Long Overdue Update
Okay well through a series of errors and typos my entry got erased so far but okay I'll start again.
People in Washington: STOP BITCHING ABOUT THE COLD!
I'm here in Appleton, WI, where it's as low as 2 degrees and as high as 24. Seriously. The only thing making it more bearable is that there's lower humidity.
Anywho, yeah it's been a long while since I've been on. My clock on my Livejournal page said 42 weeks. That's a little while...
So anyway, as it's getting towards the end of our last year somewhat together, I'm gonna start posting a little more. I'm gonna try to post somewhat when I'm IN college, because truthfully I like LJ more than I do myspace and/or facebook (though facebook looks a little more innovative than myspace). But I think Journals are good so it's a good thing to keep posting here. Sooner or later I'll get on regularly but I sorta doubt that'll happen.
In the near future anyways.
So here we are... umm where to start? I last really posted like last year, maybe a year ago today ish. Wait, how may weeks in a year? 52? I think it's been almost a year then. Well anyway, so let's start with career.
Or, well really i mean college, or CAREER PREPARATION and/or FURTHER education. But in any case, what I'm REALLY hoping more to get into is a conservatory where I can really focus on my playing. Maybe I could get to be a professional player, I'm not sure. People do tell me there are no guaruntees, which is true. Auditions are the scariest things ever because they are really the big decision over whether you will get in or not. My second-to-last one was today, at Lawrence University. I think it went pretty well. Not the best but not the worst.
Music... uhh, well past that this is the for-sure busiest year ever. I have around 45 concerts throughout the season, by my count. If you want to add that up it's
14 Performances of The Sound Of Music (All in September, glad that's over... MY FIRST PAYING GIG!)
3 Performances with the Seattle Youth Symphony, plus like 3 more extra concerts with them (sort of preview and extra gigs that they add in, which isn't too much of a pain).
8 Performances with the Seattle Philharmonic (A full season, plus... 2-3 extra preview concerts)
6 Performances with the Pit Orchestra for Good News (WHS drama production)
4 School Band concerts, which as we all know are... yeah.
Huh... maybe in my earlier estimate I had a few other things added in. I have
4 Marching Band Games
4 Pep band games
6 auditions (six schools)
3 Solos for Solo/Ensemble competition
1+ Solos to be performed at state (I won timpani, yay, and alternate in mallets and snare so thats a hit or miss)
SOOOO auditions haven't been going too badly. I like most of the teachers I've met, I'll go down the list
1. At USC i did pretty well; I worked with Mr. Erik Forrester, who's a really nice guy. He came out and found me as I was heading to the warm-up room and said "Hey, that looks like a drummer!" I don't think it went so badly, I think most of my pieces came out as well as I had hoped.
2. San Francisco Conservatory second, which went well. I'd visted once before, when I had a private lesson with Mr. Jack Van Geem. I like him a lot, he's funny, got a good style of teaching, could pick out a TON of things out of my playing (which I liked). I wish i'd gotten time to work with Mr. Dave Herbert, but maybe if I end up there I'll get to. Problem with San Francisco is they have NO housing and it's REALLY expensive to not only live in the city (downtown!) but also to pay for classes.
3. Eastman School of music was okay... I don't think I did so well in my audition. I played the Bach pretty badly, so... I think that was an indication that I'm not the strongest mallet player. Which is fair, but i'm still PRETTY good... >_< I was really nervous about meeting Mr. Beck, he's a nice guy, but he's retiring this year. He wrote, in fact, the solo that I used for state last year, so as I said to him, it was a real honor. Mr. Michael Burritt, who is taking his place, unfortutately, was stuck in Chicago so he did not get there to hear my audition. It's a shame, as I didn't get a chance to work with him either. Then again, after a theory exam and a not so good audition, my bets are I won't get in there. But hey, there's always hoping... although the city is sort of... yeah, going downhill.
4. New England was alright... I didn't get much chance to really look around. My auditions thus far had been literally all within a week, and this was Sunday before going back to school, I had gotten no homework done... etc. etc. I won't make excuses, but i think the audition went PRETTY well... I wish I'd gotten more time to meet the percussion teachers but they sorta seemed intent on getting a feel for me and didn't give much feedback. I hope for the best, but my guess is thats not much of a great hope either.
