When I work on Saturday like I did this past weekend, it means that in effect I don’t get a day off for around thirteen days. I’m beginning to feel it this morning. Thank god for coffee.

Hope college remained open for the snowy President’s day yesterday.  I played for three dance classes which ended up being four hours on the bench. At the early class, the teacher was one of the advanced students whom I recognized from class. It was fun to see her handle a room full of her peers so well.  I learned from her that dancers take a class called “Accompanist,” in which presumably they are taught how to talk to musicians. She agreed that it was much different to actually deal with a live musician. She looked to me for approval which was odd because I just follow the teacher. I told her afterwards she did an excellent job, but what do I know? I’m just a piano player.

One of the students in this class quizzed me about the meter I had used for the last waltz across the floor. This was pretty unusual. Often dancers, students and teachers alike, are a bit nervous talking to musicians. I understand this because musicians can be such dinks. I had used some jazz waltz rhythms and the questioning dancer thought they might be 6/8. Since I am improvising, the time signature is a bit ambiguous (even though as a student I was instructed to always envision a key and time signature when I improvise). I explained to her how I thought of the meter. Later I realized the astuteness of her observation because a jazz waltz often has a six beat rhythmic pattern making it work like 6/8.

Speaking of musicians not being dinks, the chair of the music department who attends my church chatted me up quite affably after church this past Sunday. I don’t want to give the impression that this man and other teachers from the local Christian college are not friendly. Most of them are totally polite.

They just don’t usually talk music with me. This man often smiles and gives me a thumbs up when he sees me. He mentioned to me Sunday that there was a visiting jazz musician who was giving a free concert I might want to attend. Unfortunately the weather prohibited this man arriving yesterday so it wasn’t an option.

Since the chair of the music department is a bit of a jazzer, they have been bringing in major talent to work with the students and give performances. Quite a luxury really in such a small town. The idea that a college in a small town would be a source of intellectual and artistic resources is one of the ostensible reasons Eileen and I chose to live here.