Swamped

The title says it all. In the last two days, I have had days that go from 9am-8pm, with very few breaks in between. What that means is that I am exhausted, and can't stay up too late at night in order to practice/do homework because I need to get up early the next day! This is one that I'm going to have to figure out how to balance.

As jazz workshop continues, the tunes keep getting harder and the playing keeps getting more intense. Our pianist, Chase, brought in a tune of his which is very similar to a Herbie Hancock tune called "Dolphin Dance", and so our homework was to learn these two songs, plus the songs "Moontrane" and "Recorda-Me". The Herbie tune and Chase's tune are hard tunes, so they involved extra looking over and practice, which is one of the reasons I was up so late last night.

The other reason is thanks to records and the store Looney Tunes. Two friends and I were walking around at 10:30 last night as a break from music, and we stopped at the store, only to find it was closed. The incredibly nice clerk, however, let us in and browse at our leisure...I found a great Sonny Rollins album and an early album of Jean Luc Ponty which blew my mind.

Also went to a concert last night of a band someone recommended to me...and I'm not sure why. Out of eight songs, the same, New Orleans style beat was used on six of them, which made for all the songs sounding the same and a show that felt just too long. This feeling was mutual among my friends, and we left the concert hall somewhat disappointed, but eager to get some work done for our classes.

With transcribing solos, practicing, jamming and listening, I am indeed swamped. This is far more material than I ever did last year, and I'm wondering how I'm going to manage all of it. But hey, I'd rather be doing this than sitting in a classroom all day.