To Austin

At noon today, I set out for a mystery adventure in Austin with my aunts. While I have a vague idea of what we might do, our actual plans are still unknown. However, it is highly likely that we will at some point encounter a psychic and eat various flavors of cupcakes. More to come...

Before I depart, I have scheduled to go to Brookhaven and actually practice the Lacour on bari sax. I have found that while playing the bari part on alto allows me to be relatively confident with the fingerings, there is nothing else that is remotely similar about playing the two horns. Last rehearsal, I practiced the 3rd movement on alto and was able to play it well past half speed, which was the goal... but as soon as I tried it on bari, everything sort of went to crap. As a rule, I typically don't like to practice a piece on any other horn than the one I am using in rehearsal/performance, but I'm not allowed to take the bari home. So today, I break out of my cycle of laziness to actually go learn my part on bari, like I am supposed to. However, as one of my studio mates pointed out once, the lower the saxophone, the more excruciating the practice session. So we'll see how that goes.

The last few days have been otherwise pretty uneventful... I skyped with Megan, skipped Richardson Community Band to have an existential debate about the existence of God with Laura, and watched a few stupid humor movies. My favorite by far was "You're Welcome, America," which is actually not a movie, but a comedy show written and performed by Will Ferrell on the subject of Bush's presidency. It's a little vulgar, but it was one of the funniest and most genius Will Ferrell performances I have ever seen. To the politically aware and comedically inclined, I highly recommend it.

I've got to finish packing and head off to practice. Then off to Austin for some family mischief...