Donna’s Blog

Probably my favorite thing this season was being treated to hearing Karlee’s flute ensemble perform several times.  Here is when they played at the City Market in downtown Valdosta…..I can’t figure out how to make this picture any smaller, so hopefully you can scroll across and see it all.  It was a picture I took outside of the market while they were playing inside. 

They also played at the church, so hopefully tomorrow I can upload a picture that shows their faces!

Christmas Eve found us at home having our annual “Soup Buffet” with Ben’s family.  We make our favorite soups, homemade cornbread and of course our favorite dessert…..cheesecake with cherries on top!  Then it’s time to gather around the tree and open gifts.  It was cold enough last night so that we could have a fire in the fireplace and it was so cozy!

I heard one of those songs on the radio this morning.  The music started and I knew it sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember from where.  Then came the words….”she wrapped her tiny baby”……and I remembered one of my favorite songs……”Heaven’s Child”.

I can’t remember what year we sang that, or even the name of the Cantata, but I do remember the song…..”this is Heaven’s child, this is Heaven’s child, in a lowly manger, wrapped in glory meek and mild.  Joseph wept in wonder as Mary sweetly smiled because they knew, this was Heaven’s child.”

Cool song!

It’s singer Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin!

They’ve actually recorded a CD together, “Raising Sand”, that was released in October!  I don’t know where I’ve been that I missed hearing all about that.  

I would love to know how the idea of the two of them recording ever got started.  Was Allison listening to her Led Zeppelin collection and wondering why she had never recorded with them?  Did LZ pull their huge tour bus off the road and stop at a blue grass festival and beg Allison to come to the studio?

Allison said on an interview that their voices were ”contrasting” and that contrasts always make for great romance.  Really?  So is this a romance album?  Or does just talking about that help to sell albums?

And we have to enjoy it now, because by the end of the week, it will be back in the 70’s during the day and the 50’s at night.  I haven’t actually kept a record of it, but I know last “winter” season, we never had more than seven days of cold weather, that it didn’t warm up for a few days.  Yes, the joys of living in sunny Flori…..I mean, Georgia!!

This time it’s Paige and it is her first concert as a member of the 6th Grade Wind Symphony.  She made 1st chair in the french horn section out of seven players.  I think that is pretty awesome!

I wasn’t sure she’d ever want to be a part of the band music program at school because you know, it’s what her older sister did.  There are times that Paige would talk about that and so I just left the decision up to her.  I think what clinched it was when some of the band directors came to her 5th grade class and talked to them about being in band.  The next thing i know, Paige comes home and tells us she’s decided to join and then I hear her asking Karlee if it’s o.k. if she maybe plays the flute like Karlee does!

Turns out, she liked the french horn better.  I guess on “try out” day, they let the students try several instruments and Paige found her niche with the french horn.  She brought it home every day and practiced with it.

I find i’m really digging this band music.  I’ve been listening differently to Christmas music on the radio this year…..anything with lots of instruments in it sounds so awesome now! 

Growing up I never paid attention to that kind of music and certainly never attended any symphony concerts.  

I think the most attention I ever paid to that kind of music was when I’d see documentaries on how soundtracks to movies were made.  They’d show a director and orchestra with a big screen showing movie footage in front of them.  That always fascinated me. 

Okay, so it didn’t quite look like this picture, but the VHS Wind Symphony concert was last night and they really were amazing!  One of the most breathtaking moments was when they performed ”Ava Maria”.  That song is so beautiful and so full of emotion that to be honest, I wasn’t sure that high school students could pull that one off without rushing through it.  Boy, was I wrong.  They played with such feeling and perfect timing that they brought tears to my eyes.

And then the flute ensemble played.  Karlee has been rehearsing for weeks with three other floutists and I knew it would be good, but I was just blown away.  Ben was video taping and I told Ben that we just have to figure out how to load that part of the video to youtube.com so we can email the video to all our friends/family.

The flute ensemble is scheduled to play at several venues over the next few weeks, one being at our church on Sunday, 12/23.  Can’t wait for that.  

For example, I am part of the planning committee for the Band Christmas party this Friday night.  No problem.  The Committee has already met and written out a complete party list of things that have to be done.  We’ve delegated responsibilities, we’ve rented what needs renting and we’re emailing each other to keep on track.  It’s going to be a great party and it’s not hard for me to organize stuff like that.

But ask me to provide some music for a Christmas party and all of the sudden I am a totally unorganized person.

For example, the Christmas party last night. I’ve known for months that I was going to be providing “dinner music” for this party.  But did I sit down and make out a list of things I needed to get together?  No.  I knew that I was going to need to borrow K’s sound system and I knew I was going to need to find a keyboard.  When did I ask K. about using her sound system?  Monday morning…..the morning of the party.  What was I thinking?  I really did intend to ask her last week, but I just kept forgetting.  But I really should have asked her weeks ago.  It’s like I keep telling myself i’ll have time to get it all done, when in reality I am just running out of time.

(What is it Oprah says?  Or is it Dr. Phil?  “What is the payoff?”  I mean there must be some “payoff” to me putting stuff like this off.  But for the life of me, i can’t think of anything.  When I get in messes like this, I get so mad at myself and I wonder WHY I ever say yes to doing stuff like this!)

Anyway, K. graciously let me use her sound system so Ben ran out to her house to pick it up.  Thanks K!

The keyboard was a whole nother story.  I ended up calling my friend D. Monday morning to ask if i could use hers.  She was so sweet and said “sure”.  So I ask if it’s o.k. if i come by around 6PM to pick it up.  I’m on the way to her house around 5:50 when I realize something (here again, an events planner would have already thought this out)….if I drive to D’s house, I’m going to be LATE!  I don’t know why I thought I could make it all the way to her house and then all the way to the party.  I read the directions and realize that Rascals bar might be a good place to meet.  So I call and ask her if anyone can come and meet me with the keyboard.  She says she can do that…and I tell her “why not just come to the party with me?  Ben didn’t come cause he’s sick, so there’ll be an extra plate there.”   So she decided to do that.  Boy, she didn’t know what she was getting into! 

We met at Rascals and had about seven minutes till time for me to be at the party; but according to the directions we’re only about two miles from the party place (just “follow the balloons), so that’s a good thing….at least we wouldn’t get lost.  Except guess what?  They forgot to put the balloons out.  And at 6:25 P.M. it’s pitch black outside; and when you are driving in the boonies, it’s even darker…..so even if there were balloons, we probably wouldn’t have seen them.  After a couple of wrong turns, we finally figured out where it was.

Everyone was in a festive mood and a couple of really nice guys helped us unload the equipment from the cars.  We get everything set up when I realized the chord was missing from the sound system that would allow me to plug my CD player into the system and sing with it.  Great!  (again, an events planner would have double checked that!)  Fortunately, someone thought they were going to need a CD player so they brought it and it was one of those little karoake machines that came with chords to plug into a sound system (thank you, Lord).  Except I coudn’t figure out how to make it work.  So D. looked back in the box and found the right chords and we were in business! 

I get set up and started playing some Christmas songs that D. had let me borrow from her song collection.  I never realized how many “accidentals” (Donn’a definition:  sharps and flats thrown in to a key signature that totally freak you out)  there are in Christmas music.  Fortunately, everyone was talking so loud that I don’t think they could hear all the mistakes I was making.  But then I started worrying about what I was going to do when they sat down to eat and would get quiet.  Then I thought, “duh, D. is here and she is the church pianist; let me just slide over and she can take the throne!”

Can I just say she did a fabulous job?  She has a knack for playing those accidentals!  She really saved me big-time last night and acted like she even had a good time!  Now that’s a friend!