OH my gosh

It's been such a long time, guys! I'm sorry about that, I'm very tired, been one crazy semester so far, it's just so maddening and I have no time to do anything except homework and practice.
I've had a gig in the meantime (with the same choir that I played with before!), and I got into a school that I will most likely be attending in the Fall of this year! I'm excited and I think that it's going to work out. I like the teacher and the campus, and the orchestra plays seriously advanced stuff. This past March they performed Prokofiev's Classical Symphony! One of my favorite pieces, and I miss it by one year.
So yeah. That's what's going on, looking forward to it. I hope I pass all my classes, I've got good grades in all of them though so that's a hopeful sign.

Hi, I'm Back!

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted on this blog... music stuff is going pretty well, as is this math academy thing I'm doing over the winter to help me not suck at math. It's been a while since I posted, and the end of the semester was so incredibly stressful. I'm really glad it's over, and I'm hoping that with math academy I'll be able to succeed in my goal of having a relatively less stressful spring semester! Stay tuned guys, I'm going to to try to post more often now that we're on a little bit of a break :)

Another Gig

Hi guys, it has been one gigtastic semester, that's for sure. I have a gig playing in a pit chamber orchestra for a production of Antigone at my school. I haven't done pit orchestra before, and I'm really excited because I love the play Antigone! The music was actually written by the music theory professor, and he was nice enough to ask me to play it. I'm really happy to have the chance to finally play flute in an ensemble. The Overture is pretty difficult, but apparently the rest of it is pretty easy. I wouldn't know because he actually hasn't written the rest of it yet. I'm very excited, first rehearsal is tomorrow, and two weeks from now we have rehearsal with the actors. I'm looking forward to it.
In other news I have a cold and it's very sad. I can't practice oboe, but I should probably try at some point during the day. I think I can play flute just fine though, haven't tried because I've been sitting around being lazy all day. Dang.

Phew!

My gig is over and I'm sad because me and my friend are the back ups for the actual flutists in the band who couldn't play this set of concerts, but at least we are on call if they ever can't make it, haha!
But um, yeah, it was great. I'd kind of like to get the video up on youtube or something and show y'all. I had a great time. Playing outdoor concerts isn't my favorite, because wind, you know, but I had a great time because the people in the audience were relaxed, happy, and eating the overpriced but delicious food.
The stars and stripes solo went really well, though they gave us a microphone and that was weird, haha! Two piccolos don't really scream "GIVE US A MIC!"
We sounded really good though, I'm happy with how we did. ^_^
On the other hand, I suck at piano and the teacher is really mad at me. I have to miss class on Wednesday because I have an exam, so I'm not feeling super great about that. :(
Anyway, have a good start to your week.

A Day in the Life: Taking it Slow

I have so much I have to learn haha. So much I have to do and it's really stressful, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it. You might be thinking to yourself, if I have so much to do then why an I wasting my time blogging and obviously not practicing?
Well, first off, it's Saturday and I deserve a little break even if I do have a gig tomorrow, and secondly, if you spend all your time practicing with no place to relax, then how on earth are you going to keep your sanity? Grinding yourself only works for some people. Some people can practice every day for six hours on end. Me? I know I need to practice more, I know that I probably shouldn't have played Kingdom Hearts 2 today, but you know what? I spend hours practicing during the days of the week. If I can't have a Saturday playing video games with my brother and sister and spending time with my boyfriend then what kind of emotions can I even put into my music? Frustrated ones? Self-righteous feelings because I can practice all day every day and that makes me better than everyone else?
Naw. I'd rather have some fun today and get back to my practicing re-energized and ready to tackle this week's frustrations. Because there will be some, haha. But I want to be ready.
So that's that! If you're a musician and you spend your Saturdays doing nothing, don't sweat it! You have the whole week to practice you owe it to yourself to have some fun!

There. Done validating my choices for the day, haha!
Have a great weekend guys!

Count Your Lucky Stars!

It's happened, haha. I've been hired to do a gig at a Navy Language Institute in my area and we're playing all sorts of marches and traditional band music. This is my very first time playing in a band setting, I've only ever done orchestra, so this will be really exciting and new. I'm looking forward to it. Especially the Stars and Stripes Forever march! Piccolo players are pretty divided on this one... a lot of players are annoyed that people only know that particular piccolo solo and not other ones, like Ma Mere L'Oye or Lieutenant Kije. Others love it to death just because it's fun. I'm in the middle, I really like that march because it's so fun and cheesy, but I wouldn't mind if people said "Oooh, Piccolo! Just like in Stars and Stripes Forever Turkish Fragments!"
But you know, since that's a little obscure for most people I'm happy to be the Stars and Strips Forever person haha.
So yeah, I'm happy to get my picc out again and have some fun with it. It's been a long time since I've done anything on piccolo, I think it was back in February during the Scheherazade semester... good times, I really enjoyed that it was so amazing.
Anyway, this performance is really exciting! There are two of us on flute so we're going to play the solo together! I'm excited because neither of us have ever done the whole 'tune two piccolos to each other' epicness so it'll be a great experience, provided we are able to do it (nervous laugh).
I'm pretty confident that it can be done though, so I'm happy. I can't wait, we're even going to stand up my goodness. Just to make it super scary, haha. It's a little scary for me because she'll have been playing piccolo the who concert so she'll be warmed up and I'll be playing flute the whole thing except for the end. ^_^"

One of my favorite songs

Or pieces, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, there are a few pieces of music that I am just head over heels for. Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy, Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky, Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, Liebermann's Flute and Piccolo Concertos, the list goes on and on. I just love music so much! It's impossible for me to pick a single piece that I love the most.
But there is this one piece of music that I always feel like I'm in the mood to listen to. If I'm happy, sad, anxious, whatever, it's always something that I can listen to and fully enjoy.
Drumroll, please.
Romeo and Juliet Before Parting by Sergei Prokofiev.
Seems so random, huh? Haha, well, yeah. This little bit from Prokofiev's ballet score is one of the most magical moments of music I've ever heard. Prokofiev is often remembered for his more goofy sounds, his quirky instrumentation and mastery of rhythm and dissonance. However, those skills he used to create comedically grotesque musical scenes were also used to create some of the most tender music ever written. His instrumentation here is chamber like, with just a few instruments or groups playing at a time, until the soaring 'adagio' section towards the middle of the piece, where the whole orchestra flies under a noble brass melody. But before it gets so loud, it actually starts so incredibly intimate.
The strings play a very soft 'pitter-patter' that reminds me of how rain sounds when you hear it hitting a closed window. Then the flute starts playing a winding, rather uncertain melody that is nevertheless filled with sweetness. To me it sounds like waking up in bed just before the sun comes up, and you are waking up to a rainfall.
Later in the piece, a new theme is introduced. If you've heard or seen the whole ballet you'll recognize it as having first appeared in the balcony scene. This new theme is more 'cinematic' and romantic sounding, first being handled delicately by a viola solo, then to clarinets and other woodwinds, then to a glowing and winsome tenor sax, and finally to the strings who give the most dramatic rendition yet. Then comes the sweeping and breathless 'adagio' I mentioned before. Despite being marked adagio this part actually feels very fast, because of what the other members of the orchestra besides brass are doing. It sounds like a massive wave of sound, it's incredible.
I'm not sure why I decided to write this blog post now of all times, but I'm kinda down and I wanted to share one of my favorite pieces in case you guys are feeling down and need a sec to catch your breath with some lovely music. What's a piece that helps you out when you get really sad or anxious?
Stay frosty, friends.




Here's my favorite recording with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philarmonic. <3