San Jose from the air

I'm off for my Midwest tour! I fly to Las Vegas, then Charlotte, then to Detroit on Wednesday morning. A few hours rest, then rehearsal and a concert in Garden City, MI.

I can't wait!!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Bay Bells at Pilgrim Haven

Bay Bells, a Bay Area community group that has been together for 20+ years, played tonight for the Pilgrim Haven retirement community - sort of a "Concert Preview" before their concerts next weekend.

Here, Artistic Director William Kyle leads the group in Gershwin's "Summertime" [Correction: (I selected the wrong pic!)] "Shenandoah".

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...and here's the pic!!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Terry!!

Terry Halvorson is in my car!! He & I are attending the Intense Ring portion of the Bay Area Spring Ring tonight. W00t!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

No rest for the weary

Just because I went away for the weekend, it doesn't mean that my duties here at home go away....

So far today, I have:

• Created invoices for Sonos Artists to submit for payment for the New York tour we did;
• Created a list of all my concerts, workshops, and school shows from May 2007-April 2008 in support of a grant application;
• Called all the members of The Trinity Ringers to see who is available to play for our priest's memorial service this Saturday (our priest passed away this morning & wanted bells at the service);
• Contacted Dave Ruder to tell him that I can't teach both of my classes at the Bay Area Spring Ring this Saturday, due to the memorial service (I can teach the 11am class, but not the 3pm class);
• Found a piece for us to play at the service on Saturday, created assignments for it, and (digitally) distributed the music to the Ringers;
• Uploaded a bunch of pics from this weekend's trip to both Flickr and the Handbell Community website; and
  
• Finished blogging about the trip.

Now, I need to make publicity materials for my concert in Grand Rapids, MI, and follow up with other tour hosts to make sure they've got everything they need.

I also need to prepare for my Sunnyvale Choir of Bells rehearsal tonight and for the Trinity Ringers rehearsal tomorrow night (we're scheduled to play in church on Sunday, but due to Father Mike's passing, the hymns have all changed, so I am waiting to hear what they will be before doing anything further), plus follow up with a few other potential hosts for potential gigs later this year.

Oh! And on top of all of that, my brothers will be visiting me from Holland - they arrive on Saturday night - and I should probably tidy the house a bit before they arrive, don't you think?

Meanwhile, I also have to practice for my Midwest Tour later this month AND for upcoming Sonos concerts here in the Bay Area and elsewhere.

Back to the ol' grindstone!

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Florida - EOD 4

I didn't post an "End of Day 4" post last night because I didn't get home until 11pm & was too "exhaustipated" by then.

Here's a summary of the day:

After packing our suitcases & having breakfast at Mary's house, we headed over to the church to pick up the equipment we needed for the school show. We loaded up the vans & then headed over to Trinitas Christian School (K-8).

We set up on the stage of their multi-purpose room & while the kids ate lunch, we did some last-minute planning (ie. where are we processing from? etc.). Then we were on!

These kids were some of the best behaved kids I've ever seen! They were quiet, not fidgety, and actually paid attention! Some of their parents came for the assembly, too.

We started out by processing in on Kevin's composition "Minuet" (which is on our newly-sold-out CD "Sampler") - me with my walking-stick bell tree poll and Kevin with Monika's "Sharpsicle" portable harp, with Monika & Bobby processing behind us, each with G & D chimes. We really like the addition of the chimes!!

Kevin then introduced "Josefin's Waltz", an original tune by a Norwegian composer written for his niece's baptism.

Next up was Bobby & Monika with Benjamin Roundtree's four-in-hand duet "Joyful, Joyful". Before they played, I explained to the kids about the clappers in the bells & what "four-in-hand" is.

Monika then played a harp solo - Linda Wood's "Processional".

We did Carlos Salzedo's "Triptic Dance" as an interactive one with the kids. Kevin & Monika played harps, I did the bell tree, while Bobby led the kids. Mary had the GREAT idea to put masking tape on some kids' chairs before they sat down so we didn't have to "choose" any kids. We had 10 kids for this, so we divvied them up into 2 groups of 5 and did the piece twice. The kids had G & D bells & chimes and played along with us.

Bobby then played bassoon with me on bells (and Kevin on cross-strung harp) for my arrangement of the Gounod "Ave Maria".

"El Jardin del Sono" was next - originally a flute & piano piece that I found on the internet, Kevin & I really like this piece on bells & harp.

Monika & Bobby did Kevin McChesney's duet "Glory", followed by Kevin playing a harp solo "Dancing in My Dreams" (which he wrote).

Monika went back to the harp (with Bobby on bells) for their rendition of Ray Pool's arrangement of Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm".

