Break is soon

Just finished watching Mean Girls with Kimberly and Caitlin. You have to love it...so many quotable lines, as any of my friends will tell you. And its always fun to watch it with people who have never seen it before. It's probably my most watched DVD...hmmm...not sure what to think about that...{I Heart Gretchen}...and how come nobody ever thought of dressing up as the plastics for Halloween? Don't let me forget about that for next year. Officially done with the Juilliard application...submitted and everything (and don't with the transcript request too!!) I just need to send off the CD and check tomorrow, and then finish up the NEC and Mannes apps. I hope that Robert still has a copy of my etude...however god awful it is. Listening to a few clips of my tape for Juilliard I realized that its not horrendous...but really not as well as I wanted to play...{must move on} Recitals are piling up out of control...Upcoming: last minute sub for Sarah Stern...Madame Butterfly for Cody...Mozart duo with Marisol...Messagesquisse with Lauren (for Musica Nova)...and linguistics project is happening NEXT WEEK! Shit!! Me and Anton are going to work on it tomorrow...and we have to do the whole thing this weekend! Agh! Almost break...almost break... {I heart Break} {I want to heart break right now}

This Just In

I scheduled my senior recital for March 26th at 9pm in Kilbourn hall!!!!! Yay!!! I expect you all to be there. I guess its a bit late, but it was the best time available in the times that Dave gave to me. Write it in your calendar now! In other news, me and Brian finished the last episode of the first season of Twin Peaks...which is of course amazing. The plot constantly takes twists and turns that nobody really saw coming and all of the perfomances (especially Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey!!) are amazing! You must check it out if you haven't already...its probably one of the most groundbreaking and influential TV shows every made! Now when will season 2 be coming out on DVD?!?!?

Page Turns are the Devil

Perle is over. Things went well. Things went very well for a while, until page turns went sour. I don't really know what happened, but for about two pages, I had a page hovering straight out towards me, so I kind of had lean to the right to see...I am just happy that it didn't turn the wrong way. And, when I turned my final page, I found a completely crumpled mess...I was really scared, because I didn't know what to do. I don't know what happened, but we got to the end and I didn't have to leave out very much. {learned lesson: prepare page turns more than the day of the concert...and do it well} [you are stupid] People seemed very impressed...I'm just going to take whatever compliments we can get. ModFab reviews Brokeback Mountain...really want to see this one!! {pictures to come soon}

Shameless Concert Plug: George Perle

I'm sure you all know by now from the obsessive Perle Blogging and the poster plastering around the school: George Perle 9oth Birthday Celebration 8:00pm Kilbourn Hall...TONIGHT! Destino Winds + The Cape Cod Experiment (and other people) [BETHERE] Yesterday we had to find a substitute for Heather at our rehearsasl:

I Heart Perle

The day has finally arrived. Tonight the Cape Cod Experiment will be performing George Perle's String Quartet No. 8 "Windows of Order" And we haven't rehearsed it in about a week. So thinks should be interesting tonight. I think we are all a little anxious about it, I heard Kitty practicing very late last night and heard some Perle as I was falling asleep around 2am!!! Now that's dedication. You must go to the concert tonight at 8:00pm in Kilbourn Hall...we are going to where our "fun shirts." {I heart Perle} {Perle heart me} {please}

Sunday Afternoon Library Blogging: Festive Cold

So its time to get back to reality...and of course by reality I mean not reality at all. The next three weeks are going to be crazy as shit, and I mean that. With finishing Grad Apps by this Thursday (which includes writing several essays as well as recording a Popper Etude {why am I so bad at these?}) as well as Perle day (translation: tomorrow) things are going to be busy in the coming days...add to that a linguistics final, several gigs (courtesy of Gigqueen Heather) and a Musica Nova concert which includes the crazy/impossible Messagequisse for 7 cellos...should be interesting! In other news, my apartment is as clean as it ever has been. I took another night off from seeing people and spent it running around my apartment and doing laundry. I bought a large peppermint candle (which you can now see in my flickr photos) and changed the traditional blue futon cover, to a bright holiday red one...and of course I was listening to the Nutcracker...I don't know what put me in such a holiday mood, but I also set up the fake Christmas tree that the former residents left in the apartment. Maybe I am trying to make up for the lake of Holiday "mood" here in Rochester. In Chicago everything was covered in lights and everybody was out shopping for holiday gifts...I come back to Rochester and its just cold...at least at home its a festive sort of cold. I also took in a movie last night: Citizen Ruth, starring the fabulous Laura Dern...I fell in love with her when I first saw Wild at Heart, and then after that revisited Blue Velvet and loved it (where I previously hated it...) She needs to be in more movies...a lot more. But she is amazing as usual in Citizen Ruth, an abortion comedy (hmmmm...) I thought it was a fun enough movie...they really "overdid" each side of the debate (religious right vs. normal people) but I couldn't help but notice that the way the religious right was portrayed is exactly how they are (at least these days) and the way the Pro-Choice people were portrayed was very untrue (they were all gay and lesbian...) It was a very smart movie and very relevant today, especially with its ending message...make sure you see it. I am also now torn between this and Sideways as my favorite Payne movie...Laura vs. Virginia...{sigh}

