Yesterday was PIANO Day!

I never posted anything yesterday, because I was so busy. After waking up and looking at the craft room (I couldn't paint the night before because I didn't want to be sneezing all day), I took my thyroid medicine, made a cup of Tazo Chai Spice tea, and tried to relax a little.

A lady at church had asked me to perform special music for the senior citizens luncheon at church this day. I decided that I would not be singing for the event, because I'm not in top condition with all these paint fumes in the house. So, I perused my piano music and made some selections that would work well. I chose the following pieces:

About Strange Lands and People
(from “Scenes from Childhood”)............... Robert Schumann

Ashokan Farewell
(from the movie “Civil War”)............... Jay Ungar

New Orleans Blues
and Bourbon Street Saturday Night
............... William Gillock

Waltz Opus 64, Number 2............... Frederic Chopin

Waltz in A Flat............... Johannes Brahms

The Lord’s Prayer............... Albert Hay Malotte

I decided to have the concert in the church's sanctuary so I could do the pieces justice on the grand piano. Good thing, too. The piano in the room where the seniors were meeting was in bad shape!

The concert went very well. They applauded after each piece, and offered their praise and thanks when it was over. I enjoyed performing those pieces - it was a perfect break from all that painting at home - good for my soul.

After the concert, I had to go back home. Marvin needs clean clothes, and I don't see anyone else here that can do our laundry.....so, back to our humble abode I drove. When I got home, I had to search our room for his dirty clothes - MARVIN! I hate it when he doesn't put all his dirty clothes in the pile where they belong. Socks were under the bed and under his chair in our room. Shirts and pants were in strange places. Eventually, all the clothes were in the laundry room where they belong, sorted and ready to wash. I threw in the darks, and went to the computer to crash from all that chaos.

What a contrast: Performing classical piano for an appreciative audience, then scrounging around under the bed at home to gather dirty laundry. :P I need a maid!

When the darks were finished, I put them in a laundry basket, then put the whites in to wash. Our dryer is dead right now, so we have to take them to the laundromat or hang them on the line until the dryer is repaired. Since I'm having a busy day, I decide to have Marvin take them to the laundromat tonight when he gets home. I write him a note and put a stack of quarters with it. I can call him to tell him about his evening "appointment" when I drive back to church.

Since the darks are washed, and the whites are in the washer, I decide to take a short nap before I have to leave. I have a piano lesson at 4:00, practice with a men's quartet at 6:00, and choir practice from 7:00 until 8:30. It's gonna be a long night.....I definitely need a nap.

The sleep is short, but sweet, and I wake up feeling a little better. I throw on the outfit I wore for the concert, and drive to church, remembering to call Marvin on the way. He's not mad about having to go to the laundromat, because he knows our crazy situation right now. He also knows how tired I am this week with all the painting and the concert and teaching and church music stuff. Whew!

My piano student does a good job - he always practices well. When he leaves, I go to the sanctuary and look over my selections for the organ for Sunday:

Prelude: "Aria for Organ" - Dennis R. Johnson
Offertory: "Deep River" - Robert W. Thygerson
Postlude: "God of Grace & Glory" - Anna Laura Page

I practiced them this past Sunday, so I decide to let it go until the service this week. Taking a look at my bench beside the organ, I resolve to straighten things up a bit. There is still music there from this past week. But I am so tired! And the sanctuary is so hot, because they don't keep it air conditioned during the week. So, I grab the music I need for the men's quartet and take it over to the cooler choir room. I call one of the men and tell him that we will be practicing in the room beside the choir room because the sanctuary is unbearable. He agrees.

I go over to the choir room, and sit down for a rest at the choir director's desk.

I make some calls:
To the organ technician - "Please come by soon and work on the Great manual. Several of the notes are not sounding at all." I tell him that during a hymn last Sunday, the congregation had trouble singing because some of my notes would not sound. I gave him an example like this: "A Mighty ------tress Is --- ----" He agrees to come next week to correct the "oxidation problem".

To my eye doctor - "Are my reading glasses ready yet?". They ask for my name - three times. They say they can't find my order. Perfect. They will check on it and get back to me. They take down my number.

To Marvin - "Hey Honey! How was your day? I love you...smooch...smooch" : )

To the owner of the music studio where I teach on Tuesdays - we go over the fall schedule.

When I'm finished making calls, I go to the piano in the choir room and practice some choral anthems. They are interesting. It's nice to have a director who chooses pieces that are challenging to me. I get so bored with simple anthems.

Soon, the choir director walks in the door, and we chat a little while as he sets up handbell tables. Then one of the men from the quartet arrives. Some of the handbell choir members are arriving, so I leave the piano and go to the room where the quartet will be practicing. I have my knitting bag with me, so I knit a few rows of a baby hat. (The Lion Brand Microspun Preemie Hat) When the quartet arrives, we practice until 7, then I have to go back to the choir room.

Choir rehearsal goes well, and now I can finally go home again! Yippee! A busy day of music, music, music!