Hits and Misses (January 28 – February 3)

Here’s a look back at the week that was….

HITS

• A day filled with lots of piano music is always a great day.  On Monday, the School of Music welcomed nearly 80 young pianists to campus for our annual Talkington School Piano Day. We listened to some fine solos, offered suggestions for further improvement, and even conducted an entrance audition while the girls were here. It is always an incredibly busy day with a flurry of activity, but it is also one of the highlights of the year for me.
• I’ve been able to spend a short amount of time with kids this week — and it made me realize just how much I miss interacting with children on a regular basis.  On Thursday, I got to deliver birthday cards to Hannah as well as some “you are an awesome brother” cards to Luke. Hannah & Luke just returned from the Dallas area while Hannah was undergoing radiation therapy. The kids (as well as Mom and Dad) have been greatly missed around Plainview…..and I think I speak for everyone that knows and loves them that we are glad they are home.  This week also saw the arrival of Plainview’s newest resident! Leo Raphael arrived on Wednesday night to Sara & Alex. Mother and baby are both home and resting. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that I can hardly wait to get to meet the little bundle of joy, cradle him for a while, and whisper a quiet prayer over him as he begins his life’s journey.
• At the end of the week, I got to enjoy a series of Beethoven recitals performed by my colleague, Richard Fountain. As part of a 3 year celebration of Beethoven’s anniversary coming in 2020, Richard has decided to perform all nine of the Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies and pair each with a piano sonata in the same key. This year featured Symphonies 1, 6, and 3. While I have great admiration and respect for the transcriptions and Richard’s performance of them, I have been enraptured by the splendid performances of the sonatas. I think it is time that I begin to revisit these monumental works again on my own as well. 

MISSES

• Every church music director’s worse nightmare is to receive the last minute call that your regular drummer is sick and you will be working with a sub in the morning service. There are just sometimes that nothing can adequately replace the original!
• On Tuesday, the piano lab briefly turned into a mail room. It’s never a fun revelation when you realize that an enormous mailing was not sorted properly and needs to be corrected in order to receive the bulk rate for postage. Over the years, I have been involved with corrections of this type of problem in Admissions and Campus Life while working at Pepperdine — so I fully know what kind of headache it is.  It didn’t take Pam and me too long to get it sorted out…..but it still qualifies as a “Miss” for the week. 
• Nothing is more frustrating than waking before your alarm during a busy week and not being able to go back to sleep! On Wednesday morning, I crawled out of bed at 4:15am, picked up my novel and to-do list and got the day going. Sadly, it wasn’t a single occurrence either! I was up-and-at-em by 4:45am on Thursday too. It’s nice to have gotten some things accomplished before the morning really started, but I was ready to begin enjoying some restful nights as well. 
• Teenagers with attitudes should have their heads pinched off! While playing for a voice competition on Saturday, I had a student stop in the middle of her performance and tell me that I was playing the accompaniment all wrong. When I gently told her that the chord was actually written a beat before her entrance, she flung her hair around and told me that I simply didn’t know how it was supposed to go. Since I was sitting in front of a judge, I didn’t tell her what a piece of work I thought she was, but I’m certain that my glare when we exited the room sent the message to her loud and clear. I hope she understands that her “diva card” has been revoked. (and that whoever issued it to her LIED to her!)