Every day at NFA

I didn't plan to go to the National Flute Association's Flute Convention in San Diego this year. Going to the convention is an expensive endeavor especially when it involves flying to the other coast. Unless I had something major being performed I was going to sit this one out. So when my friends started conspiring to perform and commission new pieces with the hopes they would be selected to perform at NFA, I had my doubts any of it would be selected - especially the proposal that involved playing 30 minutes of my works on one program. I had made up my mind that we couldn't swing going to NFA this year, and that if would be crazy to think any of those proposals would be selected.  So when 5 of the 7 proposals were selected, I was in total disbelief.

from last year's NFA

This year's NFA really is going to be an extraordinary experience for me. First of all, I've never been to California - yay, travel! Secondly, I have 6 pieces being performed. SIX!!!! I always feel lucky to just get one piece performed during the 5 day convention. This means every day at the NFA convention I am having a piece performed. Thirdly, in spite of my printer's attempts to die, I've managed to convince Flute World to sell my music at their humongous booth at the Exhibit Hall at NFA. Lastly, I get to take an epic road trip with two of my friends and conspirators from Boulder, CO to San Diego, CA which includes stopping at the Grand Canyon for a couple nights. The best part about going to NFA is a chance to see and meet all the wonderful people who have performed my pieces and friends I rarely get to see. I also hope to meet people who I've made connections with online who have performed my music. It's a rare opportunity and I had to figure out a way to get to NFA.

So how do you get to NFA on a budget. I have been putting some money away from my sheet music sales since Christmas on. With that, I was able to pay all my NFA fees and plane tickets. The hotel is expensive, especially in San Diego. Luckily, nothing like friends to help defray the costs on the hotel. My 3 other cohorts and I are splitting a hotel for 4 of those days. I have to stay over by myself one night. Believe it or not, the cost of my hotel with my 3 friends was cheaper than my one night alone.  The only thing I have left to pay is food. Food, in my opinion, is the easiest way to save money. If the hotel doesn't serve a free breakfast, I can run to the grocery store and get some Luna Bars for the week. Lunch is usually catch if you can - if I remember to eat. Dinner - well dinner is always worth a good sit down meal with some adult beverages. For someone who didn't plan to go to NFA, I was able to do it. Now next year, I'll have to play be ear again. The lesson is "Always Be Saving".

Last year's NFA with my sister and FNMC

What do I hope for this year's NFA? I hope that I reinforce previous relationships with performers, learn some new tricks for my student's sake, and make new connections for more commissions. I've reached a lull in commissions. It happens. I may have exhausted my current connections and its time to make new ones. While I hope to have a good time with my friends and get a chance to see a bit of San Diego, I will have to put on the used car salesman hat my grandfather left me and go shake some hands.I'm just lucky that I enjoy my job so much that it doesn't always seem like work. Let's face it, its a Sunday afternoon - I should be relaxing, but I love what I do and it doesn't seem like work.

Traditional Hymns for Flute Duet

I've made it no secret that the summer is a struggle for us freelance musicians financially. A good bit of my students take the summer off for travel or camps. So I am teaching less. It is also slim pickins for paid performances, with the exception of some "Stars & Stripes" gigs for us flute/piccolo players . The result is I typically have more time to compose. While I have been doing that, sometimes I like to revisit doing arrangements especially for flute duo.

 My Christmas Flute Duets have by far been the best seller of anything I have available for sale on my website. Unfortunately, those typical only sell during October through early January then sales drop off. I managed to prolong some sales by adding Easter and Lent Flute Duets as well as Wedding Flute Duets. Although those have been received well too, I have had many requests over the years to do a collection of traditional hymns. Music for church services is performed quite a bit, and people who perform that music on a weekly basis are always hungry for new music.

 The result is I finally had some time this summer to get to a project I have always wanted to complete. It solves many problems for me. It makes me brush up on my basic composition skills, create some much needed income, and gives me some new music to perform with students and friends at my own church. Right now, I have 5 Traditional Hymns for flute duet: "Amazing Grace", "Be Thou My Vision", "How Great Thou Art", "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name", and "O Sanctisimma". So far, people seem to really enjoy them. Perhaps in the future I will be able to expand on the collection. They are always fun to arrange and perform. I'm always so please to hear how other flutists are so glad to find some new hymns to perform at their own church.

You can listen and buy all of the Traditional Hymns for Flute Duet here!

