Friday, November 9, 2007

I was the only female at group lesson tonight. That tends to change the tone of the banter, and there's a lot of banter. When Sande and I are both there, they don't tend to get so much into wrestling and head bashing.

Drew had gotten himself suckered into doing a performance for 1500 people and a tune he didn't know, and he kicked himself the whole night. He hated everything: STB, Naill chanters, school, the army . . . We ran over the new tune, PM J.K.Cairns on PC's. I still have to look him up to see what he ever did to earn his own tune. Although I notice it was written by somebody with different first initials but the same last name. Maybe his dad made him do it.

We also went through the jig and reel several times on pipes, and the whole medley once..

Jason announced that after Christmas the uniform would change, to a grey shirt instead of blue, and grey hose instead of white, and maroon flashes and tie instead of black. Considering the tartan of our kilts is grey and marroon with a teensy blue stripe, I think it will look much better.

He also mentioned the new chanters. They are a lower pitch and Grade III has had them for months. They have been threatening to give them to Grade IV for that long, too, but never have. We'll all have to be playing them for the concert 15 March, and for any group performances. They just want to make it harder for us Grade IV's, already struggling to just keep breathing.

He mentioned the Christmas party. Last year we had a blown-up boxing thingy and Himself got his head cut open when Band Manager Ian bonked him with the PVC part of the boxing glove. I volunteered to bring Daughter #2 who is a medical assistant and can do stitches. He smiled but said that wasn't necessary.

Friend Dave emailed me back. He was grateful for my concern, but said his frustration was focused on his reed which was not fulfilling the reed-piper contract, and the band which didn't seem to be as much fun as it looked like other bands were having. I sympathized and empathized, and all those other -izes. Probably it's his attitude and I hope things cheer up for him. He's a great guy, a more careful player than I am, and . . . taller than me, which is always a plus. Sometimes you get tired of towering over people, and it's nice to not have to bend down below the cloud level to communicate with mere mortals.

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