musique du coeur

I love music. Obviously, or I wouldn't torture myself playing piano as an accompanist. Denis thought I should have a graduation gift for completing my masters degree - one that is as impractical as possible: a French horn. The thought of having one of these beautiful instruments for my very own has consumed my imagination for weeks now. Through the research I've done, I've learned all about different valve types, wraps, throat size, bell flare - even the fact that the different metals the horn can be made from (and therefore the color the horn is) makes a difference in how it sounds. And when we go to NYC this weekend, we're going to visit a store in NJ that specializes in brass instruments - they have hundreds of horns in stock (unlike the mere three that the local music store carries). I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store, wanting to try them all. My current favorite is this one (pictured above), but I'm willing to change my mind if I find something better.
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:33 AM -

How to remove a pool cover in 10 not-so-easy steps.

1. Change into old clothes
2. Remove leaf cover with heavy rotting leaves (should have done this before winter!)
3. Spend 3 hours vacuuming scummy pond water out of pool cover, while trying hard not to contemplate colonies of tadpoles, worms, spiders, and other creepy-crawly things which are being sucked up by shop-vac
4. Leave for a few hours and pray that the sun evaporates remaining water
5. Return to find slightly less wet cover that needs to be removed before predicted rain starts
6. Roll cover gradually, continuing to vaccuum remaining leaf bits, crawly things and water
7. Drag dripping wet scummy cover into yard
8. Attempt to hose off remaining scumminess
9. Drag cover to driveway to deal with later
10. Burn cover-removing clothes and resolve to call a professional next year

So, we got the pool cover off, the chemicals seem ok, but it's still cloudy from all the dead algae floating around in it. Maybe by next weekend it will look nice, but it will probably still be ice cold. Ah, the joys of pool ownership. This summer better be nice enough to use the pool more than 3 times!
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:18 AM -

Done

It's done. I think I have to say that again, since I still don't believe it. It's done. Done. Finished. No more master's project to work on. They didn't even have any changes for me. The defense went smoothly, my demo worked (for the most part, anyway), and they only asked three questions. It's done. I think I'm going to need a while to readjust to this, though - it hasn't quite caught up to me that I have nothing to do. Well, not *nothing*, I mean, there's a house that has disintegrated into a pathetic mess, gardens that have more weeds than flowers, a pool to open, and several friends to whom I owe lots of broken plans. It's not enough, but thank you to everyone who has patiently waited for me to emerge from behind my computer and become a non-stressed person once again. La la la la la. I'm done. :)
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:23 AM -

Ow, Ow, Ow

Playing an entire musical 4 times in 26 hours (not counting all of the rehearsing in between performances) is something I would not recommend to anyone. My hands still hurt. :( But, I tentatively agreed to do their summer production - I know, I'm a glutton for punishment - because the director promised no more 3-show days. We'll see.
posted by Sarah Reilly 7:42 AM -

3, 2, 1...

My whole life feels like one giant countdown right now. I've got 1 more rehearsal, 4 more performances, 5 more days until my defense... Someday I'll be normal again. Well, ok, so I never was in the first place. :D Rehearsal last night went pretty well, and I'm ecstatic that I found this program to help me transpose Edelweiss into whatever key the Captain can sing it in. I was trying to do it by hand, which would have taken me twice as long, and about three bottles of ivory-colored white-out. (I suppose I could've just broken down and bought white staff paper, or used a pencil).
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:42 AM -

Stage Fright

Sound of Music went very well over the weekend, despite my stage fright. It's not like I've never played piano in front of people before - it was just my first time being the only accompanist for an entire musical. Now I feel like an old pro, and the rehearsals and performances this week aren't going to faze me in the slightest. Well, maybe just a little, since being overconfident is a bad thing when it comes to playing piano.

My project defense, on the other hand, is terrifying to me. I have never been very good at speaking in front of people (except when acting, which is somewhat different). I know my subject, my presentation is well on it's way to being decent, and I'll have practiced it at least a couple of times before next Tuesday. Still, I already have butterflies in my stomach just thinking about standing up in front of my committee - and probably no one else, since I scheduled it for 9 AM - and doing this presentation. The rational part of me realizes that my committee wants me to pass, and will probably not ask terribly difficult questions. The rest of me is still scared to death. I have 8 days to get over my fear of public speaking. Hm. Well, I'd just be happy to find a way to not sound like I'm nervous.
posted by Sarah Reilly 3:42 PM -

Happy Mother's Day

...to all moms, grandmas, and moms-to-be! My mom wanted to see Spiderman, so I treated her to the movies. Unfortunately, having the tickets in hand from the night before, we didn't arrive at the theater until about 20 minutes before showtime. We ended up in the front row, mostly grateful that there was a string of 5 seats together. Who knew that everyone would be taking their mom to the movies?
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:12 PM -

The End is Near

Hm. That title is a little morbid! My project defense is scheduled for May 21st. I'm almost done! I just have to come up with some sort of intelligent demo/presentation type thing by then - in between rehearsals, I guess. 11 days from now, I will be done - barring any requested changes to the documents I've already written. Wow. I've been working on my degree since September, 1998 - before I was married. I wonder if Denis will be able to handle not having to share me with school? :)
posted by Sarah Reilly 12:15 PM -

*Yawn*

I spent my entire evening off from rehearsals looking for a black dress. Not too dressy, not too casual, but the perfect black dress to wear for the shows. I found something (not perfect, but good enough) in the very last store I had time to go to. Figures. Then I spent the rest of the night making stuff up to play for the song ending I still don't have, adding tabs to my 3-ring binder so I could find each song, and in general stressing out. Finally, close to midnight, I went to bed, and sometime after that (I couldn't see the clock while my head was buried under the pillow) Molly started going nuts. Apparently, there was a rather long, violent cat fight going on what sounded like right outside our bedroom window. Needless to say, I haven't gotten enough sleep, and the first performance is tonight. Argh.
posted by Sarah Reilly 7:15 AM -

The Hills Are Alive...

with the sound of pages turning?!? OK. That's it. I need to invent an automagic page-turner for piano music. One that will read my mind so it knows exactly when to turn a page. Oh, and it has to unstick stuck piano keys. And cue people who are supposed to start singing. Actually, a third hand would work just as well. Maybe I could be like that guy (Zaphod?) in Hitchhiker's Guide, three arms, and two heads, too - one to look at the music, and the other to watch the actors/actresses to make sure they haven't gotten lost in the music. (Sorry, this whole blog is just a rant about rehearsals & other assorted preparation for The Sound of Music, which I am accompanying this weekend and next for a bunch of 9-14 year-old kids.)

Rant over. It's actually been pretty fun to do this, and I'll probably do it again. It just might not have been the wisest thing to agree to do in the two weeks leading up to my project defense. :)
posted by Sarah Reilly 7:54 AM -

So Close...

I'm almost done with my project. I sent drafts of all of my final documentation to my project committee, and I'm just waiting to hear back with comments. Hopefully, they'll all be good! :) Now I need to set a date for the defense and come up with a presentation & demo. And then? I guess I'd better get to work on my sadly neglected gardens. It is
spring, after all, and the last one that I will ever have to worry about school during.
posted by Sarah Reilly 1:06 PM -