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| Nat's and my iconic arm-wrestling moment from Nat & Kat's Adventures with the Time-Traveling Piano |
collaborator
we climb mountains on deadline
fire under my ass
Haiku #311 - Live Like a Playwright
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| Natalie Wilson, living like a playwright (see blog, link below) |
live like a playwright
nothing ventured, nothing gained
maybe you'll succeed
Haiku #243 - New Baby!
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| Nat (way in the back) w/ the group of actors and directors who read her first draft aloud today. We're going to meet next week to discuss music I'm to write for it! |
Nat heard her baby
read aloud for the first time
a play with music
Haiku #102 - Secret Passageway
up and down two flights of stairs
one last time to Nat's
Nat's moving to the West side this month, so we had a neighbor-party one last time. I will miss our shortcut going across the roof to each other's apartments, but I look forward to grilling in her & her boyfriend's new garden!
Celebration
Performed by Kool & the Gang
120-122 BPM
Left me wondering: Who wrote the horn parts?
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I'm so busy!!! This week is a little extra crazy. It is the first week of my thirties, that must be why.
I wanted to make a relatively big deal out of my birthday this past weekend, since it was the first really scary one. Two problems: 1. my bday weekend was sandwiched between two busy weeks of work, the first of which was in Florida. 2. I am terrible at planning social occasions.
Luckily, Nat (of Nat & Kat) is good at organizing parties. She organized people and places and grocery lists, and dispatched her boyfriend to help me pick up the latter Saturday afternoon before the party. (I like grocery shopping with someone who can help me rationalize buying the family-size bag of Cheetos.) The weather was perfect, and I got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and a good time was had by all.
120-122 BPM
Left me wondering: Who wrote the horn parts?
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I'm so busy!!! This week is a little extra crazy. It is the first week of my thirties, that must be why.
I wanted to make a relatively big deal out of my birthday this past weekend, since it was the first really scary one. Two problems: 1. my bday weekend was sandwiched between two busy weeks of work, the first of which was in Florida. 2. I am terrible at planning social occasions.
Luckily, Nat (of Nat & Kat) is good at organizing parties. She organized people and places and grocery lists, and dispatched her boyfriend to help me pick up the latter Saturday afternoon before the party. (I like grocery shopping with someone who can help me rationalize buying the family-size bag of Cheetos.) The weather was perfect, and I got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and a good time was had by all.
Weekly Wish 05/23/11: FAIL
I played Nat's recital last week, and we did enjoy performing "Every Time We Say Goodbye." I also played "'Round Midnight" at In the Pocket's recital yesterday. Both performances were videotaped. I don't really feel like posting either performance. They were ok, audiences enjoyed them, but I didn't accomplish what I'd wanted. That's what happens when you only put an hour into something very detailed like music - audiences will still dig it, if you're a pro and manage to make it musical. But You the Pro will not be satisfied with the details of an hour's work.
The two main reasons I'm doing this Weekly Wish project:
I wanted to continue growing as a musician the way I did last year with my song-a-day project, but
A) I wanted flexibility to have a little more of a life
and
B) I wanted to go into deeper musical detail.
I have gotten to have a little more of a life, since I'm not constantly thinking "I gotta go home and learn my song". I know you all really miss how much cathartic personal stuff leaked onto my blog last year. Maybe sometime I'll share some haiku I've written over the past few months.
Regarding deeper musical detail... it's great. Yeah, it's awesome. WHEN I put the time in, it's fantastic. But I haven't been real clear with myself on what my goal is every week; it's kinda open-ended. Consequently, it's real easy to just... have a life.
And of course, it's easier make the choice to focus on career-work than it was last year, with my maniacal but simple directive to memorize a pop song every day. So these past couple weeks haven't all been fail: aside from being busy enough that I can afford a couple slower weeks during the summer, I got to music direct, play and "orchestrate" (for piano, violin and cello) a production of The Secret Garden. I got to meet the composer and original music director, both of whom seemed pleased with my work.
