Snippets from my NRO blog
Over the summer while I was at the National Repertory Orchestra, I had a blog. Sadly, I wasn't very good at keeping it up. Try as I may, it ended up being updated every 1-14 days. Anyway, here are some snippets from that blog.
June 14, 2010
"I woke up this morning to summer snow! We were warned about this but it was certainly different to experience it. It has been rather chilly since we arrived but tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's instead of the upper 40's! We went from the snow in the morning to rain, then sleet followed by more rain. Early summer weather here is unpredictable.
Downtown Breckenridge is rather quaint. Main Street is full of shops and restaurants. It feels homey. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the locals at some point.
I managed to get a bit of practicing done in the morning. I'm still slowly adjusting to the altitude. My lungs were tingly while I was warming up and I was winded playing a single scale on the bass. However, rehearsal in the evening was much better. The orchestra sounds wonderful! I, however, was dealing with transposing from b-flat to C. I am either right on when I'm transposing of right off! Tonight's rehearsal was a little of both. Carl Topilow, our conductor, was very forgiving tonight. I'm sure tomorrow will be a different story."
June 20, 2010
"
During the week I managed to meet my host family, David and Gail, who live on the bottom of Peak 7. The have three dogs and love to hike! What a perfect match for me. More than one musician is assigned to each family. Evan (a violist)and I had lunch with Gail today and finally got to chat a bit. I'm looking forward to meeting her husband and dogs next week. She even goes to the chapel I happened to attend this morning for church! This church has free dinners for the NRO musicians every Tuesday night. And to top it off, I got asked by the pianist to come and play at church in the coming weeks. Now to get some of my church rep sent to me!
This coming week we have three concerts. Tuesday is Imagination Station which includes an instrument petting zoo. I love showing kids how to play and seeing their faces when they get a sound out! On Friday, we have a concert with Leonard Slatkin conducting. And Saturday is the Denver Gala, the largest fund raiser for the NRO. We will be playing dance music for most of the night.
After the concert last night while staring up at the clear night sky, I realized just how lucky I am. This festival is amazing because all of the musicians want to be here and want to play, no matter what the music is. It is such a fantastic feeling to make music with people who truly love what they do in such a beautiful setting.
I am so grateful."
June 27, 2010
"Our concert this past Friday with Leonard Slatkin was nothing short of exciting! I had so much fun playing Beethoven Symphony No. 8 under him. Slatkin has a no nonsense approach to rehearsals. Very efficient and inspiring. I enjoyed all of our rehearsal time. The clarinet solo in the third movement was splendid every time we ran it, save a note not speaking (not the final high G). The performance was energized for both the Beethoven and Berlioz. The concert was well received by the audience.
After our final rehearsal, he gave us a little talk on auditions. This was mostly to inspire us to be ourselves whenever we perform and not compromise our personal musical integrity. People talk about the "sound" of an ensemble and wanting to play in the style. While that is all fine and good, if you don't play that way, then perhaps that particular job is not for you. One should take an audition for a job that works in favor of their strengths. That being said, auditioning is a skill that we must perfect and sadly, does not show one's ability in an ensemble. Slatkin told us to write out our strengths, weaknesses, dream plan (5 years from now), and a realistic plan. I hope to do this in the coming weeks. He told us that we should use all of our strengths to help us succeed in our profession whether it includes public speaking, teaching, or administration work.
Last night was the Denver Gala, our biggest fund raiser for the NRO. The orchestra plays during the auction and performs dance music afterward. During the auction, the chance to conduct the orchestra is auctioned off. We had three people donate $1,000 to conduct us. One was a chairperson of one of the bassoonist! This was quite a surprise! They apparently do this every year. Dana, the lucky bassoonist, was a good sport! Between playing William Tell Overture and a movement from Carmen, the conductors were a hoot to watch (or not watch!).
The evening was capped off with three sets of dance music. We all had a good time and enjoyed the music but were more than ready to go home by the end of the last set (11pm!).
Today I went biking with my roommate's host family! We biked around a good part of Lake Dillion and I was able to ride a really nice touring bike. She then had dinner ready to go for us once we returned from our ride, just in time for an afternoon shower to come through. She's a writer and I'm hoping to read her book at some point.
