It seemed like a normal day...I searched for a practice room for 20 minutes, found one, got called away for a quick meeting with Tom (faithfully leaving my instrument in a room alone), came back 12 minutes later to the middle of a piano lesson happening in my room, tried searching a different building for a room only to find a friend practicing in the hallway out of desperation--!! NO ROOMS at the Jacobs School of Music--is the moral of the story. I swear, it must be once a day that another practice room gets a lock and key for a new visiting professor's office, and we lose another space for 18 hours of practice per day.
ANYWAY
So I was really desperate at this point, and proceeded outside to secure my 3PM warm up, even though it was only 48 degrees outside (a seemingly warm spring day in Southern Indiana). All I wanted was an uninterrupted 20 minutes to play some slurs and long tones. Turns out, I managed to reach 4 and a half minutes before nature's practice room surrendered its peace and serenity to society's expected reaction: stares, hollers and calls, and today, a photographer. At first, it was not welcomed. PLEASE. Please, let me play a few whole notes by myself, I thought. But I realized that I could seize this opportunity to play the best crescendos and long tones for this stranger behind the camera. EMBRACE (right?) After a while, he introduced himself, and he seemed to be a nice guy, no ill intentions. OK, I am willing to be a subject of an art project, I thought. After all, I claim to be creating art with every note, right? As he snatched photos, trombone players began to congregate. Jeff appeared from behind a tree-literally- and then Joe. After a while, we were conversing with the photographer, and even suggesting shots that would work with our peculiar setting (three trombones, two giants, a short girl, and a forest).
The moral of the story? I'll let you decide. But somehow, Ryan and Jeff and the outdoors convinced me to let go of practice room anger, and embrace, well everything. The trombone, the trees, sound, music, ...
http://www.ryandorgan.com/2011/03/03/a-strange-place/