But until I'm working at a level where I'm constantly being challenged to grow at my paying work, I need these little projects. So this week's catch-up week (Oscar Peterson, and maybe Nat and I can re-record), and then next week I start again.
The two main reasons I'm doing this Weekly Wish project:
I wanted to continue growing as a musician the way I did last year with my song-a-day project, but
A) I wanted flexibility to have a little more of a life
and
B) I wanted to go into deeper musical detail.
I have gotten to have a little more of a life, since I'm not constantly thinking "I gotta go home and learn my song". I know you all really miss how much cathartic personal stuff leaked onto my blog last year. Maybe sometime I'll share some haiku I've written over the past few months.
Regarding deeper musical detail... it's great. Yeah, it's awesome. WHEN I put the time in, it's fantastic. But I haven't been real clear with myself on what my goal is every week; it's kinda open-ended. Consequently, it's real easy to just... have a life.
And of course, it's easier make the choice to focus on career-work than it was last year, with my maniacal but simple directive to memorize a pop song every day. So these past couple weeks haven't all been fail: aside from being busy enough that I can afford a couple slower weeks during the summer, I got to music direct, play and "orchestrate" (for piano, violin and cello) a production of The Secret Garden. I got to meet the composer and original music director, both of whom seemed pleased with my work.
But until I'm working at a level where I'm constantly being challenged to grow at my paying work, I need these little projects. So this week's catch-up week (Oscar Peterson, and maybe Nat and I can re-record), and then next week I start again.
Weekly Wish - Farewell Songs
I wish there were time for everything. For instance, writing and performing with Nat.
Nat is my opera singer/playwright friend, next-door neighbor, erstwhile writing/cabaret partner, force of nature, Fire Under My Ass (nickname Fuma). It's been far too long since we've done a creative project together. We're both too busy with individual projects now to, say, write, self-produce and perform a children's musical about time travel, but a little medley to close her studio's recital might be just the ticket. I wish Nat and Kat could ride once more on the D.S. al Coda to the past! (You will get that if you were one of the...60 or so people who saw our show.)
So... I'm going to learn "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music, and explore a few other goodbye songs, including the Donny Osmond song "For All We Know". This is step one in arranging a medley.
I should note that I decided about this week's wish a couple days ago, and am not choosing this theme because of Bin Laden's death. While I have great respect for the people who devote their lives to serving the country, and for those who lost loved ones in 9-11, I can't quite bring myself to celebrate a violent death.
I heard about the president's address via - where else - facebook, and, like many other people in the 20-45 demographic, was glued to my computer screen for the better part of an hour, watching news results as they came up on screen, and waiting impatiently for NPR to switch to live coverage from the White House. This morning, many of my facebook friends who are parents were wondering "out loud" how to explain it all to their children.
I'm glad I don't have to figure that one out.
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Photo: Farrell Goldsmith |
Nat is my opera singer/playwright friend, next-door neighbor, erstwhile writing/cabaret partner, force of nature, Fire Under My Ass (nickname Fuma). It's been far too long since we've done a creative project together. We're both too busy with individual projects now to, say, write, self-produce and perform a children's musical about time travel, but a little medley to close her studio's recital might be just the ticket. I wish Nat and Kat could ride once more on the D.S. al Coda to the past! (You will get that if you were one of the...60 or so people who saw our show.)
So... I'm going to learn "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music, and explore a few other goodbye songs, including the Donny Osmond song "For All We Know". This is step one in arranging a medley.
I should note that I decided about this week's wish a couple days ago, and am not choosing this theme because of Bin Laden's death. While I have great respect for the people who devote their lives to serving the country, and for those who lost loved ones in 9-11, I can't quite bring myself to celebrate a violent death.
I heard about the president's address via - where else - facebook, and, like many other people in the 20-45 demographic, was glued to my computer screen for the better part of an hour, watching news results as they came up on screen, and waiting impatiently for NPR to switch to live coverage from the White House. This morning, many of my facebook friends who are parents were wondering "out loud" how to explain it all to their children.
I'm glad I don't have to figure that one out.