A Day in the Life of an Amature Musician

March 19, 2008 at 6:58 AM

Monday:
I wake up before the crack of dawn and get ready for a crazy day of work. Monday nights are orhcestra rehearsals. I run through the house gathering my laptop, work folders, cellphone, viola, and rifle through my sheet music on my stand to pick out the orchestra music, and manhandle all of this into my car. Once arriving at work, hike through the parking lot with laptop and viola to the office.

At the end of the day, I'm finishing up conference calls with China while I'm driving to Orchestra rehearsal. This is a regular enough of an occurance that no one asks me "what is that noise" anymore when we begin informal tuning and warm-ups and I'm still on the phone.

I have a two hour "break" from work. When orchestra rehearsals are over, I check voice mails and begin calling back my colleagues in China.

Tuesday:
Same as Monday, but no need to bring the viola with me to the office. When I get home, I squeeze in 30 minutes of practice time before the next conference call.

Wednesday:
Same as Monday, but start searching for non-orchestra sheet music and studies. Conduct conference calls with China on the drive to downtown for lessons. End conference call as I'm walking up the stairs to my teacher's studio (hastily). Look at my teacher with wild eyes saying "I NEED SCALES!!!!".

Thursday:
Same as Monday, but gather ensemble/quartet music. Conference calls typically end mid-commute to ensemble practice. Have a blessed 2 1/2 on non-work time. Berate myself for not being able to count consistently during rehearsal.

Friday:
It is China's weekend! No conference calls at night! Go home after a "normal" day and practice until midnight. Every three months, perform concert for the community.

Weekends:
Finally! NO conference calls! I sleep in late, have a good breakfast. Warm-up properly. Practice for 5-6 hours each day while doing laundry and cleaning house. Finally have enough time to spend on etudes, shifting studies, orchestral works, quartet works, and personal musical objectives. Will often break into Broadway Musical tunes as a variant to shifting studies.

Lord! I love music!!!!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on March 20, 2008 at 1:52 AM

I'm impressed with your dedication to playing the violin. Yay! Keep it up.

From Mendy Smith
Posted on March 20, 2008 at 4:07 AM

Er - Pauline - it is viola.

But thanks!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on March 20, 2008 at 11:12 AM

My husband (a software engineer) used to have conference calls to China, but only once a week. They were a pain! And he doesn't play an instrument, so no musical relief afterwards for him.

I have the reverse schedule to you: lesson on Monday, orchestra rehearsal on Wednesday.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on March 20, 2008 at 7:29 PM

Busy girl!

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