Once again I’ve fallen behind in concert scheduling. I’ve been acting chair of the UVM music program, covering for a colleague on sabbatical. And for lots of reasons, including but not limited to the lawless chaos raining down from the authoritarian regime in DC, it’s been far more work than the advertised seat-warming gig.
But whenever I’m in any kind of low point in the project, whether it’s because of delinquent posting frequency, scheduling challenges, new repertoire overwhelm, general burnout, or whatever, some serendipitous exciting new thing pops in to pull me up.
Today a quick call led to an immediate date just a few weeks ahead. (The hardest assignment is filling in the upcoming schedule on short notice.) At a nearby elementary school, a fun thing I’ve been looking to do more of.
The only downside to an in-school gig is that it’s probably not appropriate to make it a fundraiser and may limit the audience—thus depressing my all-important STATISTICS. (I track attendance and donation amounts, partly for purposes of grant-writing, but mostly out of obsessive competitive self-analysis…I have a draft post about this, about the seductiveness and insidiousness of quantification.)
But the school principal on the other end of the line said they were planning a celebration to dedicate a newly redone playground. On a Friday—my project’s only convenient weekday concert slot. Could we do something in conjunction with that? Thus making it a schoolday yet also a public event.
I was already fully cheered up. Then he mentioned that a student was hoping to sing the national anthem at the event…there’s my “local collaborator” box ticked with no further legwork.
It was just one good vibe after another from there. To top it all off, he had what I (having admittedly little clue) would call a non-posh London accent. I’m a total sucker for that inflection; it was like talking to Idris Elba.
x
No comments:
Post a Comment