[UPDATE: I almost forgot! We got 8 kids from the audience to do an 8-person move-the-bodies Plain Hunt Change Ring. For kids, I try to get them to go faster & faster with each change. They love it!]

Then, we took some questions & answers - most of which were about the harps! - then we wrapped up with me, Monika, and Bobby on Boude Moore's "Scherzo" (Hyfrydol).

After the show, we packed up then headed off to Bagelheads for lunch - YUM!

At the airport, we all hugged & confirmed that we DEFINITELY want to do this again in the Bay Area next year then Kevin & I checked in at the Continental desk. He had to pay overweight & oversize fees for the harp, but we expected that.

We flew an Embraer Regional Jet (#N12519) from PNS to IAH.

We were scheduled for a short layover in Houston - only 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the plane was delayed getting to Pensacola in the first place, so we took off about 10 minutes late. THEN, in Houston, there was another aircraft at our gate, so we sat on the runway for about 15 minutes before they assigned another one to us. Kevin & I power-walked (I can't run - my foot is still injured from falling down an escalator in Japan!) from terminal B to terminal E & just managed to catch our next plane.

However, they had already given my seat away to a standby customer, so I was forced to find another one. The problem with that is that I have a slight case of Enochlophobia which is worse when I'm stressed - such as from nearly missing my plane! - so I always request a window seat. I can sometimes deal with an aisle seat, but a middle seat is right out!

I managed to find an aisle seat, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was the exit row, so I couldn't recline my seat for the entire 3.5 hour trip. *sigh*

We weren't sure if our luggage made the transfer, but were happily surprised when we got to SFO & there it was! Even Kevin's harp made the entire round-trip safely. YAY!

We had a REALLY great time with Monika & Bobby (and Joel, Jerod, Bill, and MARY!!!) and can't wait to see them again. THANK YOU for hosting us, you guys!!!

Setting up for the school show

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Packing for the school show

We're taking 2 vehicles to the school show - Mary's Escape & Monika's mom's Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

Here's Mary's car with equipment.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Florida - EOD 3

I didn't post an "EOD 2" because I was too tired after the post-concert party, but I have posted some pics of the event. There will be more coming after Monika sends me the pics from her camera.

Today was kind of a "lazy" day. We got up this morning then lounged about the pool a bit. Kevin & I worked a bit on a project for my publishing company - accompaniment tracks. We're taking the bells out of some of the tracks from my CD "Chimera" & will offer these for sale. The nice thing about them (in my opinion) is that they are recordings of live musicians, not computer-generated MIDI tracks. Stay tuned for an annoucement of their availability.

After Kevin took a dip in the pool, the 4 of us went to lunch at Tijuana Flats, a local Mex restaurant. Yum!

We then headed to the church for a workshop. I taught about 25 ringers from 2 churches all about basic ringing & various other techniques (mart, shake, pluck, etc.) then we read through 2 pieces of music:

*) "Trumpet Tune Fanfare" arr. By Arnold Sherman
*) "Festival Capriccio" by Barbara Kinyon

and even though we were all sight-reading, we really did make music right off the bat!

Tonight we went to dinner at Pegleg Pete's seafood restaurant down on the beautiful white sand beach - I've already posted some pics to the blog & will upload those to Flickr later. I had the stuffed grouper & after confirming that the rice pilaf had no bell peppers in it, I found them in the crab stuffing.
I'm allergic to bell peppers - any color - and while it used to manifest itself in just severe GI distress, lately it's gotten scary. This time I had some small hives (I'm itchy in random places ) and my tongue feels itchy & swollen, as does my throat. Mary gave me some Benadryl which seems to have helped a bit, but also made me drowsy.

So, I'm going to bed now. Tomorrow we will do a presentation for a school - grades K-8 I think. It should be lots of fun & of course I'll post all about it.

Meanwhile, as they say in Japan "oyasumi nasai" - good night!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

[UPDATE: I forgot to mention that after the workshop, Heather video-taped me & Kevin playing Monika's composition "Contemplation" (because I knew I could play it better than I did at the concert), as well as Boude Moore's "Scherzo" -- I'll post links to the videos when they're available!]

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Jerod, with oyster

Jerod (Monika's husband), eating oysters

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Pegleg Pete

Me with Pegleg Pete!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Dinner time!

Here's everybody out to dinner at Pegleg Pete's!

Bill, Bobby, Joel, Monika, Jerod, me, Kevin, & Mary

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

My contract

From now on, my contract will say that my room must have a sombrero, period.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

The Shopping List

I just know someone's gonna look at the "Shopping List" photo in Flickr and say "huh? what?" so I thought I'd explain it.

