Houston Symphony went to Carnegie!

A tourist stops a cop on the streets of New York. "Excuse me, officer, but can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?" Well, we all know the punchline to that one, ha-ha, it's PRACTICE, ba-da BUM... It's funny because it's TRUE, though not only was it lots of practice that the orchestra had to take before we got there last month, but 3 separate flights as well!

A whole posse of patrons, family, and various other well-wishers and thrill seekers accompanied us on the trip. It's pretty special to see your home team play on different turf, and orchestras are no exception. It was great to have so many of "Y'all" in the crowd, and one of the New York reviews of the concert even mentioned the hootin' and hollerin' in the audience.

For me it's always fun to play with my team in the Apple. I'm a transplanted Yankee myself, born in one of the boroughs (Queens) and schooled at the fabled Juilliard School, one of the most famous music conservatories in the world. And no, it's NOT true about the razor blades hidden between the keys of the practice pianos at the school. Urban legend! I also teach at NYU in the summers, so am fairly "up" on the latest and best. This trip had my cell phone ringing off the hook when my HS buddies wanted in on restaurant tips, subway routes, shopping.

One thing about orchestra tours is that no matter how big the city, you always run into one or more colleagues. This "world-colliding" can be pretty entertaining. One time on tour in Japan a few of us ended up at the same laundromat and even pooled our whites to make up a load. Sorting out the underwear afterwards was quite the bonding experience. In New York I have to be careful because I can get my "New York walk" on. In New York, you learn to avoid eye contact. In Houston, I learned to make it. So being on a Houston Symphony trip to New York, my eyes were all over the place- didn't want to scare a colleague but don't want to encourage a mugger, either. Solution: sunglasses. All in all though, we in the HS family like to hang out together wherever we are, so I happily played tour guide, we went around in our own unruly mob, and my New York friends marveled that we all WANTED to stick together. But hey, the orchestra that sticks together, does laundry together....no wait, I meant PLAYS together. Yeah, that's it; plays together.