Eating Down the Reeds

Hi, blog readers!  I have just returned from a tour of China, and although I was thinking and writing while I was there, I couldn’t publish anything because Blogger is a Google product and Google is blocked by the government.  So I’ll be posting the reflections from my trip over the next few days.  Enjoy!

December 27, 2012.  I am writing this on a plane bound for Shanghai, where Steve and Zoe and I will be touring with Valparaiso University’s Symphony Orchestra.  I have rarely been so poorly equipped for a journey, mentally, physically, and oboistically – but I have every expectation of enjoying myself nevertheless.

When we are coming up on a trip out of town, we try not to buy new groceries.  For the week or so before we go, we try hard to consume all the perishables in the kitchen, with no thought of maintaining pantry stores or of continuing to live in the house after our trip.  We can wind up with some peculiar stir-fries during this period, and incongruous pairings, but in the end we can leave with a clear conscience and enjoy the heck out of our travel food.  The downside comes, of course, when we return home and realize that the cupboard is bare, and that we can’t even expect a couple of elderly carrots or onions in the fridge – everything for every recipe needs to be purchased fresh.  This is costly, of course, and also inconvenient as we are used to being able to rely on basic pantry items. 

In the weeks leading up to this tour I also have consumed my reed and energy stores down to the bare shelves.  That metaphor may be a little strained, but hear me out.

During the holiday season we perform constantly.  Some years I have Nutcracker performances, or Bach oratorios, both of which require serious playing and attention, but this year it has just been Xmas schlock ever since Thanksgiving.  Don’t get me wrong – I am happy to be performing, and I enjoy a nice Christmas Pops event.  My point is merely that these have not been concerts I have to worry about, or have a particularly great reed for.  On the flip side though, these are concerts that do not get a ton of rehearsal.  We read it all down once and then we go.

During a Pops cycle I tend to play old reeds.  There’s not enough rehearsal time to break in new ones, and  I’m not practicing enough at home to work anything up.  I won’t play a brand new reed in performance.  These concerts are not hard enough to worry about, but if I am struggling with my reeds and having to force something to work it’s no fun. Old reeds are generally the answer.  I can always get by for a week or so on them, and start bringing new ones up after that.

But in December, the next week is always also a Christmas pops concert, and the following week is too.  Before I know it, my comfy old reeds are shredded and just this side of STONE COLD DEAD, and I am personally tired and ground down from all of the forced cheer, and the thought of using anything more difficult or unreliable than the reeds in my case is exhausting, and then an old one cracks and WHOOPS!  The countdown to Christmas has claimed another one!

During the month I’ve squeezed all of my final makeup lessons in for the colleges, and fit all of my high school students into the cracks between college teaching and gigs, and I threw two oboe Christmas parties a week apart.  The reed business always picks up in December, too – everyone is working then, and the reed work is busiest when I am.  Of course Zoe was thrilled about the holiday, and we made time to decorate our little tree and bake LOTS of cookies and visit Santa at the mall and shop for gifts, etc etc…

We had family in our house for the holiday, which was great for everyone, and I was so relieved to have a few days off that I let the various Grandmas be entertained by Zoe while I SAT.  In a CHAIR.  And READ A BOOK during the few periods when I wasn’t baking or cooking.  It was the most like a break that I could have hoped for, and it felt wonderful.  It wasn’t in fact nearly enough to rebuild my stores of energy OR reeds.

Now that I am on the plane and mere hours from landing I am acutely aware of the mess I have made in my reed case.  I have old reeds and older ones, and blanks that I mostly owe to other people on my return.   I’ll be scraping and working up a storm, and I suspect that this trip will be pretty hard on my collection, but having my stores torn down in this way at the end of the year is entirely my own fault.  I coasted through the month, and I can live with the consequences.