Amanda Goes East (and other stories)

This is just a very brief blurb since I absolutely must leave in 15 minutes, and there's no way that I can speed blog anything meaningful.

I just tried an experiment: Can one practice the french horn in one's dorm room without feeling self-conscious.

Necessary materials:
1 french horn
1 mute
1 down winter coat
1 mid-weight cotton coat
1 set of music
1 laptop

Instructions:
Place mute inside french horn. Wrap bell in (down) winter coat. Repeat with mid-weight coat. Use laptop as a music stand.

Blow air into the french horn at 1/3 pressure. Play tentatively. Question whether the sound is piercing all surrounding walls. Question whether french horn playing is louder than a hypothetical itunes selection. Play Russian music on itunes slightly louder than usual while simultaneously practicing Yoda's Theme song. Mentally compare. Feel uncomfortable. Put french horn away and write a blog (quietly) instead.

Answer: It is impossible to play the french horn in a dorm room without feeling self-conscious....unless one suffers from a general lack of embarrassment.

It also doesn't help that I absolutely HATE when people listen to me practicing. Practicing is for myself, concerts are for other people.

So anyway, we're playing music from Star Wars in our next concert, which turns out to actually be challenging. I think I may just have to take my french horn home for spring break. Great.