{sigh}

After a very enjoyable day with Sara I came back and received some very sad news. My grandfather, Peter Noznick, passed away today at the age of 90. It seems that I saw him just in time. I can't say that his death is a big surprise, he hasn't been doing very well for the past few years, but it is still sad all the same. I feel lucky that I got to spend the last few days of his life with him (since I made sure to visit him every day while I was at home). Every time you make something out of a box that includes some sort of powder mix you should think of my grandfather...because he invented it! He worked as a food scientist for Beatrice foods and worked with a team of other scientists that developed powdered mixes...so if it weren't for him, you wouldn't be able to have Macaroni and Cheese out of a box! (and you could say goodbye to cake mix as well!) My grandmother doesn't want a funeral, so I do not have to rush back home to get there in time...there will probably be a memorial service after the holidays and then we will scatter his ashes in Connecticut in the spring.

Peter Noznick 1915-2005

I Return

Made it back to Rochester in one piece. Its nice to have some time to just spend by myself...it happens so rarely. Thanksgiving was fun...and I have a lot of cookies and homemade candy to prove that my family knows how to serve dessert. {and there is still tons left at home...including half a mint cake, half a pumpkin pie, a very large number of small raspberry cakes, a box and a half of Frangos, and another box of florentines} [look out for fat people...] But yeah...I really need to get myself together. I am having a small {out of my mind} moment...I still have not recorded my etude for prelim tapes. I need to do it this weekend and it would be nice to do it tomorrow. Hope I can get into ciminelli or howard hanson...and I haven't played it since last saturday [genius]. I really want it to be after December 1st, cause then I can just happily BE DONE with all of the grad school apps. I really want that day to come. Unfortunately, in the mean time I suffer...and I still need to write ALL OF THE ESSAYS...[so stupid] Bought a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha. My friends have been raving about this book for some time, so I will now slowly {did I mention slowly?} move my way through it. I need to get some serious shit done tomorrow... {insert Desperate Housewives withdrawal} {insert growing Madonna obsession} {check for Flickr updates...NEW PICTURES!}

I Give Thanks...

...for Bree Van De Kamp. Thats right...always perfect, always plotting, always fabulous. For those of you who don't know, Bree Van De Kamp is one of the leading ladies of Desperate Housewives, a show that is soon to become an obsession for me. The funny thing is: it's not even that good. I mean, compared to a zenith such as Six Feet Under or Twin Peaks (of which DH is a very blatant rip-off...come on, "who killed Laura Palmer?" vs. "why did Mary Alice Young kill herself?") DH just falls short, HOWEVER: its really the housewives that won me over...the shy and quirky Susan, always trying to win over Mike, the over-worked Lynette who can't seem to manage four kids, the spoiled Gabrielle always hiding her affair, and of course, the above mentioned Bree: always cooking up a storm and taking care of the perfect lawn...but anyway...I need to find out what happens next...and after eight episodes, I think its pretty safe to say that I'm hooked. {must watch} But seriously, turkey was good. I have pictures, but I don't really want to deal with the s l o w c o n n e c t i o n. So yeah...you probably didn't really want to see the pictures anyway. but more important things first...I need to put Desperate Housewives at the front of my netflix queue.

PSH wins me over?

