2009-07-03

deepgreen18: (Default)
2009-07-03 11:11 am
Entry tags:

If it's not one thing...

My back is much better, barely twinging now. Thanks to everyone for your (mostly silent) well wishes. I had a genius idea after posting last time and used my lovely faux-feather comforter as a sleeping bag, and that helped a bit. Then I arranged a trip to Target last night (I'm turning into quite the mover and shaker here. It's fun), and bought a foam thingy for my mattress, which, when augmented by the comforter, is quite comfortable. I also got a couple of shirts, because a few of the ones I brought are too fancy for everyday wear.

Tuesday my roommate arrived. Her name is Denielle, and she's also a violinist. She's been here in past years, so she knows the not-so-obvious stuff, like when we get music for chamber. Randomly, we're both playing in the same chamber group. I like the piece, and our group is pretty serious about getting it right, which is heartening.

Today is a concert day. The orchestras here (there's three: two student, one faculty) perform on a weekly basis. So we've been having daily 3 hour rehearsals since Monday night. I've been amazed how rapidly everyone has improved, including myself. I'm still not ready to perform, but you take what you can get.

Proving the adage in my title true, at least while I'm away from my family...In a shocking twist of fate this morning, my bow broke during rehearsal. The hair came completely out of the tip. Don't worry, I have two, and a repair company is coming to the festival next tuesday. It was completely unexpected, but I just looked at it, and immediately got up and got my other bow. You never do know how you're going to act in a crisis, huh?

Um, since I can, here's a look at it:


Pretty scary, yes?
Thanks God for backups.

Until next time,
Greeny

deepgreen18: (Default)
2009-07-03 09:41 pm
Entry tags:

Post-concert update

Well, that was fun. I didn't practice at all this afternoon. Instead, I went to the bank (they didn't even blink at my request for $30 in quarters, it's a real college town), CVS (envelopes! rubber bands! chocolate), and helped celebrate the fourth by picking out an assortment of colors to with which to make friendship bracelets and eating ice cream.

On a side note: apparently the EMF people are not going to do anything tomorrow. However, never fear, us students have plans to find and attend some fireworks. I missed the festivities last year, and I really want to do it properly. 

Returning to the subject, which is the rest of today, I also did my laundry here for the first time, using a few of those loverly quarters. I always feel like I've accomplished something after doing my laundry. It's the whole self-sufficiency complex a lot of women have, I think. After a quick dinner, me and Denielle got dressed and went to the pre-concert talk. It was about the composers and their pieces, and would have been interesting if the speaker laid out his ideas a bit more clearly. The concert itself was pretty good, in my opinion. Our director, expected a lot of us from the very first day, and managed to get us to do a good bit of it. Our dynamics were very noticable and wide-ranging, we stayed with him most of the time, and we definitely stayed together. Our pieces were Francesca di Rimini by Arthur Foote, and Carnaval Romaine by Berlioz.

After that, we stayed and watched the next orchestra do their thing. It was very exciting. Now I am here, posting.

Oh yes, I also wanted to make a few observations about this place. Where else could you have discussions about reeds and their making with two oboe players, and then go and discuss strings and metronomes with bass players in the same day? (Also, I would ask where else would you get hollered at by two black guys within five minutes, but that's happened more than once to me, argh)

I guess I'm done for tonight,
Greene