Winds Channeled into Brass

Last Thursday was an exciting day. I send my husband on a road trip to Maiden Rock, Wisconsin to pick up my French horn that I purchased online. I am more of a woodwind instrumentalist, but needing to shake up my life a little bit in the tenth grade, I took up horn as my hobby and did just fine. (Interestingly enough, the round, reflective bell of the horn also enabled me to spy on the boy I admired sitting behind me in band without turning around). I played a little horn in college off and on, but not much, and I haven't played since because I did not have a horn. So when my studio enrollment for summer music lessons boomed, I decided to obtain a good used double French horn for my own enjoyment and to demonstrate brass instruments during my preschool music class.

I hadn't ever had the priveledge of playing on a double horn before, and I love it! All the previous instruments I played were dusty, moldy beat up things, but my new acquisition had a chemical bath at the repair shop I bought it from, and it plays beautifully. It is so much easier to play the double horn because the extensions of the range are much, much easier to reach and the low and high notes both sound more solid and full. After my children are sleeping I pull out the horn and play away (mostly hymns right now because it's easy to tell if my notes are accurate since I have to relearn several fingerings for the double horn that were different on the single . . . but I am planning on tackling Mozart soon.) My husband just shakes his head, but even he has to agree that the French horn is a beautiful sounding mellow instrument.

While my husband was driving across Wisconsin to get the horn, I happened to attend my backyard neighbor's garage sale, and lo and behold, along with four wheel pink roller skates and some clothes for Sarah I came across an excellent trumpet in a moldy case for a very reasonable price. I couldn't resist and I got that too. It hasn't been practiced as much as the French horn, and I sound pretty terrible at it, but what fun!!!!! I need to get a different case, and I think the trumpet needs a bath, but it was a very exciting garage sale find.

Some people collect knick knacks. I have a passion for musical instruments.

Sand Hand

BWhandformail
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

Swift Steps

BWrunalonglakeformail
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

At the Shore

chasing water
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

Castles in the Sand

castleformail
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

The last time I genuinely built a sandcastle on a beach may have been when I was eleven. This past weekend we visited the beach while vacationing. It was a semi warm day. I say semi warm because we weren't freezing to death, but I was wearing two shirts and a sweatshirt, so I wouldn't say it was your typical balmy beach experience. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time. Ms. Crazy Preschooler would have stayed all day and probably the next day too. She amused herself by attempting to throw the beach into the Lake Superior, handful of sand by handful. We looked for driftwood, painted in the sand with sticks from the forest, collected rocks and of course built a couple sandcastles. I've always been fascinated by the act of building castles with moats. A sand castle is weak and dull without a good moat to protect it, and I love watching the waves lap against the shore, whapping the sand and sending swells of water inland toward the castle. While not overly elegant, my castle was strong, and we left it standing proud to face a tumultous sea.

Thank Goodness for Glass

sharkformail2
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

Beware

sharkformail
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

Shark Watch

Shark Watch
Originally uploaded by super rachel zana.

This past weekend our family took a vacation to Minneapolis. Ms. Crazy Preschooler had sharks on her mind, so sharks is what we did. We visited sharks from an underwater tunnel in the Mall of America, but even better yet was our trip to the Minnesota Zoo. While there were less sharks at the zoo, we were able to take our time and enjoy them more. (Also, the sharks seemed larger, with more vicious teeth.) After spending the first 3 hours of our zoo trip in the ocean exhibit gazing at the diversity of marine life, we decided that it would be quite possible to spend all day looking at sharks and dolphins with Ms. Crazy Preschooler and never even visit the rest of the zoo. We tore ourselves away, but not before snapping some interesting shark pictures.

I've always loved fish and swimming creatures of all kinds. Gazing into an undewater world just fascinates me: fish swimming in water so clear that it looks as if they are floating on air, brilliant colors flashing, fins and gills swishing at different speeds and angles. I love watching jelly fish slide in the water currents, starfish creep along rocks and sand, and seahorses clinging to long tubes of soggy grass as it sways in the abscence of an invisible breeze.

Amazing Students

In the many years I have taught music privately I have been blessed by different students, but in reflecting on this past year, I think I have had the most amazing students. Several of my students this year have made remarkable progress. In listening to them this spring, you'd never know that they were the same people playing and singing last fall. They practice. They take extra effort to learn music that is assigned and not assigned. Two students MEMORIZED their recital pieces the week I assigned them, and the pieces were not easy. I honestly don't feel I have any stuggling students this year. Nearly every afternoon is filled with fun teaching. I am excited for the upcoming recital the first week of June.