Week One
This first week back in Bloomington has been kind of crazy. I lived out of a suitcase for another full week after having done so all summer, because I had two auditions, my first cello lesson, and my first piano lesson this week. My room was an utter wreck until yesterday after my second audition, but I learned at least three of my excerpts on about five days' notice, and both auditions went reasonably well. I got on the sub list for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, but haven't heard back from Owensboro and Evansville yet. I don't expect contracts, because a whole bunch of Starker students auditioned and there are only two or three spots, but I hope I get on the other sub lists as well. My first lesson made me really optimistic about this semester; I played my concerto and excerpts for Emilio, and he actually told me that they sounded good. He never gives compliments! I mean, he's not usually mean, either, but usually he just tells me what's wrong, and that's it. So I was in a really good mood after that.
I've practiced 21 hours in the past week. Many of you musicians may be thinking "so what"? The point is, I've never practiced 21 hours in one week before. I had never practiced 4 hours in one day before last Monday, either. But it feels great! I feel liked just this one week has actually made a difference in my playing, and that's incredible.
I have a lot of reading to do for my Early Music History class. At this point, I still haven't finished everything I was supposed to do for Friday, so it might be a late night. Or an early morning. It's a really good class, though. The lectures are engaging-- always interesting, and sometimes really funny. Plus, we're being taught by the guy who just rewrote the Grout (the standard History of Western Music textbook). On the first day of class, he opened with the Star Wars soundtrack as his background music, and began "A long time ago, on a continent far, far away..." After giving us his rationale for studying early music, no matter what your musical discipline, he ended on another amusing note: "May the course be with you". Yeah, I'm a dork, but I love teachers like that.
I gave Emilio the list of schools I'm considering for grad school (and their cello teachers) at my lesson, and we discussed the various possibilities. He pointed out the teachers at Maryland and Ithaca as being particularly good, but told me CIM and Yale aren't practical if I'm looking for places that will give me money. He said the teachers at Wisconsin are good if you get along with them, CMU is a good choice, Hartt is kind of a lower level, but also has good teachers, he doesn't know anything about Catholic, and the teacher from Temple will be here for the Eva Janzer cello festival weekend. Also, the teacher from UNCG is a nice guy, but he doesn't know about his actual teaching. So, along with IU, those are my ten choices. I really have to narrow it down to about six, though. It looks like I'll be taking a trip to have lessons at UMD, CUA, Temple, and CMU in early-mid October, and I might be driving up to Madison in two weeks for lessons with the teachers there. It's crazy... but I really have to decide where I'm going to apply by the end of October, so I have a month to get the applications in before the December 1st deadline. It'll be fun visiting places, though, because I'll probably get to see a bunch of people from Brevard (Leslie in Wisconsin, and Alice and Lee at Maryland), plus Ale (she's looking at Temple for grad school too).
Anyway, it's nice to see all my Bloomington friends again. Seeing Robin around is interesting. I like talking to him, but he doesn't seem to be able to have a long conversation with me without talking about what went wrong in our relationship. He seems happy with Shen, though, so that's good. She's a really good cook (she made me some Korean food my first night back). It was ::great:: to see Luca again; his mind is always in the gutter... it's hilarious. And he's great at giving hugs that really make me feel better if I'm stressed or down. And the look on his face when he saw me for the first time in four months was just so cute; I think it was some of the most genuine happiness I've seen in a long time. :-) Brian hasn't had much time for me because he's (finally) found a girlfriend, but I'm happy for him, and I'm sure we'll eventually have a good long catching-up talk. Beth is great as always-- making random soprano noises and having impromptu Taco Nites. Katie was really hyper when I saw her; I hope she's ok with this whole giving-up-the-cello-major thing. Nariaki had a dinner party on Friday night, which was awesome, and I've got piano lessons with him now, too. I can't wait to start working on my recital repertoire with him again... I feel a bit lost as to what to do beyond just getting the notes back in my fingers, but he always has a million things to work on musically.
