All week the weather has been beautiful, in the mid-50’s. It has been somewhat unusual for mid-February. But, with winter always comes a chance of snow – and a lot of it! In Colorado, we like snow. We also like dogs, Subaru’s and micro brewed beer. So when the meteorologists predicted a large amount of snow equal to the label, “Snowpocalypse,” everyone headed to the grocery store. We did too, passing partial empty peanut butter & spaghetti sauce shelves. Now as I write this, the snow is falling with a gentle sleepy ease and the secret hope of monster accumulation.
I prepare for every gig as if it were a gigantic snow storm. Maybe over prepare and usually very thankful. I practice the music ahead of time, even if it is a song I have performed before. I photo copy the music, tape it together and practice it from there. I plan my outfit, dress and heels, so I look great AND so that I am able to carry my Korg keyboard about 1/4 mile. I prepare because my reputation precedes and follows me. I must think with integrity and use my quirky experience to be the best musician in the room.
One year, on May 25th, I sang for a memorial service deep in the Black Forest east of Colorado Springs. A lovely family who’s father passed months before hired me to be both the pianist and the cantor for a Catholic Mass they set up in their back yard. Because of my years as a Catholic liturgist, I was able to play the mass parts, a psalm, 1 hymn, prelude and a postlude (Fantin’s solo at the end of Les Mis when her father is raised to heaven). I brought the keyboard, bench, stand, mic and mic stand, music, cables, a speaker and clothes pins to hold the music in case it was windy.
The only thing I didn’t count on….was that it would snow.
