5:30 AM Get up and mutter obscenities related to high pollen count
6:00 AM Poke Mr. Banality in the ribs a few times
6:30 AM Run
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Rhythming class
O.K., so I only went to rhythming class on the first day. It was the same song and dance (literally) as last year, and there was way too much cowbell involved, so I decided the time would be better spent attempting to ingest as much coffee as possible. By the way, could my nose be more swollen?
9:30 AM Music theory
I actually attended this class. I did the beginner level class again, and I think I got something out of it this time.
10:30 AM RehearsalWe spent most of this rehearsal time working on an ensemble piece, which I thought I would hate, but which turned out to be a lot of fun.
NOON Lunch
1:30 PM Rehearsal
We spent this rehearsal time running through our songs for our individual performances. I got to rehearse my piece five times before performing it on Thursday night
3:00 PM Master Class
Our instructor (love her) went through various vocal exercises and techniques and also told us bizarre stories about the business. We had to meet in her bedroom for this session, which was a little weird. Also, it made me very sleepy.
4:00 PM "Colors of Jazz"
This was a jazz appreciation session, and if you like to watch DVDs of jazz musicians from the seventies, this would be right up your alley. I found my sense of appreciation to be greatly enhanced by adding a glass of wine.
5:00 PM Mr Banality joins the party. Small talk ensues.5:30 PM Dinner
6:00 PM Walk around the grounds with Mr. Banality It's good to get outside once in a while.
7:00 PM Faculty concert (Thursday and Friday were camper concerts)
8:30 PM Jam session
10:30 PM Attempt to leave jam session
11:00 PM Actually leave jam session (sometimes these things go until 1 AM)
11:15 PM Arrive at motel; watch coverage of the Olympics (I'm having some withdrawal symptoms now that I'm home and have no access to TV)
Midnight Attempt to sleep, but instead lie awake due to jazz standards running through head
This year's camp was even better than last year's camp, and that's hard to believe because last year's camp was fantastic. All of the vocalists were return campers, which was fun. I learned a ton. I was able to sing a bunch of my favorite songs during the jam sessions. My concert performance ("O Pato") went well. I got to perform with professional musicians (Rod Blumenau on piano, Ike Sturm on bass, and Dane Richeson on drums), which was pretty awesome.
Look! You can see Ike Sturm's left hand in the photo!
Drew (vocalist), Peter (guitarist), Rod (piano faculty), and The Banality after Friday night's concert
I'm signed up for next year . . .
6 comments:
I need to go to some sort of adult camp. Is there any kind of seminar for untalented wannabes?
BTW--LOVE the shirt.
Untalented? Come on, Merrie--don't forget that I've heard your karaoke version of "You're So Vain." Carly Simon's got nothin' on you.
The jazz camp I went to was featured in AARP's magazine (how's that for making one feel old??). Other camps included in the article:
There's "Camp Jam," where you can rock out with Jeff Carlisi of .38 Special (hold on loosely, baby!) and also "World Poker Tour Boot Camp," which I'm betting includes seminars on wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors and generally dressing like a tool. We're thinking of sending Mr. Banality to architecture fantasy camp.
http://www.aarp.org/leisure/activities/articles/grown-up_fantasy_camps.html
No offense, but I think you were drunk when you heard that.
Five hours later, I just realized that the night of "You're So Vain" was that night with Roman and Steve, right? We were all really drunk that night. I also remember singing backup to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with some random guy. Roman was such an ass. He's a lawyer in DM right now, fyi. You should google him.
BTW, are there any adult camps where one can just sit around and drink? That would be for me. I took a sushi making class recently, which was fun, but my favorite part was eating the sushi that the sushi chef made for the class and drinking a Heineken. (The roll he made for us was the "Chuck Norris", which I can only assume was called that because it kicked ass).
Lots of wine at jazz camp. Love the idea of sushi class.
Steve is an MD in Louisville, KY. He was also an ass.
(What would we do without Google?)
Just to make me sound slightly less lame, I didn't actually Google the Ass Roman. He happens to work at the same law firm as the husband of a childhood friend I recently ran into and Googled later. But there is a picture of him on the website, if you're interested, or if you need any legal advice.
"Yeah, I'm The Banality, you met me in 1992 when you were cheating on your girlfriend with my unaware friend, remember?"
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