What could have been a really boring weekend actually turned into a really good one. I am now in a fantastic mood and ready to start my last to weeks at university. The weekend started out with a relaxing Friday night at home curled up in several sweatshirts and a blanket, talking to Holly, watching TV, and reading (for pleasure, not school). It was just the kind of evening I needed.
Saturday was a masterclass with Michael Webster, the clarinet professor at Shepard School of Music at Rice University. I got the chance to play Brahms for him. I was informed that I would be playing for him on Friday afternoon, so it was quite sudden but fortunately exams are in a few weeks, so I was prepared enough. I half like and half disliked Michael. I warmed up to him quite a bit as the day went on. However, he encouraged me to pulse my air as a method of creating musical direction, which is a big clarinet no-no. At least with every other teacher I have ever had. His wife was there as well, doing a masterclass with the flutes. They are the most amusing couple ever. They are quite quirky. I enjoy their personalities a lot. After the "official" masterclass, Rowan, Natalie, and Fin had open lessons with Michael. These quickly turned into an extension of the masterclass. I sat in on all of them. I found them quite interesting. We covered very different topics with each person, which I enjoyed. By the end of the day, we were all pretty much in agreement that Michael is very knowledgeable about the clarinet but he does not execute very well. He is actually an average player but a interesting teacher. I don't think that I could ever study with him for an extended period of time because I don't think he would motivate me to improve very much but I think I could get something out of a few lessons with him.
We were planning on going out for a couple drinks after the masterclass but by the end Natalie and I both had horrible headaches. (We had been working on high notes for about 45 minutes prior. That will get to you.) So we all headed home. I was very pleased because Peter, a saxophone player in my reed class who also happens to be in my communications paper, bought me a present. He got me a t-shirt from the NZ music festival that is going on right now. I was so touched that he thought to get me something. I wasn't really expecting gifts. It was a really good end to the day.
This morning was a very lazy morning for me. I was considering going surfing with Natalie but I was tired and didn't have a wetsuit available, so I ended up staying home. As it turned out, the waves were no good today anyway. But I'm thinking of going out with her some other weekend and she will teach me how to surf. That's going to be really sweet. The afternoon was a concert given by Michael and his wife, whose name I cannot remember. She is a fantastic flute player. And it's easy to tell how passionate she is about music. It was very refreshing. I feel that so many professional musicians can be very jaded. She just simply loves music; it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. The concert overall was really nice. It was an entertaining program, rather than making the audience eat their vegetables as Larry Racliffe would say. There was a really cool arrangement of Debussey's Petite Suite for clarinet, flute, and piano that I really liked.
Afterwards, Natalie, Rowan, and I ended up talking to Michael for half an hour at least. He is very interesting to talk to. Like I said, extremely knowledgeable about the clarinet and music in general, he just doesn't play that well. Meeting these people makes me a bit homesick. They kept mentioning places and people in Texas that I know and I kept having the strong urge to bounce up and down saying, "I know that place/person. I am from Texas!" At the same time, I don't want to leave New Zealand. I am now at the point where I am very attached. I miss home but at the same time, I feel like there's so much more about New Zealand that I can just now get more in-depth in. I'm finally getting comfortable in Auckland, at uni, in the school of music. I'm just now getting to the point where I can say that I am starting to feel close to some of the people in the music school that I've met. But I also have a lot of things to go back to in the States. I can already tell that leaving New Zealand is going to be really bittersweet for me.
Anywho... When we finally extricated ourselves from the lobby (we were the last people to leave), we decided to go out for the drinks we didn't get last night. It was really nice. We went to a bar off Queen Street where you could actually here the people you are talking to. We sat there for at least two hours. It was really fun. Natalie is someone that I have been talking to since this first week of classes at uni but I have never really gotten a chance to get to know Rowan. So getting to connect with him was cool. He is a very nice guy. His girlfriend is currently living in Sweden, so we got to swap stories about long-distance relationships and how Skype is the greatest invention ever. It was just really great to get to socialize a bit more with them.
Upon arriving home, I realized that I had about five texts from Amanda asking me what I was up to and if she could come over. I told her that I was cooking dinner but she could come over whenever she wanted to. About 15 minutes later, my apartment was bombarded by not just Amanda but also Lorissa, Scott, Eric, and Chris, bearing cake and wine. So I did get to hang out with that crowd for a while on my birthday too. I am going to gain 20 pounds or so from all of the food people got me. There was the cake that those yahoos brought over, the cake that my roommie Laura baked for me, a king-sized chocolate bar from another roommate, Holly, and a big bag of Pineapple Lumps from Natalie, who insisted that I have to have them some time as they are a "New Zealand thing." Plus a box of Pam's (that's a brand here) nutrigrain bars from Eric. It ended up being a great weekend. A good entrance into my next decade. I am happy. Yay!