Lilliputian for piccolo and music box

Lately, I've had lots to compose. I've had back to back commissions (hooray!). In fact, I still have one left on the table that is due in July that I should get to hacking away at before I get stressed about it. But, I bought this music box back in December and haven't had time or inspiration to compose for it. I decided to take a break from composing my "to do" list, and compose for my "want" list. So I composed a little piece for piccolo and music box. You can watch a video below:

 

It was as fun as I hoped, and I hope I get to do more. Since this music box would be new to a good bit of folks, I also put together a music box tutorial to explain the process:

I did this project as a fun exercise to get me to think differently. My last year of compositions have been all for flute in one aspect or another and I needed a different challenge. But now, it looks like its turned into somewhat of a fundraiser for my dog who will have EXPENSIVE knee surgery tomorrow so she can walk on all four legs again. You can read about the surgery from our pal Jarrett Bellini who went through the same thing last summer and made me feel good about our decision to do this surgery. It will be worth every penny to see Annie run and terrorize squirrels again...also its painful to watch her try to squat to take care of business. Turns out a dog's back leg is pretty crucial to day to day function.
So help us out and buy the sheet music to Lilliputian or you can browse some more of our music at spottedrocket.com, in case you are not a flutist or piccoloist. Or if you don't see anything you like, you could always commission me. I've got nothing lined up after this one I am working (about to work) on. Thanks for your continued support!

Catching My Breath!

The day after my last blog post, the hubs had a brain aneurysm. He came out the end as good as new, and I couldn't be more relieved! It certainly brought our relationship to a whole new level. It was great before, but now there is certainly more gratitude about the time we have together.

A question I get asked frequently is "Were you scared?". There wasn't time to be. Everything happened so fast. We were taking it as we were dealt with it, and having to make decisions quickly. I got to have my meltdown when they rolled the hubs into surgery, but it was a healthy meltdown. The next question I get asked "Wasn't anyone with you?". No, no one physically was there. I think that was best. I think I would have felt obligated to keep it together if someone was there. Because when I break down, it is ugly and worrisome. When they wheeled Brian back in, he was chatty and "drunk". Then I wasn't worried anymore. The whole experience was amazing. He was in agony, and then two hours later he felt great. He just kept getting better. I almost felt guilty his parents drove/flew down from Pennsylvania in record breaking time to be there when he got back - I know they were glad to be there and see for themselves he was fine.

Looking back at the whole thing, I probably should have been more terrified. I don't think at the time I had all the information about what usually happens when people get brain aneurysms. People love to tell you stories about how they know someone who was 26 years old with a wife and four babies who died from a brain aneurysm. There's nothing more comforting than hearing that (sarcasm). Rest assured, we witnessed first hand in the Neuro ICU what the usual outcome is for brain aneurysm. Poor Brian got severe survivor's guilt every time he had to go for a walk down the ICU unit. Every other patient was not usually even conscious. When Brian walked down the ICU unit it was like a parade. All the nurses would get so excited to see a walking patient. I sometimes think the walk was better for the moral of the staff on that ICU unit.

Once Brian was on the mend, my focus changed fast. Nothing like the possibility of health and financial disaster to really get one motivated. Our two weeks in the hospital really kicked things into overdrive. Usually, I don't take on more than one commission at a time with the same deadline. Motivated by the need to pay hospital bills and the weeks the hubs was going to be out of work while he got back to 100%, I signed two commission contracts with the same deadline and a third soon after. I'm thankful that worked out, and that people have faith in my compositions, it gave us more latitude financially. However, I had to ramp up my work. If it paid, I didn't turn it down.

What should have been a month of hanging out with the hubs while he healed, turned into the craziest month of taking care of Brian, juggling work, family, dogs, and sleep. I do have to say I never slept better during that month. If I laid down on the bed I was out. I am grateful to friends and family who helped take care of us during that time - some of them I missed because I fell asleep during the visit. Friends did everything from showing up with magazines to help with the boredom (not mine!), buying me dinner - because you forget to eat, to getting my paycheck to me so we wouldn't miss a mortgage payment, and even a friend who stayed the weekend last minute while Brian was in the ER and transferred to Emory. All those little things really made a huge difference. So next time this happens to a friend, even just showing up at the hospital to say hi or giving them a couple bucks to hit up the vending machine can really help out. It doesn't take much in a time like that. I know I never know what to do when friends are in that situation - it doesn't have to be a big gesture to make a huge impact.

So Brian is back to "normal" and so am I by the time October rolled around. It's been a flurry of flute playing, teaching, and composing. So much happened, I'll have to space out the posts. The next 4 months look equally packed. Then May will hit, and I will long for these days that are too busy to blog about any of the events. For now, this post explaining my absence will have to do. I'm pretty sure the "My Husband Had An Aneurysm" excuse has been played out by now. Don't worry, we joke about it, but we know things could be a lot different and that is not lost on us. I'm thankful we get more time together.