Strings in the earth and air

Strings in the earth and air

Make music sweet;

Strings by the river where

The willows meet.

There's music along the river

For Love wanders there,

Pale flowers on his mantle,

Dark leaves on his hair.

All softly playing,

With head to the music bent,

And fingers straying

Upon an instrument.

by James Joyce (1907)
Painting: "Willows at Sunset" by Vincent Van Gogh (1888)

The Wind

Of all the sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a charge to me
Like that old measure in the boughs,
That phraseless melody

The wind does, working like a hand
Whose fingers brush the sky,
Then quiver down, with tufts of tune
Permitted gods and me.

When winds go round and round in bands,
And thrum upon the door,
And birds take places overhead,
To bear them orchestra,

I crave him grace, of summer boughs,
If such an outcast be,
He never heard that fleshless chant
Rise solemn in the tree,

As if some caravan of sound
On deserts, in the sky,
Had broken rank,
Then knit, and passed
In seamless company.

Emily Dickinson
Painting: "Trees in the Wind" by Bob Dornberg

Renewal

American River

This is the American River near the back side of Rio Americano High School in Sacramento.  I play on Monday evenings at Rio with the Sacramento Concert Band and Tuesdays nearby with the Sacramento Symphonic Winds.  Tonight, band was cancelled so I went over to the river to look around.  

Pausing to Regain Sanity

It's important to me to have time each week to play my horn as part of a band.  Every day at work, I'm rehearsing bands - critically listening and adjusting what my students are playing.  I'm responsible for the finished product as well as the publicity, finances, inventory, etc. of the bands.  But on Monday and Tuesday nights, I'm just responsible for myself.  I can focus on playing my horn - the reason I came to love music in the first place.  I'm not saying that I don't love directing band - only that I need a place to recharge.  Community Band is where this happens.

How do you recharge when you get depleted?