A Day in the Life of The Pickin' Chicks

Anyone who has heard the Pickin' Chicks perform would know without a doubt that all four of these girls take their music seriously.  They practice on average for two hours every week at The Bluegrass Shack.  Not only do they practice together, but they also socialize together.  They are bandmates and friends both.  It's hard to believe that they didn't even really know each other a year ago!  I thought it might be interesting to let other people into a day of Pickin' Chicks practice.

I guess this day started out a little bit unusual due to the fact that the girls had a talent show audition in the early afternoon.  We all met at The Bluegrass Shack and then carpooled over together.  The audition was being held in a nursing home / senior facility, and I couldn't help but think how much the bass case looked like a coffin as I was rolling it down the hallway in front of all the seniors outside their doors sitting in wheelchairs... 

There was terrible weather on the way over, and when we got to the facility, all of the residents were sitting in the main hallway rather than in the cafeteria because of tornado code.  It felt a little bit odd to see the girls playing to a hallway full of people!  The girls did a great job and were accepted into the contest.  I will post information later as to the time and date of the actual Talent Show.

On our way back to The Shack, we HAD to stop in Freeburg at Dairy Queen.  It was Millie's Mom's birthday and also Paige's brother's birthday.  We have everybody's birthday on the calendar in my teaching room so that we can celebrate.  There's nothing better for bonding than birthday celebrations!  We had blizzards and Mr. Misty's and even some actual regular fast food.  (I don't have room for both a meal and ice cream, so I went straight for the blizzard.)

When we got back to The Bluegrass Shack, the girls unloaded all their instruments and notebooks, and we set up to practice.  This was an unusually early practice because of the audition.  We practiced several newer songs, and one brand new song.  We also talked about a new song that we will start at next week's practice.  The girls started learning "Radio Boogie" from a Hot Rize CD.  I used a program to change the key of the song so that the girls can practice it in the key in which they will perform the song.  Well, we got a little bit carried away and not only tried several different keys, but also different speeds. We had Hot Rize singing everything from the Chipmunks on Caffiene to a bear in hibernation.  It's all a learning experience, right???

We talked about several of our most recent gigs and what they did a great job on and what they could improve on.  We talked about some of our upcoming gigs.  We also discussed things like professionalism, good manners, and ethics.  All in all, the girls had a great practice.

At the end of the practice, I passed out CDs to the girls to take home to practice their new song.  We had a few celebratory donuts, talked a bit more, and then agreed to meet next week even though Mallory will be at camp.  That means I get to be Mallory next week...