Well, the 08-09 season has started, and the Nances are trying to get in a groove for the year. While Shannon and I aren't the only married couple who both play in the RPO, we are (at last count) the only ones with 4 kids!
As some of our colleagues have noted, the layoff (as we call it) at the end of the summer is a double sided thing. Lots of free time, but not a lot of income to fund that free time! We had a lot of great time with our kids, and when school started a few weeks ago things got really busy! All 4 kids in piano lessons, then some in cello, violin, horn, etc., taekwondo, plus homework, etc., etc. We were trying to figure out how our regular jobs were going to fit into all this when RPO started- and now here we are!
If we could just take school out of the mix, our mornings would be much easier! But, when you take 2 musicians who aren't morning people (we have to be at our best sometimes playing past 10pm on concert nights) and their 4 kids, who, no surprise given their genetic makeup, aren't morning people either, things can get interesting.
So, we have to get everybody up, (ages 5, 8, 10, 13), fed, lunches made, etc., and then drive them to school, making sure that all backpacks, clothes, and said lunches actually make it to the car, and then again from the car to the classroom, no small task. I get back home again around 8:15, and then we have roughly 45 minutes max to get out of the house and down to rehearsal by 9:30. This may not seem like a big deal to you other parents out there, and I admit, many of you are doing the same sort of crazy in the morning, even earlier than us, *but* the one problem we can run into is we have to be warmed up and prepared to play the hardest of repertoire right at the first downbeat at 9:30. No easing into the work day for us, we either play the music well or we don't!
So far we are 2 for 2, kids have been on time for school at 8am, and we have been on time for rehearsal, even getting in a decent warm up, although Shannon is out sick today. We'll see if we can keep things going smoothly as we get used to RPO being up and running again.
See you at the concerts!
Wes
As some of our colleagues have noted, the layoff (as we call it) at the end of the summer is a double sided thing. Lots of free time, but not a lot of income to fund that free time! We had a lot of great time with our kids, and when school started a few weeks ago things got really busy! All 4 kids in piano lessons, then some in cello, violin, horn, etc., taekwondo, plus homework, etc., etc. We were trying to figure out how our regular jobs were going to fit into all this when RPO started- and now here we are!
If we could just take school out of the mix, our mornings would be much easier! But, when you take 2 musicians who aren't morning people (we have to be at our best sometimes playing past 10pm on concert nights) and their 4 kids, who, no surprise given their genetic makeup, aren't morning people either, things can get interesting.
So, we have to get everybody up, (ages 5, 8, 10, 13), fed, lunches made, etc., and then drive them to school, making sure that all backpacks, clothes, and said lunches actually make it to the car, and then again from the car to the classroom, no small task. I get back home again around 8:15, and then we have roughly 45 minutes max to get out of the house and down to rehearsal by 9:30. This may not seem like a big deal to you other parents out there, and I admit, many of you are doing the same sort of crazy in the morning, even earlier than us, *but* the one problem we can run into is we have to be warmed up and prepared to play the hardest of repertoire right at the first downbeat at 9:30. No easing into the work day for us, we either play the music well or we don't!
So far we are 2 for 2, kids have been on time for school at 8am, and we have been on time for rehearsal, even getting in a decent warm up, although Shannon is out sick today. We'll see if we can keep things going smoothly as we get used to RPO being up and running again.
See you at the concerts!
Wes
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