but I thought I'd share nonetheless. If you haven't read my previous ones, definitely check them out!

NYC Trip May 2010

2010-06-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

I went on my first real vacation as a grownup last month (sad, isn't it?)! It only lasted 4 days, but you gotta start somewhere... Anyway, I went to the wonderful city of New York and visited two friends. It started out as an early birthday celebration for my birthmate Sarah and me (and myself? Sometimes I hate the English language). She showed me some sites, we saw the Daily Show and then saw more sites and a comedy show. Then I saw my BFStFDoFG® (Best Friend Since the First Day of First Grade) Mary and she showed me some more sites!

So here's the basic breakdown of where I went:

Monday: NYU Library and bookstore, Washington Square Park, Union Square, Strand Bookstore, L'Annam (yummy Vietnamese cuisine), Whole Foods (that place was HUGE) and the Staten Island Ferry.

Tuesday: Omonia Cafe (yummy Greek cuisine), bed (got a migraine), The Daily Show, Times Square, Hard Rock Cafe and Broadway Comedy Club (saw Steve Hofstetter, woohoo!).

Wednesday: The Bronx (including yummy pizza and Mexican food), Magnolia Bakery, Lincoln Center, Central Park (including Strawberry Fields) and other places for which I didn't catch the names.

Thursday: Neptune Diner (I love their menus--see the photos). The only reason I had time to visit Neptune is that my flight from LaGuardia got delayed 4 times!

The highlights were spending time with friends I hadn't seen in years, of course! Sarah and I have seen each other once or twice since grad school but I hadn't seen Mary since her wedding. Now she and her husband have two kids!!

I really enjoyed seeing the Daily Show, even though most of our time was spent waiting in line outside, haha! It was worth it because Sarah and I were FRONT AND CENTER in the audience. No photography was allowed inside so I can't show you how the studio looked. I can tell you this much--it's much smaller than I imagined! Here's a link in case you want to listen for Sarah's and my laughter. :-D The guest was author Sebastian Junger: Daily Show - Full Episode - May 11, 2010

Even though it was rainy and overcast on the day I spent with Mary, it was still a lot of fun and I still got some great photos! We visited Magnolia Bakery, which I'd never heard of until I discovered The Lonely Island's Lazy Sunday. "I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling!" Once we got to Central Park we weren't sure how we'd find Strawberry Fields, but all we had to do was follow the music! There was a man singing "Help!" as we got closer. By the time we got to him he had switched to "I'm a Believer" (sacrilege, ha!) but then he sang "Imagine." He encouraged the crowd to participate and I was lucky enough to get a few seconds of "Imagine" before my camera batteries gave out.

So be sure to check out all my photos and video at bit.ly/NYCpics. Enjoy!

Audience Etiquette

2010-03-25T11:28:00.004-04:00

We've all been there. You're in the audience at a musical performance and someone starts to talk to the person next to them. Or s/he takes out a phone--or, heaven forbid, a laptop--and starts typing away. Or someone decides to slowly open the world's noisiest piece of candy EVER.

What do you do in that instance? Shoot them a mean glance? Ignore them? I think it depends on the situation, but recently I was forced to take matters into my own hands. Apparently I made the right decision, because about a dozen people thanked me afterward for doing so (I didn't even think anyone really noticed!).

A couple of weeks ago Pellissippi State Community College hosted their annual Student Honors Recital. Vocal and instrumental students (open to all students, not just music majors) auditioned earlier in the semester and the best of the best were chosen to perform on this occasion. It was a wonderful recital--I'm constantly amazed at the students we have at Pellissippi, and all the hard work they (and their teachers!) put into their crafts.

So, onto the recital. The first performer, Taylor, gave his best performance yet of "The Impossible Dream." It was truly awesome--except for the fact that, during the softest part of the song, an older woman a row in front of me leaned to her friend and whispered something about how she couldn't hear him. And when I say "whispered" I really mean spoke at a normal level, as if she were having a conversation which wasn't taking place during a musical performance. She was 3-4 rows from the front and Taylor had no problems with projection; maybe she couldn't hear him because it was during a rest in his part and the piano was playing quietly? The song wasn't over yet!!

But whatever, right? It happened once, some audience members sighed, the performance went on. But it didn't end there. This woman seemed to delight in being absolutely still and quiet in between songs/pieces and then waiting until during a performance to speak to her friend. I don't remember the exact number but during the third or fifth disruption I finally leaned forward and touched her very lightly on her shoulder. It took her a second or two to turn around but when she did, I put my finger to my lips and--as politely as possible--motioned for her to please be quiet. How did she respond?

She stuck her tongue out at me. A grown woman, probably someone's mother and someone else's grandmother, stuck her tongue out at me. But she didn't make any noise for the rest of the recital. I wish I'd shushed her sooner!!

I didn't even think much of it, but after the recital half a dozen or so students and fellow audience members came up to me and thanked me. I felt like a hero! :-) And the next day more students thanked me, including Taylor (who'd been filled in by his classmates).

I guess the moral of the story is this: If someone is disrupting your enjoyment of a performance, take a chance and try to politely silence them. You never know how many other people might be grateful for your small act!

**Favorite Moments**

I'd also like to mention a couple of my favorite moments during the recital:

The one stagehand who moved stands and whatnot for the performaners was a very tall, slim man (I'm going to guess student). He was dressed nicely, in a button down shirt tucked into some khakis. The memorable part is that he was sagging his pants. I don't know how he managed this, because the dude was so skinny! That belt had magical powers. The talkative woman in front of me gained a few cool points when she leaned to her friend (in between performances, no less!!) and whispered "He's gonna lose his pants if he's not careful!"
Right before a flute student began her piece, a little girl behind me whispered to her mother "Is that a recorder??" I'd expect that to be reversed--a child asking if a recorder was a flute. It threw me off for a second, but it was so adorable!

Plastic musical instruments

2010-02-28T14:46:00.001-05:00

As you read the title of this entry (or did you skip it and go right to the body, like I often do?) what did you think of? When I hear the phrase "plastic musical instrument" I think of those cheap, translucent recorders you can buy in the music stores. If I think a little bit longer I picture the nicer, Yamaha recorders that many of you played in elementary school (or play now, if you're an early music fan like I am). Then there's the bass that my friend Alex and I were discussing the other day--we decided that it would be really cool to create a bass made of plastic and fill it with water. T'would sound very...interesting. :-D

Did any of you think of LEGO? I certainly wouldn't have imagined those wonderful building blocks which are still in a drawer somewhere in my parents' house. O:-) Now when I think of LEGO, I think of that fabulous "Knights of the Round Table" ditty from Monty Python... But I digress!

I don't even remember how this came up in the conversation but I ended up telling my friend Deb about a cello which someone made out of LEGO. I promised that I'd find the info and share it with her; then it occurred to me that other people might be curious as well. And while looking up the cello I remembered that someone also made a harpsichord out of LEGO--one which actually plays!

So here, for you all to enjoy, are two musical instruments made (almost) entirely out of LEGO.

Cello by Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com (Also check out Sawaya's Stephen Colbert)
Harpsichord by Henry Lim, henrylim.org (Be sure to listen to the sound clips)

Why Music?

2010-02-11T18:25:00.007-05:00

I know I've been silent for much too long, but I'm back now! And I have a question for all the musicians out there:

What made you choose music?

Was there a cute boy in band and you joined just so you could sit next to him? Did you hear the girl next door say she liked guitar so you bought one and taught yourself to play? Were you forced to take piano as a child and then discovered it wasn't so bad?

Everyone has a story. You might feel that yours is uninteresting but I'd like to hear it anyway. How about this--I'll tell you my boring story so you won't feel so bad about yours.

I heard music inside the womb. Not in some cosmic, music of the spheres sort of way. My dad loved to sing and my mother was a music professor. My brother and I are both professional musicians and I don't think a single person who knows our family was surprised by our choice!

My first instrument was the piano. I must've been 5 or 6 when I began. I enjoyed it, and I was pretty decent. A few years later I was given an opportunity to play in orchestra (in my county, orchestra began in 5th grade and band began in 6th). My parents went to the orchestra teacher to ask a very important question.

