Bedford, PA

The first concert of Tour 2008 was before a small but enthusiastic crowd in the Bedford, PA high school auditorium. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains, Bedford is a delightful town, filled with lovely old homes and ancient trees. Stepping off the bus, the air was crisp and cool; an instant shift to autumn weather.

Tonight’s program was the “C” Program. We open with Sousa’s “National Game” before moving right into Don’s new transcription of Festive Overture. Don has produced some wonderful arrangements for the Band, and he’s done a fine job with this one, as a whole. Don already knows, though, that I don’t care for the key. It shifts the piccolo into an awkward range, forcing some of the best lines into the middle octave. I miss the flash and sparkle of the old part.

I tacet on the horn solo; Hilary’s piece went well in the Tour rehearsals, so I was looking forward to the first performance. The lack of a backstage area, though, meant we hovered in an adjacent hallway, unable to hear much through the doors. Back on stage for the Dello Joio Variants on a Mediaeval Tune, I realized pitch would be interesting every C program at this point in the concert – I have to pull out quite a bit for the Shostakovich, so I have to take an educated guess as to where my piccolo will be after the tacet.

Semper Fi went well – two Band newbies in the brass section, and our rehearsal at home had an unexpected stinger. No stingers tonight!

The second half started with Liberty Fanfare, on of the many John Williams’ tunes we performed this summer. I belatedly realized my earplugs were in the dressing room – normally a big mistake for this piece. Fortunately, the lack of risers meant the trumpets were blowing into the sound shields in front of them instead of the back of my head.

The next piece is one of those pieces for which I have mixed emotions; the suite from The Perfect Fool, by Holst. On the one hand, it has a series of nice piccolo vignettes, mostly in the low register where it sounds the woodiest (a very under-used timbre for the piccolo); on the other hand, it has the single scariest moment (for me) of the entire tour. The piece ends with a very long, soft, sustained high d (!!!) in the piccolo and Eb clarinet while the other instruments peep and plop here and there. The note is usually quite high on the Eb and pretty flat on the piccolo. Fortunately, Michelle has some flexibility with covering tone holes, and I lucked out and found a magic fingering – it’s so sharp I have to lip it down to meet her pitch.

I tacet for the vocal solo, and I am hoping to hear it better at the next performance. I love listening to Sara; she has a great repertoire for this tour.

The best part about tonight’s concert was the enthusiastic fellow in the audience. Immediately following the final note of Festive Overture, he jumped to his feet, yelling out “Oh, Yeah!!” before the rest of the audience even began to applaud. Every piece he enjoyed was followed by an enthusiastic “Oh, Yeah!” all the way to the end of the concert.

The Tour Groove

The past few days I felt much like the White Rabbit – “So much to do, so little time!” The last free weekend flew by fairly quickly, trying to fit in all the errands I had not had been able to squeeze in during Tour Rehearsals and Driver’s Ed and still have some Family Time.

We spent time at the MVA course practicing parallel parking and three point turns, along with a good number of other young driving hopefuls. I spent a fair amount of time wading through Fulbright literature in order to help proofread Jenna’s personal statement and project description for content. I managed to fit in most of my errands and a haircut while John and Jamey spent time volunteering at an Orienteering Meet for NJROTC.

Monday brought the last Tour Rehearsal and final loading of the trunks. I was able to fit in the annual Gutting of the Locker in addition to dressing my uniforms and loading all the necessities of Tour into my drawer in the trunk. (Yes, I must be a bona-fide Toe Tag now – I somehow managed to make the Women 1 Trunk this year.) Jamey passed his MVA Exam (I refuse to call it a Driving Exam), so John waited in line at the MVA with him until he walked out the door with his provisional license.

Tuesday was all too short. I wanted to spend as much time with the family as possible, but packing tends to get in the way. Most years I gradually collect all the detritus I take on the road, letting it accumulate in some out of the way spot. This year I found myself puttering from room to room gathering Tour Items, much like the crazy squirrels in the back yard collecting their randomly hidden nuts.

I managed to get in a driving session with Jamey – making sure he was comfortable parking in the school lot, the mall parking lot (where he works), and locating certain meeting points for various activities he might need to drive himself. At 11:00 pm, I found myself still tucking things in various pockets and containers. I was as ready as I could be, given my crazy schedule. If I forgot it, oh well, time to find a Wal-Mart or Target on the road.

This morning I drove Jamey to school for the last time (and I mean that in the literal sense) before returning home to get myself ready to leave. The remainder of the morning passed all too quickly before I found myself hugging the dog on the way out the door. Poor Chloe, the sight of a suitcase makes her crazy. Jenna left only two weeks ago – the dog must think we’re going to disappear one by one.

