Comments

I'm a wee bit jealous, dear Emily. I love playing the Nutcracker ballet! I especially loved it when I lived in the cold, cold, thankless state of Nebraska. I remember making my way through the snow to a little coffee place in Lincoln, between shows, drinking a steamy latte and writing Christmas cards, with my head full of Tchaik. :) Sound good and have fun. :-) Nothing like the cold to get you geared up for Christmas, eh, Laurie? Cold weather, and hot drinks, and sugarplums. (Just visions of sugarplums, not the actual item, which I don't believe I've ever even seen. Must be like unicorns or something.)

Hey, I just wanted to publicly repent of my arrogant first violin ways, just in case anyone read what I previosly wrote about second violin and took it to heart. Second violin is an underestimated, equally important, worthwhile part, with its own set of deceptively difficult challenges. I will now go and practice my pizzicato and all of those octave-leaping harmonies until they are flawless. And I promise not to miss that C sharp! C sharp. C sharp...

Have fun! We will miss you but we understand. So right, the Nutcracker is not to be underestimated. While in college, I went downtown to see what should have been a very professional production of the ballet; could only afford seats in this teetering balcony in the back. It was very evident that the musicians in the pit were just "doing a gig," they sounded AWFUL! The strings were just so bad! You can tell from the Overture, how the strings will be. I thought, wow, these "pros" really underestimated this, and it shows. Emily,

I'm disappointed I won't be able to play with you next weekend or any other... I've got to bail on the Messiah! Way too much stuff on my plate than I can handle. Frankly, they seem to have it under control! Maybe we'll have the chance to play together another time.

Tia