In which I go to the "Jam Session" held by the Really Terrible Orchestra Of The Triangle (RTOOT)

It's been 37 years or so since I played in an orchestra; I call myself a refugee from classical music, having run away for maybe these three reasons:

1. Dislike of being told when to play up-bow and when to play down-bow;
   
2. Less than compelling repertoire;
   
3. The competitive attitude permeating most violin sections.

However, hankering to play more fiddle (that's to say, more than zero, the amount I play when my bands aren't rehearsing), I decided to check out the Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle Jam Session.

Pictured above: the Bond Park Community Center, which is where the orchestra rehearses and which exemplifies the ghastly architecture of Cary. There are 1,000s buildings like this in Cary, with horrible green roofs and beige walls, surrounded with huge swaths of driveways.

Conductor W. Sands Hobgood is at the right in this picture, taken as the group was assembling this afternoon. He is the soft-spoken fellow who created RTOOT and sets the non-competitive, self-deprecating tone of the group (which really isn't that bad at all).

While I don't think RTOOT is a good fit for me, the session today left me very thoughtful - maybe it's time to ease back into classical music in some way - though I'm still very happy playing (and sort of creating) folk music that suits my heart. Maybe it's time to try a string quartet again?