I'm sure most of you (or at least some of you) know about my extreme dislike for Philip Seymour Hoffman. I have seen him in a few movies...movies that I really really enjoy, but the man drives me nuts. I can't shake the fact that he is just always so proud of himself in every role...I always want to slap him...so frustrating. But the reason I bring this up is because I saw Capote this morning. I was really expecting to like the film and hate his performance. Now, I haven't read much about this movie, or his perf, but this was probably one of the most enjoyable performances by an actor I have ever seen. And I really wanted to hate it. I thought the movie would focus on the fabulous performance by PSH and just showcase him for the amazingness that he thinks he is...however, the movie does not do this. This is probably the best movie I have seen this year...the full package: cinematopgraphy (if you are into barren Kansas landscape), screenplay (partial adaptation of novel, partial biopic) acting (PSH...)...really theo nly part where things went wrong was the end, where things start to get a bit cheesball (well...more than a bit). PSH really pulls of this film. He makes a truly eccentric character feel real...he does the voice (you kind of get over it after the first 10 mins or so) and does the mannerisms...thats all well and good...however, on top of these things, he really gives a performance. He shows the turn from indifference (using the murderes as bait for book) to his true feelings (falling for the murderer...oops)...perhaps I should go back and re-evalute the work PSH has done in the past {although I really think its pretty bad...Capote is a stand-alone work} We should probably resign the oscar to PSH, he most likely deserves it for the perf, unless somebpdy else comes along...don't really see it happening though [we will see] Sidenote: Saw the trailer for Brokeback Mountain=so excited Other Sidenote: I may have watched four episodes of Desperate Houswives...I Heart Bree (more later)

Post # 100

So this is my 100th post on blogger...I wish it could be a little bit more interesting. I have kind of been running through the songs on the new Madonna album in my head today (mostly Hung Up) so I think I might go out on a limb and say that {I Like It}...I think I may need to further research Madonna, because I have lived in a vacuum and know none of her music (which, on this first listening, seems very fun)...who ever would have thought that I would be listening to Madonna? {gasp} Spent the day with Ellie and Andy...saw Ellie's apartment, which is very nice, I wish my apartment looked like that (of course she also has the advantage of living in DOWNTOWN CHICAGO...hmmm) {jealous}...came back to Wilmette and played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit [nerd] which I won at for a change...I killed everybody too...and then took in a few episodes of Sex and the City...I think I need to explore that show from the beginning...I'll put it in the list after Desperate Housewives and Will and Grace... I think I am also playing with punctuation too much [stop it] but I think that its kind of fun, so I will keep doing it [idiot] And dial-up is horrible and slow [shut up]

Wilmette

I am back in beautiful Wilmette, IL. Flight was fairly uneventful. I was lucky and got two seats to myself, which is always a joy. Just before I left I bought the new Madonna Album on itunes...I know...It just seems like every blog I was reading was obsessing over it...so I figured, why not? It is fun enough...and I can use it to work out to (whenever I start doing that again) and to walk to school (currently using Queer as Folk for that!). I guess I also need to fulfill my duty as a gay male to support Madonna...it seems that every other gay male is doing the same thing. I think tomorrow will be spent with Ellie! I will finally get to see her apartment!

OhMyTrill vs. The Recording Part...2

It's all over now...I will have to move on with my life and send out this tape to various universities around the country. They will most likely laugh at the mistakes I make and cringe at my tone...but maybe they will humour themselves and give me an audition anyway. I hate how sound gets captured on recording sometimes...I wish that people could just always hear me play live...it would makes things so much easier. When its all said and done...the recording is not the worst thing in world...there are many many many things that could have and should have gone better, but the exposition of Dvorak is solid (hopefully they wont listen to any more of it) and Rochberg actually sounded pretty good. Popper just didn't happen...that will have to be attempted again...{sigh}...Bach: take it or leave it...so touchy anyway. I saw that my TTLB rating jumped from Lowly Insect to Slimy Mollusc and then realized that I had been linked in two blogs! How fun! Thank you to Rabsteen (who, as I mentioned before, helped me to post a handy-dandy list of current movies and music) and to Nathaniel (who I've never had any interaction with ever, but used to religiously read his site and now religiously read his blog...both provide an in depth look at movies in general and the oscar race...and I usually agree with his movie opinions!). Side Note: I will not be practicing today, and after today I will most likely only be practicing Perle...since its the next major happening in my life. And then the massive Dvorak practicing begins...and I mean really massive...competition is in less than two months...ack!

