Fall Break & Other Assorted Happenings
Since school's been back in session for a week, it's time to update on the events of Fall Break. This section will be short. Most of break was spent louging around the house looking after the dog. I brought home American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis to read; I ended up finishing it a day before the break ended. On Saturday I took my busted iPod to Best Buy to replace it. The customer service guys said that the warranty didn't cover a replacement but they'd send it off for repairs. On Monday Ryan came over and we watched a few episodes of Star Trek ("Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "For The World Is Hollow & I Have Touched The Sky") and he went on his way. I wish that he didn't schedule his entire life around his girlfriend; I hadn't seen him in a month or two and it would have been nice to spend more than two hours with him. Tuesday was uneventful; I went out in the afternoon to find a copy of Duel, the Steven Spielberg movie, but was unsuccessful. I did get to read Richard Matheson's original story, though.
This Friday I stayed up watching "Friday The 13th" and "Urban Legend" with David, Sarah, and Miranda (one of David's friends). They weren't particularly impressive, although I did enjoy Tom Savini's gore effects in Friday. We ended up getting to bed around 5. I got a phone call in the morning from my mom saying that the iPod guys weren't going to fix it because there was damage to the hard drive. This puzzled me, since the point of a warranty is to get repairs if something breaks. My dad's going to call them to see if they actually will repair it; if not I'm going home next weekend to get a new one. Yesterday I didn't end up doing much except watching Futurama and SNL with Sarah while drinking a few whiskey sours and a few Jack & Cokes.
The only other thing to report is that I've finished conducting both the Jazz Band and the Jazz Ensemble for Jazz Pedagogy class. For Jazz Band I picked a piece by Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass, "Can't Stop My Leg." It went very well. At Ped class the next day, Steve Haines commented that I was really into it, a mirror image of the music. The only suggestion he had was to be more vocal with the band - when the musicians are sight-reading a chart they are less likely to be watching the conductor, so making dynamic fluctuations with one's hands aren't very effective. I wasn't supposed to conduct the Jazz Ensemble until this upcoming week, but Brandon Tesh needed to switch times with someone and I agreed. I was to conduct two pieces for the Ensemble: "Body & Soul" from the Stan Kenton library, and a chart of my choice. I picked "Decoupage," a Hank Levy chart I played freshman year with the Jazz Ensemble. I hadn't conducted "Body & Soul" before (even though I should have), but I'd played it enough to know the music and the conducting went off without a hitch. I ended up having to conduct more than I thought I would have to for "Decoupage," since it was in an odd meter and the band needed more downbeats to keep their places. All in all, though, I think I did a pretty good job - we'll see what feedback I get on Tuesday.
Tomorrow English starts up again after two weeks of no classes. While I won't enjoy hurrying across campus after Jazz Improv, it'll be fun to get back into the swing of things. I was hoping to get another short story done by then, but, alas, I haven't. I'll try and write a few more pages before I go to bed tonight. That's about it for now. Rest assured I will continue to update when the need arises.
This Friday I stayed up watching "Friday The 13th" and "Urban Legend" with David, Sarah, and Miranda (one of David's friends). They weren't particularly impressive, although I did enjoy Tom Savini's gore effects in Friday. We ended up getting to bed around 5. I got a phone call in the morning from my mom saying that the iPod guys weren't going to fix it because there was damage to the hard drive. This puzzled me, since the point of a warranty is to get repairs if something breaks. My dad's going to call them to see if they actually will repair it; if not I'm going home next weekend to get a new one. Yesterday I didn't end up doing much except watching Futurama and SNL with Sarah while drinking a few whiskey sours and a few Jack & Cokes.
The only other thing to report is that I've finished conducting both the Jazz Band and the Jazz Ensemble for Jazz Pedagogy class. For Jazz Band I picked a piece by Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass, "Can't Stop My Leg." It went very well. At Ped class the next day, Steve Haines commented that I was really into it, a mirror image of the music. The only suggestion he had was to be more vocal with the band - when the musicians are sight-reading a chart they are less likely to be watching the conductor, so making dynamic fluctuations with one's hands aren't very effective. I wasn't supposed to conduct the Jazz Ensemble until this upcoming week, but Brandon Tesh needed to switch times with someone and I agreed. I was to conduct two pieces for the Ensemble: "Body & Soul" from the Stan Kenton library, and a chart of my choice. I picked "Decoupage," a Hank Levy chart I played freshman year with the Jazz Ensemble. I hadn't conducted "Body & Soul" before (even though I should have), but I'd played it enough to know the music and the conducting went off without a hitch. I ended up having to conduct more than I thought I would have to for "Decoupage," since it was in an odd meter and the band needed more downbeats to keep their places. All in all, though, I think I did a pretty good job - we'll see what feedback I get on Tuesday.
Tomorrow English starts up again after two weeks of no classes. While I won't enjoy hurrying across campus after Jazz Improv, it'll be fun to get back into the swing of things. I was hoping to get another short story done by then, but, alas, I haven't. I'll try and write a few more pages before I go to bed tonight. That's about it for now. Rest assured I will continue to update when the need arises.