TCBronze Ringer 7

Being a SAHM while in a traveling group

2008-01-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

The Artistic Director recently asked me how difficult it is to juggle raising kids and being in a traveling group like Twin Cities Bronze. Here is what I emailed to her:

Well, I haven't found it to be that difficult. But, I have a very supportive husband. If music hadn't been my major in college, it might be a different story. But this is what I choose to do with my life, and he has known since Day One that Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc. will likely never be spent with family unless they come here.

We talked about the ramifications of me being in a touring group like Twin Cities Bronze before I even auditioned. We talked about what we would do with the kids if we both need to be gone at the same time. In my experience, it's all about communication BEFORE a situation comes up. Getting the calendar, even in rough form, at the beginning of the year is really helpful. Mike and I coordinate calendars about every 2 weeks; with the girls' activities, my bell stuff, and his scouting, it can get kind of hairy. I have heard comments that other women's husbands would never "let" them do something like TCBronze because of the time it takes. Well, Mike doesn't "let" me do Bronze any more than I "let" him do Boy Scouts.

So, I guess in a situation where you are raising kids, it really needs to be a decision that is come to by both parties who are raising the kids. Mike has made the most of the time I am gone by creating his own little rituals with the girls. They go swimming, they go out to eat, and other stuff. It's their time with their dad. And when Mike is gone for Boy Scouts, I do different things with the girls. It's kind of funny: when I am gone, he gets invitations to our friends' houses for dinner, playdates, etc. When HE is gone, I don't. I guess our friends think he needs the help or something! LOL

Did my book answer your question? I kind of think, though, if I worked outside the home, it would be harder. Like I wouldn't want to take that time away from the girls. But since I see them every day all day, I don't feel bad taking the time for myself.

Going on retreat

2007-09-21T08:22:00.000-05:00

This weekend is our Twin Cities Bronze retreat. We haven't had one yet this year, and Janine has offered us the use of her and Bernie's cabin for the weekend. There have been, of course, many jokes about our "Weekend at Bernie's". I have a feeling that the movie will make an appearance this weekend! It will be a weekend full of friendship, FOOD, and much, much hard work and music making.

We handed Commemoration of the Spirit in on Sunday. I have a feeling that it will be a while before we pull it out again. But what a beautiful piece!

2 weddings and a funeral

2007-09-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

In the last month, Twin Cities Bronze has played for 2 weddings. What about the funeral? I'll get to it later; I promise!

Yesterday was 09/08/07. Kind of a serendipitous date for a wedding. I don't think they planned it that way, it just happened. So, Paul and Elissa got married. Gorgeous venue, gorgeous music (not all of it provided by us, either!) What stood out in my mind was how JOYOUS the occasion was. The bride was laughing with JOY as she came up the aisle on the arm of her godfather. The bride and groom smiled at each other almost the whole time. They LAUGHED after THE KISS. It was truly a joyous day!

The music was provided by an organist who has known Paul since he was 4 years old. (1983!) Some truly unique music was played, and although *I* could tell that "repertoire" was not his forté, we discovered what it was at the end of the ceremony. Twin Cities Bronze played the postlude music. Since we had to change setups, this would normally leave us with some "dead air" between pieces. Monica asked the organist to provide a little walking music between each of our pieces. Now, had *I* been the organist, I would have been in a dead panic. This guy actually IMPROVISED on the pieces that we played! Like I said, we found his forté.

A few weeks ago, we played for Heather Allen's wedding. Her mom, Janine is Ringer 8 in Twin Cities Bronze. TCBronze provided ALL of the music for his wedding. Very stressful, but also rewarding in its own way. The best thing about this wedding was the messages provided by the pastor, and the toast that was done by the bride's father at the reception. He likened marriage to a motorcycle tour. At the beginning, you are on familiar roads, and you can cruise along with a few bumps, but since you know the roads, it's ok. Then you cross the state line. The roads are unfamiliar, and you may run into other problems, so you have to slow down to traverse the terrain. It was very touching, and oh, so very true for those of us who have been traveling the roads of marriage for a while.

Finally, the funeral. Monica is our Artistic Director. She is wonderful beyond words, and is always pushing us to do our best, and to improve upon our best. She knows what we are capable of, and she expects us to attain our best. Her dad died last October. Right away, we (the rest of Bronze) started emailing each other saying that we wanted to attend the funeral. It snowballed until ultimately, 10 of us were going to make the trip to Custer, SD to support Monica. Well, if that many of us were going, could we find one more ringer and play for the funeral? Janine contacted her friend Jan, and we had 11 ringers. We all managed to get time off of work (how convenient that we no longer needed those days off to travel to Milwaukee!) and car-pooled our way to South Dakota.

I don't think Monica truly believed that we were coming until we all walked into the funeral home the night before the funeral. The look on her face was one of pure friendship and love. And of course, we love her too. We don't do this for just ANYONE, you know :) We went to the church, and with the help of Mitch Paulsen, got the tables set up (boy, it was a tight fit!), I ran through some pieces on the organ (Monica asked me to play some prelude music and one hymn) and we went to the hotel.

