The IDRS Convention

The last 10 days have been a whirlwind. During the weekend before the IDRS conference, there were a lot of things going on at our place and I had to carve out the time to finish the powerpoint presentation about reed machine alignments. Then Monday the bees got re-located and I packed a car-full of equipment to go to Ithaca for the conference.

The IDRS conference is an amazing event: There are nonstop recitals, presentations, master classes, concerts, and vendors galore selling everything you can imagine for double reeds. I met many people there, including some I have known by name and reputation for years or even decades, but never had a chance to meet personally. There were a number of recitals and presentations I wanted to attend but couldn't because the schedule is so packed together.

Friday afternoon we had a 20-minute sound check on stage, where we determined, with Anne's help, that we had to be farther forward on the stage than the standard placement. 20 minutes goes by very fast when you are trying to decide final balances, cover critical transitions and spots of 6 pieces, and then find a better position on stage to play!

On the concert, Lorelei Dowling played the Berio Sequenza for bassoon (!!!) right after Barbara and I played the Bruns, and in the course of talking backstage, Lorelei said that she knows Joe Wolfe, the physicist I am going to work with in Sydney. Small world. Then on the second half, Terry Ewell played on the Strauss Duo Concertante for Clarinet and Bassoon. It was 29 years ago that he and I were studying bassoon together with Norman Herzberg at the Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. So it felt like my life was circling around and expanding outward all at once. That is a very nice thing.

Saturday morning, Terry Ewell gave a masterclass just before I gave my reed machine presentation. I arrived early to get equipment set up in advance, so we were both setting up at the same time. It felt like we were given a little chance to work together, even though our presentations were totally different from each other.

I really had my fingers crossed that I could pull off the presentation on reed machine alignments. It was my first powerpoint presentation, and I had visions that my mind might just go blank when I needed to talk. But then it got rolling, and it went fairly naturally. I did think of some things later which I wish I could have (or would have) included, but I imagine that's pretty normal. There were good questions from the audience, even some I had never considered before.

On Saturday afternoon we went to several conference events, which was really enjoyable for me since I had my own presentation out of the way! I had a deeper appreciation for other people's performances and presentations, knowing firsthand what it takes to put one together.

On Sunday we spent a little time seeing some of the waterfalls and gorges around Ithaca before driving back to the city. The falls I was really impressed with was Ithaca Falls, right in town. It was fantastic to walk through a clearing and suddenly see such a cascade of water, dancing down the rock steps.