OhMyTrill vs. The Recording...Part 1

I have officially survived the first two hours of recording for grad-school prelim tapes. I can't say that the experience was exactly pleasant. Starting practicing at around 11 or so and stayed at school practicing until 2:30 when I had rehearsal with Tania. Took a break after that and then walked over to Black Dog Studios, which is actually on the same block as Eastman, hidden in a back alley (aka Swan Street). The facility is nice enough and the guy is certainly nice. However, my playing didn't follow the trend. Its just so annoying because I know that it can't sound that bad, but I feel like after close to three years of working on the Dvorak Concerto, I should be able to play it twice and get a take that would be good enough to put on a tape...unfortunately that was not the case. I'm sure after another hour to spend on the Dvorak and Rochberg I will get something that is presentable. Tomorrow morning at 8am is when I record a Popper Etude for the first time...definitely not looking forward to that. Ugh. Recording is kind of an out of body experience. I know that my body is playing the cello, but I only hear the mistakes that are flying by...I really need to just perform rather than think about what is going wrong...sometimes that is very hard. Kimberly's recital was a major success! I think she had quite a lot of people there...an especially strong showing from the cello studio {ahem} and there was even one violist there (that I saw...). I especially liked a piece by David Plylar for viola, clarinet, and oboe. Yay for Kimberly! She is the first one of CCE to be done...and one of the first people in our class to have done their recital! Heather had the genius idea of picking up flowers...I had totally forgotten about it, but me and Kitty chipped in and they became "Love CCE" Wouldn't it be fun to have an "I Heart CCE" logo? And I didn't get a horrible time for recital picking! They lumped all the BM's and PC's together, so I am actually on the second day! That means I will get a time in Kilbourn...and probably a pretty good one too! This makes me happy! This also means I can officially stop complaining about PC related things and always getting last in concert office lottery.

George Perle

In case you haven't seen it already here is the article on the Eastman Website about the... George Perle 90th Birthday Concert You probably wouldn't know it from reading the article, but my quartet, The Cape Cod Experiment is playing George Perle's String Quartet No. 8 "Windows of Order" I thought he was coming, but after reading this article I found out that he wasn't...{sigh} But you should come, mark it on your calendar and be there.

BBD

Thank you to Rabsteen for telling me how to create the image list of current movies and music (and you can add books also!). You will notice that I did a revamping of the sidebar...what do you think? I am having serious issues with the Spy On Music feature...the plugin that they provide just isn't working and I can't get any other to work either... It would be cool if I could get this feature to work! Me and Tania are going to record Dvorak and Rochberg today...I really want it to be around 11am tomorrow, because then I am basically free until break. Ugh...and then I hope that it is December 1st, because grad applications will be done! Wish me luck! Oh...and of course today there are two very special celebrations...#1: the senior recital of the one and only Kimberly A. Fitch...she will be performing a program tonight at 7 in Christ Church including works by Shostakovich and Plylar, it should be mesmerizing! #2: BEV BRAUN DAY! I think that this holiday needs no explanation.

Annoying

So, we were sitting in linguistics, and after about 10 minutes, the TA comes in to tell us that the teacher is sick and there wont be class. I wish that she could have sent an email so we didn' have to take the bus all the way over to U of R!! We got out early enough to catch the 2:21 bus, and as we got on, the bus driver told us that we should wait for the next bus, because it is direct and would get us there waaay before his. So we didn't get on the bus (which had no people on it...by the way). However, I am sitting in the computer lab at U of R right now, because there is no bus that comes after his. I have to wait for the 3:17 bus. I could be back at the apartment by now, making something to eat and getting some practicing in...but no, the bus driver needed to have an empty bus for some reason...ugh, soo frustrating. I guess Tania is going to come tomorrow rather than early on Saturday for recording. I think this makes more sense because I probably wouldn't be able to play Dvorak at 8am in any way that would be acceptable for a recording. This way we will rehearse for a while, then go straight to recording (with a small break). And I will be able to have somebody there to make sure that it sounds ok. Hmmm...still kind of nervous about how things will turn out...oog. The section of Rochberg that we need to record is even smaller than I expected! Only up through the very quiet things, I guess its about 7mins in total, but it doesn't have very contrastive playing within that time, so it should be fine for the "two contrasting movements" requirement on the tapes. My latest music obsession is Worker's Union (as you can see at the left). Musica Nova is actually playing this piece next semester, and the composer will be at the concert! I hope I get to participate in at least one of the pieces being performed! It was very fun to play Secret Theatre for Birtwistle last year! I was talking to Lauren and she said that they might need to change the Phil rehearsals for the piece they are playing (Passione) because Andriessen needs to take a nap everyday at 5:00pm. Interesting/hilarious. The Ossia concert went pretty well last night. I have to admit that I was not very into it at all! The Schoenberg 2nd chamber symphony is a fine piece, but I really just don't find it very interesting. I think I like any other composition by Schoenberg much much better. I didn't hear the Webern/Donatoni/Borshansky set, but I'm sure it went quite well. How could it not with superstars such as Paul Miller, Sara Ballance, and Mary Counts? My favorite piece on the concert was the very last one, by Rzewski. It was very minimal, but I'm kind of listening to that stuff right now, so I liked it a lot!!! I think I may get the recording on itunes. I came back to my apartment after the concert I realized that I left my scented candle burning for the entire Ossia concert! I could have burned down the entire building! Good thing I didn't!