The day of the funeral was chilly, but sunny. We got to the church, checked everything over, and I started playing the prelude. Looking back at it almost a year later, I don't remember WHAT we played, save one piece. We played Commemoration of the Spirit by William Payn as the family was leaving the church. Monica told us later that she had started to come back inside to listen to us play, and as she reached the top of the stairs, we had just started the bell peals in the center of the piece. She couldn't come in after that. We haven't played that piece since her dad's funeral. Kind of appropriate. We had been playing that piece all year in memory of Marilyn Kielnarz, who had died in March of 2005. She was a dear friend of Monica's. How fitting that the last time we would play it would be for her dad's funeral. Of all of the concerts I have done with Twin Cities Bronze, this one means the most, and comes to the forefront of my mind. The music may not have been perfect that day, but it was played with love, and that brings it to perfection in my mind.

Picture with Doc

2007-02-06T22:22:00.000-06:00

Here is Twin Cities Bronze with Doc Severinsen in December 2006. What a great experience! More later!

TCB with the Minnesota Orchestra

2007-02-06T22:16:00.000-06:00

In December, Twin Cities Bronze performed at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis with Doc Severinsen and the Minnesota Orchestra. One of our solo pieces was Sleigh Ride, which was accompanied by the percussion section of the Minnesota Orchestra. They were gracious enough to allow us to have our picture taken with them. I'll post more later about our experience playing with Doc.

Our Recording Session

2006-10-27T00:33:00.000-05:00

We had a recording session for TCB earlier this year, and there was a fantastic photographer there. She took pictures of things that we, as bell ringers, sometimes take for granted.

I just love this picture of our mallet drawer. They are our tools, and she turned them into art! I love the softened edges of the picture... kind of the opposite of the sound that we produce when we use the mallets.

We do a lot of score study. Here, you can see both Chris and Lauren preparing for our next "take" during the recording session. Chris is studying his music, and Lauren is "airbelling" a difficult passage in Commemoration of the Spirit. How can I tell what piece it is? Easy! There are Malmark chimes on the table. In Commemoration, in order for us to play it with 11 ringers, Monica had positions 5 & 6 play some of the notes that occurred in the upper positions. To do that, we had Malmark chimes on the table.

We have a lot of fun in TCB, too. It's too bad that nobody took a picture of the spread of food that we had at the recording session! Summer's husband, Brian, loves to cook. Luckily, we love to eat! It was a match made in heaven! On regular rehearsal nights, we take turns bringing food for dinner afterwards. Sometimes we have sandwiches, other times we have hotdish, and sometimes we have something from the crockpot. All yummy!

Must. Get. in. Blogging. Habit.

2006-10-25T00:09:00.000-05:00

Alright... it's been entirely too long since I updated this blog! Twin Cities Bronze has been through a whole season already (sort of). We went on tour in June, and played in Denver, CO; Sioux Falls, SD; Bismarck, ND; Fergus Falls, MN; and St. Cloud, MN. What a fun time! Sight-seeing in and around Custer, SD was definitely a highlight, as was Bismarck.

I loved ringing Position 9! And William Tell didn't kill me! It actually became very FUN to ring.

We had auditions again in August. Summer was offered a professor-ship in Michigan, and Sara decided to take a hiatus from the group. That left Positions 2 and 10 open. Many of us stated that Position 10 scared the bejesus out of us, but we left the decision up to Monica and her WISE WAYS. Patti now rings Position 10, and I was moved to Position 7. It's different, that's for sure!

First Rehearsal with TCB

2006-02-03T09:27:00.000-06:00

Wow - my first rehearsal with Twin Cities Bronze was intense. Not as in "Buckle down, we're learning these pieces tonight!" but more like, "OMG, I have so much music to learn and my ears are ringing and.. and.. and.." We have 11 pieces in our folders right now, and Monica has promised that we'll have more this week. Being Ringer 9 is interesting. I've never played this position before, so that's one aspect, but there is also the "doubling" of other peoples' parts when they simply can't get to them. William Tell is going to be the death of me, I just know it. :) I have some places in runs that I'm sure I'll get eventually at like, 1/4 speed, but we will be playing it up to tempo at some point, I'm sure. The biggest surprise wasn't the rehearsal on Sunday night, it was how I felt afterward. I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up WAY too late looking for sound files of the pieces we're playing so I can practice with them. Sounds slightly LESS ridiculous that way. Then on Monday, I had a migraine. I haven't had a migraine since, oh, about 1988! Note to self: sleep is good. More next week...

Why limit yourself?

2006-01-29T23:56:00.000-06:00

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, whom am I
to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually,
who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won’t
feel insecure around you.
You were born to make manifest
the glory of God.
That is within us.
It’s not just some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine,
we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Return To Love
Marianne Williamson