The day began and ended with a bang: an emergency Caesarean and a fire.

In between, though, I accomplished a few things. In the morning, I got the copies of the score and parts of “Dance : for double bass duo & marimba” run off, collated, autographed, and distributed to the three players and two instructors who are making it happen.

I also ran off a set for the GHP music collection in the library. Being a good librarian, I rooted around in the Library of Congress catalog for examples of sheet music. Then I prepared the beginnings of a MARC record for the cataloging people over in Odum Library.

This is convoluted, but bear with me: while looking for a couple of pieces in the library a couple of weeks ago, I happened upon a brass ensemble piece by Einojuhani Rautavaara, one of my favorite composers. In my Library of Congress search, I decided to look that up, since I knew it was cataloged with score and parts. (Why not just use the Odum catalog? The LC catalog allows you to view the actual MARC record with all its little tags.)

Then I looked up DOUBLE BASS MUSIC as a subject heading, and began studying those records. I printed one out to use as a model for my MARC record and was halfway through constructing it when I realized what I was looking at: a Rautavaara double bass concerto! I was floored at the serendipity. I gave it a listen at the iTunes music store, then ordered it via Amazon. Cool.

During the afternoon, I prepared a lesson for Jennifer Cole’s “Math and the Arts” class on the foundations of music: the overtone series and how it gives us the twelve notes of our western scale; tunings, including equal temperament; keys, key signatures, and the circle of fifths. All multi-media, of course.

So I covered both the beginnings of music and its end, in a published score.

Yes, yes, I know, the end is the performance, but give me break. It’s been a long and weird day. It started at 12:30 in the morning when we rushed Suzette Hermann to the hospital. We just thought that having a fully pregnant instructor was a first. Little did we know. Short version: her little girl was delivered by c-section, stabilized, and transported to Macon for higher level care. Suzette remains in the hospital. Both are going to be OK.

If only that had been all, it still would have been a good day. It ended with a fire in Sawyer Theatre, where Justin Horn was setting lights for the dance concert. We don’t know exactly yet how it started but Justin acted promptly in pulling the fire curtain, calling 911, and evacuating the building. We think at this point the damage is limited and is mostly smoke and water.

However, the Fine Arts Building has been shut down at least for tomorrow. Which means, of course, that the reading of “Milky Way” is probably down the tubes. This is the least of the program’s concerns, and I am being churlish to mention it. I feel more badly for Alex Depew, the horn player whose piece was also being read, than I do for me. And of course for the dance majors, whose concert is seriously threatened, and all the other fabulous things which are scheduled for the next five days in that building.