oboeinsight

The third to last opera is over ‘n out. During the quieter, more sensitive sections I managed to not cough. Only during the second act of Pagliacci did the cough suddenly decide to appear. It was quite awful, really, but it was during the louder sections when I wasn’t missed. Whew!

During the second intermission I met a blog reader. He’s a flutist and studies with a colleague of mine in Symphony Silicon Valley. So to that reader: What fun to meet you … so do drop me a line! And I apologize for not coming up to actually shake your hand, but you wouldn’t want to get near me at this point, what with my cold and all! I’m sorry, too, that I didn’t even really communicate with your friend. Where did my manners go? Ack! I blame the oboe. Or the reed. Or something like that.

Until Friday I pretty much put the oboe away and start preparing our Thanksgiving meal. (Well, I DO have one student tomorrow, which I do look forward to!) For our feast we will have vegan friendly food, vegetarian friendly food, and the traditional fixings as well. As I told a friend, we are “all food-faiths friendly”. ;-)

I’m so looking forward to family and friends on Thursday!

it does feel a little like this when I’m coughing …

Since I’m never hesitant about whining, readers know I’ve been a bit under the weather, and when I’m feeling crummy the blog goes “BlogLite” just as the brain is “BrainLite”. Or something like that.

I think I’m feeling better this morning — at least I woke up with only a slight headache and no migraine! At the end of a cold, though, I always have to deal with the pattycough™. This cough can last for up to a month. It happens primarily at night. It’s uncontrollable. It’s loud. It’s annoying for both me and those around me. It especially likes to make itself known when I’m on stage or in the pit and things are being played pianissimo. I have one opera tonight before a break until Friday. I’ll have my cough drops on my little tray, but I hate using them when I’m trying to play (bad on the reeds, and annoying to have in one’s mouth when blowing on that reed!). We’ll see how things go. I try to cough “ahead of time”, when things are quite loud, hoping that will take care of things for a while. Sometimes that works. Sometimes not. I’m hopeful that by the next week the cough will at least have settled down a bit: I have Symphony Silicon Valley concerts overlapping with a choral group that has hired SSV to play (I’d post information about that here, but it’s a mystery to me: I can’t find a single thing online. We’ve been told it’s the “A# Chorus”. Anyone have a clue?), so it’s a very busy week.

But yes, I’ve been ill, so this blog has been neglected even more than usual. I’m debating about December — do I blog or do I just post Advent and Christmas music? Hmm. Just not sure at this point. If any readers have suggestions do tell. Not that I always listen …. :-)