Recital

Well, I survived my recital. Did OK; will have a better idea of how I did once I hear the tape. Now I'm just glad it's over. I have to give much thanks to our wonderful accompanist, Mark: he saved my ass a couple of times when I either wasn't counting right or just came in wrong. Patrick said that while Mark was playing with me, he looked like he was reading a really gripping adventure novel; it was as if he couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. We did rehearse but you know, it's always different when you're really doing it. I'm not sure if Patrick's comment was a good one or not. I think, maybe not, but oh, well. Mark's a terrific pianist, and just got my music a week ago: I've been working this music up for about two months, and obviously it wasn't perfect. Anyway, we'll see. I also played two quartets (here's a photo of two of us, me and Patty; Patrick couldn't get all four of us in the shot at once), and a duet with a beginner (I played one wrong note! That is why you always check the key signature, even on the easy stuff!). Oh, and I also played in one big thing with everybody. Everybody did a good job; the one piece in particular that I enjoyed and had never heard before was Greg's solo: he played "Espiegle," from the Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio (Vol. 2), by Claude Bolling. It was totally cool, and he did a terrific job. He's quite a musician already, and the kid's only 16!

One of the other performers, a young man named Loren, is a senior this year, so this will probably be his last recital. He's made a lot of good progress this past year or so, and it's been fun seeing him improve. He played in the quartet with us, also. Over the years my flute teacher has had a lot of her young students graduate from high school; Loren is one of the few that I remember from when he was in middle school, and I really got to watch him grow up. It makes me sad to see him go, but he's off to Humboldt State, and I actually feel a little proud of him.

After the recital, Patrick and I headed to our favorite Chinese restaurant (Wacky Wok; I'm sure I've mentioned it here before), and then home. I was this close to taking a nap, but thought I'd see how the photos came out.

Anyway, now I'm really, really sleepy. I totally need to go chill out. More later.