Mad Scramble

The mad scrmable has officially begin in the Grad-Apps race. Rather than my usual putzing this morning at work, I have been doing online applications. This makes me feel as if I am getting something done. However, whenever I get to a section that actualy requires some sort of thought, I just skip over it. So far this morning I have basically finished the applications for Juilliard, Mannes, and NEC. I still need to go back a provide a writing sample for NEC (just a music history paper is fine), an eassy for Juilliard and two eassys for Mannes (yes...two!). I would have been workign on the Rice application also, but their website is too advanced for this compueter to understand and I can't access the information I need to. Northwestern is the only paper application I have to do...not looking forward to that. Now I have to figure out to juggle all of the audition dates with summer program auditions etc...should be interesting!

The Right Choice?

I am feeling a bit nervous about recording at Black Dog Studios. Apparently another cellist from my studio payed a visit there yesterday and was not impressed with the way the recordings sounded. I heard a bit of one person and I thought that they didn't sound very good, but I didn't think it was the recording...hmmm. Young Ji seemed to think that it was fine (a bit dry...but maybe I can insist on a bit of reverb?) I guess I can't get out now since I already put down a deposit and I really have no other choice but to record there...there are really no rooms available at the school. I think all of the rep is going pretty well though...hope the recording is acceptable! I am trying a new trend of having a positive attitude about things, rather then going straight to doom and gloom. I think things are going well! I managed to practice for over two hours today! That is really a lot, seeing as I practiced over three yesterday! In other news, CCE proved to be Perle Rock Stars when we made it through the entire piece on our first attempt at a run-through...this doesn't mean that we sounded amazing. It means that we can get through without stopping. We still have several rehearsals to get things in top working condition. And then we have a whole week for it to settle and mature (/not play it). It should be fine!

No Orchestra=Productivity

Well...things really work much better when you don't have to play in orchestra. As I mentioned in previous posts, I was passed over for the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra (well, I'm actually just rotated out...) and this week in Musica Nova we are only rehearsing the Brakel, which I am not playing in. So, where I was expecting to have double rotation, I actually have no rotation!! The things I can do...there is such a sense of possibility! I stopped in at Java's before rep class, and low and behold...Rep Class was at Java's! What a surprise. I sat down and chatted with Kathy, Carrie, and Hannah, mostly about the audition last week. Jason Wang was the deserving winner of 4th chair cello in the RPO. Kathy said that it was very obvious that he would get the job, since he was the only one who really nailed everything. Turns out I was in the very 'difficult to advance' room...only one person advanced out of the 27 of us...and that one person was Jason. So apparently they know how to pick them. Kathy's panel was a little bit more forgiving and they advanced 8...so out of the 57 cellists who showed up for the audition, only 9 people were permitted to play in the second round...that is pretty slim pickings. As a reward for doing the audition, I didn't have to play in class today!! This afternoon consisted of getting recommendation forms together. I went to the computer lab and started printing out all of the forms I need. December 1st is in sight, and I am starting to flip out about grad applications. The first step is making sure everyone has the materials to write recommendations for me. Bought folders and put stamps in them, along with the forms/instructions, and a list of addresses to send them to! Dave and Elinor are doing most of them, but I still need a 3rd generous person (who also likes me and my playing) to write the 3rd...who should I ask? Looks like I will be recording at a professional place after all. There are just no rooms available at the school this weekend (that are appropriate for recording) so Erik is out of the picture. I was totally flipping out when Robert from Black Dog Studios called me! Apparently East End isn't really in business anymore and they gave him my number. It will be VERY expensive, but I feel prepared right now (which is more than I can say for any recordings I have made in the past 6 years!) so I don't think it will be a waste of money. Looks like Saturday will be an early day, since I signed up for 8am!!! Hope that my fingers work then! Time for more practice and CCE rehearsal (first of many this week!)...I love all of this free time!