Peace.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
I Know, It's Been a While
Sorry guys. It's been ages since I last wrote. I have been pretty busy this past week. I have been up to a lot of the usual in the past week. A good portion of the week was spent getting a management essay done. Those things haunt me, I swear. But it's the last major assignment of the semester and it's all turned in, so I'm a happy camper. I have had my first couple rehearsals with the woodwind quintet and with ASO. I'm especially enjoying playing with the ASO. They're not amazing but I have missed playing in an orchestra. And the woodwind section is a blast. They are the wackiest people ever. I had half of them in tears at one point tonight. We had been making jokes about the swine flu earlier and at an opportune moment during rehearsal, I made a snorting noise that only the winds could hear. They were cracking up. We were all useless for about five minutes. Except for the other clarinet player. He is the only guy in the section and he was not amused. But they are really fun. I'm enjoying hanging out with some Kiwis.
I am also playing in a wind nonet. (Yes, a nonet. Flute, two clarinets, two horns, two bassoons, and two oboes.) Not permanently, we are just reading through a few things. But it is very fun. Natalie and I make an awesome team. We blend really really well. I enjoyed playing with her. At one point during rehearsal, we were comparing set ups in terms of reed, ligature, mouthpiece, barrel, instrument. And we were trading all sorts of bits of our instruments. At one point, I had my instrument, mouthpiece, and reed and Natalie's ligature and barrel. Ben was so confused by the fact that we kept switching things around. Good times in clarinet land. No other instrument does stuff like that.
Other than that, life has been a lot of work. The semester is starting to wind down, which actually means a lot of work. Tons of rehearsals, practicing, homework, reading, etc. But I enjoy being busy, so I'm good. The only downside right now... I was getting really excited to get to go out on my birthday, which is this Sunday (we were going to celebrate Saturday). However, now my friends are planning on going to Taupo because it is one of the only weekends left that they could possibly go. I have to stay in Auckland for music stuff. Not only do I not get to go to Taupo and skydive but I will probably be hanging out by myself on my birthday. Sad day. Would anyone like to fly to New Zealand and hang out with me? Anywho... That is about all I have to update you on.
Peace.
P.S. Best quote ever, in the ASO newsletter. "Definition of a gentleman: A guy who knows how to play trombone but doesn't." Ha!
I am also playing in a wind nonet. (Yes, a nonet. Flute, two clarinets, two horns, two bassoons, and two oboes.) Not permanently, we are just reading through a few things. But it is very fun. Natalie and I make an awesome team. We blend really really well. I enjoyed playing with her. At one point during rehearsal, we were comparing set ups in terms of reed, ligature, mouthpiece, barrel, instrument. And we were trading all sorts of bits of our instruments. At one point, I had my instrument, mouthpiece, and reed and Natalie's ligature and barrel. Ben was so confused by the fact that we kept switching things around. Good times in clarinet land. No other instrument does stuff like that.
Other than that, life has been a lot of work. The semester is starting to wind down, which actually means a lot of work. Tons of rehearsals, practicing, homework, reading, etc. But I enjoy being busy, so I'm good. The only downside right now... I was getting really excited to get to go out on my birthday, which is this Sunday (we were going to celebrate Saturday). However, now my friends are planning on going to Taupo because it is one of the only weekends left that they could possibly go. I have to stay in Auckland for music stuff. Not only do I not get to go to Taupo and skydive but I will probably be hanging out by myself on my birthday. Sad day. Would anyone like to fly to New Zealand and hang out with me? Anywho... That is about all I have to update you on.
Peace.
P.S. Best quote ever, in the ASO newsletter. "Definition of a gentleman: A guy who knows how to play trombone but doesn't." Ha!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day!
So, I know I said I was going to write a while ago... But I got busy. I have been trying to get going on a management essay. It is 2000 words and 25% of my final grade and is due a week from tomorrow. It's not getting off to a very good start though. I have spent most of today staring at a computer screen reading about corporate social responsibility. My eyes and my brain hurt and I feel like I haven't gotten anything done. On top of that is the fact that I'm bored senseless by this topic and haven't gotten to practice today, which makes me grumpy.
