Sabbatical

August 24, 2010 at 11:59 PM

It's been a long, dry spell in violin land. It's been a long, dry spell in general. The muses that be have control of me, and when they depart, I lie barren. It's hard to say what exactly brought this about in my life. It could be a number of things. Yes, yes, it was a number of things.

The symphony didn't need me last season. They informed me in September that they had enough local musicians and wouldn't be needing substitutes from out of town. I suspected budget issues, but couldn't help but feel personally slighted when I read the news. It's just a job, but the hole it made in my life may as well have been caused by a death. After that point, I spent my evenings watching TV and zoning out in front of the computer instead of practicing, pretending I'd never tasted the magic of the symphony, trying to forget the taste.

Our local coffee shop quit hosting their evenings of live music. On top of this, our community musical didn't need strings this year. Our chamber orchestra didn't have a spring concert. So, valiantly, I set about planning my own spring recital, featuring Brahms' G major Sonata and Beethoven's Spring Sonata, maybe some Sarasate if I was brave enough. But that fell through when Maria's husband had a bad fall and almost died. We cancelled the spring recital while she tended to her recovering spouse and I tended to my late night sulking.

Right about the time the rough winter would have put an end to us all, spring came. We had almost an entire week of sunny weather before the Rain moved in. Then, from Memorial Weekend through mid August, we had maybe five sunny days. The rest filled up with Rain, day after day, until it became clear that we were going to bypass summer altogether once again and head back into winter.

The past four out of five years have been this way.

We'd smashed the old record for consecutive days of rainfall: 35 and counting. I couldn't take it anymore; something had to give. I was standing at the coffee shop, fixing to smash a chair across the room when it occured to me: I don't have to settle for this.

What could I do? Hmm... It looked about time to trade the truck in for something with a little better gas mileage. Why not look on Ebay? Not many people think about this fact, but you can buy a car in the lower 48 for $5K and sell it for $8K in Alaska. Four years ago, when I bought my car on Ebay from a dealer in Colorado Springs, a trip up the Al-Can highway was just the medicine I needed. Where would I end up this time? I searched and bid for about a week before I finally won a Suburu Outback--in Connecticut, of all places. We sealed the deal via Paypal on Saturday, he Fed-Exed the title last Monday, and I tucked the registration and plates in my carry-on Tuesday evening. Fellow violinist Nate Robinson met me at the La Guardia airport Wednesday morning, and I spent the day taking in the sights and sunshine. I dined on bagel and cream cheese from H & H. I toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I saw more Strads in one room than I will probably see the rest of my life. I saw the place where Milstein used to live. I got harrassed by a pan handler as I ate a gyro from a street vendor. Then, we drove to Connecticut, I picked up my new car, and headed over to Amishland, PA, to visit George's folks.

I sigh as I think about the weather there, the chirping crickets and the whine of cicadas. As I walked by cornfields and blackeyed susans, I realised I hadn't seen a real summer in twelve years. The last of the golden sunshine trickled into the mountainside behind Amos' farm as I attempted to capture it on camera. Then my family and I gathered around the campfire late into the evening, toasting smores and casting our thoughts on the coals to burn.

It was time for planning something exciting.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on August 25, 2010 at 11:37 AM

Emily - sorry to hear that the year has been so difficult. I have every confidence that things will improve for you, given your indomitable spirit. We at v.com have missed your blog. Welcome back!

From Tess Z
Posted on August 26, 2010 at 3:07 AM

Good to hear from you Emily. Love the photos. When life throws you lemons you make lemonade :-)

From Charles Bott
Posted on August 27, 2010 at 4:42 AM

Hi Emily: My name is Charles Bott and you may not remember but I had contacted you last year regarding the name or names of some violin teachers in the Anchorage area for my granddaughter who was to start violin lessons. You were kind enough to respond with some helpful suggestions. Well, she did start but alas, with soccer and other activities it didn't last too long. I'm telling you this because we just returned from Alaska visiting our "kids" and making several trips while there. We drove to Homer, and drove through your town (at least I thought you had said you lived in Soldatna area) and related the story to my kids and wife. Had a wonderful time there, limited out on silvers. We stayed at the Otter Cove Resort--about a 20 min water taxi ride out of Homer. Rained, but otherwise okay. The next weekend we flew to the Alexander River cabin of my son's inlaws--again about 20 min out of the Anchorage airport. Tim, our bush pilot was great. My wife is from NY city, so it was interesting to read your blog on your visit to NYC. You saw where Nathan Milstein lived. After a 50+ hiatus from the violin, I began lessons last year from a young man who's teacher is a man name Bedelian, a former student of Milstein. I loved Milstein and was lucky enough to hear him play in Long Beach Calif many years ago. I get to hear alot of anechdotal quotes of Milstein. I have graduated to the Bach Sonata's/Partita's and my teacher has written the fingerings of his teacher as suggested by Milstein, so I feel lucky. Its starting to all come back, but time does take its toll. My goal is to play the Bruch Gm which I played when I stopped o so many years ago. Keep up the blogs, I enjoy reading them. Good luck with your future endeavors--music is universal, so if something stops today, something else will open up in the future. Charles Bott

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Sabbatical

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