Etc

I survived my last Festival of Lights parade. We did a row of 4 across this year, and in the front line there were 3 freshmen. Yikes! I'm slightly concerend about parade season, but that's several months away. Thank goodness. For once I didn't run into the colorguard and I kept us on camera for a ridiculously long period of time and I'm very proud of that. We've managed to lost one part of the Christmas tree costumes. There was one still in the ceiling (it was actually Jenna/Chase who hid them there, not the drumline), but we're missing the top part of the one we pulled down before. So now we're going to have to go on a quest to find the other top.

ALL-STATE

It was incredible and I loved it!! Here's my disseration:

We got to ride in a monster van which was really funny watching HC try to park it in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. I have trouble parking in the mornings with my own car which is about half that size. And no, it's not because I lack parking skills, despite what others may say. The ride up to Rochester was interesting because there had been a pact made not to discuss Les Mis (since all 3 vocalists are going out for Les Mis and the auditions are this week and 2 of them are going out for the same lead role). So what did we talk about? Les Mis. Eleanor and I couldn't hear half of the conversation since we were in the last row of the van. When we got to the hotel I felt like such an expert because I actually knew what was going on. It was pretty awesome. After I registered I bumped into the West Genesee kids, including Katie who I hung out with last year. It was a lot of fun visiting with her until HC grabbed me. So then I went to my room (yeah, I know this is getting overly detailed, but you just have to deal with it) where I met one of the roomies. They've done some renovating of the hotel, so we had one king sized beds and two cots, so we rotated who slept where each night. I was really smart and decided to have the bed Saturday night so I could be well-rested for the concert. Or comparatively well-rested.

I practiced for a little bit then went to my audition site. There were 2 firsts, 2 seconds and one bass player. I remembered one of the firsts from last year (she ended up getting first chair) and the other one was a junior who had gotten a 100 on the same solo I did. I didn't think anyone else even knew of the Cahuzac, let alone played it. After my audition (I ended up getting 2nd chair) I hung out with the Wind Ensemble sax players who were also auditioning in the same spot. One of them is actually from Copiague, another competitive marching band, so it was really fun talking about that with him. The other second clarinetist showed up late (because he's from the Rochester area or something) and I heard his audition. I knew right away that he beat me, but I knew that was going to happen before I even got up there. The Berlioz (Roman Carnival Overture) was just too much for me to handle at the playing level I'm at right now. AKA I couldn't play it all weekend because it was too fast for me to articulate.

The first rehearsal went really well. I really loved our conductor and I knew right away that I'd like the Hindemith more than the Berlioz. Friday was a really, REALLY long day. During the afternoon session we had sectionals, but we weren't allowed to go back to our hotel rooms (or even leave the floor) so we had nothing to do. Therefore, I took a nap. That seems to be my default activity whenever I get bored. Even though we had sectionals, it was still a lot of work, I was really tired by the end, but a ton of fun. I had quickly made a group of orchestra friends to hang out with which was a lot nicer than not knowing anyone like last year. After dinner I ran into the C-town folks (including the Griffins) and I was talking with them when Borsz showed up. Apparently some of the Zone 15 people begged him to stop up for dinner Friday night since he wasn't going to the conference. Eleanor went completely nuts, it was so funny. I restrained myself and merely insulted him the entire time. I have to say it was really great getting to see him since I hadn't seen him in a long time. The bass clarinet player I was sitting to was hilarious and since he didn't play during the Berlioz he turned my pages for me, but I couldn't understand him half the time because he was from Long Island. I noticed that just about everyone was either from Rochester or what I now refer to as "downstate" that way I never mess up people from NYC and people from LI.

Once again I enjoyed getting to talk music with other music geeks. I was standing in a line waiting to pay for some sheet music (part of my Christmas gift was sheet music shopping money) and I was talking with a bunch of bass players about bass music/parts (I actually learned quite a bit) and then discovered that one of them was actually in IB Music HL2. We discussed our compositions and our comparative music papers which was cool. I also got into some deep 20th century music discussions with 2 flute players I hung out with, and we argued about which styles of music we preferred, likes/dislikes of composers, etc etc. One of them composes for the fun of it and really wants to take a look at my 12-tone piece when I'm finished. Everyone was really nice up there.

Music-wise I loved the Hindemith a lot more than the Berlioz. Mainly because the Hindemith had some really awesome wind parts whereas the Berlioz was mainly for the strings. Plus I had to fake-it on the Berlioz because the tempo was way too fast for me to be able to articulate it cleanly. I knew that was going to happen because articulation is my weak spot right now and it drives me nuts. The only thing that bothered me in the Hindemith (which you warned me about) was the trills. I swear I never want to play another trill in my LIFE. Or a triple for that matter. My favorite part to listen to was in the 2nd mov't with the big brass section (letter Q). It sounded so cool, especially since I was sitting right in front of the French horns. I was sitting pretty close to the timpani as well, and that had to have been the coolest part in the orchestra in several sections in that mov't. I had listened to the recording before, but it was so much more alive sitting there and actually playing it. And our brass section was incredible, along with our percussionists who apparently didn't have part assignments when they showed up to the first rehearsal. Out of the woodwinds, while all the principals were excellent, I loved the English horn soloist in the Berlioz. Her tone and musicality were incredible. When we performed in Eastman, she sounded beyond amazing.

Speaking of our performance, it went really well. I can't wait to hear the recording of it. It was kinda difficult for the winds/brass since they didn't have risers for us, so we had to up the sound level and we were really far away from the conductor (in comparison to where we were during rehearsals). It's hard to judge how well something sounded when you've been playing it for more than 20 hours during the course of 4 days. I felt my personal performance went well, so that was nice.

PLUS:

I'm playing vibes for the new percussion ensemble : P