It's been a long day!

My love affair with pit orchestras started sometime during college. I would play in "the pit" for a local community theater every summer while on break. It was a great way to stay in shape over the summer (and make my flute professor happy). I then started playing for a few of Otterbein's productions and continued on for various local productions in the first few years of teaching. It seemed important to me that I modeled playing music after graduation for my music students. I've been in the pit for several fun shows; Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Sound of Music, The Man of La Mancha, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and this year's musical: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, to just name a few. To be totally honest, if I could make a living doing it (and keep my current lifestyle), I would.

Pit playing is nothing like playing in a band or orchestra where everything is rehearsed until perfect (or close to perfect). It's fraught with tension and excitement. Anything could happen at any time. The singers might jump a measure and we have to scramble to find them. The crowd might really get into the production one night and everything becomes somehow magical. Tempos change. Stage fright can cause all sorts of unrehearsed moments. Props do odd things. It's all part of the fun. You can play the same show three nights in a row and it's three different experiences.

I took a break from pit playing about the time the second baby Cobb came along. Evening rehearsals just became too difficult to juggle. I started back up about 6 or 7 years ago when a local school asked me to play for my all time favorite show, Joseph. A year later my Jr High band director started directing the pit for my Alma Mater and she asked me to play. After Mr and I talked it over, I was cleared to play one show a year (nope not sexist, he limits his time away from the family too). I have every year since and it is a blast!

This week is show week and in my sleep deprived state, I've given some thought as to why I throw the family's rhythms (and my sleep patterns) into this tailspin each year. I don't play in the pit to recapture any old glory (I actually play much better now than I did in HS), and it's really not a way to gain any current glory (really, who notices who is in the pit).

So why do I do it?

Because I love it, it's one way I can give to my school system, the students on stage really appreciate it, throughout my life many people did something similar for me and it's really important for my own children to see me do what I'm really good at. Out of all of those reasons, I think the first and last are key. You see my children know their dad plays basketball, loves golf, enjoys history and knows a lot about airplanes. Outside of the laundry, cleaning, cooking, homework hounding, crafting, and all, I think they need to know me too.

Next week though....I'm back to laundry, cleaning, cooking, homework hounding and most importantly, CRAFTING!