The Wiz

So, my band director owns a music academy thing where they give music lessons and such. And his company has gotten big enough for them to put on musicals. I was a stage hand in "Annie," I acted in "Godspell," and I was the stage manager in "Alice in Wonderland."

You see, I love theatre. I can't act to save my life, or sing... But, I love to watch musicals and go see plays and such. I have acted and mostly just done behind the scenes stuff for a lot of school plays.

I digress... so my band director decided that my friend, Cardin, and I are going to be the set designers and tech directors of his newest production, "The Wiz." "The Wiz" is the mo-town version of the Wizard of Oz. It is a cool musical and the music is fun. I think it will look good.

But, oh my goodness... you have no idea how hard it is to design and make a set. Since the director wants the theatre to be set up in the theatre in the rounds way, or whatever, it makes it twice as hard. We have to worry about sight lines that are basically everywhere. Did I mention that neither Cardin or I have ever taken a theatre class or have ever been taught how to design a set. Yet, here we are scrambling and stressing out over a play that we aren't even in. Ugh. And on top of that, the school year is wrapping up and so there are finals coming up and a school trip that I am going on.

So that is what has been taking up every minute of my free time on top of Artist's Garden. Say a little prayer for me. I don't want to overload and have a meltdown. I doubt that will happen, but just in case.

My BACK!!!!

So, I'm in the band at school. I play the saxophone. But, not just any saxophone... I play the baritone saxophone. And, just to remind you, I am a 108 lb, 17 year old girl, and the average bari sax is about 15-20 pounds and a little over three feet tall. I like to think of it as a tuba hanging around my neck. And if you play a bari sax everyday three times a day for an hour or two at a time, there can be some tension and pain in the neck and back. Our school does this talent showcase where all of the arts, theater, band, dance, choir, and art, make one big 2 hour variety show together. Did I mention it is Saturday night? Well, our band is usually rushing to get everything together, so we are having early rehearsals, lunch rehearsals, and three hour evening rehearsals this entire week. My back feels like I've been punched and kicked over and over again then stretched out and squished back together. Not cool. I had to walk around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame after rehearsal. I think I can just sleep it off after I put ice on it... hopefully.


We call this talent showcase Artist's Garden. Not sure why, but whatever.


During the course of the night, the theatre kids introduce the acts (usually the best part because they are always funny) and do their own acts too, the choir sings a few songs, the dance team dances for literally more than half of the show, and the band plays some concert music, some jazz and whatever else. The band at our school are the unappreciated misfits who never ever feel appreciated and we usually never are appreciated. I've been in our band since 5th grade and never left it. We usually just play a few little songs that goes with that years theme (this year is "Back to Broadway," they call it "Back to" because they run out of ideas, and this year is a repeat) plus a percussion piece using unconventional instruments. The band is always scrambling the week of the performance to at least have music to play, and we are cutting it close this year, and I mean close. And the percussion piece is an added stress, because I don't play drums, but I'm still in the song. My freshman year it was with balloons, my sophomore year it was in a classroom with pens, desks, and trash cans, my junior year it was with pots and pans, and this year, my senior year, we are playing with brooms(the link is not us). This song is surprisingly hard, probably just because I am a non-drummer, but still. I, of course, am the one using the biggest and heaviest broom, but don't you worry, I'll be fine.

Hopefully, by Saturday, my back will feel better, the band will sound betterplay through our music.

the movie

So a month or so ago, my little sister, Erin, and I made a stop motion film for fun. It was actually my idea, and I made Erin take the pictures.





So this was a fun little thing we did I think it is worth sharing.

Well... Here we go

Hi, I'm Piper.

I've never done this before, but I thought this blogging thing would help me get my feelings and issues out in the open and circulating around the world wide web. There is something kind of invigorating and refreshing about telling strangers, or probably no one, about my life and secrets and thoughts and whatever else that is occurring in my little life.

This could be a bad thing or a good thing.

I'm just going to post this so that there will actually be a post in my blog.