The final onslaught

The good news is that it'll all be over on May 11th. We are in the final rush of preparation and rehearsing for a number of concerts which involve a variety of children and ensembles.

On May 4th we have our regional Suzuki Celebration concert. We have some general "en masse" Suzuki repertoire to prepare, the Summit Strings are playing a couple of numbers, and our entire complement of local Suzuki kids are playing three ensemble numbers. On May 10th Erin sings in the community choir concert. (They also perform out of town this weekend.) The Summit Strings will be contributing a 'set' to this concert, and Erin and her friend J. will be performing a 2-violin duet. And on May 11th, our community orchestra (photo left) will be presenting its annual concert. Also on that concert will be an ensemble contribution by the local Suzuki student members of the orchestra, a performance by Noah's quartet and a performance by Erin's quartet -- all requiring their own separate rehearsals. So while there are just 3 concerts, there are 9 different combinations of musicians involved, all needing a last two or three rehearsals to ensure that everything is fully polished to performance standard.

Add in soccer, Aikido, art classes and a trip to Calgary, plus an imminent web-publishing deadline, and you would be hard-pressed to believe that I have made good progress in cutting back on my commitments this spring. I do not enjoy being this busy, nor do the kids, but it's only once a year -- and it's been worse in the past. And actually, our trip to Calgary, with its long drive and comfy predictable hours in the motel, serves as a sort of retreat from the mayhem of our at-home responsibilities.