The Mosquito Ensemble Daily Summer Performance…

On this July summer camping trip in the beautiful mountain forest in Idaho with my partner Gorm, the daily performance by the “mosquito ensemble” & other various flying insects takes place around 1 PM and ends around 5 PM. Let me tell you folks, they want YOU and they mean business and they INSIST that you pay attention to their show! It doesn’t matter that you politely decline or that you wear the customary light long sleeved shirt with long pants and the strongest repellent on the market. Between 1 and 5 are “their” hours and the rules have been made long before your arrival. So…you learn (and hopefully you’re a quick study) or else you are eaten and bitten and very frustrated because of the feeling that you’d like to rip through your skin due to the bites that are activated. Note to self: You are a slow learner silly Karin. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes and bites and itches are there to prove that they are the boss of you. One year you arrive at your favorite camping spot and you can’t believe your luck and good fortune that there are absolutely no bugs bugging you. Ah but you can’t always have things go your way and it can’t all be bug free and isn’t that really just how life itself is too? Yes. Hopefully you find a rhythm and a groove that works for you and sometimes that might mean staying under cover until the coast is clear and it’s “your turn” at the campground. Now enough about what has been bugging me and onto what this blog is typically about and that is my life in music which, can also have the occasional bug…

The past many months I have been “simmering” several projects musically speaking. All the while I’ve mentored and taught several young and older people and I’ve continued my work on music as a composer and arranger too. I’ve been a vocal coach to a couple of professional musicians and I’ve felt proud and excited for them as they discover the art of singing. While they are already instrumentally proficient, the use of their singing voice presents new challenges and a type of learning curve and seeing them attempt certain concepts regarding the art of singing and all that may entail is gratifying to me in my role as teacher.

I have performed somewhat infrequently since I haven’t been on tour and I’m not doing the smaller more casual gigs in my city of Vancouver these days.  Some of my favorite performances in the past few months have been in my duo project “TAKE TWO” with my girlfriend Laura Crema. Of course I love her as my friend and we’ve found a musical connection as well. I also delighted in a little Vespers concert that I did during which I shared a few tunes with Molly Macleay, one of my young and very talented piano/vocal students.

I have composed and arranged lots of music, attended concerts and listened to much recorded music. I have practiced and experimented and as I have said “simmered” many an idea regarding any future music projects. Curiously at the end of this simmer stage I’ve decided to once again create an event that involves me as producer, artist and concert manager. I have produced concerts before but this is of a larger scale and I am truly excited to have so many incredible artists involved. Of course in this situation it will be a labor of love and I will only be a small part of the actual concert performance. There is much to do and plan and many people will depend on me to be organized and thoughtful and creative in this process. I hope that I am up to the task!

On this hot summer day I will only say that “IT” will take place this coming October in my city of Vancouver. For now, I’ll soothe my mosquito bites and count my blessings that 5 PM is almost here and what (hopefully) awaits me as the hours pass by is a clear night, a dark sky, constellations galore, satellites zooming along in many directions and if I’m really lucky…a shooting star or two.  In a few days, I’ll head back to Vancouver and then fly to Whitehorse in the Yukon where I’ll be teaching at a Summer Music Camp. Of course I am hoping the mosquitoes decide to remain here in Idaho and I have  invited them to accompany me. It’s no time for The Mosquito Ensemble to go on tour is what I am thinking. Hopefully that’s how they will feel too… Happy Summer everyone!

Karin