It's still in me

It feels really good to think that there's still some poetry in me. I've hardly written any poetry over the past several years and it's something that I miss. Thinking of the how the Bible says that if we don't use our talents we can lose them I have sometimes thought that when I have more time to think and write poetically maybe that won't be there any more. I'm happy to say this talent has not completely left me!

This week I had an assignment in one of my classes to write an artistic statement, kind of like my mission statement as a musician. I think the fact that pretty much everyone--even families--should have their own mission statement is kind of dumb and wasn't looking forward to this assignment but then when Dr. Rothkopf said that he wanted this to be something that would really jump out at him and said to be creative it kind of piqued my interest. I thought, "ok, I'll write my statement as a poem!" So here it is. I'm pretty pleased with the result and think it will be something I use on my website if I ever set one up to promote myself musically. I hope you like it.

I want to talk to you. I want to communicate the universe to you. When I perform and hit that precise plane where my rhythm is right in time with you I want you to be there. When I’m not playing merely notes on the page but pure music--when it flows through my fingertips and out to you--that’s when I want you to be listening.

Music touches me. Music moves me. I want to take you where I’ve been, feel the pulsing, driving rhythms I’ve felt. I want you to hear the beautiful celestial sounds I have heard. I’m going to keep moving. If you come with me, I’ll take you there. Let’s go.

Dinosaurs live!

Yesterday Nicholas and I went to see the new touring show "Walking with Dinosaurs" and it was spectacular! Regretfully I didn't take my camera or I would have posted a picture here. Nicholas's love of dinosaurs is definitely one way that we are different. I never got into them the way he does when I was a child. I saw the ads for the show and really knew he would like it but I wasn't especially excited about it. But now, all I can say is the show is completely worth the money and is truly something you should go see. Yes, they are puppets, but they are life-size puppets and are truly amazing. Seeing and being within 50-100 feet of these magnificent animals was like nothing I've ever seen before and I'm still overcome with how beautiful it was to see them! I especially thought the Brachiosaurs were so beautiful--they were so huge! I think the only thing that could probably compare would be to see a whale in the ocean. Of course the tyrannosaurus rex was the star of the show--no the T-Rex's baby was the star of the show, but again to see that giant animal walking around...just magnificent.

The results are in...

for the Winston-Salem Symphony extras audition last week. There were four of us in the audition but there was not one person that performed so much better than the others that there was a clear "winner" for the first slot on the extras list. This was my closest audition situation I've had to a professional audition so it was a new experience for me. I'm surprised that I didn't actually feel nervous in the normal way I usually do, but I guess my nervousness manifested itself in other ways. All the instruments were set up and the audition "committee" (my teacher and the recording equipment) were behind a screen. As soon as I got into the room and Mr. Beck started giving instructions ("play Sheherezade excerpt #1 on the snare drum") I couldn't concentrate on what was being said. Since this was a blind audition I couldn't ask what he said since that would give away who I was so I went ahead and played what I thought he said. At one point I did play the wrong thing because he said play the second line from the top and I played the second line from the bottom.

Although I didn't do as well as I could have I'm very glad we had this so early in my schooling here; it really shows me where I need to go and how I need to be completely familiar with all the excerpts. One of the hardest things was changing gears from one excerpt or instrument to another--getting into the feel of the new excerpt and remembering how the music sounded. I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me here. Onward!