After a fun-filled day at work where I don't feel like I finished a single task, but just did little pieces of several things (which doesn't leave me feeling very accomplished), I had to run an errand.
So...to put it all into perspective- I started at D. That squiggly road that goes west to Point B is so awful I hate it! Whoever planned that highway fails. Every car wants to switch over 3 lanes to get on some other highway, so everyone just SITS. So frustrating! (Especially at 5 or 6pm!) After I went all the way out to Keller (and I'll explain that situation in a moment)...I rushed to Rockwall (Point C) for my 8:10 orchestra rehearsal- and made it just in time! Then back home. 130 miles. What a night.
I called the horn guy in Keller when I was leaving work to let him know I was coming/ give him a chance to tell me not to come if it wasn't ready. He didn't answer...but he did call me when I got to Southlake (the town just east of Keller). He said it wasn't ready, but he'd try to have it done by 7:30...what? 7:30? I have a rehearsal across town at 8:10! Now, I realize taking I-30 was not the most logical road to take from Keller to Rockwall, but it's what my iPhone spit out at me, and I feel like it tends to have less traffic than 183 or 635. (And taking I-30 gave me a gorgeous view of downtown Dallas as the setting sun reflected off all the glass buildings! Pretty!)
Anyway, this horn thing (consult the pic below and this will make a lot more sense)... When I got to the guy's house (which is also his workshop) he said 10 minutes before I drove up he had patched the crack, which was right at, or below, the #2 on the picture. Then he was trying to straighten the pipe that #s 1,2,5 & 3 line up against. While he was doing this, that little "L" shaped piece of metal between #s 2&11 came loose and the metal between #s2&5 crinkled.....fabulous. I completely understand that this kind of thing only happens like once in 10 years to this guy, and he's lucky that I'm as chill as I am...I think any diva musician would've blown their top! (Not to sound like a snob or anything, but I have a really nice horn. We found it in the classifieds when I was in middle school for a steal...and I mean a serious steal! It's an Alexander 103 if You care at all to Google it. Mine is maybe 40 years old...we bought it from a widow who's deceased husband was a professional horn player, and he bought it from the German factory 20-30 years before it was passed on to me). So all that to say, the horn is a little old and pretty valuable.
The guy said he needed to keep my horn until Sunday when he could spend some serious time on it, which is fine with me because I only play on Wednesdays. He mentioned possibly replacing that entire pipe (that starts @ #1, goes all the way down to #4 and scoops back up and ends under #10)...for no charge. I'm wondering what other kinds of discounts he's gonna give me....He told me not to pay him yet, but I'm interested to see how this all turns out. He said the last girl's horn he messed up this bad (10 years ago, of course) he didn't charge her and gave her free repairs for the next 3 years. By all means...screw up a little more...as long as you can fix it!
He gave me a loaner horn...I think it's a Conn 8D, not that I expect you to know what that is, but it seems like it's what all the horn players play these days (and I like being different with my Alexander). It played really well in orchestra. I guess it's always fun to try out different horns every now and then, but I want my Alex back in one piece please!