Okay... The complaining part of this post is officially over. On Friday, reed class was taken by Elsa Lam, former principal clarinetist of the China Philharmonic. I think I've only mentioned it about a million times. It turns out that she also played with the Kalamazoo Orchestra, strangely enough. She was very helpful. Natalie described her as "brutally honest." I didn't think she was that brutal, just honest. I think Natalie might be a bit surprised if she does grad school in the States. Or maybe I'm just desensitized from my years with Ilya. She bombarded me with about a million exercises to do. There was one point, though, that I totally missed because she had taken my clarinet and was describing how something needs to be like golf. She had my clarinet by the bell and was swinging it like a golf club. I wanted to snatch it out of her hands and hold it close so that it would be safe. I, apparently, was making a face because the entire class was laughing at me. Overall she was very good. She actually related her comments to music in general, rather than just to the piece that I was playing, which is much more helpful in the long run. She said that I play like a typical American but complimented my playing overall, so I taking that as a win.
Yesterday, I meant to get work done but my whole day went away somewhere. I don't even know what happened to it. I did get in a good practice session, which makes up for the lack of one today. In the evening, we went to Ponsonby which is a section of Auckland, about 10 minutes away by bus. We went to this club called the Grange, which was having it's 3rd birthday, and watched rugby for a bit. I marvel at that games. The guys who play it are ridiculous. The whole thing is so violent. And they don't stop the clock every two seconds like in American football, so the players are pretty much running for an hour straight. It's crazy. You would have to be so fit to play rugby. Anywho... We walked around Ponsonby for a while but not for too long because all the shops were already closed and it was kind of cold. I would like to go back for an afternoon sometime and do some shopping. It is a really cute little area.
Today, like I said, I worked most of the day. But, I took a break this afternoon to go to a recital of the NZ Trio. It's a piano trio that resides at the University of Auckland. They were very good but played a lot of contemporary music, which I'm not always into. I can't really give you very much more than that because I kept fading out. I wasn't "listening actively" as my teachers would say. I again contribute that to the staring at a computer for hours on end thing. But it was still an enjoyable experience.
Tomorrow is my first rehearsal with the woodwind quintet. I have not managed to get in touch with Fin to get the music off him so I hope that he thinks to bring it to choir tomorrow so that I don't show up to rehearsal looking like a dope without any music. My first ASO rehearsal is also this week, on Wednesday. And sometime this week, I might be participating in an experiment being run my the economics department at uni. They pay you for it! That would be awesome. That's about it.
Happy mother's day to all those moms out there! Way to conquer the child-raising process!
Peace.
Okay... The complaining part of this post is officially over. On Friday, reed class was taken by Elsa Lam, former principal clarinetist of the China Philharmonic. I think I've only mentioned it about a million times. It turns out that she also played with the Kalamazoo Orchestra, strangely enough. She was very helpful. Natalie described her as "brutally honest." I didn't think she was that brutal, just honest. I think Natalie might be a bit surprised if she does grad school in the States. Or maybe I'm just desensitized from my years with Ilya. She bombarded me with about a million exercises to do. There was one point, though, that I totally missed because she had taken my clarinet and was describing how something needs to be like golf. She had my clarinet by the bell and was swinging it like a golf club. I wanted to snatch it out of her hands and hold it close so that it would be safe. I, apparently, was making a face because the entire class was laughing at me. Overall she was very good. She actually related her comments to music in general, rather than just to the piece that I was playing, which is much more helpful in the long run. She said that I play like a typical American but complimented my playing overall, so I taking that as a win.
Yesterday, I meant to get work done but my whole day went away somewhere. I don't even know what happened to it. I did get in a good practice session, which makes up for the lack of one today. In the evening, we went to Ponsonby which is a section of Auckland, about 10 minutes away by bus. We went to this club called the Grange, which was having it's 3rd birthday, and watched rugby for a bit. I marvel at that games. The guys who play it are ridiculous. The whole thing is so violent. And they don't stop the clock every two seconds like in American football, so the players are pretty much running for an hour straight. It's crazy. You would have to be so fit to play rugby. Anywho... We walked around Ponsonby for a while but not for too long because all the shops were already closed and it was kind of cold. I would like to go back for an afternoon sometime and do some shopping. It is a really cute little area.
Today, like I said, I worked most of the day. But, I took a break this afternoon to go to a recital of the NZ Trio. It's a piano trio that resides at the University of Auckland. They were very good but played a lot of contemporary music, which I'm not always into. I can't really give you very much more than that because I kept fading out. I wasn't "listening actively" as my teachers would say. I again contribute that to the staring at a computer for hours on end thing. But it was still an enjoyable experience.
Tomorrow is my first rehearsal with the woodwind quintet. I have not managed to get in touch with Fin to get the music off him so I hope that he thinks to bring it to choir tomorrow so that I don't show up to rehearsal looking like a dope without any music. My first ASO rehearsal is also this week, on Wednesday. And sometime this week, I might be participating in an experiment being run my the economics department at uni. They pay you for it! That would be awesome. That's about it.
Happy mother's day to all those moms out there! Way to conquer the child-raising process!
