DETAILS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BAMBAM25LR]

It is with a heavy heart that I write this thread.

I have been back to playing for about 19 months now. I have put in countless hours of practice, taken some private instruction and attended Jeff Purtle's Brass Camp with plans to study with Jeff in the future.

I am dilligent in preparing for every performance . My intention is to put in the work so that the performance is a fun experience with my delivering a gift to those in attendance. However, I have overlooked one part of performing that has left me wanting to crawl under a rock and become invisible.

I was set to play my first wedding since coming back to playing. As I was getting ready I picked up the invitation to realize that the wedding had already taken place. Remembering numbers is not a problem for me. The problem is that I read an email wrong from a few months back and had the wrong time in my head. I can not remember the last time I felt this bad about something. I got this wedding by reference from another trumpet player in the community band I play in. I not only let down the bride but a friend as well.

Let this be a lesson to all up and coming players. Get a planner or something to keep up with your performance dates and times. Double check those dates and times. You could get it wrong.

I have shared success on this forum and feel it is only right to share the failures as well. I know that I have learned more from this than anything I have done right.
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[WxJeff]

Wow... sorry for your pain, but thanks for your honesty. Are you in deep trouble with the parties involved?

My wife and I have raised four children who are now almost all young adults. I've worked rotating shifts during that entire period. My boys played 'traveling team' soccer, the girls were in Fine Arts, and all the kids were active in church. We had to write stuff down in order to not let things fall through the cracks. "Oh, that's this week?" was a common phrase followed by a trip to the kitchen to view the "Master" calendar.

I hear ya.

[BAMBAM25LR]

[WxJeff]

Wow... you did have an incredible schedule. I was working graveyard shift back when my kids were young as well. My wife and I found that we even had to schedule my sleep periods during that time because otherwise I'd end up burning the candle at both ends, and getting both grumpy (!) and sick.

Glad to hear the bride was gracious about the faux pas.

[murph66]

Our kids are grown and we are both retired, but our calendars are always full. I play in four different music groups ranging from a symphony orchestra to a swing band, and my wife is busy at many different things such as helping decorate for a wedding to cooking at church. Anytime some one calls to see if we are free, our first comment is "let us check our calendars."

I keep a pocket calendar and my wife writes everything on a wall calendar. At a recent church orchestra rehearsal, our minister of music was giving us our performance schedule, and I whipped out my pocket calendar and began writing. The player next to me (much younger) was making notes on his Blackberry, or whatever his phone was, and laughed at me for actually writing something down. I told him to look at it this way- when he has grandchildren, he can tell them he once saw a person actually take out a pen and write something on a piece of paper.

[tobidowski]

This is a good excuse to buy an electronic gadget if you are into that sort of thing. I used to use a palm PDA. I have less going on now so I can manage with my ical on my laptop.

I am looking to drink the kool-aid and get an iphone soon. I am awaiting to see if the rumors are true this time that the iphone is coming to verizon.

Sorry about your mix up. I have done similar things as well. A gift to the couple would be a very classy way to make amends I think.

[mustbflat]

I think I'm just the opposite. I'm so paranoid about missing an event that I continuously check my schedule on my calendar. I use Microsoft Outlook and it is synced up with my cell phone. I'm not only afraid of missing a date but of the starting time. I try to be as early as possible. One time I arrived at what I thought was the correct time to play at a funeral and found the family and friends all assembled in the Chapel and the Army color guard standing outside waiting for me. They couldn't start the funeral until I got there! Having a wife that is habitually late does not help things!!

By the way Jimmy, good to see that you're on Trumpet Herald. There's a lot of great advice available here!

Bob Hill (Facebook)
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Bob Hill
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"It has withstood the vicissitudes of the contingent world and moved in an odyssey into the realm of the metaphysical." - Dizzy Gillespie on A Night in Tunisia

[BAMBAM25LR]

[Jeff_Purtle]

I'm so sorry about that.

I always have fears about that happening or leaving my horn at home or something crazy. Both my wife (an oboist) and myself frequently pull off the freeway to make sure everything is in the car.

For scheduling I use iCal on our Macs and iPhones. Everything is all synced to the web with MobileMe. At anytime our schedules and any conflicts are viewable. I started using a new app called OmniFocus for managing projects and have that synced between my Mac and iPhone too. I recently read David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book. The point is to have a system and put everything into it. This allows me to track all time based things and to do list things. With OmniFocus I break into projects and put them on a time schedule. The goal is to get things out of your mind so you can focus on more important things like being creative and playing well.

People will rarely remember that you played awesome at their event. But, they will definitely remember the bad things and tell several people about it. People like to talk about bad things. Don't give them a chance.

Jeff
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Jeff Purtle
Trumpet Lessons Online since 2004, teaching since 1983
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Skype: jeff_purtle

[swthiel]

[WxJeff]

[John Mohan]

There but for the grace of God, goeth I.

[swthiel]

[Nonsense Eliminator]

[WxJeff]

[RandyTX]

Do threads on TH count as your "publish or perish" fulfillment?


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"Music is like candy, you throw the (w)rappers away."

[WxJeff]

+1, Randy, well-played.

Good thing none of the rest of us have any idiosyncrasies. <twitch> <twitch>

...oh, and deepest apologies to the OP for the blatant hijacking of this thread.
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Kanstul F Besson International 800 Bb
Jupiter SCR-520

[Still Trying]

You're a better man than I am for even attempting to play regularly while working shifts. After I started working shifts (12 hour shifts) I woke up one morning and discovered it had been years since I had opened my trumpet case. I hadn't intended to quit playing. It just happened. I didn't try a comeback until I found myself with a day job years later.

It's very difficult to try to maintain any type of playing schedule when your daily schedule doesn't match the schedules of any of the other people you would normally play with. And it's not difficult to forget appointments both dates and times. I used to work so much overtime that I'd be driving down the road and have an anxiety attack because I couldn't remember if I was supposed to be at work or not. I've come home after grave yards, gone to sleep for a couple of hours and wake up in a panic because I thought I had overslept and was supposed to be at work already. Shift work will do that to you, if you work them long enough.
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S. T.

What do we have that we did not receive, and if we received it, why do we glory, as if we received it not?

[pfeifela]