Grad school stuff and also, I want to bang Daniel Faraday.
Lost Fangirl Rant:
THIS SEASON OF LOST HAS BEEN AWESOME SO FAR. I LOVE DANIEL FARADAY, WHY IS CHARLOTTE DYING, AND ALSO AWWWW DESMOND AND PENNY NAMED THEIR KID CHARLIE, HOW FUCKING CUTE.
OH DANIEL. YOU ADORABLY NERDY SCIENTIST YOU.
Anyways, real life stuff, GO:
I have officially set up my audition date for grad school at Duquesne. February 13th. I am really stressing out about this, mostly because my viola teacher is out of the country. Luckily I don't have to play nearly as much as I thought...(the Duquesne website LIES), and also it doesn't have to be memorized. I don't have an accompanist yet, so that's another issue I need to get figured out soon.
I'm also not that confident about my piece either, but the only thing that's going to help with that is practicing ridiculous amounts in the next few weeks.
I could have scheduled my audition for a later date, but I really just wanted to get it over with, rather than having another month of being stressed out over it. I really really hope that I get in and get an assistantship. The more I've thought about it, the more I really want to get in. If I think back on the experience I had with viola for my four years here, it's not entirely positive. I had two years with Randy Kelly as my private teacher, and while he may be the first chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony, he is also kind of an ass. I didn't improve that much when I had him as a teacher. I had Marylene for my junior year, and I did improve a lot that year. This year I didn't have many lessons first semester because student teaching took up most of my time. This semester, I don't have room in my schedule for lessons, so I'll be paying for them on my own. The only problem is that Marylene isn't going to be back until March or so. (This is most of the reason I'm really nervous...I haven't had a lesson since December) Anyways, I don't feel like I'm as proficient as I should be on my instrument. According to the music education department junior primary instrument proficiencies, I am "proficient" on my instrument; but I definitely don't think so. I am not meeting my own expectations on my instrument, and if I am not satisfied and confident with my playing, how can I possibly be confident in teaching others? This is probably the biggest reason that I'm actually willing to come back for another two years at Duquesne. The perk is that I'll *hopefully* be getting a full ride, since I'm a violist. Another nice little perk is that I'll get a nice little pay boost once I get a teaching job...that master's degree does nice things to paychecks.
But in order for any of this to happen, I have to do really really well in my audition.
I'll be a whole lot less stressed whenever this is all over.
THIS SEASON OF LOST HAS BEEN AWESOME SO FAR. I LOVE DANIEL FARADAY, WHY IS CHARLOTTE DYING, AND ALSO AWWWW DESMOND AND PENNY NAMED THEIR KID CHARLIE, HOW FUCKING CUTE.
OH DANIEL. YOU ADORABLY NERDY SCIENTIST YOU.
Anyways, real life stuff, GO:
I have officially set up my audition date for grad school at Duquesne. February 13th. I am really stressing out about this, mostly because my viola teacher is out of the country. Luckily I don't have to play nearly as much as I thought...(the Duquesne website LIES), and also it doesn't have to be memorized. I don't have an accompanist yet, so that's another issue I need to get figured out soon.
I'm also not that confident about my piece either, but the only thing that's going to help with that is practicing ridiculous amounts in the next few weeks.
I could have scheduled my audition for a later date, but I really just wanted to get it over with, rather than having another month of being stressed out over it. I really really hope that I get in and get an assistantship. The more I've thought about it, the more I really want to get in. If I think back on the experience I had with viola for my four years here, it's not entirely positive. I had two years with Randy Kelly as my private teacher, and while he may be the first chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony, he is also kind of an ass. I didn't improve that much when I had him as a teacher. I had Marylene for my junior year, and I did improve a lot that year. This year I didn't have many lessons first semester because student teaching took up most of my time. This semester, I don't have room in my schedule for lessons, so I'll be paying for them on my own. The only problem is that Marylene isn't going to be back until March or so. (This is most of the reason I'm really nervous...I haven't had a lesson since December) Anyways, I don't feel like I'm as proficient as I should be on my instrument. According to the music education department junior primary instrument proficiencies, I am "proficient" on my instrument; but I definitely don't think so. I am not meeting my own expectations on my instrument, and if I am not satisfied and confident with my playing, how can I possibly be confident in teaching others? This is probably the biggest reason that I'm actually willing to come back for another two years at Duquesne. The perk is that I'll *hopefully* be getting a full ride, since I'm a violist. Another nice little perk is that I'll get a nice little pay boost once I get a teaching job...that master's degree does nice things to paychecks.
But in order for any of this to happen, I have to do really really well in my audition.
I'll be a whole lot less stressed whenever this is all over.