Peace.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Graduation Gala
I just got home from the semi-annual Graduation Gala hosted by Auckland University. I had to come write about it immediately because I was that excited by/about it. It is the endgame of a competition held every semester for students who are graduating. The students go through a preliminary round in the semester prior to their graduation (so all of these students originally competed in August). Three finalists go on to perform at the concert that I saw tonight. They all win scholarship money, I think $2000, $1000, and $500 based on placement.
The first performer tonight was a pianist. He is currently a masters student and is headed to Eastman for his doctorate in the fall. He played the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. This was the only performance of the evening that I was absolutely enthralled by. It was great, don't get me wrong but I thought he was kind of boring. His technical playing was amazing. I was watching his hands the entire time and it was amazing. I didn't think it was physically possible for fingers to fly that fast. But there was no passion in his playing. I felt like he was one of those people who lives in the practice rooms and doesn't really know very well how to connect to people. He didn't really capture his audience, or at least, he didn't capture me. I guess I cannot necessarily judge because he is clearly very talented. His worst day on piano is still my best day on clarinet, I'm sure. That's just how I felt about his performance.
The second performer was absolutely my favorite. She is a flautist, masters student. She played a concerto by Ibert. It was absolutely out of this world. I cannot even find words to describe it. I got goosebumps at one point. Not only was her technique and musicality top-notch but she actually performed. She had such a distinct presence on stage, which is something that I feel is neglected by many students. It was as if she were a queen in the presence of her people. Her entire performance was elegant and distinguished. It was also kind of cool because at times she would whip her flute away from her face the same way that a string player pulls the bow of the strings at a really dramatic point in the music. But it wasn't overdone. Normally, that kind of stuff drives me crazy but she really made it work. She was by far my favorite performer. Maybe it's just my bias as a woodwind player.
The last performer was fantastic as well. She was very close to the flautist in terms of how much I enjoyed the performance. She is a pianist honors student. Here, you can do an optional honors year. It is a fourth year of study between obtaining your bachelors degree and moving on to studying for a masters. You usually do this at the same school where you got your bachelors. She performed one of the Lizst concertos. I think he has written multiple piano concertos but I can't remember which it was. It didn't really have movements, it had sections that segued into one another. As with the others, she was technically incredible. More than playing the piano, it looked more like she caressed the keys and beautiful music just magically came out. She had a very distinct style. If I could only have one word to describe her as a performer, I would use spunky. Instead of nodding at the conductor when she was ready to begin she kind of gave this little flippant move that clearly said "let's do this." Jordan and Jocelyn are going to freak out that I'm using this analogy, but she is like Ty Lee from Avatar. She appears cute, innocent, and bubbly but then very suddenly and unexpectedly she kicks your butt and you didn't even quite realize it happened. If the flautist was the queen, then she was the princess. Not quite elegant but captivating in her own way.
And the results... I totally called it. First place to the queen, second to the princess, and third to the Beethoven guy. It was a really inspiring contest for me. It really made me want to go practice some more. It has been a long time since I have been to a concert charged with that much raw energy from both the audience and the musicians. I love going to contests for that reason... There is so much excitement in the air. Even getting into the hall was intense. It was kind of like the amazing race, the concert version. There are no tickets, first come first serve. So you have to get there early and then beat people to a seat. I ended up waiting for the balcony. It didn't open until all of the seats in the stalls and on the floor were filled but I was at the front of the line and I didn't want to get out of line and then not get a seat. They were turning people away.
Overall, it has been a very good week for me, despite some stress. I just realized that I have a major essay for management due in under two weeks. So I need to get going. And, I think I've mentioned it before, but I am playing for the former principal of the China Philharmonic tomorrow. So that's slightly stressful. But mostly exciting. I practiced for nearly three hours today. I have found that I am happiest when I am fully immersed in the musical world and I don't really have to do much not relating to music. I'm not sure if that makes me strange or if that just means that I've chosen the right career path. Anyway... My point is that I've been doing a lot of music stuff this week and that has made it a good week.
Also, today while I was practicing, Kevin knocked on my door. Not Kevin, the guy I go on LOTR tours with, Kevin the clarinetist at uni. We only talked for a few minutes but it seemed like a big deal to me because he is a very stay-in-his-practice-room sort of guy. I've never really gotten to have a conversation with him. So I was pleased that he randomly decided to make contact. It turns out that he went to high school in the States. In Oberlin, to be exact. We reminisced about marching band and why it sucks. It was a good connection.
I'm also excited because I got another gig! It's a small one but I'm pretty much happy to do anything. It is a workshop reading of some Bartok arrangements written by students in one of the orchestration classes. I hope that I am not sight-reading on the spot, though. Because sight-reading Bartok?... Eeek. However, I am mostly excited about this because the person who contacted me is not someone I have met before. He got my name from someone else. Can you say successful networking? I was pretty pleased.