Colorado is gorgeous. I know I will say something to this extent in nearly every post, but it's true. Every time I got for a bike ride, I am enamored with the natural surroundings.
It is beautiful and so was this weekend."
July 21, 2010
"The 4th of July was a rather taxing but exciting day for the NRO. We played three concerts throughout the day in Dillon, Evergreen and Breckenridge. Emily and I ran into Zack while in Evergreen. I had totally forgotten that he lived there! I had such a blast playing pops music. I guess it helps when those around you (i.e. my fellow musicians) are having as much fun. It was nice to have Richard and his buddy Will were in town for the week.
After all of that madness, Richard, Zack and I hiked up Mount Quandary (a 14-er) in around six hours. I ran into a few LSU alums, which is why I always hike in my LSU baseball cap. You never know who you will run into!
A bunch of us went to Vail the past two Friday nights to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform. The program both weeks was awesome. On the 9th, they performed Capriccio Espagnol, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Gil Shaham, violin), and The Rite of Spring. I managed to catch Ricardo Morales and Wagner Campos, who was the extra bass clarinetist on Rite of Spring."
"Other than performing concerts, I managed to get in some hiking. My roommate and a her host family took us hiking on the Mosquito Range on Monday. We hiked Mt. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. It was quite a hike, taking 8 1/2 hours to complete. We managed to beat an afternoon thunderstorm on our way down from Bross."
More NRO updates soon...
Today, I'm off to Muskegon, MI for the Falcone Competition. Richard is one of 10 semi-finalist. Hopefully he will perform well. Time for the 14 hour drive!
Wedding wise, plans are going well. Only 17 days until I get married!!!! The only thing that really needs to get finished is my last dress fitting. Teri, who is working on my dress (my mother's wedding dress my great grandmother made!), is going a fantastic job. I can't wait to try on the newly remodeled dress. Once I get back from Michigan, everything will start to move a warp speed. Hopefully all this practice will pay off so I can win a job right after I get married. USAF Band audition here I come!
Talk about a few crazy upcoming weeks. =)
June 14, 2010
"I woke up this morning to summer snow! We were warned about this but it was certainly different to experience it. It has been rather chilly since we arrived but tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's instead of the upper 40's! We went from the snow in the morning to rain, then sleet followed by more rain. Early summer weather here is unpredictable.
Downtown Breckenridge is rather quaint. Main Street is full of shops and restaurants. It feels homey. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the locals at some point.
I managed to get a bit of practicing done in the morning. I'm still slowly adjusting to the altitude. My lungs were tingly while I was warming up and I was winded playing a single scale on the bass. However, rehearsal in the evening was much better. The orchestra sounds wonderful! I, however, was dealing with transposing from b-flat to C. I am either right on when I'm transposing of right off! Tonight's rehearsal was a little of both. Carl Topilow, our conductor, was very forgiving tonight. I'm sure tomorrow will be a different story."
June 20, 2010
"
During the week I managed to meet my host family, David and Gail, who live on the bottom of Peak 7. The have three dogs and love to hike! What a perfect match for me. More than one musician is assigned to each family. Evan (a violist)and I had lunch with Gail today and finally got to chat a bit. I'm looking forward to meeting her husband and dogs next week. She even goes to the chapel I happened to attend this morning for church! This church has free dinners for the NRO musicians every Tuesday night. And to top it off, I got asked by the pianist to come and play at church in the coming weeks. Now to get some of my church rep sent to me!
This coming week we have three concerts. Tuesday is Imagination Station which includes an instrument petting zoo. I love showing kids how to play and seeing their faces when they get a sound out! On Friday, we have a concert with Leonard Slatkin conducting. And Saturday is the Denver Gala, the largest fund raiser for the NRO. We will be playing dance music for most of the night.
After the concert last night while staring up at the clear night sky, I realized just how lucky I am. This festival is amazing because all of the musicians want to be here and want to play, no matter what the music is. It is such a fantastic feeling to make music with people who truly love what they do in such a beautiful setting.
