Rants of a Composition Major

Well, this is similar to a previous post, I've been having problems with recital preparation again. A few of the ridiculous things I've heard in the last week:

• "One musician to another", I'm going to start asking for credentials before I listen to anything beyond this sentence...
• "I just assumed I didn't need to show up to rehearsal" ... I mean, really? Are you THAT good?
• "Do we need to rehearse?" Well yes, I would like us to not look ridiculous in eight days time. 
• "Should I stay for the rest of the recital?" , No, no, please leave, that would be great. *sarcasm*

Yes, it's a colorful week in my world, hopefully musicians won't keep me from finishing my degree.

PS - I love you all, you just frustrate me sometimes.

Rants of a Pianist

While the subject line may sound like I'm upset, I'm not, I'm just amused by a few things, all piano related.

1. Tendonitis, while preparing for a recital, is not a laughable subject, no matter how much you personally enjoy the "irony", or "oddity" of it. I am not amused, you shouldn't be either.
2. Just because the piano lid to the piano in the recital hall was left open does not mean it was done by a pianist. I don't know if the powers that be ever notice, but non-pianists use the recital hall, and the piano within. And this includes professors.
3. Calvin's office is not a toy. It should not be used by those who are not piano performance majors. And those planning recitals should get preference. 
4. In addition to this, if you are a non performance major and use his office, please be sure to leave the office as you found it, i.e. with the lights OFF. This is why custodial keeps locking his office thus locking out the piano performance majors in the early morning hours. They get suspicious when the light is left on. Go figure.
5. Please do not eat at any piano. Not only is this gross, you are a college student/faculty/staff and should know better by now. Some of us are tired of sterilizing the piano every time we use it.

Thanks for reading, and behave better on those pianos!

Too much to do, too little time to do it in

This is my manta right now  ^

Between all the exams, hearings, papers, nervous breakdowns, there has to be some relief, right? Well, I'm not finding it.
Yes, yes, yes, Rom 8:28 - For we know all things work together for the good of those who love Him.

But? Is it so easy to remember that when your OCD complex is completely overwhelmed and all you really want to do is let out a scream (preferably primal) at the top of your lungs?
Well, maybe not.

Let's switch subjects

After such a long and rather depressing post on Sachsenhausen, I thought perhaps we should change it up a little. Okay, maybe a lot in actuality.

Here's ten things that are on the ground right now for me:

1. Americorps finally contacted me. Now granted, it was about a new program I had applied for, but it's still super exciting to be going through a formal application process. This particular program requested more material from me, a sample of my writing style, two more references, a resume with cover letter, etc. I'm really excited, and already have my new references lined up, so life is looking good for the next few days. Maybe I'll have plans within a couple of months!

2. My internship is going awesome. It's lot of data, and number crunching right now, but I'm just loving the logistics of everything. I also love the fact that what I'm doing could have a lasting effect on the way things work at William Jewell. That may be the most exciting thing for me.

3. My piano recital is in T-six weeks! I'm faltering a little on some of the line up in repertoire, we're just the slightest bit short right now, but I may have figured out a solution to this problem, so check back in. I'll be announcing the date formally in three weeks, but the unofficial date is March 10th, at 5:30 pm.

4. If the piano recital is six weeks away, this means I only have 13 more weeks in which to write, assign, and rehearse everything for my composition recital. On that front, things are coming together slowly, but surely. My quartet has been assembled (yay, thanks Peter for agreeing to be my tenor!) and I have high hopes for the choir to come together soon. I have a reading for my strings piece two (three?) weeks from now, and we're *this* close to being ready to turn things in! I think my next composition lesson should take place over coffee. I plan to suggest this to him. No more stuffy classroom. :)

5. At the end of the second week of classes, I've switched my art history to pass/fail, which has lightened my homework load. The professor for this class tends to uncommunicative on my research topic choices, but that's okay, there's not as much pressure.

6. Speaking of that homework load, I think I've settled into the rhythm. Most of my classes have a fair amount of homework, which is slightly worrisome for my sanity, but if I just don't fall behind, ever, at all, with no exceptions, then I should be fine. Uh-oh, I think I'm already behind....

I think that's all for now, but it's enough. I'm still muddling through. Check back soon for final plans on the recitals and further travel updates!

Harriman-Jewell

Oh the places you'll go. I was reflecting last night, through the Harriman Jewell Arts Series, I've seen:

the Trey McIntyre Project - full of crazy dancing
the Jerusalem Symphony
the Royal Dragoons - full of marching and bagpipes
Emmanuel Axe, not once, but twice (but only once solo, the other time in duet)
the King's Singers (twice!)
Joyce Didonato (more times than I can count now)
Alvin Ailey Dance Company - twice!
the Houston Ballet
Parons Dance Company
Renee Fleming
Canadian Brass
Anne-Sophi Mutter

Have participated in two Master's Classes with two different amazing pianists

And considering almost all of those tickets SHOULD have cost me upwards of $45, I'm feeling very blessed indeed. Since I now have a card with all six King's Singers signatures sitting in my purse, I'm feeling blissful as well. Oh... it's time for a Master's Class with the King's Singers actually ...

Trials

Well, that may be over dramatic, it may not be. I'm a little sleep-deprived, as the time stamp should indicate here.

"Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind,"
James 1:2

I'm reminded of this verse tonight during my observations of so many things. The last two weeks of classes at Jewell are famous for being rough, no one enjoys them. But it's much harder to enjoy them during the fall. Most of us are busy with planning for the Christmas festivalS, the multiple that will take place over the next two weeks. I think most of us would rather just curl up and go to sleep instead, but that's a little hard right now due to the papers, presentations, exams and concerts that must happen.

Consider it pure joy. I'll be working on that attitude.

Egads! It's another week!

Well, I missed one deadline last week (for the blog sillies), and I'm moments away from missing another. Life got crazy. It does that. I have a friend who likes to say that if she tried to live life with as much energy as I do, she would be exhausted by noon. A fair assumption, since I'm generally exhausted by 10:30am. What, you thought this was real? It's just an act!

A few of the fun things on my plate right now:

- Memorizing a concerto, listen here. To the pros, not me! Bach's Concerto in D Minor for harpsichord (some of us use the piano). That's nineteen pages of sixteenth notes, for those of you who can't hear that. Well, 17 pages of sixteenth notes, 2 pages of 32nd notes, but we're really just splitting hairs now. (listen for the coughing about 3.5 minutes in, promise, its there!)

- Rotary's District Governor for District 6040 is coming to visit the WJC Rotaract club (that's right, we're alive and kicking) and bringing with him someone(s?) from UMKC to pick my brain. I also have the privilege of giving him a campus tour of the WJC while he is here. We're going to poke our noses in classrooms, etc. Should be grand fun. I understand there's a few Liberty Rotary folk going as well.

- 2 big research reports, one on the Tet Offensive and one on Women's Suffrage in the USA

- A fantastic performance by Emmanuel Axe last night (TWO encores!) with the Harriman-Jewell Series.

- Upcoming performance of my own on Thursday!

Well, we're just scraping the top layer. I'm going to wrap this one up a little short, my hands are ready to fall off from all the playing of piano.