notwithstanding
I'm here in sunny Austin, Texas. Actually, it's not sunny. It's dark out, but the weather is so beautiful--so...TEMPERATE! As for the people, I'm staying with Brooke, a friend of Susan's from high school, and Brooke's friends. Brooke has been very helpful for me, helping me get around, giving me a couch. And THEN I spent the greater part of the evening with Elsbeth's friend from high school, Kim, and then her boyfriend, and we had wonderful conversation and I took my third of three 40 acre tours of the UT campus (the first two, however, were accidental, because I got lost. It's a rather large place indeed.) Cliches about southern kindness notwithstanding, Austin is tremendous becaTuse, while it is a vibrant city, it is not predominantly concrete--there are trees and GREEN GRASS(!), in February no less, a novelty to me--and there is a just-right vibe to it. Also, I ran into Erin Sullivan on an elevator--how weird is that?! I'm going to give her a call. She seemed to be doing very well.
I really really really screwed up my paperwork for here. I hadn't sent anything in that I should have sent in. I was counting on the kindness of the trumpet prof here, a dear, incredibly talented man, and my faith was well-placed. Paperwork notwithstanding, I really am serious about this place, and if you get in the graces of a studio teacher, well that's the point of grad school auditions. The problem was, due to my utterly inadequate paperwork debacle, I did NOT schedule an audition. My best hope was to record an audition here and give it to the teacher to share with the brass faculty--I even brought down a digital video recorder with which to tape myself. Explaining myself (or explaining away myself) to the teacher, he said, "well, this sounds like a stressful, unfamiliar environment for you to record in. How about you just make me a tape in Appleton where you're more comfortable, and the brass faculty will view it during the next auditions, February 25th?" If Mr. Sasaki seemed ignorant of the fact that tapes were as well due February 1st, it's more that he cares more about people than about policies--which, in my mind, is the shining star of a teacher. I have a lesson tomorrow at 1 PM with him, and I can't wait.
As I was taking my first long long long aimless walk around UT, I saw a curious sign that caught my eye. It said DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET; FEBRUARY 11TH, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER-student tickets, 10 dollars. HIYO! I bought two tickets out of habit and I hope I'll be able to shoehorn a new aquaintance into going with me. There's really no innuendo involved in that, because, this week in cryptic, let's just say I left my heart in Chicago. That first week is always magical but never this much fun and relaxing. Who knows? Anything could happen. That's the tenor of my life right now. I just book a plane ticket, take a lesson, see Dave Douglas, fly back to great folks, and record a tape, meeting some really cool people in the process.
I could be in bjorklunden with the trumpet studio, but hey--nobody's perfect. With the Empire Brass playing on campus--an all baroque/renaissance concert!--last week and bjorklunden with Mr. Daniel's mentor from the University of Iowa, JD declared this week the official "Lawrence University Trumpet Week" unofficially. Door County... Austin... Door County... Austin... Hmmm. Well, I'm meeting a great teacher, seeing Dave Douglas, practicing, AND all but finishing my Goldgar paper (I read half of a critical study on "post-augustan satire" on the plane trip down here, and--Goldgar clued me in--UT has the best American collection of materials on the 18th century) tomorrow afternoon in the UT library after my lesson, two weeks before its due date, which unfortunately falls right after my Yale audition.
Never fear--the Yale audition is very much scheduled. It also scares the pants off of me, but for now, I'm having the time of my life. Playingwise, and lifewise. This is the healthiest I've ever felt during a winter term at Lawrence, and wouldn't you know it just gets easier with some relaxed company.
I really really really screwed up my paperwork for here. I hadn't sent anything in that I should have sent in. I was counting on the kindness of the trumpet prof here, a dear, incredibly talented man, and my faith was well-placed. Paperwork notwithstanding, I really am serious about this place, and if you get in the graces of a studio teacher, well that's the point of grad school auditions. The problem was, due to my utterly inadequate paperwork debacle, I did NOT schedule an audition. My best hope was to record an audition here and give it to the teacher to share with the brass faculty--I even brought down a digital video recorder with which to tape myself. Explaining myself (or explaining away myself) to the teacher, he said, "well, this sounds like a stressful, unfamiliar environment for you to record in. How about you just make me a tape in Appleton where you're more comfortable, and the brass faculty will view it during the next auditions, February 25th?" If Mr. Sasaki seemed ignorant of the fact that tapes were as well due February 1st, it's more that he cares more about people than about policies--which, in my mind, is the shining star of a teacher. I have a lesson tomorrow at 1 PM with him, and I can't wait.
As I was taking my first long long long aimless walk around UT, I saw a curious sign that caught my eye. It said DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET; FEBRUARY 11TH, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER-student tickets, 10 dollars. HIYO! I bought two tickets out of habit and I hope I'll be able to shoehorn a new aquaintance into going with me. There's really no innuendo involved in that, because, this week in cryptic, let's just say I left my heart in Chicago. That first week is always magical but never this much fun and relaxing. Who knows? Anything could happen. That's the tenor of my life right now. I just book a plane ticket, take a lesson, see Dave Douglas, fly back to great folks, and record a tape, meeting some really cool people in the process.
I could be in bjorklunden with the trumpet studio, but hey--nobody's perfect. With the Empire Brass playing on campus--an all baroque/renaissance concert!--last week and bjorklunden with Mr. Daniel's mentor from the University of Iowa, JD declared this week the official "Lawrence University Trumpet Week" unofficially. Door County... Austin... Door County... Austin... Hmmm. Well, I'm meeting a great teacher, seeing Dave Douglas, practicing, AND all but finishing my Goldgar paper (I read half of a critical study on "post-augustan satire" on the plane trip down here, and--Goldgar clued me in--UT has the best American collection of materials on the 18th century) tomorrow afternoon in the UT library after my lesson, two weeks before its due date, which unfortunately falls right after my Yale audition.
Never fear--the Yale audition is very much scheduled. It also scares the pants off of me, but for now, I'm having the time of my life. Playingwise, and lifewise. This is the healthiest I've ever felt during a winter term at Lawrence, and wouldn't you know it just gets easier with some relaxed company.