Tuxes are a creation of the Devil

Tuxes are really evil. I really hate them a lot...they are uncomfortable, and I think they look pretty ridiculous. And mine is also about 72 million times too big. One of the benefits of today's Philharmonia concert was that tuxes were not the dress-code...the guys were instructed to wear dark suits rather than the usual penguin costumes. I wore my suit that was given to me by my mom, from my grandfather, to wear at NYSOS last year. This is a very nice suit from Brooks Brothers. I was curious how much a suit like this costs and after some research at the Brooks Brothers Website I discovered that these suits start from $800...I had no idea! I think I will go hang it up now...I thought that the concert went well...actually very well. Its too bad there weren't more people there, it was kind of sad not seeing people after the concert. This week is a very good one...there is no Phil for me, since I'm not playing it in this rotation, and Musica Nova is only rehearsing the piece that I don't play in. So I have tons of time to practice for the recording I will be doing this weekend. Maybe it will actually go well? Erik Asgiersson (I have no idea how to spell that) said that he would do it for me, so that is very nice of him...I have heard that he does very good work and that his prices are very reasonable! Now I have to pin Tania down for some rehearsal time. I had nice chats with a few old friends tonight...the amazing Nora Kim told me about her plans to get the hell out of this country when she is done with school this year. I am very jealous. We both have the same problem of falling in love with new places...the grass is always greener on the other side I guess. Also had a nice chat with Ellie who wants me to join her for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I don't know if i will be able to handle running at 8am in the morning over break, so I didn't commit to anything. But it will be very nice to see her over break! And of course the David Lynch loving Ruth McAdams shared some words with me on the insanity of David Lynch. Apparently he has some new David Lynch Foundation, sounds kind of crazy...typical David Lynch...but she has a promotional DVD that we are going to watch over winter break. Tomorrow is orchestral rep with Kathy...should be fun! And I would like to point out a new feature on the sidebar...you can click on Spy On Music (under music obsessions) to look at what I've been listening to on my computer lately...its kind of cool, I think!

Java's

Since I admitted my Diet Coke Addiction, I have come to realize another addiction, one that many of us Eastmanites suffer from...thats right...Java's. I have known about this addiction for some time now, but maybe admitting it will be the first step to giving it up...like thats going to happen anytime soon. Recently I was given a $10 gift certificate for playing in an Oboe Recital...that gift certificate was spent in 1.2 days...a few large cups of coffee and a sandwich+a cookie or two and your $10 is gone real fast. I have already been there once today, and will most likely go at least one more time. And a grabbed a menu the other day to put up on the wall in my room...they always look so fun, so why not? In other news, the new rotation of Musica Nova starts today. I was going to play all of the pieces but I guess Lauren needs to be in a piece, so she is playing the Brakel...which will probably turn out to be a massive cello piece. I am playing the Stucky, which should be fun. I have heard very good things about this composer! And of course the cello celebration Messagequise...we will probably be rocking out on that one. Paid a visit to Payless and bought two new pairs of shoes...look for them. And isn't this poster amazing? I would really like to see the movie:

Xenakis is over

I am sad to report that I will not be playing in Phil for the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra Concert...this is a piece that I like and have always wanted to play. However, I am also playing in all of the pieces for Musica Nova (maybe) including one that requires extra rehearsals outside of the regular Musica Nova time. So it will be very very nice to have those two hours of extra time. I am so used to doing more than one rotation that when I only have to do one, it seems like I have all the time in the world to do everything. Musica Nova went well last night. I kind of lost it at the end of Xenakis and my hand didn't really want to go to the correct regions of the cello. However, I think it was still an effective performance. Brad was very very excited about all of the speakers and electronics involve in the Sarriaho (which was performed very well by Lauren Radnofsky) and even went as far as to propose a joint space for the Eastman Computer Muisc Center and Musica Nova...for rehearsals and concerts...seems like a good idea to me!

Shameless Concert Plug: Week of Nov 7-13

I would like to bring your attention to the following concerts: Musica Nova November 9th, 8pm, Kilbourn Hall Xenakis: Phlegra (listen for-my short solo at the beginning/lots of glisses/loud noises/quarter tones) Feldman: I don't even know what they are playing... Saariaho: Amers (listen for-Laruen Radnofsky, amplified cello, complex wind parts, fun sounds) Philharmonia November 13th, 3pm, Eastman Theatre Bancks: Music for a While (listen for-tritones, very few instruments, Sam Angelo) Duparc: Songs (listen for-Kevin Park, my random 2 note solos, Sarah Stern) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (listen for-spiccato, cello feature in mvt 2, loud march, sad end) Also, found this review of a lpay about Florence Foster Jenkins...hope I get to see it sometime.

