I haven't felt much like writing, lately, but that's no excuse.  SO, here I go:

Passover:

Chag sameach!

Easter:

Happy Easter (Sunday)!

Music Therapy:

Last week I had two rehearsals and two performances, and it definitely helped lift my spirits.  Must keep playing!

Research / Vent:

Had an exciting library adventure a while back.  First of all, it took me 4 trips to the library to finally get my official library card!  And this was the expedited, special-handling-by-random-person way b/c of my toubab-ness and b/c of my request for something speedier than 2-3 weeks. 

Once I finally had the card in hand, I was excited to finally get some of the things I needed.  All of the PhD dissertations are scattered in no order whatsoever on several shelves - some up, some sideways, some tossed from across the room...  Other students seemed to consider it normal to look through each and every dissertation until they randomly found the one they needed, so I proceeded to do the same.   It was like an Easter egg hunt.  I suppose the plus side is it's much more exciting and rewarding feeling when you actually find what you're looking for - it makes the library trip more like bobbing for apples or something. 

Then I had the pleasure of dealing with the library staff when I needed to find a Master's thesis.  Apparently dissertations are not worth lock and key, but Master's theses ARE.  And that means you have to ask a library staff to get it for you, from their Special Secret Master's-Thesis-Lockdown Cabinet.  And apparently that's just too much to ask, ESPECIALLY if, as I was told, the elevator was broken.  I was told to fill out a form and wait for someone to get the thesis.  I did, and I waited, about 45 min.  I went back over to check on the progress of things... I noticed that my slip had not moved from where I had placed it 45 minutes ago.  I asked the new person (who had replaced the earlier person), and he said he had no idea, it wasn't his job.  I asked 4 other people, all who said the same thing - no idea, not my job, etc.  I asked, does ANYbody do their job here??  That's when the 5th person said the thing about the elevator being broken.  I said, well, I'd be happy to walk up the stairs myself, but of course they said I couldn't because of the High-Security Protocol for Masters' theses.  Dangerous info, you know.  THEN, they told me it was now too late anyway because the time for retrieving things from the back rooms had passed.  This was the last straw.  I insisted that I had turned in my slip w/ plenty of time to spare, and that I shouldn't be penalized for other people not doing their jobs.  This didn't help much. 

I decided to take things up with the director of the library.  On my way to her office, what should I chance upon, completely exposed, under no locks whatsoever, and only ONE floor up from where the staffers were?  The MASTER'S THESES!  And, miracle of miracles, they were IN ORDER!  I flipped through them, to pleasantly find that the one I needed was, of course, missing.  Marvelous! 

The director was appropriately appalled when I told her about the condition of the dissertations and how helpful her staff had been.  She had her personal assistant apple-bob with me for the missing thesis, which I beat him to finding.  HAH!  The other dissertation I was looking for, which was not on the shelves, remains at large.  The other two dissertations I DID find, I was not allowed to check out - only one thesis / diss at a time.  So, the assistant kindly told me he'd hold the others for me:  in his OFFICE.  I thought, well this explains a lot.  The director's solution:  take photos of the disarray as proof, write a  letter of complaint which she'd forward on to her superiors, and finger the lazy staff.  For the ratting, I'm reticent to do so as I'll inevitably just have to deal with the same people later (although she insists if they cause me any more hassle she'll take care of them.. whatever that means...).  I haven't done any of this yet, perhaps because I have little hope it will make a difference.  But, I have to return the thesis by Monday, so maybe I'll try to deal with it by then.   I'll keep you posted on any library miracles as they do or don't occur...

Teaching:

I taught my sax friend Modou a lesson the other day, on the roof of my apartment.  It wasn't too hot out; it was nice and breezy and we had a nice view of the neighborhood.  Modou practices more than anyone I've ever met, but he's had little in the way of formal instruction so he has acquired some bad habits that impair his sound.  He has been frustrated with practicing because despite the fingers improving the tone doesn't.  So, I was happy to help him with this and he was excited to hear some drastic improvements right away after he tried some of the exercises.  I haven't taught a saxophone lesson in a LONG time, and Modou is such a passionate, eager student that it was great fun - very rewarding and uplifting for me. 

Transcribing:

Most musicians here have not had much if any formal training, and even for those who have, the training rarely includes learning music notation.  So, there are many people here who are musically brilliant but notationally illiterate.  One of my friends, Zal, composes often, but does so orally - singing the parts to the players until they learn them by ear, then recording it and singing new things to add on top, and so forth.  Which is plenty effective, but when he saw that I could write music, he asked me to write it down for him so he could make charts.  Since he often works with foreign musicians, having a written chart would be helpful - especially if rehearsal time on the same continent is limited to only a few days or weeks.  So, I worked with him yesterday on writing out his tunes.  It wasn't easy, because (he'll be the first to admit) his singing isn't exactly in tune.  It took a little trial and error, but in the end we got it all down!  Another friend of mine, Bambi, is seeking similar help.  I've never really tried composing, myself, so I've been happy to learn a little about the process and to help other creative people get the music they have in their heads onto paper.  I always feel like people here are helping me all of the time - teaching and transcribing both make me feel like I have something I can contribute, too.