Yes, but does it make you sweat?

I spent my junior year of high school as an exchange student in Finland. Why do I bring it up? Because the Finns invented the sauna and they won't have you forget it. The sauna is a cultural phenomenon in Finland. Every household has at least one, some have two or three! The Finns believe that the sauna will heal what ails you, and by the end of my time in Finland, I believed it too. There's something about sweating out your demons, throwing water on hot rocks, and trying to get an 8'x10' room to 150 degrees (F) that will heal you. I don't pretend to understand it, but I think it works.

So I decided to try Bikram yoga, where they heat the room to 105 degrees (F) and keep the relative humidity around 40-60%. I've had trouble finding an Ashtanga studio in Philly that lives up to my unreasonably high standards, and had heard a lot about Bikram. A colleague of mine recommended a Bikram studio in Center City with a huge number of classes and a schedule that allowed me enough flexibility to pick when I wanted to go every day. The whole thing sounded crazy to me, but I decided to give it a whirl.

Now, at the risk of giving you too much information, I'm not really a person who sweats a lot. I always say something cheeky like, "I'm a chic. I don't sweat. I glow." But trust me, in Bikram, you SWEAT. I've been to three classes so far, but at each class I thought, "I have never sweat this much in my life." I really didn't think I would like it. And I still don't love it like I love Ashtanga. I had it in my head that it would be extremely difficult. But its no more difficult than Ashtanga, except that you are sweating like there is no tomorrow.

I'm still keeping my eyes and ears out for an Ashtanga studio, but what one particularly wonderful teacher said in last night's class was this: "It doesn't matter how far into the pose you can get. What matters is that you come back tomorrow."

So I'm going to keep going back, at least for as long as I can. One of the best things I get out of yoga right now is patience-- patience to get into each pose and hold it, and patience to let my body heal and restore itself.

Namaste, y'all.

Real music

This afternoon I'm subbing in on a show that I've been intermittently playing for the last few weeks and then I'm off to West Chester to play with a local orchestra. Not a FANTASTIC group, but they don't suck either. And they're really really nice, which actually counts for a lot in my book. We're playing Rhapsody in Blue (snore) and Copland's Symphony No. 3. Now, I don't care if I never play Rhapsody again, but can I just try to explain to you how excited I am to play real music? Not some crappy Broadway compilation, and not some silly Motown show, but REAL music? There is at least one person I know in the section and I'm looking forward to being down bell from him. Not only a great player, but a funny guy. I'm playing THIRD, which will be new and different. I haven't played third horn in a REALLY long time. For those of you horn players out there thinking "But that's a high part! I thought she was having trouble with her high range?" Well, that's the part that was assigned to me, and frankly, I'm looking forward to it. I know I can handle it, as my chops have been improving steadily. My high C seems to have come back after an extended vacation (I think he said he's been in "Maui," but he might have said "Malawi.") There's a glitch every once in awhile, but I feel exponentially stronger every day.

Anyway, I was trying to explain what its like to play real, symphonic, orchestral music after a summer and early fall of almost exclusively pops shows.

Have you ever gone a really long time without eating at your favorite restaurant? Then one day, you're walking down the street and its lunchtime and you realize you have just enough time to avail yourself of that burrito you've been craving? And then you get excited and start thinking about what you're going to have on that burrito? Its kinda like that.

Or have you ever decided that you are going to stop drinking coffee? And then after about two weeks of headaches you realize that it was a stupid idea anyway? Then you stop by your favorite coffee shop and have a cup of dark roast and the first taste of it is PERFECTION? Its kinda like that.

Have you ever gone a month without seeing your love and then you meet him at the airport and fall into his arms and everything is perfect again? Okay, I don't think Copland 3 is going to be quite THAT good. But it'll be close.

THAT is how I feel today. I really do love playing the horn, especially now that I can do it again. FINALLY.

Aren't you tired of this yet?

Seriously, isn't everyone sick of Phantom of the Opera yet? For real, people. I do realize that for every one time the audience hears me participate in this particular tome of musical theatre, I have probably played it at least three times, usually more like six. So that's a 1:6 ratio of them hearing it to me playing it. So I can see why I might dislike it MORE than your average pops audience member. But still, why is it that you can't play a Broadway themed pops show without Phantom. Would they riot if it wasn't on the program? Do they know something I don't know?

I've been playing some concerts with this guy. If you bother to read his bio you'll see that he was in Phantom. Of course, Phantom has been running so long its hard to imagine that anyone HASN'T been in it. But I digress. After his rendition of Music of the Night today, the audience went APESHIT. I happened to notice a woman and her husband in the front row of the mezzanine who popped up before the orchestra had even finished the last chord, hooting and hollering. The woman obviously had tears in her eyes and I saw her mouth the words, "Amazing. Just amazing."

Really? For real? Was it THAT good? I mean, okay, he hit all the pitches. He didn't forget the words. He didn't come in a measure early like he did in the Cats medley in the first half. We'll give him a point or two for that. But "amazing?" I don't know. Maybe I'm a jaded, cynical, snob. Or maybe I just have really high standards. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. But I'm really okay with all that, at least this time. I don't like to get all snotty "oh I could do that" or whatever. Sure, there's a part of me that's a Broadway star. But that part of me only comes out when no one is around, or in the car driving down the turnpike late at night. I don't think I could do what they do. But that's partly because having to sing "Phantom" every week would possibly drive me batty.

I only have one run out show left for this particular series, and while it wasn't that bad, I'm happy to not have to hear Peter Nero's jokes for a few days. I'm also happy I don't have to play the never-ending Richard Rogers Medley. While it is certainly one of the better ones I've ever played (I love the transition into "Climb Every Mountain"... genius, I tell you) I found myself humming it last night and couldn't get it out of my head. That gets old QUICKLY.

Its unseasonably warm in Philly, and I'm looking forward to some fall weather. I went apple picking last week and came home with a bushel of apples, which is enough to make about 10 gallons of applesauce. So if any of you are hungry, please, come join me for a bowl!