2/10

Today has been quite the day.

I didn't go to sleep last night. I tried for an hour, and at 3am, I was still up (and so was Dean). So I decided to seize the day and make the best of my sleeplessness.

I biked to Big Mike's in the cold, without gloves, which I immediately regretted. I had a couple sips of a mocha, and a lot of water, because I thought was getting sick. I wrote a letter, and did my theory homework, and caught up in composition, all before going back to Bruce to eat breakfast when the cafeteria opened at 7am and watching the sunrise.

I ran around doing little things until theory, which was pretty slow.

After theory I took a well-deserved nap, until four, which was a little longer than I had planned to be asleep. But I got up in time to run some errands and go to African Ensemble.

I played kagan on two new beats, and I don't remember their names.

The first one had the typical 12/8 bell pattern: X - X - X X - X - X - X X - X - X X - X - X - X:||
And, I played this:                                              x xx   x  xx  x xx  x xx    x xx  x xx   x xx   x xx:||
I would write it out on Sibelius, but I am le tired.
The tricky part was that the sogo and kidi were playing in subdivisions of 4 instead of subdivisions of 3.
So, try playing the bell pattern while tapping your foot every 3 8th notes, and then do it every 4 8th notes.
I never really figured out where I could tap my foot to make my part feel the best, but I played it alright.

The next one had the same bell pattern, but in the time it took for the bell to play one measure of 12/8, I played a measure of 4/4: x-xx-xx-x-xx-xx-x-xx-xx-x-xx-xx:|| (that's two measures)
The bell and some shakers were in 12/8, while all of the drums were in 4/4, and a couple of shakers kept just the beat.
I put an earplug in on the side the bell was just to block out the side with the bell and shakers in 12.

Then we played Gahu, and I played kidi, and I played some bell on Tokoe. It was a lot of fun, even if I was really tired and focusing too much on playing my part.

After the rehearsal, Gideon got all of the drummers together and told us about a church gig, that supposedly pays decently. It's at a Zionist church, and all of the instruments are already there. I'm excited to go, and I would probably do it for free, just to play and jam with people on free instruments, but since it's on Sunday morning... that's pretty early to do it for free.

I practiced my mallet stuff today, because I'm doing my barriers tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes well and I can pick up where I left off in lessons instead of taking everything over again.

I'm going to bed. Thanks for reading.

M