On the downside, my trip to Taupo this weekend has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Bummer. It is supposed to be pouring rain for five days straight, encompassing the weekend, which is not good for either sky-diving or hiking a mountain. So we will have to reschedule. On the plus side, this gives me time to get my ducks in a row in terms of my management paper and other various stuff. So... This post has gotten much longer than I originally intended it to, so I am going to sign off. I will report back from my coaching with Elsa Lam tomorrow. Yay!
Peace.
The first performer tonight was a pianist. He is currently a masters student and is headed to Eastman for his doctorate in the fall. He played the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. This was the only performance of the evening that I was absolutely enthralled by. It was great, don't get me wrong but I thought he was kind of boring. His technical playing was amazing. I was watching his hands the entire time and it was amazing. I didn't think it was physically possible for fingers to fly that fast. But there was no passion in his playing. I felt like he was one of those people who lives in the practice rooms and doesn't really know very well how to connect to people. He didn't really capture his audience, or at least, he didn't capture me. I guess I cannot necessarily judge because he is clearly very talented. His worst day on piano is still my best day on clarinet, I'm sure. That's just how I felt about his performance.
The second performer was absolutely my favorite. She is a flautist, masters student. She played a concerto by Ibert. It was absolutely out of this world. I cannot even find words to describe it. I got goosebumps at one point. Not only was her technique and musicality top-notch but she actually performed. She had such a distinct presence on stage, which is something that I feel is neglected by many students. It was as if she were a queen in the presence of her people. Her entire performance was elegant and distinguished. It was also kind of cool because at times she would whip her flute away from her face the same way that a string player pulls the bow of the strings at a really dramatic point in the music. But it wasn't overdone. Normally, that kind of stuff drives me crazy but she really made it work. She was by far my favorite performer. Maybe it's just my bias as a woodwind player.
The last performer was fantastic as well. She was very close to the flautist in terms of how much I enjoyed the performance. She is a pianist honors student. Here, you can do an optional honors year. It is a fourth year of study between obtaining your bachelors degree and moving on to studying for a masters. You usually do this at the same school where you got your bachelors. She performed one of the Lizst concertos. I think he has written multiple piano concertos but I can't remember which it was. It didn't really have movements, it had sections that segued into one another. As with the others, she was technically incredible. More than playing the piano, it looked more like she caressed the keys and beautiful music just magically came out. She had a very distinct style. If I could only have one word to describe her as a performer, I would use spunky. Instead of nodding at the conductor when she was ready to begin she kind of gave this little flippant move that clearly said "let's do this." Jordan and Jocelyn are going to freak out that I'm using this analogy, but she is like Ty Lee from Avatar. She appears cute, innocent, and bubbly but then very suddenly and unexpectedly she kicks your butt and you didn't even quite realize it happened. If the flautist was the queen, then she was the princess. Not quite elegant but captivating in her own way.
And the results... I totally called it. First place to the queen, second to the princess, and third to the Beethoven guy. It was a really inspiring contest for me. It really made me want to go practice some more. It has been a long time since I have been to a concert charged with that much raw energy from both the audience and the musicians. I love going to contests for that reason... There is so much excitement in the air. Even getting into the hall was intense. It was kind of like the amazing race, the concert version. There are no tickets, first come first serve. So you have to get there early and then beat people to a seat. I ended up waiting for the balcony. It didn't open until all of the seats in the stalls and on the floor were filled but I was at the front of the line and I didn't want to get out of line and then not get a seat. They were turning people away.
Overall, it has been a very good week for me, despite some stress. I just realized that I have a major essay for management due in under two weeks. So I need to get going. And, I think I've mentioned it before, but I am playing for the former principal of the China Philharmonic tomorrow. So that's slightly stressful. But mostly exciting. I practiced for nearly three hours today. I have found that I am happiest when I am fully immersed in the musical world and I don't really have to do much not relating to music. I'm not sure if that makes me strange or if that just means that I've chosen the right career path. Anyway... My point is that I've been doing a lot of music stuff this week and that has made it a good week.
Also, today while I was practicing, Kevin knocked on my door. Not Kevin, the guy I go on LOTR tours with, Kevin the clarinetist at uni. We only talked for a few minutes but it seemed like a big deal to me because he is a very stay-in-his-practice-room sort of guy. I've never really gotten to have a conversation with him. So I was pleased that he randomly decided to make contact. It turns out that he went to high school in the States. In Oberlin, to be exact. We reminisced about marching band and why it sucks. It was a good connection.