Pulling into the parking lot near the Bolling Commissary, I saw people bustling from car to bus, like busy little ants, carrying boxes and bags. We pulled up near Bus 2, and before John could finish handing me the hanging items, Lorenzo was pulling on his gloves to pull the suitcases out of the car.

We had more than enough time to load my stuff before the bus pulled up from the Barracks. Band members not touring showed up to help others load or just to wish us well on our way. Irv made another appearance – this is the first time in 26? 28? years Irv wasn’t loading his own stuff. I wonder how it feels? It is Gail’s last tour. The wide smile she wears makes me wonder if it her normal cheerful countenance or the thought of this being her last Tour?

Fifteen minutes before our planned departure, John said his farewells and hit the road home. I climbed aboard the bus, where a few people were already sitting, trying to make the transition to tour. There are a lot of new faces on Bus 2 this year – some new to the band and some just new to Bus 2. So many things about this tour feel different for me – I wonder how long it will take to get my Tour Groove?

Lucky #13

We leave in less than a week, and the only list I have is the basic packing list I store in a Word document for reference each year. By now, I usually have lists of things to do at home (cook and freeze food, contact teachers, commissary list, doctor’s appointments), things to do at work (clean uniforms, update medals, clean locker, practice parts, etc.), and things to do for tour packing (laundry, air suitcase, get tour containers out of storage, packing lists, replace socks, order tour supplies).

This September has been so hectic and disorganized – the only lists I have are in my head, which is so crammed with information, I’m bound to get something wrong. I’m not superstitious or anything, but this tour is #13…

With Jenna heading back to Northwestern, the first two weeks of September were spent getting her ready to go. After a year out of the country, this meant taking inventory of items stored here and in Evanston, pulling winter clothing out of storage, rounding up books and paperwork she didn’t need in Ireland, filling prescriptions, renewing her driving permit.

Additionally, Jenna is applying for a Mitchell Foundation Fellowship for graduate study in Ireland next year. She had to complete Northwestern’s application for endorsement by the 8th, so she was scrambling to get all the letters of recommendation from teachers in Ireland and Evanston. Her first day back in Evanston she was called in to interview with the nominating committee – her interview was so well received, they asked her to apply for a Fulbright as well. Northwestern had 24 Fulbright scholars last year; the amount of support they offer to their students in assisting them in the application process is mind-boggling.

Jamey started school the last week of August and dove right into Driver’s Education as well. I already mentioned the copious amounts of time spent driving to and fro; we finished classes last Friday, but the driving sessions will continue until he has his license in his hot little hands.

Let me just interject with my dissatisfaction with the Maryland Graduated Licensing System – the test for the license is not a driving exam. The student has three minutes to parallel park within very precise marked boundaries (shoulda bought a Smart Car), two minutes for a three point turn, then performs a backing maneuver for 60 feet, makes a right turn, and then comes to a complete stop. They never leave the parking lot of the MVA. There is no driving on the test. No wonder there are so many poor drivers in Maryland. And, honestly, I’ve seen a lot of bad parallel parking. It does, however, explain why everyone shoots into their parking space with little regard for the cars around them – they think they only have three minutes.

But I digress – all these events are happening while I’m in the midst of Tour rehearsals, PTAD rehearsals, and Tour prep. Every morning is tightly scheduled to fit in showers, packing lunches, taking care of the dog, breakfast, and supervised driving on the way to school (which starts at 0717 except on Thursdays when he has to be there at 0600 for AP Physics) before hitting the road to the Annex.

It is almost over, but it has been a very long week. I survived Wednesday, though, so I expect to live through the rest just fine. Wednesday started at 0500, as usual, but broke the mold early. I let Chloe out while I filled her food and water dishes; calling her to the door, I discovered she had rolled in leaf mulch and dog poo. Disgusted, I left her on the patio while I prodded Jamey out of bed (he had already hit snooze once). In the chilly, dark, wee hours of the morning, we unrolled the hose and gave her a “bath” on the patio. Lovely way to start the day.

We managed to get Jamey to school on time, but traffic was awful – accidents abound, something for everyone. I opted for Martin Luther King and managed to arrive only 20 minutes later than planned. Grabbing a practice room, I had an abbreviated warm-up before hauling my stuff into the Band Hall before heading to the Tour Librarian Brief. Harried and arms loaded, I walked right by them…the Tour Trunks.

My mind went blank momentarily, trying to process what I was seeing. Tour Trunks. Strangely, there was no sinking feeling in my stomach, and my heart didn’t lurch – my feeling was more one of frustration. Didn’t the Pre- and Post- Tour schedule say they would be available Thursday? Once again, everyone is more on the ball than I.

