The Tempo of Life

I’ve been thinking a lot about tempo lately.

Some of the thinking has its roots in the music I’m struggling to master for next week’s BSO Academy.  I’m starting to get my fingers and bow around most of it — but at half-speed.  I’m nowhere near as fast as the recordings I’ve been listening to of Hindemith, Rimskey-Korsakov, and now the Dvorak String Quintet in G (my designated chamber music piece – 2nd violin).  And the thought of trying to play as fast as the music demands fills me with terror.

Kinda like the crazy pace my work life has been demanding for the past couple of months (which explains why this blog has been silent so long!).   Ever since I said “yes” to returning to full-time employment, it sees like life has been running fast at 100 miles per hour – long days, challenging projects, lots of people to see and places to go (yes, I have been traveling a lot, too.)

But now, it is time for the Grand Pause.

Tomorrow morning, I pack up the violin and head east to Baltimore for the BSO Academy and a week of intense orchestra and chamber work with lots of other “Rusty Musicians” like me.

Tomorrow afternoon, Chuck heads north with his saxophone for a week of New Horizons Camp at Interlochen in Michigan.  Unlike me, he has no idea what music he’ll be playing, so I’ve been hearing lots of scales and exercises coming up from the basement as he works on basic technique.

Stay tuned.   We’ll both be posting on how the week goes.