clarinet

Meaghan Austin should be playing her clarinet solo today at a community concert to showcase her musical skills. Last February, she auditioned and won the Lovezolla 2020 Scholarship Award. She won’t play for a live audience. The Puyallup Valley Community Band stopped rehearsals for that concert on March 10–the same day a Skagit Valley choir… Read more

Dear Readers- I’m going to try too much in this post. I’m going to tell you of youth and beauty, of talent and hard work, and of a failed audition. I’m going to tell you of the Russian, of the day my dad died, the day another dad hugged his daughter, and why teachers matter. It’s… Read more

“Band Director Conducts Daughter in Solo Scholarship Performance” Eighteen-year-old Mikaela Rink has a secret to her clarinet success. “It’s like living with a human metronome.” Rink said, referring to her father and the clicking timekeepers musicians use to keep rhythm. Bob Rink often passes by her door as she practices at home, telling her if… Read more

I never meant to disappoint Mr. Zorro. Seriously, who could want to disappoint a teacher with a name like that? He wasn’t as swashbuckling as the guy in black, but I liked Mr. Zorro. I agreed to do the solo contest under his guidance in college like I had done so many others before that–just… Read more

Special Note: This is a piece I wrote for the Puyallup Valley Community Band, a group I rehearse and perform with throughout the year. It’s a wonder to me that music can mean so much to so many at all ages.  For Katriel Looney, reeds are the biggest problem with playing the clarinet. It’s a constant… Read more

Thursday night I was driving down to the church when I realized my fingers were freezing, my heart was beating, and my mind kept thinking of all the ways I was going to embarrass myself. I wasn’t headed to a solo performance with my clarinet. It was the rehearsal with the choir. The music I was playing for… Read more

My hands freeze and I start shaking about 30 minutes before a performance. Last weekend this nervous reaction came as I sat quaking at the back of a room filled with my dear friends in a women’s retreat in Port Orchard. My hands felt so stiff and cold I wondered if they would be able to move across… Read more

At the Liberty for Christmas

“It turns out you play clarinet with my mother!” said the woman I see every morning when I drop my son off at preschool. I thought the new lady who took my place as last chair looked familiar at the practices. Last Tuesday, I played a Christmas concert in the Puyallup Community Band at the Liberty… Read more

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