5. Last (well not really) was Lawrence, TODAY, where I think I did okay. I haven't really played a lot since school got out A WEEK AGO, so i was a little rusty, but i did okay considering. I'm not going to like packing up the marimba and things tomorrow when I'm home... but anyway, the school isn't in the greatest spot, but hey it's better than Rochester where Eastman's located. The food though... oh my god! I'm gonna die if i go here and can't eat out from time to time. I'd have to get a job, most definitely, and since it's not a CONSERVATORY, (It's a liberal arts college WITH a music school as part of it) I'd have a lot on my plate already.
6. Colburn... ehh... I'll come back to this one. I'm saving best for last, in a sense, but I need more time to explain this one fully, and it's not over yet so as soon as I'm back I continue learning all the excerpts and requirements for the audition.
Soo Iets take a break from music for a while... Love? Thats a happy (with a catch) topic for me nowadays, and I don't mean to rub it in the face of anyone for whom it isn't.
Long story short, I have a girlfriend now. Some of you have met her, my darling Jessica. She's just amazing, beautiful and spectacularly talanted (she won state having only played the oboe for like a 2 years.) Definitely an Oboe player, though she comes from a background of Violin so she has perfect pitch. Very nice, although... I've been starting to think I have mild perfect pitch because I can figure out pitches if I think about it long enough I can figure it out. It's not PERFECT but it's pretty close. I definitely know when something's out of tune though... Well most times anyway. Course, for testing it I use our band, so i don't think my results are quite... accurate.
Anyway, I mentioned a catch- she lives in Oregon. 3 hours away. It's actually not too bad, we've managed to see each other about every 2 months, which is nice but you just gotta watch out what happens when we get together, mwahahaha!
We met at Band Camp... yeah. 'nuff said.
Anyway, life's been good overall. Sure problems come up from time to time, but I think it's been okay overall (or OAKY for some of you ;).
Let's see.. I've already hit Senioritus, long time ago, but I'm trying to keep doing my work. Problem is I get assigned so much and there were a couple times I literally stopped doing my homework for practice time. That was cram week before audition week, where I wanted to run everything like every day just to be sure. I'd been working since the Summer but still... and i definitely need more time on a lot of this stuff.
It's just that I'm so tired of all this work that's not really gonna help me in life, or so I think. French, I'm not minding the class as much as I am the homework. I can't stand this new textbook, it literally makes me feel like I'm 5 years old! And some of the activities are completely useless. Like...
Matching, Question to the response. Now most times this makes sense but when they give you questions like
How was visiting your grandmother?
How was the restaurant you ate at last night?
How was going out with your friend?
And give you reponses like
It was really good
It was really boring
It was terrible!
Now, I'm sure you could figure ONE of those pairs out. The rest? INTER-FUCKING-CHANGABLE!
So yeah. Anyway, there are a lot of harder classes I took this year that I regret doing in a way, but in some ways I don't because the normal classes would probably give me MORE homework. Fucking blows, if you ask me. It's one of the reasons I want out of this. Sure I can analyze literature, write essays, and do okay at it. Problem is that I don't feel challenged in some ways, and I don't seem to get much feedback anymore. Sure I have a bunch of errors, but it's because I don't proofread and make sure it's written in a logical way that makes sense. I still get As or close to it... so why bother?
Anyway, so maybe now I'll talk about what's to come. I still have to do Colburn, which is by far my top school. I have a bunch of excerpts to learn, which is going to be somewhat tough but not TOO difficult. What worries me is getting in. They take ONE percussionist, but honestly it's my favorite school. It's got tons of resources, it's in the center of LA, and though they disapprove of doing outside groups and things, I think there'd be time to do work with outside groups and earn a little money. It would be nice, anyway, but whatever. Besides, I would love having so many hours per day to practice. 24/7 Access to practice rooms isn't so bad either; not only that but you get personal suite rooms (well a personal small bedroom and share a den/kitchen and bathroom with 2-3 other people. Which really is perfectly fine with me. They have around 95 kids there total. SERIOUSLY! I'd know everyone by their first name! And not only that, Mr. Van Geem also teaches there, so I'd have a very good teacher (someone whom i can really see myself improving under).