I am so grateful."
June 27, 2010
"Our concert this past Friday with Leonard Slatkin was nothing short of exciting! I had so much fun playing Beethoven Symphony No. 8 under him. Slatkin has a no nonsense approach to rehearsals. Very efficient and inspiring. I enjoyed all of our rehearsal time. The clarinet solo in the third movement was splendid every time we ran it, save a note not speaking (not the final high G). The performance was energized for both the Beethoven and Berlioz. The concert was well received by the audience.
After our final rehearsal, he gave us a little talk on auditions. This was mostly to inspire us to be ourselves whenever we perform and not compromise our personal musical integrity. People talk about the "sound" of an ensemble and wanting to play in the style. While that is all fine and good, if you don't play that way, then perhaps that particular job is not for you. One should take an audition for a job that works in favor of their strengths. That being said, auditioning is a skill that we must perfect and sadly, does not show one's ability in an ensemble. Slatkin told us to write out our strengths, weaknesses, dream plan (5 years from now), and a realistic plan. I hope to do this in the coming weeks. He told us that we should use all of our strengths to help us succeed in our profession whether it includes public speaking, teaching, or administration work.
Last night was the Denver Gala, our biggest fund raiser for the NRO. The orchestra plays during the auction and performs dance music afterward. During the auction, the chance to conduct the orchestra is auctioned off. We had three people donate $1,000 to conduct us. One was a chairperson of one of the bassoonist! This was quite a surprise! They apparently do this every year. Dana, the lucky bassoonist, was a good sport! Between playing William Tell Overture and a movement from Carmen, the conductors were a hoot to watch (or not watch!).
The evening was capped off with three sets of dance music. We all had a good time and enjoyed the music but were more than ready to go home by the end of the last set (11pm!).
Today I went biking with my roommate's host family! We biked around a good part of Lake Dillion and I was able to ride a really nice touring bike. She then had dinner ready to go for us once we returned from our ride, just in time for an afternoon shower to come through. She's a writer and I'm hoping to read her book at some point.
Colorado is gorgeous. I know I will say something to this extent in nearly every post, but it's true. Every time I got for a bike ride, I am enamored with the natural surroundings.
It is beautiful and so was this weekend."
July 21, 2010
"The 4th of July was a rather taxing but exciting day for the NRO. We played three concerts throughout the day in Dillon, Evergreen and Breckenridge. Emily and I ran into Zack while in Evergreen. I had totally forgotten that he lived there! I had such a blast playing pops music. I guess it helps when those around you (i.e. my fellow musicians) are having as much fun. It was nice to have Richard and his buddy Will were in town for the week.
After all of that madness, Richard, Zack and I hiked up Mount Quandary (a 14-er) in around six hours. I ran into a few LSU alums, which is why I always hike in my LSU baseball cap. You never know who you will run into!
A bunch of us went to Vail the past two Friday nights to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform. The program both weeks was awesome. On the 9th, they performed Capriccio Espagnol, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Gil Shaham, violin), and The Rite of Spring. I managed to catch Ricardo Morales and Wagner Campos, who was the extra bass clarinetist on Rite of Spring."
"Other than performing concerts, I managed to get in some hiking. My roommate and a her host family took us hiking on the Mosquito Range on Monday. We hiked Mt. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. It was quite a hike, taking 8 1/2 hours to complete. We managed to beat an afternoon thunderstorm on our way down from Bross."
More NRO updates soon...
Today, I'm off to Muskegon, MI for the Falcone Competition. Richard is one of 10 semi-finalist. Hopefully he will perform well. Time for the 14 hour drive!
Wedding wise, plans are going well. Only 17 days until I get married!!!! The only thing that really needs to get finished is my last dress fitting. Teri, who is working on my dress (my mother's wedding dress my great grandmother made!), is going a fantastic job. I can't wait to try on the newly remodeled dress. Once I get back from Michigan, everything will start to move a warp speed. Hopefully all this practice will pay off so I can win a job right after I get married. USAF Band audition here I come!
Talk about a few crazy upcoming weeks. =)