New Clarinet's and Tropical Storms

Friday Night Madness

Sometimes it pays to put one's mind into gear before putting one's hands into motion. Other times the work week just wears one down just enough that come Friday night there is a certain gleeful exuberance that simply bypasses the normal cerebral functions.

Friday night = Playing Hymns

Playing Hymns = New Clarinet

Tropical Storm Ophelia = Humidity

Humidty + New Clarinet = Wood Swelling

Wood Swelling = Locked Joints

Yes, one would think that I would learn. I hadn't learned, it seems. I locked up the bell and the lower joint of my new clarinet. Jean suggested (wisely) that I take it down stairs and set it next to our dehumidifier for "a half hour". That was not long enough but this morning I was able to get it apart.

Jean has (again, probably wisely) bought a 2nd dehumidifier to run upstairs in this kind of weather when it's not hot but it's just horribly humid.

To continue, I played the prescribed 20 minutes on the new clarinet and then took out my "old" R-13 Buffet (1937) and played for another 20 minutes with Jean on her flute. We found a GREAT song for Filipino church: Hymn 192 - which has great harmonies for the top 3 parts. We also found that I have music for several other pieces that we have played before with Cheryl including a Gluck Andante (manually transcribed for flute as it was written for 3 clarinets) and a clarinet-flute arrangement of Dona Nobis Pacem. I'll bring the lot and we can figure out what we want to play. Lots of options!


New Topic

If you wonder why you haven't seen me here more often? I've been suffering from soft tissue overuse from work. I've been too aggressive it would appear and I have elbow and leg pains (likely related to driving my little Hybrid which is a bit cramped for my long legs, it seems). I'm not back to normal but feeling cautiously better today. So this will be a short post.