Here's the list:


and here's the explanation:

Rubbers == Wonder-Liner, which goes under the muslin-covered foam pads to keep them from slipping on the bell table

O-Rings == To keep the bells from sliding along the T-bars of the bell tree - I'll try to get a pic of them in use at the concert tonight.

PVC == To build the bell tree

vibrator == for sore muscles!

Merlot == For after the concert (pics later!)
[UPDATE: I did post pics of the after-concert party, but I don't think we ever opened the bottle of merlot!!]

Hacksaw == to build the bell tree

See? All perfectly reasonable & even handbell-related! :-)

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Monika with water

Please note that it is NOT Evian.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Florida - EOD 1

Well, it's the end of Day One in Florida. After running about a zillion errands, we had a 4 hour rehearsal, which went really well!

Bobby, Monika, and I had a great time rehearsing "Scherzo" by Boude Moore, as well as all the other pieces on the program.

I am really looking forward to the concert! I think we've got a good mix of music and we are having a WONDERFUL time together!! Monika & Bobby are SO MUCH FUN! (Not to mention Mary, our simply amazing housing host - she's AWESOME!!)

We've got some more errands to run in the morning, then another rehearsal scheduled for tomorrow, then the concert is at 7:30 pm.

I can't wait to bring Monika & Bobby to the Bay Area for concerts (and for recording sessions - they are *awesome* woodwind players!!!).

It's about time for me to hit the hay, so go have a look at the pics on Flickr - I'll post more as I get them.

Meanwhile, here's a pic of me with Bobby, Monika, and Mary in her kitchen after dinner (Kevin had already gone to bed - he's such a morning person!):

I am such a dork!

I packed for this trip yesterday (Thursday) & had a comfortable amount of room left over in the suitcase. Brian & I loaded the car & headed for Kevin's house...

.. Halfway there I realized that I had forgotten my CDs! (and it was at this point - immediately after my realization - that I received a text message from Monika saying "Don't forget to bring CDs to sell!") So we turned around & I went in to pack.

Then I saw that I had also forgotten to bring my sales materials - my credit card swiper, price list, inventory list, etc. - so I packed them, too, and headed back to Kevin's.

After arriving in Florida & unloading @ the church, I found that I had forgotten the credit card carbon imprint sheet thingies, too! We checked at both Office Depot & Office Max, but they didn' have any. Monika called a friend who owns a music store & he has some which he said I could have. *whew!*

AND - as if all that wasn't enough! - I just took a shower to freshen up & discovered that I didn't bring any hair gel. ARGH!!! I texted Bobby (he & Monika are setting up @ church for rehearsal) & he says he's got some "spray gel" I can use.

What *else* have I forgotten?!?!?

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Bobby...

.. Is *not* just Monika's imaginary friend, after all!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

*sigh*

.. And here's the pic of Monika @ the airport.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Monika!

Monika met us as the airport!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

At the airport

Kevin & I took a red eye from SFO to IAH. We're now waiting for our connection to PNS.

Florida, here we come!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Group Pics - Sunnyvale

The Choir of Bells of Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church played for the 10am church service on Sunday, March 30th.

We played:

• PRELUDE: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" arr by Karen Roth


• INTROIT: "Draw Near to God" by Hal H. Hopson


• OFFERTORY: "English Hymn Suite" by Philip Roberts


• BENEDICTION: "Let There Be Peace on Earth" (with the organ & congregation)


• POSTLUDE: "It Is Well with My Soul" handbell duet with piano arr by Christine Anderson

After the service, we posed for group pictures and goofed off a little, which I've uploaded to flickr, of course. :-)

Here's our best group pic:



The church is doing a new pictoral directory this year, so we'll be sending that one to them.

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Web-Cam

I finally got my Handbell-Cam working again after several months of procrastination after the installation of a new computer.

Here's a still from today's practice session:

What's next?

I arrived home at about 8:30 pm yesterday from Sonos' trip to New York.

Tonight was the weekly Sunnyvale Choir of Bells rehearsal.

Tomorrow at noon, Kevin is coming over for rehearsal (watch it on the Practice Handbell-Cam!), then tomorrow night is the weekly Trinity Ringers rehearsal.

Thursday night, I'm going over to Kevin's house to rehearse, then Brian is taking us to SFO for a midnight flight to Pensacola for our concert with MoBo Bells. We'll be home late Monday night. (I'll do some more mobile blogging while in Florida, I'm sure!)

Speaking of Brian, he bought an acoustic-electric bass guitar while I was gone last weekend. He said he's always wanted to learn how to play. I told him that I begged for a bass for my 15th birthday, but didn't get one, so I am *very* jealous!

He practiced a bit tonight:

Sonos - Home Again

Here we are UN-sucking the foam @ our rehearsal/storage location.

