Beer is Good for Me

Last week my best student auditioned for Region Orchestra, and he placed fifth! Unfortunately, they only take four trombones for the orchestra. But he was so close! He was pretty disappointed, so I tried to tell him that he did really well. Especially since last year he didn't even make Region Band, and they take about 25 trombones for Region Band (I think they then split them up into two bands, this stuff is a really big deal in Texas if you couldn't guess). Now he's top five in the region! Athough I guess not everybody auditions for the orchestra, so he might not do quite as well in the band audition, but I think he probably will do very well. I feel a little bad for him, because he is by far the best trombone player at this High School where I teach, but, as High School trombone players go, I can tell he's not among the very best overall. Still, he expects himself to place at the top of everything, because he's used to being the best at it. So I don't quite know what to say to him when things don't go his way like this.

But I'm excited because this year I have two students who have, I think, a good shot at making region band. They're both seniors, and they both have been taking lessons with me now for a year and a half. If I can get them both to make regions this year, after they didn't come close last year, I'll feel pretty good about how much I have helped overall. For a school to go from zero to two Region Band trombone players in just one year, that's got to say something about the school's trombone teacher, right? There's one more student who could be a sleeper, but I doubt he'll make it. He really wants to get in, and he practices a lot, but he still kind of has that 7th Grade sound, like a mix between a trombone and a duck call, and I'm not really sure how to get rid of it. Still, he's just a sophomore, he has time.

I sang in the Percussion Ensemble concert tonight. That's right. It was a command performance, if I do say so myself. So if anyone is looking for a singer to round out their traditional folkloric Afro-Cuban band, you know who to ask. I'll be waiting by the phone.

And thus begins my "five concerts in six days" Pre-Thanksgiving extravaganza. Tonight was the Percussion Ensemble (doesn't really count, because I just belted out some repeated phrases in a language I didn't understand while other people banged on things), tomorrow and Sunday are the Brass Choir with Organ concerts (complete with fifteen brass players blasting the hell out of the smallest, most reverberative organ hall you will ever find...really, really bad idea), Monday is the Studio Recital, and Tuesday is "Grand Pianola Music" by John Adams. So when the vacation finally comes on Wednesday, I'll definitely have plenty to be thankful for. Like not being in fucking Texas, if only for a few days out of the year.

Latest addiction: lonelygirl15.com. No, it's not porn, though it is slightly voyeuristic. I found some of the videos somehow on YouTube and thought they were real people, and then by the time I found out they weren't I was hooked. Even though it's fake, you gotta hand it to the people who make the videos, they're pretty realistic. And the acting is pretty good.