No New Reed

I did not get that promised new reed. Instead, surgery was performed on the old reed, which involved cutting about 1/8" off the corners, making it harder to play. It IS harder to play and doesn't squeak AS MUCH. I will have to play around with it, and continue to work on blowing less strongly.

I don't remember much else from the lesson because I was Exhausted and didn't take in much.

I do remember somebody bringing up the subject of Chia pets. I don't know if you recall these. They were (or are) little greenware ceramic pots in the shape of animals or people that have seeds embedded in them. When you water them faithfully, they sprout, giving the animal a green wooly coat, or the person a green afro. I suddenly imagined a Chia pot in the shape of Jason's (who is bald) head, which lead to a mental image of Our Pipe Major with a head of bushy green leaves. I don't think anybody else made the mental image jump, because I laughed hysterically all by myself. Perhaps they were just polite. Karen would have gotten it.

I received 4 or 5 "Are you losing it?" looks. I apologized, using my extreme fatigue as my excuse.

Cut

. . . from playing the timed medley at Thanksgiving Point.

I didn't cry. It always amazes me when I can control my emotions.


Possibly this time it was because the Bad News was balanced with Good News: my reed appears to be collapsing, causing the Damned Squeaking I have been fighting for the last 2 months or more. So Thursday I get a new reed and hopefully the problem will be solved and I'll sound beautiful for my solos, and for the March Medley at Thanksgiving Point. Yay!

Circle Buddies

Your circle buddy is the person you tend to relate to in the circle during practice.

Sometimes you stand next to your circle buddy and comment on everybody else during practice. This causes you not to pay attention to the pipe major and you are always asking a non-buddy (not involved in you and your buddy conversing), "What are we playing?"

Sometimes you stand across from your buddy and you have secret hand signals--somewhat like the signals used between the catcher and the pitcher in a baseball game--with which you communicate. Ben and Grant, and Aaron and Nick tend to do this. I haven't figured out if their signals actually mean something, or are just used to attract the attention of the other band.

I have several circle buddies. Karen, when she is there. We miss a lot of instructions because we are chattering. When Karen is not there, I stand by or across from Sande. Sande and I have been roommates on several band trips, and we are in group lessons together, so we go way back. Sande doesn't talk much at practice, but she has a good sense of humor. If neither Sande nor Karen are there, I stand by Pete, Jack, or Aaron who are sympathetic but who also pay attention to pipe major instructions, so it's just somebody familiar to stand by. Pete and Jack have been kind to me from my Worst Piper days with the band when nobody else would talk to me; Aaron is entertaining because he makes funny comments. He also plays harmony for most tunes. This tells me when we are on the second time through a tune and getting ready to either end or switch to the next tune.