Dans 2023
3, 2, 1 …
Three French Horns, Two Clarinets, One vintage flute…
What would a year at the Dan household be without music or the addition of new to us instruments? Kaitlin and Kristin are Sophomores at the University of MD – College Park. Kaitlin is studying Mechanical Engineering and Kristin is in both Applied Mathematics and horn performance – double Bachelors degrees.
Kristin completed an internship at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) working on a research paper that the mentor hopes to have published in the future. This job allowed her some funds to purchase another French Horn – not that she needed another but who doesn’t want more French Horns? Then there is another new horn dubbed, tiny horn…you may recognize it when you see photos of a hunt, and the lead rider blows into a little curved horn – that is tiny horn. Again, who doesn’t need a tiny German hunting horn in their house? To herd cats? Wake up the deer in the backyard? Annoy the parents? It works!
Then there is the clarinet. A friend of Ellen played in high-school, but not since, and she offered the girls her wooden French clarinet. It needed a new home and we were the perfect choice. Kaitlin had been eyeing wooden flutes known for their mellow, earthy tones and found one on ebay. The seller had no clue of the potential or pedigree but Kaitlin was willing to take a chance. She knew it had a crack and had contacted our wood instrument repair guy who said he could fix it, and it is still with him. The pads looked original leather which doesn’t sound like a big deal but the flute is German made and all original, case and all from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The seller was an 81 year old and this was her grandfather’s; she was thrilled it was going to a flute home to be loved. In Kaitlin’s mind this is a gem she discovered and indeed it is. She can hardly wait to play it at a performance.
Both girls are in the University Band – mostly non-major music performers, and both are first chair. Kristin auditioned for the French Horn studio (a minor) and was stopped during her playing – she was worried she blew it – but the professors talked to her about her goals etc. and if she was willing to switch from a minor to major they would offer her a full scholarship for four years. She switched. She had to audition again for her placement in the studio (in August) and she made it into the upper rotation with the students pursuing Dr. and M.B.A. degrees. Some links are attached of a song Kristin re-arranged for three horns (https://youtu.be/Iwb84ZNMAw0) that debuted at our church. Another link is with some of their new instruments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrziibnGHVw).
Both ladies have on-campus jobs, Kaitlin is the kiln master in the pottery studio and Kristin gets paid to play French Horn. Kaitlin determines the schedule, loads, unloads and fires up the kiln, manages the glaze inventory and holds office hours to help other students. She can hardly believe she gets paid to make pottery, fire it basically when she wants, unlimited use of glazes etc. She has done some beautiful pieces and recently made an army of little kitty cats that are adorable, she has been selling them for a little cash income. Kristin plays horn in a mini orchestra that is used to train the PhD conducting candidates. She and the others sit there and play while the student conductor receives feedback on their skills from the professor. Kristin can’t believe she gets paid to play her horn.
We took in Broadway shows at the Kennedy Center including Into the Woods, and Sunset Boulevard. We also zip down to College Park for the girls concerts. We also made a day of going to see the panda bears at the National Zoo before they left for China.
Ellen does a lot of sewing for various organizations. She made many fleece beenie hats, pillowcase dresses, pouches for marbles to donate to Operation Christmas Child – Samaritan’s Purse. Our family worked at the processing center in Baltimore auditing the thousands of donated shoeboxes headed overseas. Ellen still repairs costumes for our church – Walk to Bethlehem pagent. Recently she finished a big sewing project to offer gifts to underserved seniors in our county.
Harry is busy playing volleyball, reffing volleyball, cooking and running shuttles to and from UMD. Harry has been studying Tai-Chi with a local group and leads the group on their practice session days. Harry and the girls have gone to several of the UMD women’s volleyball and basketball games.
It has been a year where we stuck close to home to spend lots of family time and just enjoyed being together.
Hug your family they are so precious.
The Dans: Harry, Ellen, Kristin and Kaitlin