The most I can say about the recital is that 1) "Bile Them Cabbage Down" received more applause than I thought it deserved, but we accepted it gratefully, and 2) the other songs were a blur of notes that I thought sounded familiar, and 3) we survived it somehow.

That night, after the recital, Patty Looman led a jam session, and persuaded me to join.  I was sort of bashful because I'm such a novice, but she urged me to play what I could. I'd learned from Jody, that when I don't know a tune (which was true for 99 percent of the songs we played) I could still chime in by playing chords. After a glass of wine, and feeling relaxed after the relief of surviving the recital, I kind of improvised, playing chord notes along in syncopation with the songs. Hoover Mountcastle, who was in our class, sat and watched for a time over my shoulder, then he exclaimed, "Rachel, you've been holding out on us!  I didn't know you could play like that!"

I was delighted, but had to confess: "Hoover," I said, "I'm just playing chords!"

I wish I could include here the wonderful music that we experienced, (perhaps with further technological updates to this site I will provide some music) but for now, I've added photos to give you an idea of what the week was like.  I hope this will also bring back some great memories for those of you who shared the week.        

Although I had the time to take many photographs during the time of the event, I am only able to include a small number. To view a few more, please go here.