Voila, viola!

I had some wonderful/nerve-wracking experiences today at work!  Our lovely orchestra teacher peer-pressured me to bring my viola to school and play FOR her classes today.  Oh my!  Sort of stressful, but I survived...and it was really fun.  I played the violin from grades 4-6 and viola from 7-12.  Then I went to college and sort of just forgot about it.  I always liked orchestra but honestly, I wasn't that good and almost never practiced (gee Marge, maybe there's a conn-ec-tion there, ya think?).  Most of my best buds were in orchestra and it was nice to have something different to do, mixed in with the extreme academic rigor of PHS (go Bucks!).

So, today I got to go back to junior high for awhile.  The teacher and I played a bit of a duet, the Telemann Concerto for 2 violas, which incidentally is the same piece Becca and I played our senior year.  I was super shaky, but maybe I tricked the kids into thinking I was doing some sweet vibrato.  Doubtful, as I was rocking the vibrato with my bow arm, too.  haha.  We also played bits of a few other pieces and I relaxed a little.  Then my principal came in to watch, but it was ok and afterward he told me it was "cute."  Which, don't worry, wasn't creepy at all coming from him, my work dad. 

After the spotlight, I was able to settle back in with the group and sight read some music. It was so much fun to play in an orchestra again.  Of course I missed sitting next to Becca and making faces at Mindy and Colette, as well as slyly imitating Mac our grumpy, good-hearted teacher who had the same pair of flats in 15 colors.  The kids here were welcoming and sweet and next year I'm going to make an effort to play with them once a month; it will be good for me. 


"...My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll play once more."