Mom and Dad: If Robyn ever decides to do this for a living, which instrument would be best?
Mrs. Swoope: Viola, because there are too many violinists and cellists in the world.

And there you have it, folks. That's how my relationship with the greatest instrument in the world began! O:-) I've picked up a few more since then, but piano will always be my first love and viola will always be my greatest love.

Now it's your turn!

Monty Python + Trek = Pure awesome.

2009-12-21T23:57:00.006-05:00

I'm just dropping by to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Holiday-I-Don't-Know-About or Just Another Day.

I'll be celebrating Christmas with my brother in a few days. We'll probably have pizza and play Animal Crossing. Totally non-traditional, but it'll be fun!

I also wanted to share a couple of YouTube videos with you. Some of you know I'm a Trekkie, but you may not know that I also enjoy Monty Python. I'm one of the many people who can recite the Holy Grail from memory. And since I'm a musician, I'm especially fond of the musical numbers.

Here is a video of the famous "Camelot" song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

Monty Python - Knights of the Round Table

And here, for all the Python/Trek nerds like me, is the same song put to clips from the original Star Trek series:

Star Trek meets Python

Enjoy the rest of your week! :-D

Rock 'n' roll dreams...

2009-12-19T00:52:00.003-05:00

I don’t know if I should call this a dream or a nightmare. I call it a dream because it occurred while I was asleep and was interrupted when it was getting interesting, as usually happens with dreams. Also, I was doing something that most likely won’t happen in real life. But I think it would be better labeled a nightmare because I was being my usual clumsy, absent-minded self.

I was in a really cool recording studio with the Dirty Guv’nahs. The studio looked like it was in someone’s house—dark brown, wood walls with lots of knots in them and whatnot. Like a cabin almost. It was most likely my subconscious’ version of Levon Helm’s studio since that’s what I’ve been reading about in the Guvs’ tweets and whatnot. Earlier in the dream I was talking with the guys about a song they were working on—apparently I’d heard them working on it or something, or maybe they invited me to hear it? Anyway, I was there and we both had some ideas for an orchestra in the background. Our ideas matched up, so James grabbed a score* (a rock band having a “score” seems so funny) and handed it to me. Then the rest of the band picked up their scores and we started brainstorming.

I was feverishly jotting the ideas down that we all came up with and pretty soon the score was covered in notes. I think the score I was given already had some other notes on it because I remember there being some larger writing in places, on top of the music (I usually try to write small and in the margins)! So anyway, we were getting a lot of stuff done—put strings here, put some brass there, etc. Everyone’s ideas complemented each other and it sounded like it was going to be an incredible number. I thought to myself Are these the same Dirty Guv’nahs I worked with a few months ago? I’m always wary of bands who start off one way and then blow up and start adding more musicians and entire orchestras and choirs and dancers and ventriloquists and whatnot… I don’t like the term “sellout” but I do wonder if some musicians lose their original vision when they’re faced with all the possibilities of modern technology and such. I worry too much. A lot.

But I digress. We were working hard and ideas were flowing like maple syrup over a mountain of bacon pancakes. But I kept losing my music. We would be working on a section and then I’d get up and walk to the window for something (don’t ask what; I have no earthly idea—my dreams rarely make sense all the way through). When I went back to the first place I was sitting or standing, I didn’t have my music in my hand anymore. So we lost several minutes of creativity while searching for my score. Then we got some more work done. Great idea here, interesting tweak there… Then my music disappeared again. Why was it so hard for me to keep up with this blasted music?!?!?!

I was beginning to feel really stupid. I wondered if the band would be better off working with someone else. [Why can’t I be close to normal in my dreams? Must my faults follow me into subconsciousness?] It was the second or third or dozenth time that I misplaced my music that an alarm on my phone ended it all.

I woke up with more feelings of frustration and self-loathing than excitement and creativity. I also woke up with the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” running through my head, so we must have been working on something along those lines. Often my brain won’t remember the music that my subconscious created while I was asleep so it will pick something that my waking mind recognizes—something similar to what was in the dream—and leave that in my brain. Or it could be that we were working on “All You Need Is Love” but in the dream it was an original composition. That often happens—for instance, I’ll see a friend from high school in a dream but I don’t actually know them in the dream, or I know them from somewhere else.

So that was my dream this morning. I’d like to thank my 10:30 alarm on my BlackBerry for ruining everything. I was probably about to redeem myself and come up with the perfect finishing touch (once I found my music for the umpteenth time) before the blasted real world got in the way. Oh, well. Maybe tonight I’ll dream of maple syrup-covered bacon pancakes…

*For the laymen out there a score is a printed version of a song or piece of music. Usually it refers to the conductor’s score which has all instrument and/or voice parts on it. Generally speaking rock bands, jazz bands, and other “popular” musicians/groups work off of chord charts or often from memory. Scores are more associated with classical music, though they can be used by anyone.

Post-Thanksgiving Check-In

2009-11-29T12:21:00.016-05:00

Hi, all! If you celebrated Thanksgiving this weekend, I hope you had a wonderful time. If you didn't celebrate it, I hope you had a wonderful regular old weekend. :-D

I am now back from my MANY hours on the road and am very thankful to not be in a moving vehicle. VERY thankful.

I took my camera this weekend and snapped a few fun shots. Check out my Thanksgiving 2009 album here. My absolutely favorite shot is of the Georgia state line.

And speaking of my photography, check it out: Schmaps.com chose one of my Georgia Aquarium photos (along with others) to be featured in their Atlanta guide. How cool is that?! This link takes you directly to the "Zoos, Farms & Aquaria" page, complete with my photo showing in the Aquarium section (look for the photo credit "Photo: Robyn Allegra"). However, if you scroll over anything else it sometimes disappears or is replaced by another photo. If you miss it you can also check out the original photo at Flickr.

Alrighty, that's all for now. I must find food... Or perhaps take a nap.*

*I'll leave you with one more link, since this is a particularly link-heavy entry. One of my favorite places to waste time: Yahoo! Games - Board Games

Happy list!

2009-11-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

In my personal journal over at LJ, I sometimes post “Happy Lists.” I usually wrote them when I wasn’t feeling happy and needed to find something to be positive about. But today I actually am happy and I thought I’d post a list saying why so that the next time I’m down in the dumps I can come back to this.

I highly recommend making a list of your own. If you don’t have a blog you can leave a list in the comments for this post. If you do blog your own list, be sure to let me know! It’s fun to read other people’s lists as well.

How appropriate that I’m making this list the day before Thanksgiving…. I totally didn’t plan that. Anyway, here goes.

Thanksgiving Eve Happy List

This afternoon, as I left Pellissippi and walked across the parking lot to my car, the fall leaves made the coolest sounds as they were blown across the pavement by a gust of wind. The sounds made me smile.

A close girlfriend of mine got some great news from the doctor today.

A close guyfriend of mine, whom I haven’t seen since I played at his wedding 7 months ago (!!), also called with some good news.

(Related to previous one) Having two friends call me in one day and share the wonderful blessings they’ve received from God is one of the best things ever.

My student did very well in solo class today. :-)

I’m about to take a road trip with my brother to spend Thanksgiving with our parents, some aunts and uncles, and probably some cousins, too.

I’ve finally found shoes I can teach in without my feet hurting at the end of the day.

See, wasn't that fun? ;-) I highly recommend checking out TOMSshoes (the shoes to which I was referring in my last item). Great shoes and a great cause. I'm going to buy another pair--possibly two--in the very near future.

**If the formatting looks weird that's because I'm posting this from my phone. Will fix later (I'm currently on the road)!**

I almost got married!

2009-11-20T09:03:00.013-05:00

Fun dream time! I was getting married to friend and coworker (we'll call him "S"). We were sitting outside, maybe waiting to take pictures? We were at a beautiful church and it was a GORGEOUS spring day. S was in his suit but I was dressed down. We were sitting on a bench talking about random stuff (none of that old-fashioned don't see the bride on the wedding day stuff, I guess), in love and completely oblivious to the chaos around us.

