I was kind of dreading going back a third time for practice knowing there is one song I was having trouble with. I couldn't really find the time to focus and dedicate to practicing most of the week since we have been messing around with the situation of Wife's car. Sunday morning, I even got up at 6:00am and said to myself, ok first we'll write enough blogs to get ahead and then I'll practice for an hour or so.
All I managed was falling asleep in front of the computer and then just giving up after eating all the loose snacks and going back to bed at 10:00am. I figured I would nap and then come back and maybe just do 30 minutes of practice before going. That is pretty much how it worked out. Once I worked out some runs I realized they just repeated throughout most of the music, so once I got it, it all came together pretty easily. After a few attempts, I was playing the hard runs without looking at the sheet of music, so that helped me relax a bit. I don't know how time flew by, but I tell Wife that it is time to go at 1:15pm, next thing I know it is 1:40 and we are barely leaving the house, and practice is at 2:00pm in San Marcos, thirty minutes away. Of course, when we are running late is when the light for low fuel comes on and because my knee is still hurting Wife insists she will put the gas in. I am fine with that but she is trying to fill it all the way and that can take minutes. I know I am already late, but I don't want to be late late. She is busily cleaning the back seats of all the water bottes and Gatorades Javalina has accumulated and I am just in the passenger seat losing my shit.
I got there maybe 15 minutes late, but that seemed ok. I was surprised to find a guy with a bari sax sitting there and after looking at him, I realized this was a baby. He mentioned to someone else that he was a sophomore and he looked it. There were quite a few new faces, I guess they recruited from the high school. I thought it funny that I went fifteen years before this kid was born and then his whole life where I didn't play a sax and now here we were playing side by side, weird.
I feel the rehearsals have gone really well for me. Some of the people keep getting picked on to play their parts over and over to clear it up with the conductor, he has yet to point me out in one of those situations. He came over to talk to the president of the club, the guy that recruited me, and we talked for a bit, he said he liked having me in there, I had a strong sound and seemed to know what I was doing. The president, who plays clarinet, said "yeah, it is awesome sitting here next to you, it sounds very solid."
We have 7 songs and I still have a few rough spots here and there. This week I really do have to spend time practicing at home, next week is the big concert, and Wife said her family is coming. My folks said maybe, so I could be filling a few pews just by me showing up to perform. Speaking of, towards the end, we were asked if we are interested in some sort of small group performance, to sign up. I went and talked to the lady in charge and she said if I was interested in playing some solos, with piano accompaniment, or even a small group, they could see about setting it up. I told her back in high school I always got solos and I was a very confident player, maybe I am not ready to play by myself, but if a small group forms and I would fit in with the sax, then put my name down. She mentioned something about the stand up bass guitar always trying to get a jazz group going. That would be the best.
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