Happy October

This last week-end I played piano for
11 singers at their All State Auditions
and I had a really great time and all
the singers sang so beautifully.

I had one really unusual experience that I thought
would be fun to write about since it's been quite awhile
since I wrote anything on my blog.

Well, before I write about that experience
let me tell you about my experience of
playing for ASA last year.

Well, actually let me go back about 15 years
and tell you about what I thought would be the
last time I would ever play for ASA.

The auditions were in Berthoud that year.
I only had one singer to play for and that morning we got about
2 feet of snow. So Steven drove me to Berthoud and we got stuck
in the snow and someone had to get us unstuck and then when we
finally got to ASA they had cancelled the auditions.
That's how I remember it anyway. Maybe it wasn't quite like
that, but I said to myself I am never playing for ASA again.

So, last year when 3 singers asked me to play for them I said
no, I don't play for ASA anymore. But they didn't have anyone
so I relunctantly and grudgingly agreed to. Then, two days before
ASA I fell down and broke my pinkie and my first thought was
"Great! Now I don't have to play for ASA!"
So I called around to several accompanists
and no one else could do it.
Can you believe it?
I ended up having to play the auditions with a broken pinkie!

After all that, I decided to say Yes this year and play for ASA
and enjoy doing it and have a wonderful time. Which I did.
Except for my experience of playing the haunted piano...

Isaac's audition was in Room #4, a big room with a grand piano.
I had already planned to use the soft pedal on his Schubert piece
because the notes in the right hand were fast moving all the way
through and I didn't want to cover up his beautiful singing. 
So I soft pedaled.

And all of a sudden the notes I was playing in the left hand
were not the notes I was playing! They were dissonant notes
and the whole piece began to sound bitonal and very weird!
I kept looking at the keys to make sure I was playing the right ones
and I was truly playing all the right keys, in fact I didn't miss a
single note in the whole song. But it sounded like a horror movie.
And Isaac is amazing. He didn't let on like anything was wrong at all.
He sang beautifully while I was over there freaking out and I'm
sure making all kinds of weird faces. Afterwards I was informed
that when you hold the soft pedal down the keyboard shifts
the keys or something on the bottom half, so no one ever uses it.

I wonder why they didn't have a sign up to warn people?

Well, anyway, I came out of the room saying

"THAT PIANO IS POSSESSED!"

All in all it was a fun scary Halloween experience.


And now on a totally different subject
here is a picture of my new journal
which I got at the same garage sale
where I got my harmonium

Good timing because I am now
memorizing the Ganesh Chalisa

What is really cool is that The Hanuman Chalisa fits perfectly
with the melody for my Monkey Song and I love  to sing it that way

So now while I am learning the Ganesh Chalisa
I am putting it to the melody of my Elephant Song

Today is October 28 and
guess what wonderful thing
happened 3 years ago

Our Dear Sweet Fairy Cat Koyuki
came to live with us

Happy October to You

I Love You
Zoe