I'm also excited because I got another gig! It's a small one but I'm pretty much happy to do anything. It is a workshop reading of some Bartok arrangements written by students in one of the orchestration classes. I hope that I am not sight-reading on the spot, though. Because sight-reading Bartok?... Eeek. However, I am mostly excited about this because the person who contacted me is not someone I have met before. He got my name from someone else. Can you say successful networking? I was pretty pleased.
On the downside, my trip to Taupo this weekend has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Bummer. It is supposed to be pouring rain for five days straight, encompassing the weekend, which is not good for either sky-diving or hiking a mountain. So we will have to reschedule. On the plus side, this gives me time to get my ducks in a row in terms of my management paper and other various stuff. So... This post has gotten much longer than I originally intended it to, so I am going to sign off. I will report back from my coaching with Elsa Lam tomorrow. Yay!
Peace.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Out of Africa
That's just the title of the book I'm reading. I couldn't think of a title for this post and it was sitting right next to my computer, so I stuck that in there. If you haven't read it, you should because it's incredible.
Anyway... Yesterday, we had the car until 10 in the morning, so we decided to get up early and go to Piha, which is supposed to be an absolutely beautiful beach. It's a bit too chilly to go swimming any more but we were just going to go out and walk on the beach. As it was, we never made it to Piha. We realized about 30 minutes down a road that we had taken the wrong turn at the last roundabout. Oops. So we decided to keep going for a while since it wasn't really worth it to turn back. We ended up at a completely deserted beach. There was literally nothing around it. I can't even remember what it was called. It had black sand though, which was really cool. I have never seen black sand. I was wearing converse and it made the white bits of my shoes the same color as the rest. We weren't there very long before we had to drive back to return the car but it was still a nice outing. It was a good way to start the school day. It is always harder to go back to school after we've been away for a weekend.
In choir yesterday, a scary thing happened to me. We are preparing for a workshop performance of Haydn's Nelson Mass. The director told anyone who was interested in singing any of the solos to contact him. So, I emailed him saying that I would be interested in singing the alto solos. It's just kind of how I roll. I will go for anything if I don't have anything to lose. I figured that we would just have to sing for the director sometime. When I got to choir yesterday, I was informed that I get to sit in front of the entire choir for the whole rehearsal and sight-read solos. Ahhh! It was terrifying to me. It was so strange. However, I was impressed with myself because I believe that I at least appeared calm and collected. So that's a win.
Otherwise, it has been practice and school stuff for me. I am a bit behind on some of my reading. So I have to play catch-up. Plus, I got an email from Ben, the bassoon professor and person who usually runs reed class, that he will be unable to attend class this Friday. As a substitute, he has asked Elsa Lam to step in. She is the former principle clarinetist of the China Philharmonic. I have to play in class on Friday. So, needless to say, I am a bit nervous. So, lots of practicing going on.
Also, I forgot to mention this a while ago... I am getting to sub with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra. It is not a professional orchestra, per say, but it's also not a bunch of university students. It's more of a community orchestra, I think. I've never heard them perform, so I can't say how good they are but they are definitely a visible part of the Auckland arts community. It's an exciting thing in any case. I will be playing for what is referred to as the Proms concert. It's a British thing. I'm not sure exactly what it is or what it's celebrating but the way that it was described to me, it seems similar to Fourth of July concerts in the States. Rehearsals start in a couple weeks and go until the concerts sometime in mid-June.
I'm also subbing with the University woodwind quintet, starting in about a week. They're a pretty good ensemble but they're all freshmen who don't seem to understand the concept of communication while playing. So that will be interesting. I'm still looking forward to it. There is an advantage to being the study abroad student who isn't playing permanently in any ensembles. Everyone else is busy. So guess who gets all the pick-up gigs? I do! I'm pretty well immersed in the music world right now and I am enjoying it highly.
Next weekend, my friends and I are planning a trip to Taupo. This is a big trip. We are planning on skydiving on one day and hiking Tangeriro (Mt. Doom) on the other. It's going to be so awesome! This is going to be a really good way to do things because after next weekend, I pretty much have to stay in Auckland until exams because of various music things. And this is one of the adventures that I have been particularly looking forward to... So I'm psyched. That's about all of consequence to report. If any of you who have Facebook are looking for a good laugh, switch your language to English (Pirate). Now, I am easily amused but this is hilarious to me, so it will be at least mildly amusing to normal people. Just a suggestion.
Peace.
