it's hard to believe that i'm just 2 days away from the final gig of this crazy tour. in some ways the first concert in Brisbane seems a really long time ago, in other ways it feels like a whirlwind. it's been a great experience, and really rewarding in so many ways. performances in the 'classical' genre (in the broadest possible definition of the term!) generally don't get a season in the same way that a ballet or opera production might. all the hard work and months of preparation usually result in just a single performance. it's been fantastic, on this tour, to be able to spend more time developing the works in performance mode (which is totally different from practise mode), and to settle in to a rhythm of performance that's rare to find in this little niche of the music biz.
more reflections after i get home, but here's a quick run-down of the last few days.
during my week in austin i performed a small session for my nephew's 1st grade class. it went great! the kids were really attentive and asked some good questions. it was fun to see them getting up and dancing, and having a good ol' groove along to Zoom Tube. the next day i did a small session for my niece's kindy class, which was somewhat more chaotic, but pretty cute all the same. after realising that their attention span was pretty much non-existent i invited them up one at a time to try pressing a key down while i played. there were 3 or 4 kids who kept coming back time after time, and after all the others had gone back outside to play, this small group remained and just wanted to keep playing and investigating it all! very cute.
up through the middle of the country to chilly chicago, and my composer friend Nomi. i was also reunited with my flutist friend Tara, who had flown in from LA for this gig. yay! it was a small crowd, but i was really happy with the performance (even running my own sound for the first time - and it all worked!!). just as the concert started, so did the snow! behind me were a row of large windows, so each time i finished a piece i'd get distracted watching the snow fall. i kept commenting on it, even though i realised that it was an everyday sort of occurrence for the crowd. had a nice chat after the concert with another 'new music' flutist from chicago, so will be great to keep in touch with her and exchange repertoire ideas etc. also was approached by a man who had just arrived at the end of the concert, and thought i was some other 'janet mckay - flutist' that he knew in the area. i have a doppelganger!
after an arduous day's travel (should have been a simple 2 hour flight, ended up as a 6 hour marathon!!) i've finally arrived in new york, and about to head out to an irish music session. tomorrow will hopefully be a bit of a rest day (and laundry, emails, etc etc) and doing a last big promo push for Wednesday night's gig. would be awesome to end the tour with a cracker!
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