We are home!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Sonos sucks foam

Here we are sucking foam @ the Rochester airport.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Sonos in the Dungeon

Here are some Sonosians hanging out in the dressing rooms of the State Theatre of Ithaca!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

The Maté Factor...

.. Is an excellent restaurant in the Ithaca Commons. (Sean *insisted* that I post this to the blog!)

We give it 9 thumbs up!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Michelle ma belle

Here's a picture of Chimesmaster Sam playing "Michelle ma belle" on the Cornell Chimes -- just for me!!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone - in the tower)

Welcome Sonos!

Cheyl, Melissa, Patti, Sean (Patti's son), & I visited the Cornell Chimes today for the 12pm concert.

When we got here, we saw posters advertising our concert on the doors!!

Cool!

-Michèle (from my mobile phone, sitting outside the chime tower waiting for the non correction: noon concert)

More pictures from New York

I've posted some pictures from Sonos' trip to New York. I'll add more to the Flickr set as I get them!



Meanwhile, check out what we've got so far.

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Dinner in Ithaca

Here's Cheryl, Patti, Sean (Patti's son), & me at "Ragmann's" in downtown Ithaca.

-Michèle (from my mobile phone)

Ithaca, here we come!

I'm in upstate New York with Sonos right now -- in fact, I'm standing in the lobby of our hotel in Rochester writing this blog post on the hotel's internet kiosk computer.

We had a standing-room only concert at Asbury First UMC last night -- seriously, if there had been any more people in the Sanctuary, I'm sure it would have violated the fire code! I love playing for that kind of audience - such *energy*!

The audience really seemed to love us - they gave us not only a standing ovation, but they *cheered*, too, after our last piece as well as after our encores.

During intermission they mobbed the table asking all kinds of questions - we had to "shoo" them away so we could set up for the 2nd half (and reminded each other to check our setups before beginning the next set, just in case!).

This is why I do this - it's so wonderful to see so many smiling faces & to know that we've touched their hearts with beautiful music.

Now, we're off to Ithaca. We have an open rehearsal today, then an evening concert tomorrow night. Ticket sales haven't been wonderful, but I understand they usually do brisk sales at the door.

Perhaps word will have spread from Rochester, too.

Anyway, time to hit the road. I have some pictures to post, too, but can't do that from this kiosk.

More later!

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Scherzo, revisited

Ben Purvis posted a note to the Handbell-L:

I need the most exciting trio that has ever been played! Really, I have three young ladies that want to play a trio for their graduation. They can all 4 in hand very well and would like something "exciting, rhythmic and flashy" (their words). Any suggestions?

Well, of course I (and about 5 other people!) suggested Boude Moore's "Scherzo"!

Based on the tune "Hyfrydol", it's got to be the most amazing trio EVER!

I have posted about "Scherzo" before, but for some reason today I was reminded of an incident that happened the very first time I ever played the piece in public.

As I said in my previous post on the subject, I had to learn the trio the year that Rick Hoffmeister couldn't go to Japan with Sonos. I practiced and practiced and was finally ready to perform it. We (our quartet - Jason, Diane, Rick, and me) had a gig at a local Masonic retirement home for Christmas.

We were in a big room with a bunch of chairs. Residents could come in and sit down to enjoy our show, or stroll about the grounds looking at the (quite spectacular, as I remember) Christmas decorations, and/or listen to the group of wandering carolers dressed up in Victorian garb.

We were to play three 20-minute sets of music with a 10-minute break between each set. Because people were free to move about, we were allowed to just play the same 20 minute set 3 times, which I think we did.

Anyway, we saved "Scherzo" for the very end. While we were playing it -- just as the hard part came up!! - this elderly man in a motorized wheelchair drove up toward the table. He did a "drive by", looked at all the bells as he went up the length of the table, THEN he turned around and came back, stopping directly in front of Diane & me.

He shouted, "I couldn't hear you in the back of the room!"

Diane smiled, nodded, and kept playing while I, flabbergasted and now almost LOST, wondered what to do next. Jason finished his stint in the bass, which reminded me that I had to give him back his bell, so I put the C6 down and got out of his way. On his way back up to the top, Jason smiled and even CHATTED a bit with the man, apologizing for the acoustics of the room, and did he enjoy the show?

Meanwhile, Rick was off in the sidelines watching all of this & trying to keep from laughing TOO loudly.

Amazingly, we managed to finish the piece together, after which I sat down on the floor behind the table and got over the shakes!

We actually have this whole sequence on video. If Jason ever gets the time to find it and extract it to his computer, I will post it (but don't hold your breath! He's been threatening to do that for the past 5 years!).

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