Anyway, I have until March 24th... so here's hoping. I think it'll be alright. Oh and did I mention...
Colburn is completely free? All room and board, meals, etc. is paid for. Completely free.
Can you tell which number on my list Colburn is? Although it does seem sorta limited towards only performance, thats in a sense what it's designed for; enhancing and perfecting my performance skills, and I'm all for that. Can you tell why they only take one percussionist?
Anyway, moving right along... I've written quite a lot. I'm hoping this gives a good idea what I've been up to... I miss talking to a lot of people. I used to love talking with people for hours on IM, but no one seems to be around anymore the few times I'm around to talk. Not only that, but it's a time when we are all drifting apart... and I get that. I'm just busy so much nowadays, I wish there was a way to catch up.
So long story short, I've said anyway far too much. If you haven't already, would you mind dropping me a line? Tell me what you're up to, etc.... I'd love to hear what's up and where you're all heading. I'm promising to send out updates on schools and such as well as post high school. Just keep me informed with a valid email address, and of course I will send things out.
Also, at the end of the year I'm planning to record myself doing all my solos that I've done for Auditions this year, which would be nice. So you all will be able to get my CD and listen to it. YAY!
Anyway... Take care all, and be cool; I hope to hear from you, but if it's too much of a pain (I know I've been an idiot from time to time in the last... oh 3 years, but hey we're all growing up) or you got so put off by how long my entry was, thats fine. I'll understand, but I do hope to hear from as many people as I can.
Good luck to all,
Jonathan Rush
PS: CHECK THIS OUT! It's a link to my Youtube account where I have my 3rd place solo from last year as well as the DVD i sent to Colburn. You can see pretty much my main solos, just skip the excerpt part. I think it'll be alright, most came out pretty well, except the bach, i wasn't thrilled with it. Bear in mind this was beginning of January, so I've come a little ways since then. Anyway... Take care, and hope you enjoy!
People in Washington: STOP BITCHING ABOUT THE COLD!
I'm here in Appleton, WI, where it's as low as 2 degrees and as high as 24. Seriously. The only thing making it more bearable is that there's lower humidity.
Anywho, yeah it's been a long while since I've been on. My clock on my Livejournal page said 42 weeks. That's a little while...
So anyway, as it's getting towards the end of our last year somewhat together, I'm gonna start posting a little more. I'm gonna try to post somewhat when I'm IN college, because truthfully I like LJ more than I do myspace and/or facebook (though facebook looks a little more innovative than myspace). But I think Journals are good so it's a good thing to keep posting here. Sooner or later I'll get on regularly but I sorta doubt that'll happen.
In the near future anyways.
So here we are... umm where to start? I last really posted like last year, maybe a year ago today ish. Wait, how may weeks in a year? 52? I think it's been almost a year then. Well anyway, so let's start with career.
Or, well really i mean college, or CAREER PREPARATION and/or FURTHER education. But in any case, what I'm REALLY hoping more to get into is a conservatory where I can really focus on my playing. Maybe I could get to be a professional player, I'm not sure. People do tell me there are no guaruntees, which is true. Auditions are the scariest things ever because they are really the big decision over whether you will get in or not. My second-to-last one was today, at Lawrence University. I think it went pretty well. Not the best but not the worst.
Music... uhh, well past that this is the for-sure busiest year ever. I have around 45 concerts throughout the season, by my count. If you want to add that up it's
14 Performances of The Sound Of Music (All in September, glad that's over... MY FIRST PAYING GIG!)
3 Performances with the Seattle Youth Symphony, plus like 3 more extra concerts with them (sort of preview and extra gigs that they add in, which isn't too much of a pain).
