But yeah, May this year brings actually a lot of fun. Have I ever told you that preparing things for my job, albeit a lot of work, is also a lot of fun? It's one of the great rewards of my job. May is a relatively active month outside the house, with a performance at a church this weekend, a Harbor Brass/Penn Cove Brass concert on the 21st, and this year's Link Up program concert with the Saratoga Orchestra. But at home...man, I have a ton of stuff I gotta complete.
The Whidbey Island Brass Camp is slowly lurking closer, and if I wait too long to prepare, I'm going to have a ton on my plate. Registration is due mid-June, and I want to wait until then to get the music prepared, just so I know my instrumentation. But every else should be done by then: Session plans, materials for our warm-ups, etc. And, I still want to have a good idea of what music I'm playing, so I'm turning to the depths of my music library, making recordings of pieces I have but can't find recordings of anywhere online. I want to be even more prepared and put on a better camp than last year. Last year was great, mind you, but there was some ill-preparation on my part for some of the sessions...although it probably wasn't apparent to the students. Still, I strive to do better!
I also have a full summer with my brass ensembles and horn ensemble to prepare for, and that means making lots of recordings and shopping for music...and creating music. This month is definitely the time to be doing that.
And I just have some other projects I want to complete that will be beneficial. I'm going to transcribe on the Dauprat Op. 10 sextets, for one. I also want to revise this scale book idea I once had. And I'm sure there are many other arrangement and composition ideas I am not currently thinking of. There's always something...arg.
I also want to work really hard to get my horn playing to the level I want it. It's really hard to get practice in with my current life, but darn it, I've got to make it happen. At times I just fell like to don't play at the level that I should. I'm sure in the eyes of other's I'm being really self-critical, but I make far too many mistakes in my playing. And I feel that if I'm to call myself a true professional, then I just need to be better than I am. Plus...I still want to be a full-time performer someday. It's no secret. And I have to be ready for any audition...which I am very far from right now.
Oh, and the Saratoga Orchestra concert last weekend was really amazing. I love performing with large choirs (as opposed to small choirs, where the conductors always asks the brass to not play really soft all the time), and this music was just a blast to play. I wish I could get recordings of our concerts so I could show you guys.
Take care and value music.