Day 54: Quiberon, France

I had a really great day today.  I woke up a little after 9h again and we left just before 10h to get to rehearsal.  I think that the most impressive thing Yohann has done is that when he gets there at 10h for a 10h rehearsal, all of his members are there waiting.  Haha these kids are way better at starting on time than the orchestra and professional musicians performing in the opera.  The morning was good.  After stretch, I reviewed forward marching and then we worked more on backwards marching.  At the end, we played a little game I like to call 'March Really Fast'.  They had fun playing, and Yohann pointed out to me that 'games' are a great way to trick French kids into working hard. Hardly? Does that make sense? It seems wrong... Hardly... But it IS an adverb... Hmmm.  Are 'working hardly' and 'hardly working' actually total opposites? That seems to be the case. 



Yesterday, at the end of the mellophone sectional, it was requested of me that I play for the corps today, so at the end of the morning rehearsal, I played for a few minutes.  It was a lot of fun. 

Here is me making noises with my trumpet.

I didn't have any music with me, nor do I have anything prepared.  I decided to play Carnival of Venice, by JB Arban.  It sounds way harder than it actually is, and it is French.  When I was done, they wanted to hear something from Scouts, so I played the Ice Castles solo.  They really loved all of it, and seemed to have a lot of fun. 

This is me with a bunch of the kids I worked with.  Yohann is on the left with the beige shirt and Yvan is on the right in the blue sweatshirt.

At lunch, we had hot dogs.  We were going to go look at the coats a little more, so I could walk around and take some pictures and stuff, but it was raining.  It is always raining here.  I would not be surprised if the forecast for here says something like: "What do you think is going to happen?"  We may try again tomorrow morning.

All of the sectionals in the afternoon went really well.  I got all of this kids playing some Clark studies and lip slurs and a simple etude and some warm ups, at about the same level. I finally felt like I made some progress today-- I'm bummed that I have to leave.

Me working with Yvan's son.  He has only been playing for a month, but he is doing really well. 

After the final sectional, Yohann took me home, and he went to a meeting in Carnac.  I took a little while to practice.  I couldn't focus so well, so I just worked on Carnival of Venice, because that is fun.  I think I am going to do a recital of French music in April some time.  It will be wonderful. (AKA: BAD)  For dinner, I went to Yvan's house, and we had some traditional Brittan food: CREPES!!!!  Lol, they were good.  Here, they usually have ham, eggs, and cheese.  We also had locally made cider.  Also very good.  Yohann was not back yet, but they were wonderful in welcoming me into their home again.  It was a really nice dinner.  I have had a great time here, and I am bummed it is already time to leave.