So, I tried to cheer myself up by thinking about some really great opportunities I have had, many of which I have shared here in my blog in the last 7 years. I know I've shared some of these in recent blogs, so I apologize for redundancy, but maybe some of these you haven't heard of yet. Oh, and I plan on posting a blog soon detailing each year of my musical career, so you get to see quite a bit of history about me...in case you wanted to know. It's just a really long blog, so it will take some time, haha.
But anyways, here's what I cheered myself up with today: My greatest musical opportunities (in random chronological order as I remember them):
- Winning 3rd Place for Solo Horn at the State Solo & Ensemble Contest in 2004
- Attending All-Northwest as a member of the concert band in 2003
- Playing on the Benaroya Hall stage twice, once in 2003 and 2010
- Winning the principal horn chair of the orchestra in 2006 during my 2nd year at CWU and playing an amazing array of repertoire, including Scheherazade
- Playing principal for 3 more years in the CWU orchestra, which included a bunch of great repertoire
- Winning the Principal Horn Chair of the Mid-Columbia Symphony in 2009 and playing with them for 3 years, covering some amazing repertoire
- Playing the Gliere Horn Concerto as soloist with the Mid-Columbia Symphony
- Playing assistant principal for the Milwaukee Symphony during some Christmas Concerts in 2013
- Traveling to Italy in 2015 for 16 days with the Wisconsin Wind Orchestra and performing all over the Umbria region.
- Writing a solo tuba piece for a friend while at CWU and having it performed with the CWU Wind Ensemble
- Traveling to the CBDNA Conference in Greensboro, NC with the UW-Milwaukee Wind Ensemble
- Successfully auditioning into the Saratoga Orchestra and earning the principal chair
- Playing principal horn as a sub with the Festival City Symphony in Milwaukee, performing "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Borodin's 2nd Symphony
- Playing Mahler's 1st Symphony in 2011 with the Yakima Symphony as the 6th horn
- Attending the International Horn Society's Workshop in Denver in 2008, and winning the Dorothy Frizelle Scholarship while there.
- Attending more than 20 Seattle Symphony Concerts while at CWU
- Writing and performing my 1st horn concerto with the Saratoga Orchestra, with huge success
- Playing 3rd horn on Dvorak's Serenade with the Wisconsin Wind Orchestra in 2013
- Taking my Whidbey Island Horn Club to the Northwest Horn Workshop in 2018
- Playing the Kuhlau Concertino for 2 Horns with Jeff Snedeker in front of Froydis Ree Wekre (and a full audience) in 2011 at the Northwest Horn Workshop
- Taking my Penn Cove Brass Ensemble to State Solo & Ensemble earlier this year
- Every year of my Whidbey Island Brass Camp
- Playing 4th horn on an all-Harry Potter concert with the Yakima Symphony in 2018
- Playing the "State Wars Suite" with the Saratoga Orchestra in 2017
- Playing Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the CWU Orchestra in 2008
- Performing my piece, "High Flight", with the combined Saratoga Orchestra and Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, alongside Danielle Kuhlmann, with the piece's narration read by Dave Beck (the rest of the concert was pretty amazing, too)
And, I mean, I've played a lot of really great music over the years. I should feel great about that. And there are more great things that have happened in my musical life.
But what I feel I've been lacking a lot (because I have) is professional performance opportunities. It's just how my life has been going. I'm just too busy as a teacher and a father to really get to play with professional groups. And tonight I am sad about it, even though I know I have done some great things before...I guess I just miss those moments, and I know there are tons of musicians out there having great opportunities all the time. I guess..I'm just kind of jealous.
Well, I guess I'll be fine. I'll just continue to wish for more opportunities to play alongside professionals. I wish the Saratoga Orchestra performed more often...and that Seattle wasn't so far away. But I'm here in Oak Harbor, where my wife's career is flourishing and our family & home life is flourishing and my teaching & directing life is flourishing...so, that's good.
...but, my most favorite thing to do in the whole world is play in an orchestra...5 concerts a year is a little sparse.
Oh well, I'll stop complaining. Thanks for reading.
Take care and value music.