Jacob Heringman's Diary


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14 October 2003 - 19:02

6 October 2003

Arrived back in London. Unpack. Reunion with Zan (hooray!). A little bit of rest.

7 Oct.

Went to school for the first time in awhile, having (unfortunately) missed a whole week for the Chicago trip. Then, in the evening, to Gatwick airport bound for Amsterdam. Annoyingly, at Gatwick, I was told that my flight was going to be delayed by two hours. After two hours, I was told that it was going to be delayed by another two hours. And of course no one could tell me what the cause of the delay was, only that the incoming flight from Amsterdam hadn't even left Amsterdam yet, and that they couldn't guarantee that it would. So I ascertained that my ticket would be honoured the next morning, and I went home. Sadly, I missed the chance of much of an evening with Zan, but at least we had the bonus of another unexpected night together. Later, it emerged that the cause of the delay was bad weather in Amsterdam. Why they couldn't tell us this, I don't know. It also emerged later that the flight did go in the end, but I'm glad I didn't stick around for it. My hosts in Amsterdam would have had to have stayed up until 2 AM waiting for me! And luckily the rehearsals weren't scheduled to begin until the evening of the 8th.

8 Oct.

Flew (successfully and almost on time) to Amsterdam, where I spent the afternoon at my friendly hosts' place, resting and practising. In the evening, we rehearsed (Brisk recorder quartet, Michael Chance and myself), and I collapsed into bed. In bed, I had a very bad and almost entirely sleepless night due to jetlag, and, I think, an overload of impressions (things have been going at such a hectic pace, with no time to process any input).

9 Oct.

But strangely enough, the next day (which I dreaded, because I knew I'd be dead tired and good for very little) went very well. The total tiredness put me in a very unusual place. I was luckily among friends: the Briskies are a wonderful bunch, and Michael is great too. So there was no tension or stress (which I simply can't deal with when I'm overtired), and I could just sort of relax into it and enjoy myself. The strange thing is that my musical perception and acumen were heightened in this tired state (perhaps because I was too tired to rely on any sort of autopilot?), and I felt that the rehearsal had a rare and productive musical quality.

10 Oct.

More rehearsal, and concert. (Small hall, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.) It was a success, and the audience loved it. Personally, I feel I played well in ensemble pieces, and quite badly in the solos. In a way, doing two short solos in the context of an ensemble concert is harder than doing a whole solo recital, because there's not enough time to really get �stuck in� to �solo playing mode�. And the combination of tiredness and nerves (my first concert in that venue, and feeling very exposed) didn't help. But that's life. It's all useful learning material. After the concert, a very nice late-night session of drinking wine with friends and colleagues.

11 Oct.

A free morning, spent (wonderfully) in the Van Gogh museum with Bert. Arrived home in the early evening, and Lina (our Colombian friend, who is staying with us for a couple of weeks) arrived soon after, and we had a nice meal.

12 Oct

After about ten hours of sleep (yippee!), a quiet day at home catching up. Bliss.

13 and 14 Oct

Back in the training course again, and slowly starting to catch up with myself a bit. Though, perhaps not surprisingly, feeling as if it's going to take awhile to stop feeling so tired....

Lots of exciting discussions related to the release of my next solo album. It will probably be released in the spring!

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