8 Performances with the Seattle Philharmonic (A full season, plus... 2-3 extra preview concerts)
6 Performances with the Pit Orchestra for Good News (WHS drama production)
4 School Band concerts, which as we all know are... yeah.
Huh... maybe in my earlier estimate I had a few other things added in. I have
4 Marching Band Games
4 Pep band games
6 auditions (six schools)
3 Solos for Solo/Ensemble competition
1+ Solos to be performed at state (I won timpani, yay, and alternate in mallets and snare so thats a hit or miss)
SOOOO auditions haven't been going too badly. I like most of the teachers I've met, I'll go down the list
1. At USC i did pretty well; I worked with Mr. Erik Forrester, who's a really nice guy. He came out and found me as I was heading to the warm-up room and said "Hey, that looks like a drummer!" I don't think it went so badly, I think most of my pieces came out as well as I had hoped.
2. San Francisco Conservatory second, which went well. I'd visted once before, when I had a private lesson with Mr. Jack Van Geem. I like him a lot, he's funny, got a good style of teaching, could pick out a TON of things out of my playing (which I liked). I wish i'd gotten time to work with Mr. Dave Herbert, but maybe if I end up there I'll get to. Problem with San Francisco is they have NO housing and it's REALLY expensive to not only live in the city (downtown!) but also to pay for classes.
3. Eastman School of music was okay... I don't think I did so well in my audition. I played the Bach pretty badly, so... I think that was an indication that I'm not the strongest mallet player. Which is fair, but i'm still PRETTY good... >_< I was really nervous about meeting Mr. Beck, he's a nice guy, but he's retiring this year. He wrote, in fact, the solo that I used for state last year, so as I said to him, it was a real honor. Mr. Michael Burritt, who is taking his place, unfortutately, was stuck in Chicago so he did not get there to hear my audition. It's a shame, as I didn't get a chance to work with him either. Then again, after a theory exam and a not so good audition, my bets are I won't get in there. But hey, there's always hoping... although the city is sort of... yeah, going downhill.
4. New England was alright... I didn't get much chance to really look around. My auditions thus far had been literally all within a week, and this was Sunday before going back to school, I had gotten no homework done... etc. etc. I won't make excuses, but i think the audition went PRETTY well... I wish I'd gotten more time to meet the percussion teachers but they sorta seemed intent on getting a feel for me and didn't give much feedback. I hope for the best, but my guess is thats not much of a great hope either.
5. Last (well not really) was Lawrence, TODAY, where I think I did okay. I haven't really played a lot since school got out A WEEK AGO, so i was a little rusty, but i did okay considering. I'm not going to like packing up the marimba and things tomorrow when I'm home... but anyway, the school isn't in the greatest spot, but hey it's better than Rochester where Eastman's located. The food though... oh my god! I'm gonna die if i go here and can't eat out from time to time. I'd have to get a job, most definitely, and since it's not a CONSERVATORY, (It's a liberal arts college WITH a music school as part of it) I'd have a lot on my plate already.
6. Colburn... ehh... I'll come back to this one. I'm saving best for last, in a sense, but I need more time to explain this one fully, and it's not over yet so as soon as I'm back I continue learning all the excerpts and requirements for the audition.
Soo Iets take a break from music for a while... Love? Thats a happy (with a catch) topic for me nowadays, and I don't mean to rub it in the face of anyone for whom it isn't.
Long story short, I have a girlfriend now. Some of you have met her, my darling Jessica. She's just amazing, beautiful and spectacularly talanted (she won state having only played the oboe for like a 2 years.) Definitely an Oboe player, though she comes from a background of Violin so she has perfect pitch. Very nice, although... I've been starting to think I have mild perfect pitch because I can figure out pitches if I think about it long enough I can figure it out. It's not PERFECT but it's pretty close. I definitely know when something's out of tune though... Well most times anyway. Course, for testing it I use our band, so i don't think my results are quite... accurate.
Anyway, I mentioned a catch- she lives in Oregon. 3 hours away. It's actually not too bad, we've managed to see each other about every 2 months, which is nice but you just gotta watch out what happens when we get together, mwahahaha!
We met at Band Camp... yeah. 'nuff said.
Anyway, life's been good overall. Sure problems come up from time to time, but I think it's been okay overall (or OAKY for some of you ;).
