The AGEHR Area I Festival/Conference 2005 was a big success. My wife was the chair of the Festival as well as the chair of Area I. We went up a day early to setup along with a handful of other people. One young man along with several of the teens from our church were a big help in setting up and taking down. They moved a lot of tables and a lot of handbells. I am not sure which is heavier, the tables or the cases of handbells. Either way, the team did a great job.
My quartet took the Advanced Ensemble Track (three one hour classes/workshops). We had prepared a piece to play and work on, Every Time I Feel the Spirit arranged by Kevin McChesney. The teach of the classes, Sue Chamberlin, suggested that we change the bell assignments in a couple of places. By taking a bell here and there from member and having someone else ring it made a world of difference to the player who was overloaded in a couple of sections. We spent two of the three classes unlearning how we originally played the piece and learning a new way. The third session was spent playing for each other; there were two other quartets in the class.
It is truly amazing how much work goes on behind the scene at an event such as this. Most people never see the emergencies, the glitches and other crisises that occur. My wife, being in charge of the Festival, had to deal with many last minute problems; some of the problems should had been handled by other people in charge of specific sections of the Festival. Most days she worked from 7am to midnight keeping the Festival running smooth. And this Festival was much easier than the one two years ago at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Most of the staff at the University of Durham, NH were very helpful. The one exception was security who took it as their job to prevent us from accessing the buildings we were renting for the Festival, even when given explicit orders from the central office.
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"The objection to fairy stories is that they tell children
there are dragons. But children have always known there are
dragons. Fairy stories tell children that dragons can be
killed."
— G.K. Chesterton
"Zoology, eh? That's a big word, isn't it"
"No, actually it isn't", said Tiffany.
"Patronizing is a big word. Zoology is really quite short."
— Terry Pratchett
from "The Wee Free Men"
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