Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I was not prepared, and so I was very afraid.

By the way, the scripture reference is Doctrine and Covenants 38:30, " . . . if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

I had practiced one time -- well, OK, 2 times, counting my lesson -- in the past week. Despite The List.The fingers definitely had a hard time flying to the right notes. If PM Sean noticed, he said nothing. He seemed very pleased with everybody's piping. Until . . .

Working on the second part of the jig (that's Farewell to the Tay, in case you've forgotten), PM Sean told us to play the first line over and over together. We seemed to have a tough time getting that started all together, but I followed his fingers and played what he played, and I seemed to be getting it right, but somebody to my right was playing ... um . . . what sounded like random notes. Finally PM Sean did the "cut" sign and we all droned to a stop. Immediately Jack piped up politely that we were supposed to be playing the first measure over and over and that I was doing it wrong. I argued in my defense that I was matching my fingers to PM Sean's. PM Sean stated we were supposed to be playing the first line, and Jack apologized politely.

We had played through the set for about the 3rd time, and at the end, where everybody is supposed to cut off nice and crisply, I did. Gareth, to my right, did not; instead letting his drones . . . "drone on" (dang, all these piping phrases! What's with me today?) for almost a whole measure. PM gave me "The Look" for a long moment. Then another "Look" for another long moment. Finally I said, "What'd I do?"

"What kind of a cut-off was THAT?" he demanded in an insulted tone.

Before I could put 2 and 3 together and realize what -- and who -- he was talking about, Jack jumped (literally) to my rescue and said it had been Gareth's drones going on, not mine. PM Sean apologized (even profusely), which surprised me, but indicated that he had been more angry than I had originally guessed. So Jack redeemed himself.

Then PM Sean dropped the Bomb.

-This shouldn't have come as such a surprise to me, as it is on The List and he has been threatening us with it for 6 weeks. However, I'm a Space Cadet and forgot. Forgot even to read The List often enough to keep it in my memory.

Tryouts are next Tuesday. T-minus 6 days and counting.

That, in itself, is bad enough, but what adds to the disaster of next week is that it is UEA weekend, where all Utah teachers do 2 days of conferences on Monday and Tuesday and the kids get off. We were planning on going to Idaho Falls to visit Todd's brother Barney (if we can get in contact with them) and would be coming home that day. So I signed up for the last time available, and I really do have to practice every day: cut-offs and Smith's set (because I can never remember how it starts) and Heights of Dargay and Bluebonnets. It's only going to be PM Sean judging us, individually, not a panel of, say, Jason and Dennis and Sean and BJ. So that's better.

Why do I procrastinate the day of my practicing??

The other thing that struck me, outside of band practice, is my dear friend Cat W heard a rumor that my religion prevents me from drinking alcohol, what religion am I. So I dropped the "Mormon" bombshell and explained a little bit about the Word of Wisdom and Plural Marriage (which Mormon's are forbidden to practice anymore). I'm waiting for her reply. She said it wouldn't matter, as she already knows my heart. But I wonder . . .

Stay tuned for more updates.

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