Conferences, Scores, and Accidentals

Okay, so I haven't blogged since the beginning of July.  July 8th, in fact, when my book came out and I wanted to share the news.  Since then I've visited Chicago to present "Dyslexia and the Keyboard: When Students Can't Read" as part of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP for short).  Attendance was lean, but this is the first time the conference has scheduled presentations around students with special needs, so that is a step in the right direction.  And I've been blowing a lot of hot air through my fr horn in order to survive a 9-week summer concert series as Principal horn with Little London Winds (we only got rained out once this year, and no fires!).  Then I dropped everything for a week and enjoyed a visit from my son (recently returned from deployment) and his wife.  So I haven't been writing, blogging, versing, or card-sending to real friends, imaginary friends, or cyber-friends.


During my sabbatical of non-writing I chose to face-off this whole dyslexia thing by doing something that requires expert score reading.  Something totally anti-dyslexic.  That would be conducting.  Waving a baton in front of a group of people, all of whom read music much better than I can.  Following a score.  You know, one of those monster things composed of a gazillion staffs because the conductor needs to see the part for each and every instrument.


Have I mentioned that I don't read piano scores well?  That's because piano music has at least two staffs, depending on the composer.  French horn music is altogether different.  One staff.  One clef (most of the time).  One line of notes, unless of course the publisher cheated on paper and put two parts on one score.


Yet here I am, trying to make heads or tails out of a conductor score composed of a gazillion staffs.
What was I thinking?


I'm not done with self-inflicted pain yet, either, because after years and years of wanting to learn this piece, and trying multiple times to start it only to be defeated by thick chords and even thicker accidentals, I'm tackling Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with orchestra reduction second piano parts.  Talk about a gazillion notes and accidentals.  My head hurts whenever I look at the score.


In the meantime, that little voice in my head keeps reminding me of my ridiculous idea about trying my hand at conducting.  Conducting scores have a gazillion staffs, and a gazillion notes, AND a gazillion accidentals.


Is all this effort really worth it?  I mean, I have a perfect excuse NOT to do any conducting.  EVER.  And a perfect excuse not to work on any piano piece that isn't in the key of C Major.


Okay, so what I haven't told you yet is that the piece I'm conducting is a march, and this particular march has no score.  Which means I must conduct by memory.  And my other bit of news is that Gershwin wrote his famous work built on recurring themes and patterns, so once I get those cotton-pickin' patterns off the score and onto the keyboard, I've got the piece.


Yes.  I'm grinning.