Lots of Good News!
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| Tri-Tone Burst at the Lancaster County Art Association Open Door Exhibit |
since this show was open to non-members from around the country. Thank you LCAA and judge, Isaac Pelepko!
In my last blog I discussed having artist's block. I managed to take my own advice and force myself to "do something". There were times that I walked into my studio with no idea what I was going to do while saying to myself "don't look at the mess" because I knew I could be distracted by cleaning up. I have learned from this experience that I could do a better job of forcing myself to work because I did have success with this process. I didn't love everything I created but I learned from what I did and solved a problem that had been bugging me. (I am trying to get away from using any tape in my pieces since glue is a more permanent option) Currently I am happy to report that I am working on a piece based on the idea below. I am excited about the prospect so I would say that the block is officially over!
June was full of music performances!
You already know that I am a visual artist but did you know I am a musician as well? I love to play the flute and piccolo and perform around town in local theater productions and community bands.
My husband and I volunteer our musical ability to local community and high school theater productions and every so often get called to participate in a pit band for a musical production. My husband, Bill, plays the trumpet and performed for his first show about 7 years ago. He "volunteered" me to play in my first musical a few years later and now I am hooked! It is so much fun and occasionally Bill and I get to be in shows together, which is icing on the cake. This June we did just that in The Belmont Theater production of "My Fair Lady". Here is a link to "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", one of my favorite songs from the show. It had a great flute part!
If you are not familiar with a production like this, the pit spends many hours rehearsing the score. At first our practices are without the cast so that we can get familiar with the music and work on the more challenging spots. Then the orchestra and the singers get together to rehearse in what is called a sitzprobe. After that, both groups as well as the stage crew practice together, running through parts of, or all of, the show. Crash week leads up to the first performance and includes daily evening rehearsals of the entire show. On top of all the rehearsals there are usually at least 7 performances over two weekends so it is a major time commitment! This time around we had an excellent conductor, good musicians and beautiful music to play which made this one of my favorite shows to be a part of. I can't wait for the next show!
On top of all that music, Bill and I also performed 3 other times with The Emigsville Band in June and once with Spring Garden Band at the end of May. Whew! That was a lot of playing but we love it! Next blog I hope to talk about how my entire family enjoys music and sometimes performs together!
Are you a musician? Leave a comment and share your experiences.
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