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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Games are fun

Lyle is playing Words with Friends now. Invitations accepted.

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.