At one point I looked at my watch: 1:15. The wedding was at 2:00 so I said I should probably go get dressed! Next I was in the church in what looked like a choir room. I had a couple of girlfriends trying to help me but the mothers were getting in the way and were starting to STRESS ME OUT. So I said "Hey, isn't it about time for you two to get into your dresses?" That got them out of my hair and I was then able to focus on makeup and whatnot before putting on my dress. A little while later my mom and S's mom poked their heads in the door to say hello on their way to the sanctuary. My mom had on an off-white shell dress with jacket and S's mom had on a halter-style, light green dress. We exchanged smiles and waves and I got really giddy. "I'm so glad I chose to have a Spring wedding," I squealed, "even though I always said I'd do it in the Fall! I mean, look at all these colors!!" I was totally freaking out.

Before I knew it I was walking toward the back of the sanctuary to make my entrance. The sanctuary was pretty big and there were several entrances at the back. As I made my way to the center aisle, some people saw me before they were supposed to! Suddenly I started panicking. "Where's my DAD?!" I whispered to no one in particular. Finally I saw him and smiled as I walked toward him. He actually started down the aisle before I'd placed my arm in his--I had to sprint to keep up with him!

I tried my best to smile because hey, it’s my wedding day. Unfortunately my processional music was 1) that @#$&%$ Wagner march and 2) being played terribly on a slightly-out-of-tune piano. Dad and I paused halfway down the aisle to pose for a picture, and then had to stop again before we got to the end because three bridesmaids—in long, beautiful marine (blue) dresses—were also posing for a picture. Weren’t they supposed to be out of the way before I started my walk? Whose wedding was this anyway?!

Well, they were finally gone. And we apparently hadn't had a rehearsal because Dad took me on this weird route. It turns out we hadn't gone down the center aisle so we had to make a left turn to get to the altar. Then he kind of zig-zagged me between the bridesmaids [several more than I'd ever have in real life] and then planted me in front of the minister (who was facing the congregation, as usual) and directly to the groom's right. I motioned to Dad, trying to explain that he was supposed to stand between S and me. As I was trying to correct Dad and switch places, S was switching places with a girl on his left side (what the heck was he doing with a girl on his arm?!!). It looked like we were square-dancing with all this do-si-doing going on.

Well, I don’t know exactly what happened next. Dad never got to the giving of the bride because a couple of the bridesmaids on the other end of the wedding party (stage right) started fighting. I didn’t even know who these girls were! All I know is that the wedding never even really started because of the scene they were causing. The next thing I remember was sitting with my mom in a pew, trying not to cry. What in the world had just happened?!

Some moments—or maybe a lot—went by and then I had an idea. We were already dressed up, the reception was still booked. Why don’t S and I go to a Justice of the Peace or something and have a quick private ceremony, head back to the church for pictures (it’s SUCH a gorgeous day, after all) and then go to the reception? I don’t even think I ran the idea by S or not but I decided to run with it. Then it occurred to me “Hey, the minister is a good friend. Why not ask him to perform the ceremony, then head to the reception?” So I searched out the minister.

I found him, but guess what? The minister was now S. I know, it’s crazy. But this is one of my dreams, remember? Crazy comes with the territory.

So anyway, S was the minister so I don’t know who the groom was. I asked him if he’d be willing to continue with the ceremony with just the wedding party. He said he’d love to but that he might not be able to due to an injury he sustained (possibly during the bridesmaid fight?). He tried to smile and I saw bruising on his gums. Someone had punched him on his left cheek! I know this is crazy but even his teeth were purple and bruised, and maybe even swollen. Holy crap! I quickly explained that he didn’t have to do it if it was going to hurt! We could just as easily find a judge or other official to perform the ceremony.

And there you have it. I woke up sometime shortly after that. I almost got married.

What do dreams say about a person?

2009-10-26T11:11:00.009-04:00

I don't really think every dream is a window into a person's inner workings but I do often wonder if my dreams have any meaning. This was a relatively short one; or maybe I only remembered the end. Usually I remember most if not all of my dreams, with lots of detail. I enjoy reading them later and sharing them with friends so I usually try to write them down or type them as soon as I awaken.

This is a dream I had a few days ago that I'd like to share.
________

The KSO were rehearsing for a concert at an aquarium (but not the TN Aquarium). The hall featured a round, glass window in the low, arched ceiling. During a lull in rehearsal a bunch of dolphins showed up (interesting since they would need open air as well as water; perhaps the hall was underground??). First they paused to see what the funny humans were doing. They dipped their noses toward the glass and we in the orchestra made googly-eyed faces and silly noises, as if we were talking to babies. Did I mention that musicians are often easily amused? Suddenly, a LARGE group of dolphins swam past (over) very quickly. It was a steady blur of dolphins for a good few seconds. A couple of us violists broke out into an a cappella version of "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish." It was totally spontaneous and hilariously awesome.

Next I remember Maestro Richman rehearsing the end of a work and fixing a percussion part. I guess I should say the percussion part because it looked like Clark (our co-principal percussionist) was all by himself! Anyway, it turned out that Clark had a different part than what was in the conductor's score--he referred to it as the "Scott Eddlemon edition" (didn't know Scott was an editor, haha!) and apparently it had an alternate ending and changed keys. I took my part back there and showed it to Clark (as if that would help?!). He gave me this look and shooed me away, saying "You have fun with your alto clef..."
________

So what do you think--any deeper meanings? Hidden messages? :-D

Intrusive music...

2009-10-13T19:23:00.006-04:00

Dear friends,

Having a music player on your website/MySpace page/blog/etc. is totally cool. It gives us a chance to see your musical taste and, if it's a customizable, your favorite color scheme and whatnot.

But it's totally not cool if it automatically starts playing when the page loads. Not cool at all. I love you, but please change your settings. If the settings can't be changed, get a new player. Please.

Yours truly,

Robyn Allegra

A great music scene right outside my door!

2009-10-07T00:25:00.007-04:00

Sorry it's been a while since I last blogged... Life kind of hits you sometimes, you know?

Today I'd like to say how thankful I am that I live in Knoxville, TN. The football thing (read: obsession) is a little overwhelming but I LOVE the music scene. There is so much to do in this town, especially on the weekends. When my students complain to me that there are no music events to go to I just shake my head and think You didn't look hard enough... Or at all! I then point them to a number of places where they can find event listings (Eventful.com, the UT School of Music, Knoxville.com, etc.).

There are so many talented bands who call Knoxville home (The Dirty Guv'nahs and Dishwater Blonde, just to name a couple). One of the coolest things is to go to a show for one band and discover another band while I'm there. Like this weekend: I went to Barley's Taproom to see Dishwater Blonde and was blown away by the opening act, The Distribution. I couldn't wait to get home and look them up on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc... Yes, I am that kind of fan. :-D

And speaking of Barley's, that's another great Knoxville trait. Sooooooo many venues. Baker Peters Jazz Club, Bijou Theatre, Preservation Pub, Square Room, Tennessee Theatre, and many more. I started labeling some as "a personal favorite" but it ended up being almost all of them! I do prefer the ones which don't allow smoking inside, but sometimes I just have to decide before I leave home that whatever I'm wearing will go straight to the hamper when I return. You gotta make sacrifices sometimes, right?

Out of all the venues in town the Bijou Theatre, which is downtown, is especially close to my heart because it's where

I saw the Guv'nahs for the first time (and got hooked),
I saw an awesome Hanson concert (what of it?!), and
I sat on the second row for Bryan Adams' acoustic tour and then met him outside after the show!

So what about you guys? Who's your favorite band? Where's your favorite spot to hang out, grab a cup of coffee, socialize, etc.?

Companies "Going Green"

2009-09-17T16:14:00.004-04:00

I just saw an ad for an "earth friendly" violin case at Shar Music and it made me think...

When a company decides to overhaul its entire structure in order to help the earth--switching to those fancy light bulbs, cutting down on paper usage and all that jazz--that's pretty cool. It's a huge undertaking and doesn't happen overnight. I say kudos for doing your part, companies.

But what about the companies which decide to offer eco-friendly products and continue to manufacture and sell their regular products as well? Does that seem a little hypocritical? It seems like they're jumping on the bandwagon to make some dough instead of embracing the concept.

