first week in NY... well, speculator, NY

NOTE: I actually wrote this entry before our first concert on June 21, but didn't post it until the 22nd.

Well, my first week in New York is coming to a close and I was thinking that I should jot down a few notes about how things are going. A lot has happened this past week so forgive me if this gets long. This first week of the summer season for the camp is called "challenge week." It's a good name for it, I'm not gonna lie. There are no guests, only intense training for every staff member. It's a big operation to get everything ready for a summer season at a camp where there are over 250 summer staff members and a capacity for over a thousand guests at any point in time. Being "music staff," our challenge week meant rehearsals. and more rehearsals. We rehearsed everyday this week from 8:30 am until about 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon, with about an hour break for lunch. I don't think I've ever done so much reading in my life. I hop around from drum set to xylophone to timpani to concert snare, reading pieces from Copland's "Hoedown" from Rodeo (for which I am playing xylophone, by the way) to a medley of Richard Rogers tunes (I play drum set on this one) to the big band standards Take the A Train and Corner Pocket (obviously drum set tunes). I spent like 2 hours of personal practice time (which I cram in during the evening) studying a video of Sonny Payne playing Corner Pocket with the Basie orchestra to try and really make the piece pop, but I'm just not happy with my playing yet. I'm going to be exhausted by the end of the summer, because as the only drum set player, I'm playing for not only the orchestral pieces, but every worship tune, big band tune, many choral features, instrumental worship features, small combo jazz pieces, and CHOPS, the pep band that plays once a week. I have some sort of event to play for every morning and evening of every day of the week except for Tuesday, which is my day off, and every other Saturday morning. Fun little fact: the music department here at Camp of the Woods plays an average of 90 different pieces every week. (granted, some of these are solos, quartets, etc. - but most of the pieces I play for.)

To be perfectly honest, I feel a little out of place here. I'm surrounded by people who are highly accomplished and highly educated, and I feel pretty intimidated a lot of the time. I feel especially out of my league when I play the small combo jazz stuff. The guy that leads the big band and small combo has a master's degree in jazz performance on sax and can comp on piano in complete darkness better than I can when I try. (Literally, we had a rehearsal in the dark one night this week.) The bass player also has a master's and went to the Manhattan School of Music, so I know he's played with some pretty heavy players. Needless to say, I've really been humbled this week. I would really appreciate your prayers, as this first week has been a real challenge. I know God will use this, and that he has put me here. (Seriously, all of the timpani, orchestral percussion, and mallet lessons I took in high school I thought I would never really use. Now I can't imagine how lost I'd be here without it!) Anyway, I've felt uncomfortable here pretty much all of the time so far, and my playing has been pretty tentative. I'm having a hard time being myself and playing the way that I play, out of the fear that people will hate my playing. I really need the Lord's help right now to just be myself and know that he has always had his hand on me and my training. I need to start having fun when I play and leave the rest up to the Lord. Thanks for taking the time to read this guys. I would love your prayers.