The Tour Librarian Brief didn’t take long – we have some Old Hands volunteering again this year, so most already know the ropes. Ellen will be handling scores again; Jennifer and Patrick will take the first half, and Lauren and Amy will take the second.

With the trunks staring us down, we went about the business of rehearsal. Just before the end, while Sara was singing, Irv walked in and sat down. The trunks had arrived, the Tour Brief was following rehearsal, and Irv had appeared as though he wasn’t going to miss this Tour, either.

For such a short Tour, the Brief seemed to be longer than usual. Maybe it was because I was tired, maybe it was because I was anxious to know the results of Jamey’s driving test, maybe it was because I had a multitude of errands to run before I could sit back and relax. The nights seem shorter, and the days don’t have enough hours in them. The weekend is fast approaching, and while welcome, it is my last weekend at home. The time is slipping away quickly, and I can’t seem to hang on to it. I don’t feel particularly anxious, I just feel behind.

2008 Tour Games

I arrived early this morning, as I always do before Tour rehearsals. The practice rooms fill up quickly before the first Tour rehearsal – everyone seems to want a little extra time to wood-shed some of the harder pieces.

I met only Jane in the locker room, and the information-packed bulletin board had no one scouring the reams of paper for more information. I saw no one in the hallway near the ensemble rooms. Entering the practice suite, a lone saxophone was practicing; the rest of the rooms were empty. Hm. Accident on 395?

Delighted to have a choice of rooms, I set up my peg and put together my instruments. Pulling my folders out of my Altieri bag, I understood the lack of people. The folders are so much thinner this year. With the shorter tour, we are taking half the number of programs a longer tour requires.

The atmosphere before rehearsal was more relaxed than usual – either a pleasant side effect of looking forward to a shorter tour, or there are enough Tour Newbies that haven’t figured out what Tour is all about. It will be interesting to see what changes and what stays the same with the shorter tour.

Rehearsal started with Trox’s explanation of the Bus Sign Up sheets and all the detailed information found on The Clipboard. The Clipboard was presented to Gail, holder of the most bus points, who will be signing up for a bus for the last time. Gail will retire in 2009 after 30 years and 20 tours.

Like the lighting of the Olympic Torch, Lisa’s tuning notes marked the beginning of our 2008 Tour Games. I’m entered in the PTAD Track and Field events this year, running in the Woodwind Quintet Relay (with a couple sprints in a Woodwind Trio), and I’m still running in the Library SNCOIC Marathon; all while trying to medal in the Piccolo Gymnastics. How am I going to fit it all into 31 days?

The Eye of the Storm

Silence.

All around me, silence.

The dog sighs and looks balefully in my direction, ears drooping. She cocks an eyebrow before dropping her head on her paws.

The whir and hum of the air-conditioning stirs the silence around me as I enjoy the peace and quiet of the Eye of the Hurricane.

Not Ike, but my own personal hurricane.

The past few weeks were a maelstrom of activity – Back to School for Jamey, his senior year, a flurry of shopping and packing for Jenna in preparation for her move back to Evanston, nightly treks to Driver’s Ed with Jamey (twenty-five minutes one-way: an hour and twenty minutes of driving every night), re-enlistment, viola auditions, 9-11 memorial ceremonies, TAD rehearsals, Tour music preparations, and not nearly enough sleep.

Jenna and John took off for Evanston this morning. Amazingly, the ever-growing pile of items going to Evanston fit in the back of John’s vehicle. There was even a little room for more (later explained by the forgotten items I will now be carrying on the bus until the Band arrives in Evanston).

Jamey and I spent the day catching up on chores, homework, and driving practice before I dropped him at the mall to meet friends. From there they will head to a Guys Gaming Sleepover (right, like sleep will happen), where they will likely Halo themselves into the wee hours.

So now I sit and enjoy the eye of my own personal hurricane - because, like any hurricane, there is more storm activity to follow. Monday I start rehearsing with my TAD quintet, on Tuesday Tour Rehearsals begin. Jamey continues with Driver’s Ed (while I continue Mom’s Taxi Service) and his scheduled driving with the instructor. We have to squeeze in Senior Photos, school clothes shopping, hair appointments, various medical appointments, John’s business trips (Government Fiscal Year ends this month), baby showers, Tour Shopping, food preparation for the freezer, the Big Pre-Tour Commissary Run (which maybe won’t be so big this year), and the list goes on…and on…

I should use this time to knock a few items off the lengthening list, but everyone needs a little Me Time now and then. For now, I’ll just curl up in the corner of the couch and enjoy the calm before the storm.