Sunday, June 16, 2013

Windsor

First stop on our whirlwind tour is Windsor, the home of the "official" residence of the queen, Windsor Castle.

Windsor Castle in the distance. Unfortunately, since our flights arrived in staggered groups and ours was one of the latest, there is no time to take an "official" tour. ALWAYS time for lunch and coffee though. 
Anybody who wants to talk about how different things are in Europe need only look at this picture to see how alike we really are. Everywhere there's something beautiful that people really want to see, there's someone there thinking..."I SHOULD SELL THEM SOME RIDICULOUS CRAP!!!!"
More ridiculous crap that nobody needs.
Windsor Castle in the distance.

En route

The alarm (one of several, as I am a notoriously heavy sleeper capable of slumbering through shockingly loud noises) ripped me from my slumber at 2:03 A.M.. It seemed unfair that we would need to depart Cheyenne at 3 O'clock for an 11:15 flight, but I suppose the needs of the many our weigh the needs of the few. We loaded onto 4 big yellow school buses in front of the Plains, and the journey was underway!

The "hurry up and wait" mentality of large group travel was never more evident than our DIA experience, where we stood in a single file line OUTSIDE of the Delta ticketing area (at 5 AM) and advanced to the counter, one flight group at a time. As one of 3 staff members on flight group #8, this would be my home for a few hours.

After finally obtaining a boarding pass and conducting head check #3 for the day, it was on to the penetration chambers (some call it TSA) and a train ride to concourse C, where we would do more head counting, and more waiting. Luckily I have 2 adults in my group and I group of 4 inseparable high school classmates, so my head counts are significantly easier. After a healthy breakfast of yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, and a muffin at the Timberline Grill w/ Michele L., I was energized for more waiting and an uneventful flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

From the A.M.:


Minneapolis/St.Paul, long one of my favorite airports, even after being marooned there on my first trip with Wyoming Ambassadors of Music in 1998, did not disappoint on the "wow" factor. It still has a relaxed feel, great food, and concourses that feel much more like an upscale shopping mall than a factory for moving people from point A to point B, but they've also added something new since the last time I flew out of MSP over 5 years ago....
IPADS!!!!!!

The international terminal has added iPads at all of the tables and barstools free for anyone to use. I would estimate there were probably 500 in all. Not only does this provide weary travelers with a place to connect, unwind, and kill time, but they are all connected to credit card readers and food ordering software, so a person can literally sit on their ass, order food, pay for it, and go back to playing angry birds...all without a semblance of inertia-breaking forward momentum. 




A & A are mesmerized by the glowing display and have fallen under its spell.

Made it!

Several hours on an airplane, more hurrying up and waiting, and we are finally here. Many of the staff have been numerous times, but the students are awed.

Hopefully they'll keep that same sense of wonder.

Wheels touch down at Heathrow. 
Two thumbs up to NOT being crammed on a plane anymore.
What!?!? Those crazy Limeys are driving on the wrong side of the road.
Michele is less than amused by all the picture taking.
Bus coordinator Aric is a man with a mission. And a really ugly shirt. Oh wait...I have one of those too. Picture NOT forthcoming.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Cheyenne Day 2

Day 2 of rehearsals has come and gone. Another long day filled with "hurry up and wait" moments. Really impressed at what all the groups have done in just a short amount of time! This should be a great tour.


The choir gets down to a Celtic arrangement of "Amazing Grace."
The concert band, featuring a very talented Euphonium section, rehearses UW Professor David Brinkman's "Legend of the West."
"Legend of the West" in Performance!

Big travel day tomorrow. The bus departs Cheyenne at 3:00 AM!!! Time for bed.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Wyoming Ambassadors of Music: Rehearsal Day 1

The tour is now (almost) officially upon us, as our 5 performing groups have begun rehearsing in preparation for our departure on Saturday morning. Things are going well, with a few expected snags...but there are always snags when you're trying to coordinate something of this magnitude. This year, the Wyoming Ambassadors of Music will be presenting performances by the Concert Band, Orchestra, Choir, Jazz Band, and Swing Choir. The jazz band and swing choir actually started rehearsing yesterday, but I wasn't in town yet, so as far as I'm concerned it didn't actually happen. (If a saxophone is playing in the woods with nobody around, is it still out of tune?)

