So for the last month I’ve been working on a project with The Crossing: the first recording for this fledgling group, and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The piece is Kile Smith’s Vespers, written for The Crossing (a new music choir) and Piffaro (a Renaissance wind band), and I can’t wait until the CD is out in stores.
And, of course, because I seem to be one of those people who takes on WAAAY too much at once, I was not simply learning my music (including a newly rewritten movement Kile threw at us at the last minute!!), I was helping to organize flights from folks coming in from out of town, making sure everyone had the music, and even making available transposed versions for those of us with perfect or even good relative pitch.
(Piffaro’s instruments are all tuned to A=463 rather than the standard 440, which means that all the notes on the page really sound a half step higher than they look on the page, which can drive folks like me nuts. As Adrian Monk says, “It’s a blessing and a curse.”)
At the same time, I was trying to fulfill my AGMA duties, which have seemed to multiply, Hydra-like, exponentially (and more viciously) the more tasks I complete (since the stress level for this volunteer job had started to affect me physically, I said enough was enough, and I stepped down as delegate). Oh yeah, and never mind the fact that I had my day job, too, working at the transcription place, which I’m leaving at the end of the month (more on that later).
Since all work and no play make Maren very grumpy, Ray bought Grand Theft Auto IV for me to release some of my frustrations on. Yeah, I know. I don’t seem like the GTA4 type, but I’m really liking it.
Anyway, the recording was intense, but I think it went well. And I really think the final product will be fantastic. I posted a story that David Patrick Stearns did for WRTI on the piece. I think it definitely sums up what the process was about…oh yeah, and you get to see me in my pigtails, which I sported every day that week because it was so hot and muggy.