I'm not preaching by any means--I do what I can when I can but I'm still wasteful at times (I'm working on it!). I was just thinking--am I being too analytical? What are your feelings on going green in general?

Who are you? (Who-who... Who-who...)

2009-09-03T00:35:00.005-04:00

I heart Twitter conversations:

@robynallegra: There are 18 other people with my 1st & last name on Twitter. I think I'm about to officially adopt a stage name.

@RobMader: @robynallegra Wait a second. How do I know you are who you say you are?

@robynallegra @RobMader Hmm... Because no one else would claim to be a violist unless they really were? O:-D

@RobMader: @robynallegra Fair enough. I believe you!

On Being a Rock Star...

2009-08-22T02:43:00.017-04:00

Be sure to check out the Photo Album at Flickr!

I officially stepped into the rock ‘n’ roll world last night. I had the time of my life. I am utterly exhausted but way too excited to sleep. It’s the craziest thing and I don’t ever want to lose this feeling (though I would like to go to sleep eventually)!

In case you’re wondering what in heaven’s name I’m talking about, I played my viola on a couple of songs with the Dirty Guv’nahs tonight. They performed at the Square Room, a great venue down in Market Square here in Knoxville. If you haven’t heard of the Guv’nahs, you are missing out on so much! Go to their website and their MySpace, and if you’re on Twitter, follow them. You won’t regret it because they are made of pure awesome.

So last night’s show was amazing. I’m just so happy and honored to have been a part of it! The band invited me to play with them once before but I couldn’t because of a symphony obligation. I’m so glad that this time worked out—my birthday is Monday and this show was the best present I could ever ask for! After I played I made my way back to the crowd and people were so nice. They all wanted to shake my hand and a few even wanted hugs—they truly enjoyed my playing. One woman said that she was so taken by my sound that she just watched me the entire time (glad I didn’t know that during; it would’ve made me nervous!). A couple of guys stopped me and as one said “You totally made those songs!” the other interjected “I wanted to hear you play some more by yourself!” Yet another person said they were inspired by my calm while playing. That’s the second time someone has described me as “calm” while playing—which is sometimes the exact opposite of how I feel. But I must be doing something right! I also smiled through the many compliments on my "violin" or "fiddle" playing. ;-) The best part is that my peers—the band and other musician friends—all had positive things to say. It’s a blessing to have a gift and have people appreciate and enjoy it.

Side note: The funniest moment of the show was running into a former Music Appreciation student. I spoke with him a little, and told him I wanted a concert report afterward! The second funniest moment was when I realized that "Oh, Jericho," the song before my part of the set, was a short tune and I had to get to the stage pronto. James had to vamp the beginning of "Born to Theives" as I got into the elevator, went up two floors, went down two flights of stairs and finally made my way through the (dark!!) backstage area. Sorry, James! :-D

What’s amazing is that I wasn’t really nervous this time around. I kind of freaked myself out when I realized that over 350 people had RSVPed as “attending” on Facebook and that the Square Room can hold 600. But I promised myself that I’d just have a good time and really enjoy making music with these six talented guys. And that’s exactly what I did. It’s also amazing considering that earlier Friday I was running a fever and skipped soundcheck to go see a doctor. And I didn’t get to nap like I was planning on doing before the show!

I had a magnificent time last night. I’m running out of adjectives, and none of the ones I’ve used so far can really describe how I feel right now. I’m just so very thankful. The Guv’nahs are going places and I’m thrilled that I got to go along for the ride.

**Thank you so much to Ethan and Carla for taking pictures!

Bother.

2009-08-15T13:03:00.000-04:00

Are there things which bother you but really shouldn’t? I.e. actions by others which don’t greatly affect your life but annoy the everloving bejeezus out of you? For me it’s people who don’t understand the concept of highlighting entire words/sentences/lines when editing something on the computer. Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace-Backspace drives me CRAZY. Just use Shift-Arrow or even Ctrl-Shift-Arrow for crying out loud!!!!

*calms down*

What about you?

Memorable People

2009-08-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

Do you have a song which reminds you of a particular person or event? Sure, we all do. But how many of you have a song which reminds you of a teacher? I’m not talking about Beethoven’s 5^th reminding you of a conductor you worked with in the past. I’m talking about a song you’d hear on the Top 40 radio or an “oldies” station.

The song “Break on Through to the Other Side” by the Doors always reminds me of my conducting instructor at UNCG, David Kish. He was a graduate conducting student and a really cool teacher. I remember there was something funny about his syllabus… It was along the lines of this: He told us to read the syllabus for homework and there was a line in it that said “At the next class meeting go to your seat, and just sit there and smile.” I don’t recall exactly what it said because I was one of the students who didn’t read it. *smiles innocently* What I do remember is sitting there being confused because some people were smiling and exchanging knowing glances and the rest of us were thinking “Um… What’s going on?”

But back to the topic of the post. The song reminds me of David—I think he let us call him David. It seems like ages ago! Anyway, the song reminds me of him because he was always encouraging us to break out of our shells and be bolder with our conducting. Every time he made that request of someone on the podium, he’d start singing the refrain (if you can call what Jim Morrison does in that song singing).

Wow. I just Googled him and found out that he now has his doctorate. I think I’m officially no longer on a first-name basis with him (if I ever was in the first place, haha)! He’s currently Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at The Metropolitan State College of Denver. Congratulations, Dr. Kish--keep on breakin’ through!

Moved... FINALLY.

2009-08-01T00:49:00.001-04:00

I might have to change the title of this blog if I keep talking about non-musical things... Oh, well!

I'm here. My new home for at least the next 12 months. I'm too exhausted to be excited, and will continue to be so until the eleventy hundred boxes have been unpacked. Ugh.

I've learned some very important lessons during this move:

1) Know that there can be a HUGE time difference between hiring someone to move you and hiring someone to pack and move you. If the company schedules the packing and the moving on the same morning, take your business elsewhere.

2) Put important items--soap, TP, medicine, lamps, change of clothes, whatever--together, or at least know which box they're in. That way you can still be clean and dressed while surrounded by boxes and sparse furniture.

3) Hmmm. Thought I had a longer list. Maybe not.

So we're here. I'm now sharing a 3 BR, 2.5 BA house with a friend/coworker. Good heavens, this was a lot of work. I can feel the ibuprofen kicking in... Hopefully tomorrow my feet won't have turned into swollen, unrecognizable masses. Oh yes, and those of you fortunate enough to follow me on Twitter ;-) know about my recent joys with dental surgery--I was so tired this evening that my teeth were throbbing. Did I mention that ibuprofen is a Godsend?

In other news, maybe I can soon rid my parents of all the junk they're holding in "the renter's room." That's how my dad jokingly refers to my bedroom in their house, the house in which I grew up. Also, I will have internet tomorrow. And TV! Can't wait!! Okay, maybe I do have a little energy to be excited.

I hope all who read this are having a wonderful weekend. If you're working, work hard so you can play harder. If you're playing, have some fun for me! Good night, all. :-)

The Joys and Challenges of Teaching Children

2009-07-22T23:00:00.000-04:00

How many of you teach music to children? I currently have 5 kids: two girls, ages 11 and 14; and three boys, ages 6, 7, and 8 (or thereabouts). I'll be focusing on the three youngest for this discussion. I’ve never taken an elementary ed course, though I did sit in on quite a few when my mom taught it. But I mainly go on what I’ve observed over the years—I’m a people watcher so I observe behavior and how people interact and save the good stuff in the back of my head. I also go on instinct and my own interaction with children, usually at church or family gatherings (I've never had a babysitting job—crazy, I know).

Over the years I’ve learned several important lessons about children. First, they are more sensitive than I thought. Such generalizations won’t apply to every child, of course. But I’d say my kids definitely fall into that category. One student—we’ll call him T—gets upset and frustrated fairly easily. I'm not a "meanie" or a slave driver by any means but he has teared up a couple of times in his lessons. He once missed a lesson with no advance warning and the next week his mother explained that he got so overwhelmed when looking at what he had to practice that he didn’t practice at all. She asked if I could lessen the amount of homework I give and I happily obliged. I don’t wanna give this poor child an ulcer over Mary Had a Little Lamb!