It's an interesting experience, being "single" in Bloomington. I have a lot more control over my schedule, and a lot more time to spend on the phone and online. I've been keeping in touch with people who are far away much better than usual, while still getting a lot of work done.
Alright, I think this post is definitely too long. From now on I'll try to update more often so I can write less at a time.
I miss Brevard, though.
I've practiced 21 hours in the past week. Many of you musicians may be thinking "so what"? The point is, I've never practiced 21 hours in one week before. I had never practiced 4 hours in one day before last Monday, either. But it feels great! I feel liked just this one week has actually made a difference in my playing, and that's incredible.
I have a lot of reading to do for my Early Music History class. At this point, I still haven't finished everything I was supposed to do for Friday, so it might be a late night. Or an early morning. It's a really good class, though. The lectures are engaging-- always interesting, and sometimes really funny. Plus, we're being taught by the guy who just rewrote the Grout (the standard History of Western Music textbook). On the first day of class, he opened with the Star Wars soundtrack as his background music, and began "A long time ago, on a continent far, far away..." After giving us his rationale for studying early music, no matter what your musical discipline, he ended on another amusing note: "May the course be with you". Yeah, I'm a dork, but I love teachers like that.
I gave Emilio the list of schools I'm considering for grad school (and their cello teachers) at my lesson, and we discussed the various possibilities. He pointed out the teachers at Maryland and Ithaca as being particularly good, but told me CIM and Yale aren't practical if I'm looking for places that will give me money. He said the teachers at Wisconsin are good if you get along with them, CMU is a good choice, Hartt is kind of a lower level, but also has good teachers, he doesn't know anything about Catholic, and the teacher from Temple will be here for the Eva Janzer cello festival weekend. Also, the teacher from UNCG is a nice guy, but he doesn't know about his actual teaching. So, along with IU, those are my ten choices. I really have to narrow it down to about six, though. It looks like I'll be taking a trip to have lessons at UMD, CUA, Temple, and CMU in early-mid October, and I might be driving up to Madison in two weeks for lessons with the teachers there. It's crazy... but I really have to decide where I'm going to apply by the end of October, so I have a month to get the applications in before the December 1st deadline. It'll be fun visiting places, though, because I'll probably get to see a bunch of people from Brevard (Leslie in Wisconsin, and Alice and Lee at Maryland), plus Ale (she's looking at Temple for grad school too).
Anyway, it's nice to see all my Bloomington friends again. Seeing Robin around is interesting. I like talking to him, but he doesn't seem to be able to have a long conversation with me without talking about what went wrong in our relationship. He seems happy with Shen, though, so that's good. She's a really good cook (she made me some Korean food my first night back). It was ::great:: to see Luca again; his mind is always in the gutter... it's hilarious. And he's great at giving hugs that really make me feel better if I'm stressed or down. And the look on his face when he saw me for the first time in four months was just so cute; I think it was some of the most genuine happiness I've seen in a long time. :-) Brian hasn't had much time for me because he's (finally) found a girlfriend, but I'm happy for him, and I'm sure we'll eventually have a good long catching-up talk. Beth is great as always-- making random soprano noises and having impromptu Taco Nites. Katie was really hyper when I saw her; I hope she's ok with this whole giving-up-the-cello-major thing. Nariaki had a dinner party on Friday night, which was awesome, and I've got piano lessons with him now, too. I can't wait to start working on my recital repertoire with him again... I feel a bit lost as to what to do beyond just getting the notes back in my fingers, but he always has a million things to work on musically.
It's an interesting experience, being "single" in Bloomington. I have a lot more control over my schedule, and a lot more time to spend on the phone and online. I've been keeping in touch with people who are far away much better than usual, while still getting a lot of work done.
Alright, I think this post is definitely too long. From now on I'll try to update more often so I can write less at a time.
I miss Brevard, though.