Anyway... Yesterday, we had the car until 10 in the morning, so we decided to get up early and go to Piha, which is supposed to be an absolutely beautiful beach. It's a bit too chilly to go swimming any more but we were just going to go out and walk on the beach. As it was, we never made it to Piha. We realized about 30 minutes down a road that we had taken the wrong turn at the last roundabout. Oops. So we decided to keep going for a while since it wasn't really worth it to turn back. We ended up at a completely deserted beach. There was literally nothing around it. I can't even remember what it was called. It had black sand though, which was really cool. I have never seen black sand. I was wearing converse and it made the white bits of my shoes the same color as the rest. We weren't there very long before we had to drive back to return the car but it was still a nice outing. It was a good way to start the school day. It is always harder to go back to school after we've been away for a weekend.
In choir yesterday, a scary thing happened to me. We are preparing for a workshop performance of Haydn's Nelson Mass. The director told anyone who was interested in singing any of the solos to contact him. So, I emailed him saying that I would be interested in singing the alto solos. It's just kind of how I roll. I will go for anything if I don't have anything to lose. I figured that we would just have to sing for the director sometime. When I got to choir yesterday, I was informed that I get to sit in front of the entire choir for the whole rehearsal and sight-read solos. Ahhh! It was terrifying to me. It was so strange. However, I was impressed with myself because I believe that I at least appeared calm and collected. So that's a win.
Otherwise, it has been practice and school stuff for me. I am a bit behind on some of my reading. So I have to play catch-up. Plus, I got an email from Ben, the bassoon professor and person who usually runs reed class, that he will be unable to attend class this Friday. As a substitute, he has asked Elsa Lam to step in. She is the former principle clarinetist of the China Philharmonic. I have to play in class on Friday. So, needless to say, I am a bit nervous. So, lots of practicing going on.
Also, I forgot to mention this a while ago... I am getting to sub with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra. It is not a professional orchestra, per say, but it's also not a bunch of university students. It's more of a community orchestra, I think. I've never heard them perform, so I can't say how good they are but they are definitely a visible part of the Auckland arts community. It's an exciting thing in any case. I will be playing for what is referred to as the Proms concert. It's a British thing. I'm not sure exactly what it is or what it's celebrating but the way that it was described to me, it seems similar to Fourth of July concerts in the States. Rehearsals start in a couple weeks and go until the concerts sometime in mid-June.
I'm also subbing with the University woodwind quintet, starting in about a week. They're a pretty good ensemble but they're all freshmen who don't seem to understand the concept of communication while playing. So that will be interesting. I'm still looking forward to it. There is an advantage to being the study abroad student who isn't playing permanently in any ensembles. Everyone else is busy. So guess who gets all the pick-up gigs? I do! I'm pretty well immersed in the music world right now and I am enjoying it highly.
Next weekend, my friends and I are planning a trip to Taupo. This is a big trip. We are planning on skydiving on one day and hiking Tangeriro (Mt. Doom) on the other. It's going to be so awesome! This is going to be a really good way to do things because after next weekend, I pretty much have to stay in Auckland until exams because of various music things. And this is one of the adventures that I have been particularly looking forward to... So I'm psyched. That's about all of consequence to report. If any of you who have Facebook are looking for a good laugh, switch your language to English (Pirate). Now, I am easily amused but this is hilarious to me, so it will be at least mildly amusing to normal people. Just a suggestion.
Peace.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Cape Reigna
I spent this weekend up at Cape Reigna. Cape Reigna is almost the northernmost point of New Zealand. There is actually another point that's a couple kilometres further north but people don't go there as often. There are two reasons that Cape Reigna is special and people go there instead of the actual northernmost point.
The first reason is that it is of special significance to the Maori tradition. There is a hill on Cape Reigna that is said to be the place where spirits pass from the world of the living to the spirit world. It's a very religious place for the Maori. Actually, I found it quite moving and peaceful as well. It was a place that I would have loved to sit and meditate. It's one of those things that is difficult to describe, but the area had a special feel to it. All you can see on three sides is ocean except for a few tiny islands in the distance. There's something in the air that makes you feel almost reverent. As much as I love travelling with my friends, I almost wish I could have gone by myself. Just let my mind wander. I could see immediately how it could come to be a place of importance to the Maori.
The second reason that Cape Reigna attracts more people is because it is where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea converge. Normally, this wouldn't be that cool. You would just know that's where two oceans meet. However, here you can actually see it. The currents of the two bodies run together and create waves in the middle of the ocean. It's similar to the way they explain the creation f mountains in textbooks. Two pieces of the Earth's crust push against each other and force the land upward into mountains. That is what this looks like, only with water. It is way up there on the list of coolest things that I have ever seen. We were there on a pretty calm day but I have heard that on very turbulent days the waves can get up to 10 feet high. Pretty amazing. And I thought we just named bodies of water for our own sake, needing to give things meaning by naming them and such. It was nifty.
