Follower

Apparently I am a follower of my own blog now. I'm not sure when or how that happened, but I think it's hilarious. Yes I do. I suppose if I am following myself it means I agree with what I say. Always nice. On the other hand, it might mean that part of me is always slightly behind the rest. This is also true. Sometimes it feels like it takes days for the slower part of me to catch up with the part that took the initiative to get out of that awful place it was stuck in last week.

Anyway, I am sitting here with an ice pack on my shoulders, trying to get them relaxed so I can sleep. This is another thing I should add to my list of things you can't do if you are a violist: you can't exercise your upper body in a strenuous manner unless you won't need to play for at least three days. You just won't play well. Your muscles will respond sooooo muuuuuuch sloooooower than normal, and it will frustrate you to no end.

NEWS FLASH!!! Switchfoot released a new album yesterday! I am so excited. I'm taking a break from orchestra music to listen to it right now.


Oh, if you want a listening excursion, play Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla. I feel like it was used for a commercial or something, and that's why it sounds so familiar.


Now I'm getting sleepy, so, goodbye.

New Music

Saturday we had our first orchestra concert of the season, which went pretty well, except for my walking on stage when I wasn't supposed to.  The orchestra played five pieces, but I was only in the first and last, and I apparently need to get more sleep, because I walked up there after intermission with the rest of the section. Thankfully the basses were still coming on stage so I slipped back off behind them. The viola section will be laughing about that for a long time.

Before we even played the concert they gave us the music for the next. That was slightly depressing. We barely got "the satisfaction and pride of a job well done" before we were given our next assignment! On the other hand, that is the most efficient way to handle it. No wasting rehearsal time handing out parts.

Yesterday I listened to a recording of one of the pieces, Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla. I recognized it immediately, and my heart sank. I had noticed when I got the sheet music that it starts out presto, but I didn't remember it was THAT degree of presto. Sigh. (Presto is the second fastest tempo marking, 168-200bpm, outrun only by prestissimo, more than 200bpm). I'll have to give my fingers caffeine injections.

My parents and sister came to the concert, but were surprised at how different the music was. This is interesting, because it didn't seem that unusual to me. If you have the time, could you please listen to these pieces and tell me how they sound to you? Are they hard to listen to? Do they sound like they have no center or base, or both? I've become used to listening to this kind of music, so I'm not sure how they sound to the casual observer anymore, and I would like to hear what you think.

Here are the pieces, composer then title:
Castellanos: Santa Cruz de Pacairigua
John Adams: The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra)

Thank you!

I Didn't See It At The Time

photo © 2010 Hartwig HKD | more info (via: Wylio)

Over the past couple of weeks I've been thinking about how many little things have happened to prepare me for what I am today. I want to compile a list in order to remember these things.

My mom worked in a daycare center before I was born. The other women who worked their made a book of songs, stories, fingerplays, crafts, and activities to use with young children. My mom didn't really use this when I was growing up, but she kept it all these years, and it's becoming increasingly useful for me in my music therapy classes.

Oma (grandma) and my mom and dad had tapes of children's, international and folk songs they played in the car with me. Knowing those songs cut the work in half for my beginning guitar class. And that contributed GREATLY to my not failing my other classes.

Papa gave me a little keyboard when I was really young. The musical impact that thing made is probably immeasurable. My parents bought a beautiful Chickering upright piano when I was around 7, and the rest is history.

The techniques I learned at the ballet classes my mom and dad let me take are being put to use this semester in my modern dance class. I feel like I'm eight all over again. :)
photo © 2007 chrisna herbst | more info (via: Wylio)
Next came the guitar, at the encouragement of my parents. I have a major head start on my music therapy major peers because of that. Mwahahaha. I got to play bluegrass and celtic music with the Washburne girls on the guitar. Some amazing, really good memories there.

My parents bought me The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition dvds for my 14th birthday. That and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World lead to my fascination with movie scores, which brought me to a deeper love of classical music. That's one of the reasons why I started playing viola.


photo © 2009 mitch huang | more info (via: Wylio)

And playing the viola (thank you, Mom and Dad!) helps me in so many ways. For one thing, it is much easier to find a group to play music now. The piano is fun and a great instrument, but it's mostly used for solo performance, whereas the viola is rarely used that way. And I can tell you right now, I am definitely an ensemble person, hahaha. Orchestra is such a blast.

