tania the tiger

friday we had our first rehearsal with tania león, the 5-foot-tall cuban female tiger. i think the entire symphony orchestra should've had a few sit-in sessions with the latin jazz orchestra before rehearsing with her. we're too upright, too classically trained to play ellington, ginastera and revueltas...to be a complete musician, she said, we had to be involved in everything, including jazz. that's true at some places like calarts, where improvisation is expected and experienced all the time, but at oberlin and at purchase, not so much. we have a very limited view of what music actually is.

i've been working saturday nights checking coats at rebecca's. sometime in april i hopefully will go back to side waiting. my biggest tendencies are to get chapped lips and to get dehydrated. i brought one smart water (1 liter), but it wasn't enough, and i kept my burt's bees lifeguard chapstick (red cap) in my pocket at all times. i met the guy who owns the ginsberg pictures. they're amazing - quirky and funny.

today: imani winds at the PAC, 3pm.

i started at the circ desk at the campus library on thursday; i think it will be a fun job. at $10 per hour, handling books all morning two days a week, i'm happy. tutoring starts the week of feb 11.

i've been playing excerpts and mozart expositions for weeks. hopefully some day the fever will break. 6 auditions in the next few weeks, and should i send a tape to banff as security? hiking the mountains of canada sounds good to me.