On our way home from Cape Reigna, we stopped to see the largest Kauri tree in New Zealand. Which pretty much means the largest tree in New Zealand. It is something like 13 metres in girth and 52 metres high. Absolutely huge. It was a good stop. Especially for the people getting car sick. There was some pretty knarly driving. Probably the most difficult driving I've ever done. It literally curved a different direction nonstop. You would pull out of a curve just to hit another one in the opposite direction. All while going down a 10% grade. While I was driving, Scott was coaching me through and he said, "Just pretend it's one of those racing video games with the crazy curves." Bad idea. I usually crash a lot in video games, so I just decided to pretend it was real life and focus on not running off the road. That was the weekend in a nutshell. It was a lot of driving, so we didn't necessarily do as much stuff as we usually would. But I enjoyed it.
So... I have a job for everyone. I found myself getting slightly homesick today. Homesick? Weird. I haven't been what I would call homesick for a while. Culture shocky, yes. But not really homesick. And I was thinking about what was making me homesick. And I came up with one major thing that I now can't get my mind off of. Hugs. I am pretty sure I have not gotten a hug since I was in the States. The Kiwis are not very touchy feely at all. It's actually a really space-bubble sort of culture, which is surprising to me since they're so chill about everything else. Me and my friends from the States don't really hug either. This is very different from home. In San Antonio, there's my family, Quakers (who are natural huggers), and my friends, amongst whom hugging is the typical greeting. At Adrian, between Jordan, ASA's, music majors and theatre people, my life is basically a long series of hugs. But not here. So I miss my hugs. So, your job... When I get home, everybody owes me hugs. I don't care if I haven't seen or spoken to you in years, you owe me a hug. People who usually see me on a regular basis owe me extra. That's what I want for my birthday, hugs and Tim Tams.
Peace.
The first reason is that it is of special significance to the Maori tradition. There is a hill on Cape Reigna that is said to be the place where spirits pass from the world of the living to the spirit world. It's a very religious place for the Maori. Actually, I found it quite moving and peaceful as well. It was a place that I would have loved to sit and meditate. It's one of those things that is difficult to describe, but the area had a special feel to it. All you can see on three sides is ocean except for a few tiny islands in the distance. There's something in the air that makes you feel almost reverent. As much as I love travelling with my friends, I almost wish I could have gone by myself. Just let my mind wander. I could see immediately how it could come to be a place of importance to the Maori.
The second reason that Cape Reigna attracts more people is because it is where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea converge. Normally, this wouldn't be that cool. You would just know that's where two oceans meet. However, here you can actually see it. The currents of the two bodies run together and create waves in the middle of the ocean. It's similar to the way they explain the creation f mountains in textbooks. Two pieces of the Earth's crust push against each other and force the land upward into mountains. That is what this looks like, only with water. It is way up there on the list of coolest things that I have ever seen. We were there on a pretty calm day but I have heard that on very turbulent days the waves can get up to 10 feet high. Pretty amazing. And I thought we just named bodies of water for our own sake, needing to give things meaning by naming them and such. It was nifty.
On our way home from Cape Reigna, we stopped to see the largest Kauri tree in New Zealand. Which pretty much means the largest tree in New Zealand. It is something like 13 metres in girth and 52 metres high. Absolutely huge. It was a good stop. Especially for the people getting car sick. There was some pretty knarly driving. Probably the most difficult driving I've ever done. It literally curved a different direction nonstop. You would pull out of a curve just to hit another one in the opposite direction. All while going down a 10% grade. While I was driving, Scott was coaching me through and he said, "Just pretend it's one of those racing video games with the crazy curves." Bad idea. I usually crash a lot in video games, so I just decided to pretend it was real life and focus on not running off the road. That was the weekend in a nutshell. It was a lot of driving, so we didn't necessarily do as much stuff as we usually would. But I enjoyed it.
So... I have a job for everyone. I found myself getting slightly homesick today. Homesick? Weird. I haven't been what I would call homesick for a while. Culture shocky, yes. But not really homesick. And I was thinking about what was making me homesick. And I came up with one major thing that I now can't get my mind off of. Hugs. I am pretty sure I have not gotten a hug since I was in the States. The Kiwis are not very touchy feely at all. It's actually a really space-bubble sort of culture, which is surprising to me since they're so chill about everything else. Me and my friends from the States don't really hug either. This is very different from home. In San Antonio, there's my family, Quakers (who are natural huggers), and my friends, amongst whom hugging is the typical greeting. At Adrian, between Jordan, ASA's, music majors and theatre people, my life is basically a long series of hugs. But not here. So I miss my hugs. So, your job... When I get home, everybody owes me hugs. I don't care if I haven't seen or spoken to you in years, you owe me a hug. People who usually see me on a regular basis owe me extra. That's what I want for my birthday, hugs and Tim Tams.
Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)