This leads to my second realization--children are resilient. I kind of knew this already, but it's amazing how quickly then can bounce back from a low point in a lesson. I worked with T a couple of weeks ago on things he can do when he gets frustrated during practice time. I gave him three options: He can 1) take a deep breath and try again, 2) play a song that he likes or can play well, or 3) put the violin down and do pinky pushups with his bow (he's really good at them). There are many variations on this, of course. Last week was awesome because if a lesson went downhill I just had to mention Harry Potter coming out on Wednesday. Then I played a bit of the theme on my violin and they thought I was the coolest ever.

Last, I’ve seen evidence of something else I already knew: Kids are fast learners. They really are like sponges and if you have their attention you can teach them so much! The possibilities are endless when a child is truly excited about learning something. Another student, D, began his study with a friend of mine. She’s moving and she referred his father to me. D is my youngest (6 years old) and he’s very bright. He shied away from using the bow so my friend let him focus on pizzicato. I start kids on the bow as soon as they know their strings and understand common time (read: count to 4 over and over). I let them pluck first before going to arco for a while but moving on to the bow is very important.

So near the end of D’s first lesson I asked him if he would like to play a song with his bow. He explained that he didn’t like it so he had plucked, and I asked him to just try it. I have learned that this is a huge risk—we were only 5 minutes away from finishing and the whole thing could’ve gone terribly sour. I want kids (all my students!) to leave their lesson feeling like they’ve accomplished something, you know? But I took the risk and decided that I’d let him pluck his favorite song if the bow didn’t work out. But it did work out and he didn’t even need much coaching! Of course the bow wasn’t straight but he got a decent sound and—the best part—he enjoyed it. His little face lit up and suddenly it was as if he could see the world of potential he’d just discovered! Cutest thing ever.

When teaching children I have to remember all these things I've mentioned plus their attention spans! I could go on and on and tell more stories but I’d really like to hear from you all. What are some of your experiences with younger students? Methods and approaches that worked, ideas which backfired horribly, etc.? Leave a comment so we can all share in your learning experience. Thanks!

The Soloist

2009-07-19T01:20:00.001-04:00

I saw The Soloist a few weeks ago at the $1 theater (which is really the $2/$4 theater) with a friend. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Even though I don't really care for Robert Downey, Jr., he did a good job. And I enjoy seeing Jamie Foxx in serious roles--he did a great job.

Being a musician--especially a string player--I went in knowing that I'd be unhappy with certain things. For example they had coaches for Keri Russell and other actors who portrayed musicians in August Rush, yet the majority of the musical performances were just terrible. I want to hug Ben Hong and Jamie Foxx because it takes a combination of good teacher and good student to achieve the wonderful musical performances that Foxx gave. He was convincing in not only the articulation-to-bow relationship but also the note-to-finger relationship. I was not expecting the latter! Being a nerd with frustratingly good relative pitch (some say it's perfect pitch but it isn't) I noticed that there were only a couple of places where we heard an open string but he had a finger down.

Now for some symphony things. I found it cool that the Juilliard Orchestra was seated like the UT orchestra, with the viola and cello sections switched. What I found very odd was that the Los Angeles Philharmonic had the celli seated where the 2nd violins traditionally go (second from stage right). I'm sure there's a reason behind it but... it really threw me off!

*turns off music crit--Oh, one more technical thing. When Steve gave Nathaniel the donated cello, Nathaniel lovingly ran his hand along the hair of the bow and I cringed. I had to restrain myself because I really wanted to scream "Don't touch the hair, Mr. I Went To Juilliard!!!!"

Okay. *turns off music critic* My one non-musical critique deals with the Beethoven sequence during which we see (what I'm guessing is) a representation of how Nathaniel's brain interprets the music. It's very bright and colorful (read: psychedelic) but it did quite a number on my already-hurting head. Pretty soon I think we need to start putting warnings on movie trailers for people who are prone to migraines or photosensitive epilepsy. Anyone else feel this way?

All that aside, it was a good movie with a good message. I immediately put the book on my Amazon.com wishlist so maybe after my birthday I'll be reading it... :-D

Favorite moment:

The principal cellist gives Nathaniel a copy of the Bach cello suites to play and says "If it weren't for Johann Sebastian there would be no Ludwig van."

I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts. Have you seen the movie? Do you have the soundtrack and if so what do you think of it? I look forward to hearing from you!

Georgia Aquarium

2009-07-09T23:11:00.003-04:00

Howdy, all! I hope those of you who celebrated July 4th had a wonderful weekend. Actually, I hope you had a good weekend whether you celebrated or not! :-D

I had a great time at my family reunion in Atlanta. While there I visited the Georgia Aquarium with my dad. I made an album of photos and a couple of videos at Flickr: Georgia Aquarium What's really cool is this: after I tweeted about my visit, the Georgia Aquarium followed me on Twitter. How awesome is that?

Upcoming Blog Posts: A review of The Soloist and some thoughts on teaching violin to elementary-age children.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T16:54:00.001-04:00

Hello from downtown Atlanta, GA! The family is waiting to take a group picture before the banquet. Expect pictures from the aquarium sometime next week.

For mini updates be sure to check my twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/RobynAllegra :-D Have a great weekend, especially my fellow Americans--have a safe and happy 4th!

Robyn James Trio, est. May 2005

2009-07-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

I'm messing around with Picasa, Google's free photo editing program. I decided to make a photo album for my trio's website so I've been going through our photos from 2005 to today. Talk about a trip down memory lane!

This is from our very first photo shoot. It took at place at the UT music building. My friend Connie volunteered to photograph us. Connie, have I told you that you rock? Because you do!!

If Picasa doesn't turn on me like all other new-fangled technological things I attempt to learn, you'll be seeing more pictures soon. Maybe I shouldn't say soon. You'll be seeing more pictures later. ;-)

To all my American readers, have a great holiday weekend! To everyone else, have a great regular weekend.

The stars fade but the world keeps turning.

2009-06-26T12:43:00.007-04:00

Of course people are talking about the losses we've had in the past few days: David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. My prayers go out to all the loved ones who are mourning their passing, as well as the many fans.

I remember Carradine from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (I totally had a crush on Chris Potter, Kwai Chang's son) and reruns of Kung Fu. Ed McMahon is more associated with American Family Publishers in my mind than with the Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson, though I do remember seeing the latter. And I don't think I've ever watched a single episode of Charlie's Angels or any of her other work, but I definitely know who Farrah Fawcett is--even Strong Bad has her poster in his room!

Yet MJ's passing hit me the hardest. As silly as it sounds, I can't imagine my life without Michael Jackson in it. My big brother is a huge fan and he passed that on to me as a child. I remember listening to Bob's Thriller album while he was at college--I played that LP over and over and over, and probably drove my poor parents crazy!! I loved every song on it, but I especially loved the title track. I tried my best to memorize Vincent Price's "rap" and thought it was crazy awesome that he used the word "y'all" (not "yawl" or "y'awl" like many lyrics websites say)! Ever since then I've been a huge fan. I regret that I never got a chance to see him perform live.

I guess soon there will be footage of the 6 pm Moonwalk in London. I look forward to seeing it and wish I could've been a part. I guess we each have to find our own way to remember the King of Pop. I've been watching his videos on YouTube and I'll probably buy some of his albums* soon, to complete my collection.

I'll leave you with three of my all-time favorite videos:

*If you plan on completing your collection as well, I suggest buying the mp3s instead of looking for physical CDs and albums. My guess is that a lot of people have already hit the music stores to grab what they can. Here are the search results for "Michael Jackson albums" at Amazon MP3.

Jelly beans + peanuts = crazy dream escape?

2009-06-18T10:09:00.003-04:00

This is part of a longer dream. This was the most recent thing that happened right before I woke up so it’s the freshest, most detailed part I can remember.

I was part of the Enterprise (1701 D) crew and apparently part of an away team. The team also included Data, Worf, and I think Captain Picard. Maybe Commander Riker? Anyway, we ended up in an alternate universe. I shouldn’t say it was a mirror universe ‘cause our counterparts didn’t have goatees... But they certainly weren’t very trusting. We'll say "mirror," just for clarity.