Diet Coke Please

I think its time for me to admit that I am addicted to Diet Coke. I have been pretty good in recent weeks, but today, when I went to the cave to buy a bottle of water, and my hand subconsciously moved to the Diet Coke button on the vending machine, I realized that I have an addiciton. I also realized this when Sunny asked for a sip and told me how disgusting it was, and then, while I evaluated the taste, reazlised the it totally revolting, but that I enjoy it anyway. I should probably try to remedy this addiciton, but I'm sure next time I go to Wegmans (which really needs to happen in the very near future) I will buy more Diet Coke with Lime, which I am addicted to even more so than plain Diet Coke. We finally received our midterms back in Linguistics and I was surprised to receive an 80/90!!!! I hope that very soon this will change to an 84/90 becuase on one question which asked you to list four places of articulation, I listed the actual places (teeth, lips, alveolar ridge) instead of listing the names for those sounds (interdental, bilabial, alveolar). The TA said that this question wasn't counted because several people were confused...but on mine she subtracted 4. This is the difference between an A and a B+...so I am going to complain about it. I actually got the entire sepctrograph section wrong (-10) but I managed to write my name correctly in IPA so I earned that 10 points back!!! The three Eastman Students did VERY well, both scoring above me...Ian got 100% I can't say that same for the girls who sit in front of us...they seemed kind of sad. Today I officially moved back to practicing at the school. I realized that practicing at the apartment was just not working for me. I managed to practice for a good 2.5 hours (brushed up Popper #10, did slow intonation practice on Bach Prelude/Sarabande as well as parts of Dvorak)...things seem to be looking up in the practice department for once! However, I will still not be returning the chair that I stole (making me a horrible person...among other things, such as the frog incident)...I may need it sometime in the future...and it also gives me an excuse to have my room look cluttered and messy (since there are too many things in there).

Post-RPO...Pre-Madness

Now that the RPO audition is over I can concentrate on more important things...Such as making prelim tapes for grad school. I have mixed feelings about making these tapes. Last time I made them (for undergrad) my teacher made me go all out and I recorded everything professionally (edited and all) and I got an audition everywhere I applied. I'd kind of like to do the same thing again (since I would be able to use the same tape for summer festivals and any other things that come up). The problem is: I was planning to do this at East End Recording Studios, but it is impossible to get in touch with them. I sent an email, which was returned to me. I walked over and rang the bell, and nobody answered. I just left my second phone message, and nobody has returned my calls. My next brilliant idea is to record when I am home over Thanksgiving break...Which is also not good, since people will be more occupied with their families and probably don't want to do a recording session. It is a possibility. I would need to pay for a pianist also. But anyways...I can spend the upcoming weeks concentrating only on Dvorak and Bach (and an etude I guess) so hopefully I can get those things sounding really good. The other upcoming performance that need work is the Perle Quartet. We are nearly finished...After one more rehearsal we will have gotten through the entire piece, which leaves us a good week and a half to polish it. The first half is sounding pretty good anyway. And I think we will get some coachings with Phil the week before break. Yesterday proved to be quite a full day...With all of the RPO antics in the morning (a very early morning for me)...Then add on one and a half rotations (+ an extra rehearsal for the Bancks) and Julienne's recital and you get a pretty busy day. Julienne's recital was a hit (as anybody expected anything less) and I was surprised to here a very fun piece by Milhaud (which I turned pages for). And Julienne gave us Java's gift certificates...Which was one of the most exciting things that has happened to me in a long time. And I need to practice the random solos in the Duparc pieces, because I have a mini-breakdown before each one and then sound like ass when I play it (they are each like three notes long...But anyway, they are kind of exposed). I was surprised to receive The Happiness of the Katakuris a day early from netflix. This movie is very entertaining. Telling the story of a family that owns a hotel on the unpopulated slopes of Mt. Fuji; each of their guests ends up dead (in a very strange way) and rather than getting the police involved, they sing songs that usually make fun of other musicals, or musical styles. There is even a scene making fun of a Bjork style Dancer in the Dark song. The movie is very fun...Breaking into crazy fantasy sequences every other second, but it suffers from having little focus. I do think you should watch it. There is even a sing-along (with the actors encouraging everyone to join in).

RPO Audition is Over

As you can tell from the time on this post...I did not advance in the RPO audition. However, I am not very sad about the (actually not sad at all) result. I played better than I had recently (in practice rooms and class/thing) and I thought I sounded good overall...but there were definitly some things that could have eliminated me. I think there were about 60 cellists in the first round and out of the first 20 or so, only 3 advanced, so I am in good company. And I also found that Kathy Kemp has given us very good training, becuase a lot of the people practicing in my room didn't really know the first thing about playing orchestra excerpts...not that I should be talking since I didn't advance (and I will say that not one person who I heard warming up advanced). So in the end I am glad that I took the audition (and probably wont be taking anymore for a while...except for summer things) And now I can move on to other things and but this behind me! And me and Hannah got a parking ticket...a nice parting gift to both of us. And I think Ron Chambers was one of the people who advanced. Yay for him!

