Definitely not the blogging high season

These last few weeks have seen a nosedive in terms of the number and depth of posts here. Well, it's that time of the year again when auditions, recitals, academic, and departmental duties are at their peak season. A steady stream of calls for a pianist for various auditions on the 24th and 25th would seem to suggest that this is the time of year when demand exceeds pianistic supply--even calling and emailing various people to inform them that I will be unavailable to play at their auditions takes up a large amount of time, and I pride myself on being one of the few that makes a point of returning (nearly) all calls.

One of the toughest decisions this time of the year is finding the moment at which I cannot take on any more recitals and auditions in order to keep up a high level of quality and commitment in my playing and teaching, even if that means turning away an enourmous amount of work. That's just one of the balancing acts that is required in order to survive this time of the season, so as not to be one of those unfortunate pianists who, being overbooked and totally swamped, begin to bail on commitments, and I've been getting an awfully large number of calls from those who are their unwitting victims...