There is so much more, and hopefully I'll be able to connect all the dots in my mind and write about it later.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Everything Is New Again

Things I love:

My room, my roommate
       My classes, my teachers
   My instruments, my life

I can't wait to get my schedule set in stone and start classes. It all feels so unreal, yet so comfortable. I love this campus and all my new friends. I'm so happy!!!! Soli deo gloria, definitely. Amen and amen, again and again.

"Enough rhyming. I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?" - Princess Bride

That was the quote of the week. Stay tuned for the song of the week. : )

So here I am, reclining on my new bedspread, typing on my new computer, listening to some new music. Today I thought I had to take a music theory test, but that didn't happen. I thought I was going to have to audition on the viola, which would have been really bad because I didn't prepare the excerpt. But that isn't the case either. The cafeteria had spinach, kale and fruit tonight. Life is good!

I'm skipping out on the laser tag because I haven't had much down time. I did get to practice for an hour today, which was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. (Yay for alliteration!) The only downer is that my English AP credit isn't here, which makes things a little tricky. Nevertheless, my advisors are super helpful so I'm sure everything will work out.

My roommate is amazing. I can't believe how similar we are, still. I have the best quadmates and RA, too. Everyone is very considerate and mild-mannered and lighthearted. We're going to have sooooo much fun.

Tomorrow at 8:30am I have to report to vocal auditions. Yeah, I know, it's not even in my top three instruments, but I have to do it since there is no piano ensemble and I can't be in orchestra yet. Just watch. I'll get in that orchestra.

Time for some stats. There are about 35 freshman music therapy majors, 650 freshman total, and 3,500 students total.

Random: I like how we can see what's going on between the dorms from our window. Nice.

And now I will share my favorite lyrics of the week with you. Here we go:

It was love that set this fragile planet rolling
Tilting at our perfect twenty-three
Molecules and men infused with holy
Finding our way around the galaxy
And Paradise has up and flown away for now
But hope still breathes and truth is always true
And just when we think it's almost over
Love has the final move
Love has the final move  -Chris Rice, The Final Move
                

Printemps (Spring)

 I declare,this is the best year of weather I have seen my whole, entire life. Last summer was pretty temperate, the fall was nice, we had several big snowstorms this winter (!!!!!!!!), and now this marvelous spring. All nature sings of the LORD, it really does.

    I can hear one of those birds chirping away, and it makes me want to write a piece of music using bird noises. That would be a fun project. I want to include the peeper frogs, too. Sansa mp3 players have voice recorders that are very sensitive and great for this type of thing. And then there’s GarageBand, with its endless options. Yep. I’m going to make that a school project, haha. I love home schooling.

    Speaking of which, school is going pretty well. I really enjoy psychology, and my music activities are more varied than ever, which is wonderful. I look forward to the hour a week I spend with Justice, my sweet, 4-year-old friend who has agenesis of the corpus callosum (she was born without the broad band of nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain [New Oxford American Dictionary], which means, I think, that the two sides have a hard time talking to each other. ) Anyway, that is the day we play music together. 

    Sorry about the change of font. I can’t figure out what I was using before. 

    The orchestra concert went well. According to our conductor it wasn’t as good as the dress rehearsal but still very good. I messed up a little on the sextet piece, partly because I had never played on that piano before, but we held it together. I doubt anybody noticed, anyway. Listen tohttp://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pierrot-lunaire-op-21-1912/id58103265?i=58103503 and see what I mean. You'll probably be glad you don’t have to listen to the whole thing. Needless to say, it was a learning experience. There’s a clarinet, violin, flute, cello, piano and singer in there. The string quartet played 
 http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/string-quartet-no-3-mishima/id79033083?i=79033072  comes with its own set of difficulties. Our group did really well.

Well, that’s it for today. Adios.

Tale of the Cramming Orchestra

...And the orchestra pulls an all-nighter, rehearsing until their bow hair is gone, their fingers stiffen up and their reeds can give no more. But the musicians labor on, knowing that they have only one more day until the concert, and their playing needs to improve. Tempers flare, nerves grow thin, and ears wear out. “I honestly can’t tell the difference between an A and an A-flat anymore, maestro. Really.” 

Okay, well, it didn’t go exactly like that, but we did add half an hour to the practice time, and my sextet had to practice for an hour on top of that. That’s 3 1/2 hours total playing time. Gabe, my stand-partner, and I had sore backs by the end, but it didn’t turn out as bad as we thought it would. Maybe we passed the point of the night when we are usually getting ready for bed, so we got a second wave of energy.

Anyway, it was a good rehearsal, considering we lost two practices to the snow storms. I’m looking forward to the concert.