Summer in the Desert
Jul 07, 2008 in Uncategorized
Hello, all,
I am back in Phoenix after a weekend home in Dallas and summer is kicking into high gear. Check the calendar page as we move into August for a full report on upcoming performances with the ASU ensembles.
In the absence of obligations for ASU, most of my trumpet life these days revolves around private teaching and personal practice time. I have been fortunate to live in a building with neighbors who do not object to the sounding of a trumpet throughout the day and often during the evening, although perhaps this is due to the fact that they can’t hear it. (That last is no fault of mine. I steer clear of practice mutes and encourage my students to do the same unless absolutely necessary, since they change the resistance of the instrument and I have found that they compromise my control once I return to an open horn. If anything, the lack of loud playing at home can be attributed to my dog, who makes such a ruckus when I practice Bruckner that I try to save that for the sessions when I’m at my office.)
Musicians’ lives, I have discovered, are seasonal, regardless of whether they are still in school. This summer has been an eye-opening experience for me, since I’ve been teaching at two different music stores and working as a receptionist at a third. My apartment, usually conveniently positioned near the campus, has suddenly become no small distance from my students, who are primarily of the middle school/music store demographic right now as opposed to undergraduates. Younger students often stop taking lessons over the summer, whereas others start a brand new instrument, sometimes to get ahead before the school year and sometimes to try out something new as kind of a summer project. (Thanks to Guitar Hero, there is no shortage of ambitious rising rock stars, and most stores seem to maintain at least two guitar instructors, and sometimes more.) All of this, of course, contributes to gas consumption and mileage, and I have given serious (well, wishfully serious) thought to acquiring a horse. If anyone has any thoughts about horse usage in the Phoenix metro area, please let me know. :)
Anyway, I hope everyone is well and managing to stay in the shade. There isn’t much of it around here, so I guess this is the season when I think longingly of Chicago.
Thanks for reading, and keep checking in!
All the best,
-Brittany :)