I'm entering the Shepherd School concerto competition next week and the hair on my Voirin bow is completely shot. Since I still haven't found a good place to get a rehair in Houston, I've been driving to Dallas for the maintenance. Which is what I did this morning. Keep in mind that there was an ice storm in Dallas yesterday.. but after living in Cleveland for four years, I know how to deal with winter weather, right?
Maybe I do, but the rest of Texas doesn't, that's for sure. The roads were just wet for the most part until 50 miles outside of downtown Dallas. Snow, ice and slush built up on the shoulders and then moved their way onto the road. You would think that the 25 or so spun-out cars on the side of the highway would have been some sort of clue to the people speeding down the road at 70 miles an hour. Or maybe the terrifying way their cars/trucks/SUVs started to skid around in the muck when they ran into it or tried to change lanes. I think most of the people driving today had selective blindness.. and.. awareness.... I on the other hand, kept at a steady 40 mph and didn't run into any life-threatening circumstances. It was scary as heck, and I clung to my steering wheel, praying for dear life, but I got to Jay's repair shop in one piece! I'll be glad to have my bow back with fresh hair in a few days :D
David Kim is concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but he's acting as guest concertmaster with the Dallas Symphony this week and was gracious enough to give me a almost an hour of his time before the concert tonight. We worked on a few sections of the Beethoven concerto and he gave me absolutely wonderful advice and insight. It was great to play for him and I'm glad I video-taped it so I can study everything later.
The DSO finally got to play their concert tonight! Thursday and Friday nights were cancelled because of the weather and almost all of their rehearsals were cancelled as well. They had a double service on Wednesday and then nothing until 4 this afternoon when they got together for an emergency rehearsal. The first half was the premiere of a percussion concert piece by Stewart Copeland. It was amazing! Here's a sort of sneak peak at it - incredible. The second half was Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony - which was also amazing, especially when you think about how little time they had to prepare it! What I couldn't get over tonight was the audience! They went absolutely WILD after both pieces!!! It was really refreshing. I'm proud to say that I attended the DSO's "Concert That Wouldn't DIE" (as coined by DSO's Vice-President of Artistic Operations, Mark Melson)
I think I'm all "music'd" out for one day..... nah.. who am I kidding.
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