Whew! What an ordeal getting home! about 30 minutes into the flight (only supposed to be 1.5 hours), the pilot announced that because of mechanical problems and bad weather in Seattle, we couldn't land in Seattle, and that we were getting diverted back to...Oakland. After 1 1/2 hours in the air, we landed all of 50 miles away from San Jose. I could have driven there faster. Or were we just connecting through Oakland to get to Seattle?
Anyway, the first plane was completely packed -- I got put on another flight from Oakland to Seattle and finally got home late last night after spending 5 hours in planes. I was starving, unless you count the little bag of pretzels as a full meal.
I am really looking forward to being able to practice tonight!
Showing posts with label airplanes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airplanes. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Musings from the San Jose airport
I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home. I had every intention of practicing while I was here, but with a sore throat that threatens to turn into the cold my husband brought back from Ireland, it just didn't work out. I just crashed last night, and this morning my day started pretty early, so no time in this morning to practice. I didn't even do the rhythm exercises that I've been trying to work on. I did play around with holding a pen with the modified bow hold that I've been working on and I can really feel the difference in how much control I feel that I have with my hand.
I was noticing the difference on Sunday when I played with the Sunday chamber group - a fuller, louder tone than I've had before and more control while crossing strings. We played one of the Brandenburg concertos - it was my first time playing through it and I know that there were passages that a year ago I would not have been able to play on a first reading.
One of the things I've tried to do on a periodic basis is to go back and play pieces that I played months ago or a year or so ago, to measure my progress. Progress for me seems to come in little bursts, where for weeks or months it seems like nothing is happening, and then seemingly out of the blue I notice a large improvement. It's nice to go back and play pieces I've played a while ago and to find that they're much easier to play now! And I sound better!
aargh - the flight is going to be late again. I take these flights enough that I know many of the other regular commuters who do the Seattle-Bay Area thing, many of the flight attendants, and have my favorite car rental return agent at Hertz. It's nice to chat with everyone but I'm not sure this familiarity is a good thing.
I was noticing the difference on Sunday when I played with the Sunday chamber group - a fuller, louder tone than I've had before and more control while crossing strings. We played one of the Brandenburg concertos - it was my first time playing through it and I know that there were passages that a year ago I would not have been able to play on a first reading.
One of the things I've tried to do on a periodic basis is to go back and play pieces that I played months ago or a year or so ago, to measure my progress. Progress for me seems to come in little bursts, where for weeks or months it seems like nothing is happening, and then seemingly out of the blue I notice a large improvement. It's nice to go back and play pieces I've played a while ago and to find that they're much easier to play now! And I sound better!
aargh - the flight is going to be late again. I take these flights enough that I know many of the other regular commuters who do the Seattle-Bay Area thing, many of the flight attendants, and have my favorite car rental return agent at Hertz. It's nice to chat with everyone but I'm not sure this familiarity is a good thing.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Home Again, Briefly
I got home late last night, exhausted from long days, not sleeping well while on the road, and dealing with airports. It's definitely summertime--it's been really crowded. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I watch what people do while going through the airport security lines. There are the people who have to practically undress to go through, the people who get the random selection for the full search and body scan, and people who look completely bewildered at all of the TSA people screaming "take out laptops!" "Take off your shoes!" "Take out liquids!"
What I don't get is when someone forgets to put their less-than-3-ounces-container-of-liquid into a plastic bag and it gets caught, the TSA people will tell them the same-container-of-liquid will be OK if that person puts the same-container-of-liquid-or-gel into a quart size plastic bag and puts it back through the screening machine. I really don't understand the logic there. It's the same container of liquid! Or wonder how many 6.4 ounce tubes of toothpaste get thrown away (would you go out of security again to check your luggage so that you can take that big tube along???)
Well, enough ranting. I had a great lesson today. I've been working on a whole bunch of rhythm exercises, trying to really get steady while playing. I am wearing out my metronone with all of the variations of where I am placing beats. Today during my lesson we started off with the metronome with every eighth note, then kept backing off the metronome until it was only beating the first beat of the measure. Today I was able to hold it steady or at least recover if I was a little off (early or late). Victory! Or at least, progress! It did become clear as I continued playing that I get really unsteady when I cross strings. So my next round of rhythm games will be try to fix that...although it will have to wait until we get back from vacation. More rest for my thumb. The enforced rest from travelling was good for it - it felt fine today.
On an airplane again....and a break from music...and swimming. I always hate what I feel like when I've taken a break. With swimming I feel like I can't swim when I get back in the water. Same with the cello...I know I'll be happy to see it when I get back but who knows whether it will feel great or feel awful????
What I don't get is when someone forgets to put their less-than-3-ounces-container-of-liquid into a plastic bag and it gets caught, the TSA people will tell them the same-container-of-liquid will be OK if that person puts the same-container-of-liquid-or-gel into a quart size plastic bag and puts it back through the screening machine. I really don't understand the logic there. It's the same container of liquid! Or wonder how many 6.4 ounce tubes of toothpaste get thrown away (would you go out of security again to check your luggage so that you can take that big tube along???)
Well, enough ranting. I had a great lesson today. I've been working on a whole bunch of rhythm exercises, trying to really get steady while playing. I am wearing out my metronone with all of the variations of where I am placing beats. Today during my lesson we started off with the metronome with every eighth note, then kept backing off the metronome until it was only beating the first beat of the measure. Today I was able to hold it steady or at least recover if I was a little off (early or late). Victory! Or at least, progress! It did become clear as I continued playing that I get really unsteady when I cross strings. So my next round of rhythm games will be try to fix that...although it will have to wait until we get back from vacation. More rest for my thumb. The enforced rest from travelling was good for it - it felt fine today.
On an airplane again....and a break from music...and swimming. I always hate what I feel like when I've taken a break. With swimming I feel like I can't swim when I get back in the water. Same with the cello...I know I'll be happy to see it when I get back but who knows whether it will feel great or feel awful????
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