I think what happened was one of our men ended up on the mirror Enterprise and I was on the team sent to retrieve him. We materialized on the bridge, freaked out all the people on the bridge, grabbed our man, and then tried to beam back to our ship (and universe). It didn’t work. We tried twice. Nothing. The sparklies showed up but we never left.

So now we were prisoners on this alternate Enterprise. They took good care of us, though—I remember this huge spread of food set up on the bridge. Probably the first time there’s ever been a bridge buffet! Eventually I started trying to find ways to get back to our world and somehow the food got involved. I figured out how to make a jump rope with a string of jelly beans or something and the mirror crew tried to confiscate it. I refused to give it up and instead started hopping and jumping and doing crazy moves with the rope all over the bridge. After those shenanigans, the women of the away team (it was an oddly large away team) were banned from the bridge buffet.

The men of the away team, however, were free to do whatever. The women were also banned from several other things because of my attempts at doing whatever I was doing (I still don’t understand how we could’ve gotten off the ship with a jelly bean jump rope). Were the men even trying to get home??

The next thing I remember is being allowed to go back to the buffet. My friend Sarah, whom I haven’t seen since grad school, was there and I was raving about how we could have peanuts once again. I have a feeling that somehow the peanuts were going to get us home, but don’t ask me how.

And that’s about all I can remember. For those of you who’ve never heard about my dreams before, they’re always like this. I remember them in great detail if I type it all up shortly after I awaken. They rarely make sense. Sometimes they take recent events from my life (say, a Monday night Star Trek: TNG marathon) and sometimes they are completely random in their subject matter. For example, I remember that earlier in the dream I was with the Griffin family in Quahog and several of us were falling from the sky. Instead of reaching the ground we fell into a cloud with a hole in the middle—think, instead of a ring of fire, a ring of fluffy cloud. I haven't watched Family Guy in weeks, so I don't know where that came from!

Robyn ||3: (You like my alto clef? It was created by the awesome @ViolaMaths!)

Road trip with the Symphony

2009-06-13T20:28:00.004-04:00

I got home about half an hour ago from a trip to Cade's Cove with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO). The most grueling part was the 2-hour bus trip including lots of curvy roads and lots of going 5 mph because of heavy traffic (but heavy traffic = bigger audience so it's all good!). Once we got there it was great. The scenery was beautiful, and the people there seemed to really appreciate it. As we (orchestra members) made our way to the buses after it was over, many people thanked us and said they enjoyed the music.

The concert was part of a celebration of the 75th annivesary of the Smoky Mountains National Park* (did I say "of" enough times?). The performance featured some patriotic tunes, an original composition by James R. Carlson commissioned by the KSO, a work dedicated to the people of Johnstown, PA (penned by KSO's music director, Lucas Richman), and lots more. We also had a special guest--U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander played the piano with us on three numbers. Out of all the music the symphony played, my absolute favorite was an arrangement of Chopin's Prelude in C Minor. It started with Senator Alexander playing the traditional version and then, after a 2-bar drum solo, the symphony joined in with a 70s-style version. It. Was. AWESOME. When we ran through it at last night's rehearsal, I immediately thought of Walter Murphy's A Fifth of Beethoven from Saturday Night Fever. After totally geeking out, that is.

Oh! I must mention the John Williams piece--we played the overture from the John Wayne movie The Cowboys. The film came out in 1972 and, as my stand partner pointed out, you can already hear a little bit of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other Williams classics. I was thinking the same thing when he said it--I heard a melody reminiscent of Princess Leia's theme in one spot and the rhythmic drive of the entire work reminded me of Indiana Jones!

All in all, everything went really well. It was a gorgeous day and though it was hot it wasn't very humid (a blessing this time of year in the Southeast). Also, the ominous clouds didn't make an appearance until everything was over (thank you, ominous clouds!) and the ride home was quicker than the ride up to the Cove! :-D

I think I'll reward myself with some ice cream. What am I rewarding myself for? I don't know exactly. But I like ice cream and I shall have some! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

*It was not to commemorate the mountains themselves as I originally thought. ;-)

I'm doing my happy dance!!!!!

2009-06-10T01:18:00.003-04:00

I totally just screeched like a 15-year-old girl.

I store my 300+ CDs in large CD wallets. It's much easier to pack and move with three 128-CD wallets than it is with 300+ jewels cases and shelves. It's a great solution, unless you're like me and are constantly putting CDs in your car and then switching them out for new ones every few weeks. When I bring in the retired CDs, they don't go back into the wallet like they should. They either go into a pile (which migrates--last week it was on the ironing board) or a box on the floor.

After months and months of weeping and gnashing of teeth when I couldn't find an album that popped into my head, I decided to go through the box and piles of un-filed CDs and put them back where they go. Or put them at the back of the last wallet and organize them later (they were alphabetized until a couple years ago).

I was so proud of myself! I put everything away and even discovered some CDs I forgot I'd bought. I probably went through 70-80 CDs and yet I was still missing some. And guess which ones they were? That's right, my FAVORITES. I found it oddly coincidental that the most important CDs were unaccounted for. I knew they were all together somewhere, just waiting for me to find them. Wait a minute, I thought. I have two smaller wallets I use for the car--where's the second one? I haven't used it in forever. *searchsearchsearch* Could it be in the TV cabinet? Why in the world would it be there? May as well look...

*DINGDINGDINGDING!!!!!!!*

JACKPOT, BABY!! I found all of the CDs I'd been dying to listen to--and was about to buy used at Amazon--plus a few that I didn't even realize were missing. The crazy part is that I thought of looking in that cabinet several times before now but apparently I got distracted before I could execute the plan. Now I shall share with you exactly which CDs caused me to squeal like the teenybopper that I am (at heart).

Justin Timberlake -- FutureSex/LoveSounds
JC Chasez -- Schizophrenic
No Authority -- No Authority
NSYNC -- NSYNC (first overseas release)

That's right--it's all boy bands or former members of boy bands. Laugh all you like--I LOVE pop music and you can't do anything about it! Guess who's going to have some new JC Chasez and JT ringtones tomorrow...

Film Festival with a Side of Polyphony

2009-06-07T14:06:00.010-04:00

Good day, all! I hope you've had a lovely weekend. The rain finally left Knoxville and I've been enjoying the sunshine.

I'm currently listening to the CDs which accompany the book I use to teach Music Appreciation at Pellissippi (McGraw Hill's Music: An Appreciation, 6th Brief Edition). I am such a music nerd--and I LOVE IT! Oh, man--the harpsichordist is tearin' it up in the solo near the end of the first movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. I haven't listened to the first movement all the way through in a long time. If we had time to listen to all the examples in their entirety in my class, I'd be the happiest nerd on the face of the planet. My students would watch in amazement as I floated up to heaven, riding on the high F near the end of Hildegard's O succesores.

By the way--for those of you keeping score at home, when I typed the title of the blog I was listening to Machaut's Puis qu'en oubli. 150 music nerd points to the first person who correctly identifies the period and genre of the three works I've mentioned. No teachers can participate, sorry (it's not fair)!

Onto the first part of my title. My friend James invited me to attend the Marble City 10-Hour Film Festival screening with him yesterday. Filmmakers are given a list of elements then must shoot, edit, produce, and deliver a 3-minute film using those elements in 10 hours. Seeing all the different ideas that people came up with was the best part. I had a feeling that there would be at least one group who would try to get their "message" across and I was right. One film consisted of a young woman speaking about today's society and how certain groups of people are trying to control our resources and monopolize power. The entire film (which seemed longer than 3 minutes) consisted of mostly tight shots of her face while she delivered her monologue. Images of religious and monetary symbols as well as nature scenes were superimposed on her image as she spoke, and a large part of the dialogue was repeated (same footage of woman with different superimposed images). At first I was interested and tried to follow, but the woman's character was that of a person just rambling on about something. After a while I started wondering when it would be over.

Now, I'm not saying this to be mean and I'm not saying it was a bad film. I'm just saying that there's a time and place for that sort of thing and I don't believe that this festival was the right venue. And judging by most of the audience's reaction--rude shouts, jeering, and the like--I believe I'm not totally off base. However, this could be an opportunity for Marble City Films to introduce a new genre (I can't recall in what genre the film was originally placed) to their festival.

