The Concert Season Begins

This is but a small sampler of Saturday afternoon's event.  It featured 3 groups:  the choral group, which we tolerate--barely, Philharmonia--the group Thomas was in aged 10-13, and Wind Ensemble, which Thomas is now--plus, a bonus, Philharmonia and Wind playing together for a rocking medley of Nutcracker pieces.  Normally, Thomas would be just in Wind, but there is a dramatic scarcity of percussionists in Philharmonia so Thomas and Omid were strong armed by Rob to assist.  Much grumbling from Thomas during the past three weeks when he had to be at FIM for 4-5 hours a day, five days a week, for rehearsals.  Here is one Wind piece:

Here is a holiday classic.  Thomas had misplaced his reed because the previous number (see above) had him on the drum set (I told him to keep reeds in his pocket but will he listen?) so he was in a bit of a panic getting settled in and playing.

Immediately after Thomas had to race back to the opposite side of the stage to play xylophone. When he got there he realized that his music was not on his stand waiting for him....So he raced back to his bassoon stand to check his folder...Not there.  So he raced back.....Amazingly, it hadn't magically appeared in the time he was running back and forth.  Meanwhile, the audience howled with laughter, Rob glowered, and Omid smirked.  I felt a pounding migraine set in and couldn't record anymore as it was too stressful.

Eventually Chris Hall, director of Wind ensemble, called an end to the slapstick theatrics and told Thomas to go without music, which he managed to do (not without copiously sweating, but no mistakes to be had):

This is the second time this has happened to Thomas. (The first was at his Honors Percussion Quartet recital last year--he spent many minutes racing about the stage looking for his music, at one point putting his hands on his hips and demanding from his quartet mates "Ok, who took my music?!"--it turns out that he had left it on a music stand which was then moved off stage and into the curtains, so it wasn't really his fault.  But why do these sorts of things always happen to Thomas?)  Although Thomas thinks he is invisible, he has in fact developed quite the reputation among both FIM students and their parents as being the "absent minded future professor".

[Ah ha!  Here is a twist in the tale:  I ran into Rob today at the FIM and it turns out that Omid did have Thomas's so-called "missing music"!  Apparently after their final rehearsal before the performance Saturday Thomas left his music on a music stand at the FIM and Omid took it, ostensibly to return it to Thomas next time he saw him.  But he didn't return it, and later insisted (at the time the music went missing) that he had "no idea where it was" when in fact it was in his music folder all along!  This latest incident will do nothing to calm the freniminess that rages between those two. (Thomas is very suspicious of Omid's claims that he forgot he had it.)]