Turned out brighter!

I set out from home in the gloom just after eight this morning and walked through a damp Bingley St Ives and along an even damper canal to Saltaire for my recorder lesson.  It's quite nerve wracking trying to produce a good note in front of a professional musician, but thankfully F is very supportive.  'Over 50% of that was good, well done!'  Ha, I remember making similar encouraging comments when I was teaching!  My brain is struggling with all the elements to remember:  remember to breathe (always good!); remember that notation means a pause; remember that dot there means a half again and that dot there means staccato - and I'm only on three notes at the moment!!  Shoulders down,  back straight, breathe into the abdomen, tongue the note......  It might take me some time to put all this together!  Before I left to meet friends Jean and John at Salt's Diner for a cuppa, we managed our first duet, woo hoo, with F on the descant and me on the treble playing TWO notes!

John is learning to speak Italian so we compared notes on how difficult it is to be a learner after all those years of teaching.  A wide range of subject matter was covered over scones and toasted tea bread before the waiter pointedly cleared our plates and asked if we wanted anything else:  cycling in the Italian Alps; campervanning around New Zealand; the merits of Llandudno hotels; tests for bladder cancer; spending the kids' inheritance; house prices in Ilkley; what is eaten on toast; silicone spoons before we went our separate ways and I walked back along the canal in sunshine (!) 

Now to rest up a bit before pilates.