The weather has been crazy here in NC. Every county in the state has been in an extreme or severe drought for some time, with water use restrictions everywhere.
Well, the rain finally came. It started Thursday and has only stopped periodically. Last night, some places near us got 6-7 inches of rain in 3 hours. The ground cannot absorb that much rain quickly, so of course there has been flooding and road damage in some places hit by Helene, and in some new places too. I saw a pic of a collapsed road in Hickory where a culvert failed.
The rain is supposed to continue this whole week, but Friday looks like a dry day and I'm supposed to be getting outside with a friend. We'll have to be careful where we go because the water will still be high and fast, and there are creeks and rivers along most hikes.
For me, this month has been very full. You know that feeling when you get to the end of the day and it seems like that morning happened two days ago. When you wonder how on earth did all this stuff fit into one day?
That's how I feel about the month of May.
On May 2nd, I had the concert with Paul Pulsipher. This is the one we held at St. Luke's UMC in Hickory, NC (my church), which was originally scheduled for January. We performed the piano duet we co-composed as well as our own original pieces. We also played a couple of duets by Christopher Siu, a Canadian composer.
The concert went well!
I did not feel quite ready. I wanted more time to practice, which was hard to find during the semester, in addition to having a tough April with no energy.
But despite that, it went well. We had about 25 people in attendance, which was decent for the first time doing this type of thing.
I finished giving and grading exams.
I performed three concerts with high school and middle school choruses in the area. I got two of these gigs through word-of-mouth recommendation, which is very nice. I am grateful to those who have passed my name along!
It feels good to be one year out from graduating with my master's and already feeling like I'm getting more cemented into the community.
My energy did come back, so I got some hiking in before the rain came. (Pics below.)
Unfortunately, I also had two stupid falls this month. One from stepping off a curb that was not well-marked and one from tripping on a root while hiking. Thankfully, I was not really injured, just some scrapes and bruises. Both could have been much worse!
Using my herbs came in handy! My elbow got pretty scraped up, but I put some comfrey-infused oil on it, and it healed very quickly. Best of all, my skin healed without itching! (pics below.)
I have also started making good progress on my chamber opera. Composing is the primary focus of summer!
Quick hits (find all details in later sections):
I am accepting students into The Music Hub until the end of May. It's a good deal, if you want to learn piano!
I realized I never put Mountain Heartleaf for woodwind quintet on my website, so it's up now.
I created a quiz titled, "What Kind of New Music Performer are You?" It's a personality quiz, and you can find it on my website.
I have created merch. Pop musicians have merch. Why shouldn't classical musicians?