Overall it was a positive experience, preceded by my first trip to Barley's (Caribbean pizza = YUM). I also learned about Rootclip, a really cool collaborative filmmaking site. As they explained, it's kind of like Choose Your Own Adventure meets YouTube. Definitely check it out. I've already been bitten by the filmmaking bug and I know nothing about the process!

I'll close with the link to a movie that I will be seeing this Friday: The Hangover

Music, Money and Ministry

2009-06-03T00:07:00.004-04:00

Have you ever been at a crossroads and didn't even realize it? I had been subconsciously asking myself a question for a while now and I didn't even know until the question was answered today. I firmly believe that God sometimes uses other people to speak to you. It might be because some of us are too dim to understand when he speaks to us directly, but that's another blog... :-D

So anyway a good friend called me this afternoon to discuss a dilemma I'd actually forgotten I had. I've been active in two churches during my time in Knoxville and both times I ended up regularly singing and/or playing an instrument in the worship service(s). It's great because my musical talents were given to me by God and using them in worship seems appropriate...

Enter the economy. Living in these difficult times and being self-employed, I've been trying to figure out how to make ends meet. I got to the point where I said to myself Hey, music is my gift but it's also my livelihood. I get compensated for performing everywhere--except at church. It seems kind of wrong to say "Hey, church--I need money to use my God-given gift here." It's something I've struggled with in recent months.

But there's an even bigger issue--my lack of connection to the body of Christ (aka the church). I end up getting so involved in the musical aspect of my church homes that I don't really get to know anyone outside of that ministry. If you're not in the choir or praise band, chances are I don't know you very well. And I don't even really know the musicians I interact with on Sundays. I chat with them in rehearsal and form mostly superficial friendships, only occasionally scratching the surface to get to a deeper connection.

I believe that God made us to be social creatures. That doesn't mean that every person is outgoing, the life of the party, or anything like that. But he made us to be friends and to be there for one another. Just look at the book of Acts (one of my favorite books of the Bible). People were active in each other's lives--not like nosey, gossipy neighbors but supportive and helpful friends to those in need. The second chapter tells us:

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47, NIV)

They shared with anyone who had need and they spent time together, eating and worshiping and just sharing their lives. No wonder more people were being saved--I'm sure others were thinking "Okay, what are they doing that I'm not? They must be doing something right. I need to know more."

I'm missing that community--that fellowship--and my friend helped me realize that today. He said that I'd been on his heart and I know that God put me there. I'm thankful that he did. He (my friend) wasn't even sure if his concerns were accurate, but as I told him on the phone, he hit the nail on the head. I need to plug in to a church home and get involved, whether it's at my current church or a new one. Not just for myself, of course, but in order to make the world a better place you often have to start with yourself, right?

Summer wedding

2009-05-25T01:19:00.005-04:00

The Jonas Brothers were on my MySpace login page earlier. Ugh.

So I've played 3 outdoor weddings in the past couple of weekends. They're not all bad, but when there are thunderstorms in the forecast, anything could happen. Even if it doesn't rain, there's still the dreaded "h" word. I think "humidity" was probably one of the first words I learned as a child. And I soon learned that it was evil...

Some of my favorite wedding stories to tell are the ones where brides requested/chose odd or inappropriate music. But often the interesting weddings aren't the ones with special requests but the ones where the unexpected happens during processionals. Until recently, I would've said the most excruciating processional was when my trio played "Maybe I'm Amazed" for the bridesmaids. Everything was going well--until the ushers started letting tardy guests sit down inbetween the bridesmaids' entrances.* There weren't even that many bridesmaids--it was a small ceremony--but with all the late people, we ended up playing about 14 verses of Paul McCartney's song.**

(Un)fortunately, that record was broken this past Saturday. I played with a friend's group and, once again, it was during the bridesmaids' entrance that it all went down. This time it was a Lennon-penned tune, "Dear Prudence." We started playing. Nothing happened. We continued playing. Still nothing. We started looking around. Finally we saw the bridesmaids making their way from the fenced area to the beginning of the "aisle." But they didn't walk down the aisle. They stopped to take pictures. Not just a few--we're talking full photo shoot. By this time we've played 5 or so verses. Eventually the minister and groom processed. Then the groomsmen processed. One. By. One. Have you ever seen that? 'Cause in my 15+ years of wedding performances, I've never seen it. By now the verse count is probably up to 12 or 13, including a few trips to the bridge and back. As you've probably guessed, the bridesmaids eventually processed. Total verses of "Dear Prudence" played: Around 20. I lost count after a while...

There are many more stories like that one. Maybe I'll tell you another one soon.

This portion of the post is slightly irrelevant, given that you are currently reading the "more open blog." [In other news, I hope to be moving to a more open blog. I was reminded that my readers can't comment on my posts unless they have a MySpace account. And I wouldn't wish a MySpace account on anyone who has managed to escape the suffering. I'm currently working on a new blog at (location concealed for now). Will keep you updated.]

Any special plans for Memorial Day? I'm going to hang out with my brother and watch movies. He wants me to see Private Ryan so I'll probably watch it. But I'm going to make him watch something totally unrelated, like Finding Nemo or my Bryan Adams concert DVD.

Okay, it's (past) time to retire. Enjoy your holiday if you're celebrating and if it's just another normal day, have a great Monday!

*This is one of the many reasons I would LOVE to offer courses in wedding ceremony management (among other things), especially for those brides who choose not to hire a wedding planner. So many awkward moments and disasters could be avoided!!!

**My trio vowed that though we love Sir Paul, we never want to hear that song again as long as we live!

Star Trek Review - Part II (SPOILERS)

2009-05-19T05:17:00.001-04:00

Okay, it’s finally time for the second part of my review. I think it's time to see the movie again.

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5) John Cho as Sulu When Kirk asked Sulu what his hand-to-hand training was, I was like Please let it be fencing, PLEASE let it be fencing! Sooooo awesome. Was it me or does it seem like his character was the least explained? I feel that he got the least amount of screen time of the main 7 and he was the crewman we learned the least about. Maybe I need to see it again, but I can’t really comment on Cho’s performance because there’s not much to talk about. The fight scene with Sulu, Kirk and the Romulans was awesome, though.

6) Simon Pegg as Scotty Funniest scene in the whole movie: After all the action on the bridge, Scotty goes “I like this ship—it’s exciting!” Pegg did a wonderful job of creating his own version of Scotty. But did anyone else cringe at his little alien sidekick thing? I thought one thing: Jar Jar. Maybe that’s a little extreme, but I worry.

7) Anton Yelchin as Chekov I haven’t seen Charlie Bartlett but now I want to. This kid—sorry, this guy; he only looks young—was great as Chekov. I loved the ego combined with the eager-to-please mentality. The bit where he ran through the corridors going “I can do that! I can do that!” was hilarious and of course the part where the computer didn’t understand his code was classic.

8) Eric Bana as Nero I would say great job on the makeup, but I really think the reason I didn’t recognize him is because I don’t know who the guy is. I know the name but I don’t think I’ve seen a single movie of his! It’s nothing against him, I guess he just hasn’t done anything in genres I care about.

Anyway, onto Nero. Am I the only one who thinks this character was a little weak? Also, why the heck did they have to change what the Romulans looked like? He reminded me of Shinzon, another under-developed bad guy (IMHO).

Other thoughts: When Kirk relieved Pike at the end of the movie, my first thought was Oh man, dude STILLends up paralyzed. But my next thought was But at least he’s not burnt toast in a black box with flashy lights. He still looks hot.

The scene on the planet where Kirk ignored the advice to stay inside the shuttlepod was also classic Trek. Very nicely done. And as Matthew reminded me, the Uhura’s-first-name bit was also ingenious.

So that’s my bit. How do y’all feel about it? I still need to see it a second time, though it probably won’t be at an IMAX theatre. I knew it would be more expensive but double the price of a regular theatre ticket is a bit much.

Summer's Here!

