I played jazz with my colleague, Jordan VanHemert, for about four hours yesterday at a 60th wedding anniversary. The husband and wife did most of the dancing. The wife is a yoga instructor and I believe the husband is a retired engineer. Anyway they  had a beautiful home on the shores of lake michigan. Unlike so many gigs, the husband promptly paid us right after we played. They were very appreciative of our playing. 

This morning definitely feels like the morning after.  Since I am a bit of an extrovert, a four hour gig usually leaves me feeling a bit drained and foolish. I tend to put my entire self into my playing. And when I improvise, it’s unlike any other kind of playing/composing. Very exhilarating. But then the introvert in me keeps thinking of the silly moments of a public occasion. Like when someone snapped my photograph in the middle of tasting the wonderful food. I think I wake up the next day inside out. Anyway, some of my playing yesterday was actually at the top of my game.  I miss playing with other people who can play their instruments.

I’m sort of dreading the whole fakey church thing this morning. My adult choir has the sunday off and I had a last minute request from the youth choir director to accompany this morning’s anthem. she and I seem to have much different ideas about church music. When I first came, she offered to accompany the adult choir but stipulated that she would not do rehearsals. I declined since I think rehearsals are pretty important. Since then when ever she asks me to accompany the youth choir, it’s usually last minute and with little or even no rehearsal. I don’t find this too intimidating as a keyboard player, it’s just not how I do stuff with my choirs. I think it might be a college thing. The choral director I worked for at Notre Dame seemed to wing every rehearsal and performance. He was good at it. But it often left the hapless accompanist (me) in the dust. 

I have noticed that the increased stress of caring for my failing parents has made me more sure of my own convictions and skills in the rest of my life.  So I’m pretty sure that my professional instincts about stuff like rehearsing and competency are on target. I still try not to be unhelpful in the way I behave and share my insights. This takes energy. So I guess I’m dreading church again this morning.

It’s probably largely because I’m exhausted from yesterday (the 57 year old acting like he’s 27). 

At the party, the husband told a couple of stories about musicians he has seen like Glen Miller and Jack Teagarden. I have heard him tell these stories before. This time some of the people in the story were different. I found that amusing and even charming. He accidentally overpaid us by about fifty dollars. I returned his moolah. I try not to take money from people when they are inebriated. Heh.