Upcoming Concert

This particular version of insane in my life - over 3000 miles on my car in the last TEN DAYS, 19 services (rehearsals, recording sessions, and performances) including 2 self-produced recitals, and as many students (not that many) as I could squeeze in around the edges - is finally ending. If I've posted nothing other than shameless self-promotion I am sorry. It is about to be over. I will become smart and interesting again, instead of merely competent and punctual, which is absolutely all I've been able to manage since the 20th. I love what I do but this has been a rough set.

Tomorrow afternoon I am playing a St Matthew Passion at the University of Chicago. It's one of the greatest pieces EVER written, and I am playing the least stressful oboe part in it for a change, so for me it is three hours of enjoying everyone else's awesomeness and loving being on that gorgeous old campus. Great orchestra, astounding music. Details are HERE.

And on Monday my normal life resumes, with nothing but my normal teaching, practicing, reedmaking, running, and ZOE TIME!

I can't wait.

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Idle Thought

I should be practicing right now. Putting in the hours to prepare for my audition on Monday. But this morning before I left home to teach I chose to use my time making a chicken salad that we could eat for the rest of this busy week, and now after my Notre Dame student I am cheerfully enjoying my lunch at the local coffee house, Zoe snoozing beside me in her car seat. Sometimes it's healthier to use your time taking care of yourself instead of your reeds. Or at least I hope so...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

We took a vacation this summer. This is not news to anyone in my life - anyone who knows me or especially Steve on Facebook followed along with all of our pictures. We took our travel trailer out to Arizona - via St Louis, Tulsa, Amarillo, Roswell, Santa Fe - and then stayed a week in Clarksdale and Flagstaff and visited some ancient pueblo ruins, Sedona, Jerome, the Lowell Observatory, the Grand Canyon. We swam in swimming pools, lakes, and icy mountain streams. We hiked. Eventually we came home again, via Albuquerque, Amarillo, Tulsa, and St Louis. (our inventiveness had somewhat worn out). After a week at home we took another trip, and drove to Vermont via western NY and the Adirondack Park (stayed an extra day to hike a mountain), lived four days in East Franklin VT, and came home via Catskill and eastern Ohio. This vacation felt different from all of our previous ones. In the 21 years we’ve been married, I can name only one - maybe two trips we ever took t

How Do You WISH You Could Describe Your Reeds?

In Reed Club last Monday, we took a moment before we started scraping to set some intentions. We each said one word - an adjective to describe what we WANTED our reeds to be. An aspirational adjective. Efficient was a word that came up, and Consistent . Dark and Mysterious . Mellow . Predictable . Trustworthy . Honest . BIGGER . Reed affirmations actually felt helpful - both in the moment and in the results we found as we worked. I don't know why that surprises me - I set intentions at the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the month, at the beginning of a run, in the morning before I work. I love a good affirmation. I love WORDS. But I'd sort of forgotten about the possibility of applying one to the mundane work of reed-making. You don't have to know exactly how to GET to that result. But having clarity in your mind about what that result is? Helps you to stop going down unhelpful rabbit holes. Reminds you to seek something beyond competent, beyond

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