I'm not actually playing this time around, since I've been chosen to manage the percussion section. I'm not too broken up, though, because I've made this trip before, lugging a large saxophone halfway across the world. I'm actually somewhat excited at the prospect of actually being able to walk around with just a backpack and not have to worry about whether my expensive instrument is actually going to make it through rounds of baggage handlers in one piece. So far, we've done part re-assignment, sectionals, photocopying, and a mock-through of the teardown for the entire percussion section, which will be followed by another complete setup tomorrow morning. Necessary? Probably not. But I know that I'll feel better knowing that every person understands what is expected of them and what their roles are BEFORE we get to London. Being a performer is MUCH easier than being a teacher, but it's been good practice for me. 

Some highlights from Day 1. Naturally, I haven't obtained photo releases from the members of the group, so I have tried to feature only non-descriptive large group shots and photos of staff members. I've been involved in academia long enough that FERPA still rules my brain. 



The lobby of the Historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne. Legend goes that the hotel is  haunted by the ghosts of a young man who was tragically slain on his wedding night, along with his prostitute, and trigger-pulling wife. Funny how those last two generally don't get along very well. 



A cute little dog. Does it have anything to do with the trip? Not really.  I just like dogs. 

The choir, focusing intently. 



This year's choir features (at varying instance) guitar, banjo, fiddle, and HANDBELLS!

Choir director Pat Patton getting everything he can out of his ensemble. 

Christine Dunbar explains the nature of the universe to her young orchestra. That, or something actually related to the music. On second thought, it might be the latter. 

More orchestra. 


The band takes direction from Dr. Belser. 



Pictures can be deceiving. To the untrained eye, passion can be confused very easily for fury. Trust me...he's not angry. 





Tour director Gary Gasser gets his pulmonary workout for the day.



Well, that's it for the day. More pictures tomorrow (hopefully). Another long day ahead. 



Thursday, June 13, 2013

So, I said I was going to write on this thing...

...and I guess I should. Those of you who see me frequently know that I've been playing a lot of golf lately. Laura and I joined the Country Club this year, so I feel like it's a complete waste of my money if I don't get out there several times a week. Well, lucky me, the WMEA (Wyoming Music Educators Association, another organization to which I pay yearly dues) held their annual golf outing at the Riverton Country Club this year, which meant I got to play in the tournament for free! 

It was a combination tournament, with a 9 hole individual net score, and a 9 hole team scramble. I'm pretty bad still, so I was never in any contention to compete individually (although with my handicap I should be a monster), but our team, featuring some of the real "heavy hitters" of the Riverton music scene (pardon my pun) won the team scramble! We all won a sleeve of "RocketBallz," which I will almost certainly lose in the canal very soon. 

I took some pictures with my phone, and for some reason they're all out of order. I am simply too lazy to rearrange them. 


Laura teeing off on 11. She's much more talented than me, and won a sleeve of golf balls for winning the Women's long drive competition on the 12th hole. 
Amy gets into the action with a nearly perfect putt on 17. 
Aric goes ballistic with a monstrous drive on 8 while Bernard watches in amazement. 
Wyoming's best and brightest instrument repair techs, both young and old. 
Although everyone had fun, the real winners were Chad Rose's pants. 
Once the scores were finalized and handicaps were tallied, Tom Bibbey took home the old horn trophy. 
Afterwards, we all had a drink (or a few). Traci even stopped by to wish her father well. 
The whole crew en masse. We had teachers, merchants, spouses, and repairmen from Riverton, Lander, Casper, Powell, Buffalo, and Douglas.


All told, it was a great day, and everyone seemed to have a blast. Seriously though, a lot of people I knew were at work, so I can't complain at all about playing bad golf. 

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Games are fun

Lyle is playing Words with Friends now. Invitations accepted.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

This is my first post.

The journey starts soon. As you can see, Tipper is resting up for the big day.


I'm going to start using this.

It's been over three years since I posted anything to this blog, so I figure why not now? I've always thought blogging was kind of ridiculous, but I guess now I have things to talk about.

I'm going to Europe next week. I'm going to use this to chronicle my journey.