About a week ago my friend Nancy came over for a visit and decided that my living room would be the ideal place to get together for a reading of the Schubert Octet. She decided this in spite of the fact that the room was a complete mess, full of boxes and other stuff that I'd never unpacked. Maybe she was trying to do me a favor by forcing me to unpack. It worked!
The reason I hadn't unpacked was because I thought that it would be best to wait until all the baseboards and window trim was done before everything got spread out and moved into place. I hate the thought of everything getting all dusty from the relatively small amount of construction we have left to do.
I still think that, but it's time to actually start acting like I live here whether the house is finished or not. I'm so glad I finally got the stimulus I needed to do that. It's been kind of depressing having all those boxes piled up in there. Playing the Schubert is a much better use of that room.
Anyway I spent the past week painting the coat closet so I could put the coats away. It is so nice to have a coat closet! Our rental house didn't have one and it was always a problem. And that closet was the last room left to be painted so now the only painting left to do is the window and door trim and baseboards, if they ever get installed. Aren't I patient?
So over the last couple of days I've been moving all of the boxes to more appropriate locations and finally the room is ready for its inaugural chamber music session!
Nancy organized the whole thing and we'll have time to run through the whole piece twice I think. It's about an hour long. It's going to be fun to play it with some new people. Some of the players are friends or acquaintances and a couple of them I've never met before.
Later tomorrow I'm playing with a big band up in Baltimore at a place called the Wine Cellar. After that I'll be spending some time learning some new tunes (for me) for a wedding gig on Sunday. I think I might have actually even heard some of these songs before:
#41, Typical Situation, Ants Marching, Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band; Upside Down and Times Like These by Jack Johnson; I'm Yours by John Mayer.
I guess I'll be checking them out on YouTube very soon.
Speaking of YouTube, here's a movement from the Schubert we'll be playing in about eight hours. I guess I'd better go to sleep now. Nighty-Night!
4 comments:
That's a lovely way to warm your house! (Love the wall color, too.)
It is, it was! They told me I mustn't put any furniture in there ever, hahaha!
Are you a stand-in bass player for someone else I know or are there multiple groups playing this piece right now??? I must hear it in performance after hearing about it from her and now from you.
Looks like a great salon for chamber music!
This was a one time reading session. The Schubert Octet is equally popular with wind players and strings because all of the parts contain gorgeous writing. It's the natural choice for a large chamber music group and I've played it at least five or six times in the last ten years or so.
If you want to hear an excellent performance without leaving your house, check out the Youtube clip above. You can also search "Schubert Octet" to hear the same group playing the other movements. They are all outstanding.
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