2009-05-18T22:24:00.001-04:00

I'm sad to say that I'll be skipping the monthly madrigal meeting (yay, alliteration ) tonight. My heart is willing but my body is like Um, no. Remember when you almost felt like dozing off while driving to teach this afternoon? You're going to go to bed. And no we don't dress up when we sing madrigals (everyone asks that, lol!). We just sing & sometimes drink wine.

That is an awesome smiley.

Okay. Onto other, hopefully more interesting, topics. I played with the KSO on their final big concert of the season. The program was Wagner's Overture to Lohengrin (well, Act III of Lohengrin), Liszt's 1st piano concerto, and Mahler's 5th symphony. What a program. It was demanding but still fun! I would've loved about 6 more rehearsals on that Mahler but you know how that goes. The pianist was simply amazing and his encore was Horowitz's transcription of Stars and Stripes Forever. I almost went straight home afterward because it had been such an exhausting week. Instead I chose to go to Calhoun's and spend some time with my friends before we all go our separate ways for the summer. It was a good choice.

So now that's summer's here, what's a self-employed musician to do? Well all the symphonies are off until the Fall and I didn't get any summer school courses at Pellissippi, so I'm just teaching and gigging as much as I can. Also working on some repertoire I didn't have time to work on during the school year and recruiting more students for the coming school year. So summer isn't really much of a break but I think I prefer it that way--these stretches of time where I have nothing to do are confusing!

Anyone want to play some chamber music this summer? I'm totally game. I miss chamber music so much--it was always my favorite part of college and grad school.

Oh! Random news--one of my violin students graduated from high school and is on her way to college. I'm so proud of her, especially of what she's accomplished in the short time I've had the privilege of working with her! Congratulations, Rachel!

And now to take a brief nap... Leave a comment and tell me what your summer plans are!

Star Trek review - Part I (SPOILERS)

2009-05-12T03:27:00.000-04:00

Alrighty. I know it's a music blog, but it's also my blog so I can bend the rules a bit, right? Right. I saw the new Star Trek movie Sunday and I'm still on Cloud 12 1/2. I'm totally going to see it again. I think the 2nd time around I'll go see it at the IMAX theatre. So, on the the review. I have so much to say that I have to break it up into chunks. More exciting that way, no?

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I’m so excited that people care what I think! Of course by “people” I mean 3-4 friends who know I’m crazy about Star Trek and find my drooling amusing. But anyway, here goes. This is basically a re-write of a nerdfest I had with my friend Matthew, plus other things I thought of as I typed this up.

First, some thoughts about casting: OMG Ben Cross as Sarek. I remember Ben Cross as Barnabus, the vampire in the “Dark Shadows” miniseries. Gorgeous then and gorgeous now. And I didn’t even recognize Winona Ryder (Amanda Grayson), which is good. I was a bit thrown when I saw Tyler Perry because I associate him with Madea and “Meet the Browns” and all that. But it’s most likely similar to “24” or “Heroes” fans seeing Zachary Quinto as Spock or Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz/etc. fans seeing Simon Pegg as Scotty. Everyone did a great job though, and any problems with suspension of disbelief were because of my personal bias and not the actors’ abilities.

It was such a cool movie that nothing could distract me from its awesomeness for too long. :-D

How many of you got the least bit misty-eyed at the beginning? ‘Cause I sure did. I mean, it was obvious that George Kirk—captain of the Kelvin for all of 12 minutes—wasn’t going to make it. But it was just written and played so well… Wow. Also, my brother and I totally geeked out (the first of many times, I assure you) as they picked the baby’s name. Very well done.

Onto actors and characters and their similarities/differences:

1) Chris Pine as Kirk Amazingly cool. Some people complain that he didn’t get Shatner’s Kirk right but his goal wasn’t to be Shatner’s Kirk. This is an alternate timeline so stop your whining!!! And I think he did get the basics of the Kirk we know—not accepting defeat, a bit on the cocky side and humorous. Two of my fave scenes with Kirk were the scene where Bones kept giving him hypos to make him appear sick and then to get rid of the symptoms (swollen hands, numb tongue—classic!!) and the Kobayashi Maru scene where he just non-chalantly ate an apple while ignoring all the “danger” around him. I think that’s one of the times I laughed the hardest.

2) Zachary Quinto as Spock At first I thought he looked a little young, but I did some research and Spock’s only 3 years older than Kirk. Quinto has this almost distracting baby face thing going, but I think I’ll eventually get used to it. I think it reminds us that this is still a young Spock. I don’t have as much to say about his performance—not because it was unremarkable but because I enjoyed it so much and I can’t really put it into words. I think he did a great job of portraying how a young Spock would’ve reacted to illogical situations, losing his mother, meeting his future self, etc. Oh yeah, and marooning Kirk on the planet—I was soooooo mad at him but soooooo amused at the same time.

3) Zoe Saldana as Uhura Gotta get this off my chest. I was not cool with Spock and Uhura being an item. First because it just threw me for a curve and second because I’m jealous, LOL! I always liked Spock and I don’t know if you noticed but Zachary Quinto ain’t to bad lookin’!

But back to Uhura. I’m glad with what Saldana (and the writers) did with Uhura’s character. Because of the time of the show and whatnot, Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura wasn’t fleshed out very much—we knew so little about her, you know? She was from (the United States of) Africa, spoke Swahili, could sing, and was a kickass communications officer. Oh yeah, and she was gorgeous.

Saldana did an excellent job of breathing new life into Uhura, making her intelligent and tenacious. I love how she confronted Spock about being assigned to the Farragut instead of the Enterprise. In case you haven’t committed it all to memory like I have (this is paraphrased, as my memory isn’t THAT good):

Spock: I wanting to avoid accusations of favoritism†--

Uhura: *leans in determinedly* I’m on the Enterprise.

Spock: *does something on the PADD* Yes, you are.

4) Karl Urban as Bones Oh. My. Heavens. This man nailed it soooo well. If any of the characters had to stay the same, it was Bones. (Bones is my favorite Star Trek character of all time so I’m biased of course. I'm such a hypocrite aren't I [go back and read what I said about Kirk]?) Urban was fantastic as a young Leonard McCoy. He just nailed it. The accent, the stubbornness, the irritability… All the things we know and love about the good doctor. Also, I’m glad they chose an actor who was visibly a bit older than the rest of the crew, as Bones was. Can’t say enough good things about Urban’s McCoy. Crazy awesome.

†All these years I thought that word was spelled "favortism," like it's pronounced. Wow. Thanks for correcting me, Microsoft Word.

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Part II to come within the next few days.

Pops Concert!

2009-05-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

KSO is hosting Peter Cetera tonight for the last Pops concert of the season. Just got home from rehearsal. I was okay until we got to "Glory of Love" and then I totally started geeking out. Some of you know exactly why that song is special, but for those of you who don't: Karate Kid II.

That was my childhood, y'all!!! I had a HUGE crush on Ralph Macchio. I don't even remember all the details from the movie (cute guy is wimpy, mean guy fights better, a girl is in the middle, blah blah) but I remember that song. I think it played during the closing credits...?

So in today's rehearsal, when Cetera got to that familiar refrain "I am the man who will fight for your honor..." I was grinning from ear to ear like a complete dork I am.

Speaking of Cetera, his voice isn't quite as nasal as it was in earlier years, which is good. Unfortunately, I think he's a bit of a diva. While the orchestra ran through the charts, he walked around and then hovered over a section while they played, as if he were surveying his kingdom. Seriously, dude--you worry about your part and we'll worry about ours.

In addition to his own tunes, he's also doing some classic Chicago (You're the Inspiration, Hard to Say I'm Sorry, After All that We've Been Through) and some random covers (Lady Madonna, Yesterday, Daydream Believer). Guess who's sitting right in front of the brass and had to ask for a sound shield during Lady Madonna? And it didn't even help because the bandleader asked the brass to STAND when they have the familiar riff. Yippee. I'd better find the souvenir ear plugs I got at Tommy before tonight's show.

All in all it'll be a good evening. The violas actually get some pretty cool licks in a couple of songs and it's a pops show so the audience will be more responsive. Now off to find some dinner, dig up some earplugs, and maybe practice some Mahler.