My schedule for this past week:

Sunday, October 8, 2006

10 a.m. lesson in Evanston
1:00 p.m. lesson in Evanston
2:00-3:00 p.m. drive from Evanston to Elgin
3:30 p.m. Elgin Symphony Concert
5:30-7:30 p.m. drive to Whitewater, Wisconsin
7:30-11:30 p.m. teach at UW-Whitewater
11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. drive home to Chicago

Monday, October 9, 2006

10 a.m. lesson in Evanston
11 a.m. lesson in Evanston
11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. drive to Chicago to play at Columbia College

Chicago’s Columbus Day parade is happening just as I am trying to park, of course, so I have to loop three miles south of downtown and creep north to park in my $17 rip-off garage. All the other lots are filled with spectators for the parade. I chug about 1 1/4 miles south down Michigan Ave. and just make it to my gig.

1:30-2:45 p.m. performance of student works for Columbia College arranging class

I get done and run full speed (or as close to full speed as I can get with my bass) back 1 1/4 miles north. The parade is just getting done and the sidewalks are filled with people going back to their cars. Lovely. I get in the car and push my way into the gridlock traffic and head back north to Evanston.

2:45 p.m.-3:55 p.m. drive from Chicago to Evanston

I just make it to my next lesson at 4 p.m.

4-5 p.m. lesson in Evanston

Now I have exactly 30 minutes to go 15 miles north in rush hour traffic. Miraculously, the traffic angels were smiling that day and I make it just before my next lesson.

5-5:25 p.m. drive from Evanston to Northbrook

5:30-8:30 p.m. teach in Northbrook

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

8 a.m. drive to Skokie to feed my friend’s cats

8:30-9:45 a.m. drive from Skokie to Grayslake (35 miles north)

10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. double rehearsal for Lake Forest Symphony

3-4 p.m. drive from Grayslake to Deerfield

4:45-8:15 p.m. listen to Illinois Music Educators Association District 7 auditions

These are pretty normal freelance days for me. The key thing to notice in all of these days is DRIVING. I have driven probably 400 miles in the last three days. I often drive over 1000 miles a week easily. During the playing season (September-May) I get oil changes once a month.

Sometime I’ll share some of my extreme freelance stories here, but now I need to go to sleep to get up for my early morning rehearsal tomorrow.

technorati tags: freelance, driving, Chicago, Northbrook, Evanston, Whitewater, Elgin, Symphony