Let's see.. I've already hit Senioritus, long time ago, but I'm trying to keep doing my work. Problem is I get assigned so much and there were a couple times I literally stopped doing my homework for practice time. That was cram week before audition week, where I wanted to run everything like every day just to be sure. I'd been working since the Summer but still... and i definitely need more time on a lot of this stuff.
It's just that I'm so tired of all this work that's not really gonna help me in life, or so I think. French, I'm not minding the class as much as I am the homework. I can't stand this new textbook, it literally makes me feel like I'm 5 years old! And some of the activities are completely useless. Like...
Matching, Question to the response. Now most times this makes sense but when they give you questions like
How was visiting your grandmother?
How was the restaurant you ate at last night?
How was going out with your friend?
And give you reponses like
It was really good
It was really boring
It was terrible!
Now, I'm sure you could figure ONE of those pairs out. The rest? INTER-FUCKING-CHANGABLE!
So yeah. Anyway, there are a lot of harder classes I took this year that I regret doing in a way, but in some ways I don't because the normal classes would probably give me MORE homework. Fucking blows, if you ask me. It's one of the reasons I want out of this. Sure I can analyze literature, write essays, and do okay at it. Problem is that I don't feel challenged in some ways, and I don't seem to get much feedback anymore. Sure I have a bunch of errors, but it's because I don't proofread and make sure it's written in a logical way that makes sense. I still get As or close to it... so why bother?
Anyway, so maybe now I'll talk about what's to come. I still have to do Colburn, which is by far my top school. I have a bunch of excerpts to learn, which is going to be somewhat tough but not TOO difficult. What worries me is getting in. They take ONE percussionist, but honestly it's my favorite school. It's got tons of resources, it's in the center of LA, and though they disapprove of doing outside groups and things, I think there'd be time to do work with outside groups and earn a little money. It would be nice, anyway, but whatever. Besides, I would love having so many hours per day to practice. 24/7 Access to practice rooms isn't so bad either; not only that but you get personal suite rooms (well a personal small bedroom and share a den/kitchen and bathroom with 2-3 other people. Which really is perfectly fine with me. They have around 95 kids there total. SERIOUSLY! I'd know everyone by their first name! And not only that, Mr. Van Geem also teaches there, so I'd have a very good teacher (someone whom i can really see myself improving under).
Anyway, I have until March 24th... so here's hoping. I think it'll be alright. Oh and did I mention...
Colburn is completely free? All room and board, meals, etc. is paid for. Completely free.
Can you tell which number on my list Colburn is? Although it does seem sorta limited towards only performance, thats in a sense what it's designed for; enhancing and perfecting my performance skills, and I'm all for that. Can you tell why they only take one percussionist?
Anyway, moving right along... I've written quite a lot. I'm hoping this gives a good idea what I've been up to... I miss talking to a lot of people. I used to love talking with people for hours on IM, but no one seems to be around anymore the few times I'm around to talk. Not only that, but it's a time when we are all drifting apart... and I get that. I'm just busy so much nowadays, I wish there was a way to catch up.
So long story short, I've said anyway far too much. If you haven't already, would you mind dropping me a line? Tell me what you're up to, etc.... I'd love to hear what's up and where you're all heading. I'm promising to send out updates on schools and such as well as post high school. Just keep me informed with a valid email address, and of course I will send things out.
Also, at the end of the year I'm planning to record myself doing all my solos that I've done for Auditions this year, which would be nice. So you all will be able to get my CD and listen to it. YAY!
Anyway... Take care all, and be cool; I hope to hear from you, but if it's too much of a pain (I know I've been an idiot from time to time in the last... oh 3 years, but hey we're all growing up) or you got so put off by how long my entry was, thats fine. I'll understand, but I do hope to hear from as many people as I can.
Good luck to all,
Jonathan Rush
PS: CHECK THIS OUT! It's a link to my Youtube account where I have my 3rd place solo from last year as well as the DVD i sent to Colburn. You can see pretty much my main solos, just skip the excerpt part. I think it'll be alright, most came out pretty well, except the bach, i wasn't thrilled with it. Bear in mind this was beginning of January, so I've come a little ways since then. Anyway... Take care, and hope you enjoy!