Spring Broken

Spring Break hasn't really been much of one. I took Tuesday off... completely. i didn't even go in to the building.... we spent days and days ensuring that we had all of the right music for district solo and ensemble on Saturday. i seriously spend more time on the phone as a band director then i did at the worst job i ever had. all of my private lessons cancelled this week so funding for my spring break assault on the white river was on a kinda shoestring budget. and it was really, really cold. anyway, i get asked about what i'm up to frequently and i provide the stock answer, "same ol' same ol'" or some other mindless rot. here's what i've been doing:

Winter Guard
i teach winter guard as well as band (although i bring in other staff to the point that i'm mostly a DJ/Secretary/Enabler) and we're nearing the end of the competitive season. we have two more performances and six more rehearsals. not that anyone's counting. the girls are getting used to me (thats a mixed bag kinda thing) and they are spinning well.

Concert Band
the other focus this time of year is concert band. we have state large ensemble coming up in about a month and we are preparing our contest selections. while not always the most exciting part of musical development, we are at the crucial stage of cleaning where we work on small portions of music for long periods of time. if nothing else, we are learning about patience. fun! i've also been updating the band website. this extensive web portal has been mostly neglected for the last 3 or 4 years so it's taking quite some time. the jazz and winter guard sections are most up to date, hopefully the rest will follow soon. we're working on the marching show for next year, more on that later.

Wedding Planning
the real love of my life (aside from the beautiful women i'm marrying) is table cloth. i mean, finding just the right shade of cloth for tables, napkins, drink stations and buffets is what gets me out of bed in the morning. usually at a dead run... anyway, this fantastic event in the middle of june is coming together...if we could just decide on an officiant...

Playing
i'm still in springfield a few times a month to play music. very, very nice people that have managed to book real gigs allow me to blunder on stage and stumble around inside their arrangements. in the last month i've played with Jah Roots, Jalopy, Fairweather Foe, Eddie Gumucio, The Moonshakers, The Eckles brothers, The guys at Ernie Biggs and probably a few more that i'm forgetting. Great folks that leave the mic on for ya, please support them if you have time. i'm to lazy to link all of those people, i assure you they have myspace.

whatever you may have heard, from me or someone who looks like me, i am going to stay for at least one more year. i think i owe it to myself to see this thing out a bit further (and for christs sake, it can't get any harder).