Today was something unusual for me. I had the day off school. I had earnt a day in lieu a year or so ago for when I took my children to Warwick as part of our winning a Shakespeare week composing competition. Somehow, I never got around to using it so when my flute quartet/trio were asked to play at Chelmsford Cathedral because another ensemble had cancelled, I asked my head if I were able to use the day. He agreed.
To be honest, the timing was, in some ways, a God-send. I am completely exhausted at the moment and I just keep losing my voice every week. Plus, I started to get a really nasty throat on Wednesday night and worse, last night, I choked on a bit of plastic or gristle in my Moussaka and something seems to have been stuck in my throat since then (I'm hoping it is just scratched from the trauma of something getting stuck but it does feel like the thing moves around a bit). Plus, I had three awful days in terms of behaviour this week so it was nice to have a break from children (although Fridays are my favourite classes).
We turned up around 11am and got ready to practice. Even though the recital started at 12.30pm, there were people already arriving to get themselves a good seat, my Mum included! As well as my dodgy throat, it was awful that the Mother of one of our trio had unexpectedly died last night so it was amazing she was still there.
One utter delight for me was the fact that my Mum had passed on details of the recital to family friends and ALL the lovely people who used to live round the corner from us and we always used to spend our Christmas day and Boxing Day evenings with all came to watch including one lovely lady who I haven't really seen for years!
The recital went well although my throat was utterly raw and I had drunk all my water by the end of the performance and found it quite hard to play!
We had a full church- I couldn't see any spare seats in either the central or the side passages so it was great to have such an appreciative audience- I took this picture a few minutes after the end of the concert. We had some really nice people come up to us and say how much they enjoyed it and one local composer has asked to write a piece for us!
They cleared the cathedral pretty quickly after the recital but I grabbed a quick photo in the chancel.
The organiser of the events was very taken by our trademark red heels and made reference to it so I thought I'd share them here too!
I must admit, it was lovely to then be able to walk out in the beautiful sun, not something I ever do at school!
I had to get back home quickly for a Doctor's appointment but it was lovely to take my time and arrive home in the daylight for a change!
Here's hoping we are invited back again! The first time we ever played together was at Chelmsford Cathedral so it was nice to play there again, this time as the central feature.
If you are interested in these free lunchtime concerts, here is the website link to the cathedral.
xx