Zombie Pianist

I tend to forget how much a day of teaching takes out of me. I’m naturally an introvert; I can be an extrovert when the situation calls for it, but that usually has to be followed by several days of avoiding people.

Yesterday’s serger Home Dec class had five students. My limit is six—you’ll understand why in a moment—so I was right up there. One of the students had had a traumatic brain injury years ago. She and I visited before class and I planned to keep a close eye on her to make sure she had what she needed. Hers was the oldest machine, a 90s vintage Bernette serger whose guts are very similar to my Juki.

The other four students had air-threading BabyLock machines. Three of them were repeat students who had taken other classes from me.

Overall, the class went well. The reason I limit the number of students is because not only am I dealing with different personalities, learning styles, and skill levels, I also have to troubleshoot a variety of complicated machines. Knitting needles and yarn are ridiculously simple by comparison. I had one student who was ahead of everyone else (not unusual), and I was working hard to make sure the others were keeping up. The woman with the vintage Bernette serger struggled mostly because of her machine. She knew how to thread it and what she needed to do to get it to work, but we were pushing the limits of its abilities and that frustrated her. When it came time to do rolled hems, she couldn’t get past some tension problems. I looked at her threads and asked her how old they were. She had had them for many years. I suggested we change them and showed her the very obvious difference in quality between older and newer threads. Switching out threads helped, but she still wasn’t happy with her rolled hems. We changed and tested various settings. I was just about out of ideas. Finally, I asked her what needle was in the machine. I should have started there, but she had just had it serviced a few days before. I made the assumption that it was the correct needle. It was, but it was a serger needle. Serger needles seem to be very similar to “universal” needles in that they are a hybrid of a needle meant for wovens and one meant for knits. The tip isn’t quite sharp enough for wovens but it won’t snag knits. Using such a needle gets one around the issue of having to change needles based on the fabric. Like most middle-of-the-road solutions, however, universal needles don’t do either job very well. I will start students with them but I also make sure they understand that there are other, better, choices.

We switched out the serger needle for a sharp Microtex needle and that did the trick. If she wants to keep serging, though, she may need a different machine. By then, class was almost over and I had to scoot off to concert rehearsal. That student was determined to keep working on her project. Thankfully, two of the other students in the class were planning to stay and finish working on their projects, and they said they would help her if she needed it. I gave her my phone number and told her to call me if she had any questions or wanted me to meet her at the store.

Some time in the 20 minutes between leaving class—when I was very much “on”—and getting to concert rehearsal, my brain decided it was done for the day. I’m familiar with that feeling as it used to happen when I taught knitting. I’d get to a point in late afternoon where I literally could not process any inputs. You could ask me to add two plus two and I would just look at you blankly.

I sleepwalked through the concert dress rehearsal. Like most church pianists, I am a decently good sight-reader because people are forever plopping music down in front of me and asking me to play (or sing) it. When I have practiced a piece, though, I become familiar enough with it to anticipate what is coming next. I’ll be aware that a tricky sixteenth-note run is coming up and get my fingers in position to play it. I’ll be able to count six measures of rest without losing my place.

I sat down at rehearsal and looked at that music—music I know well and had played well at Monday’s rehearsal—and it was like I had never seen it before. I was having a lot of trouble keeping myself focused. The gas tank was empty and I played badly as a result. (I have solo sections in three of the pieces.)

I apologized to the music teacher afterward. I do not have anything on the schedule today (besides practicing), and I promised to be well-rested and focused for the concert tonight.

Note to self: Don’t stack the schedule like that next November.

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I did get pics of a couple of the student projects from class. These are simple table runners. We start class with them so that the students can re-familiarize themselves with their machines.

One student did a lovely Christmas version:

Kathy, who works at the store, did hers in Camille Roskelley’s Nantucket Summer fabric line:

After that, I was too busy to snap pics, but the others turned out well, too.

November is almost done.