Music woman

I just finished a morning of accompanying junior high string players at a music contest. That's always an adventure. I remember the days when I performed in contests, auditions, and recitals. Contests always run at least a half hour behind schedule. At the beginning of the day, the judges write elaborate comments and criticism and welcome the performer in with a friendly, "Begin when you're ready." By the end of the day, they write five words on the comment sheet and scowl at the entering student. Some things never change.

I accompanied nine students today. I am not even sure how many music books I had in my bag. I have a terrible fear of a few things happening during performances, like playing the wrong song with a student, pages blowing around in the breeze of an A/C (that's happened many times), and memory failures on their part. That's the stuff nightmares are made of.

My own piano students are preparing for a May piano recital. I think I get just as nervous now as a teacher as I did as a performer back in the good ol' days. These are my music goals after I finish grad school:

• Become a jazz aficionado
• Buy a decent piano
• Learn to play other instruments (on a basic level)

I'm already trying to work on that jazz aficionado thing. I ordered a Coltrane album that I'm listening to now, Dear Old Stockholm. I'm crazy about the track Dear Lord. Now back to my homework...