Good vibes please

Not really nervous about the audition, just a bit anxious I think. Excerpts sounded pretty awful when I practiced them...but maybe something will suddenly go right at the audition. I talked to my parents and they were like, "you are too depressing, call us tomorrow." I again suddenly have a better feeling about the audition (which goes away whenever I start to play). Tomorrow will be an interesting day...up at 6:00...school at 7:30, register at 8, over to Hochstein at 8:10, audition somewhere between 9-10 and then wait. And you should all attend Julienne's Oboe Recital tomorrow at 6:30pm in Ciminelli...members of CCE perform the Mozart Oboe Quartet with her (last on the program). Wish me luck on the audition!

Sunday Aternoon Library Blogging: Kind of Sad

Have been feeling very depressed and strange for some reason. I think its time for a break...but there is still a good two weeks until Thanksgiving break. I am kind of gald I will be going home, it will be amazing to just be removed from Eastman for a few days. Although I am thinking I might need to record my audition tape at home...East End studios is just not responding. And it seems like its getting a bit late to schedule. Agh! But, getting back to break. I really want one right now. I always like just sitting at home, chatting with my parents, wandering around various places by myself...since when I'm at home, I don't usually see very many friends. They have all moved away, or also keep to themselves. Of course, there is always tons of drama at home invoolving the grand-parental units, but that is something that doesn't need to be discussed here. Tomorrow is the RPO audition. I have strangely found a new level of confidence in the past few days. I really have no idea where it came from, but after a week of being very very very not confident, I suddenly feel like maybe I wont be the worst person in the world who is auditioning. I still have little hope of advancing beyond the first round, but maybe it won't be the worst thing in the history of the world. I really feel like retreating into my room for a good long time and not emerging and not intereacting with people, however, I seem to be doing a lot of things right now, and I am forced to see people all the time. I guess I can just fake a happy face and deal with it. In better news, Perle is almost complete. We discovered that the section we all though would be so difficult was in fact not at all. Its probably one of the easier sections of the piece. The next one looks a bit challenging, but we are only a petty two pages away from the end of the piece...which means we will have a good week and a half to make it even better (and the first half isn't sounding too shabby). So it seems that we will actually be able to play the piece and it will be much better than the Schoenberg incident of last year (aka...barely getting through the piece at two performances...but it was still kind of fun...). Last night was pretty entertaining also...there was a cello party at Mike Midlarsky's...at which there were about 4 cellists...stayed for a bit, then went to ROC city hots...also a true Rochester experience. Heather entertained all with a jolly stride that she created to the tune of O-Bla-Di-O-Bla-Da by the Beatles. Interesting.

Frustrated

Why do I always feel so stupid? Maybe because people feel they need to explain everything to me as if I was five...or the fact that nobody takes me seriously at anything...sigh...

Post-Opera (for me)

Yesterday was a fun day. It was fun because a lot of interesting things happened that don't happy everyday. First of all...I got to sleep kind of late, which was nice, because I had been getting up kind of early for various things (such as working in the library). With the whole morning off, I still couldn't will myself to practice, even for a tiny little hour, so I carried my cello over to school and ran into the fabulous Heather Braun. We then proceeded to the pit for lunch. I hadn't been to the pit in about 600 million years. The pit is very different than it was when I was a frequent visitor (for lunch and late-night snacks). In the words of Ethan Borshanksy, "It now appears that the pit is decorated for a junior high school play..." which is strangely appropriate. Lots of musical symbols are plastered all over the walls (as if we need to be reminded that we go to music school...isn't the fact that the two eating areas in the dorm are called The Orchestra Pit and Cadenza Cafe). They also sell all sorts of things that never could be found there before...such as deodorant and other bathroom items...I do remember one time around Easter where you could buy a nice fluffly bunny and right next to it was a stack of No-Doze...hmmmm. but I digress...lunch back in the dorm was very fun, and it was nice to visit with Heather and Mary, and even see Jonathan Ware fora brief moment. Musica Nova proceeded as normal, as well as Phil. Things seem to be sounding pretty good. Varon is getting into his, "you guys sound amazing" phase...which is nice, but a little frustrating at the same time. We really still have a ton to work on in all of the pieces, and he is already dismissing it as being a great concert. Hmmm....But Sam Angelo sounded amazing...good for her! Dim-Sum with lots of people was fun. I need to start eating at the apartment again. I am spending so much money it is not even funny. I have eaten about one meal at the aparment this week, I think. A trip to Wegman's will be required soon. Me and Brian went back to the aparment and engaged in some quick drinking, and then for me it was off to the opera. While I must admit, I didn't really have high hopes for the opera, it was very fun to see all of CCE in the orchestra (except me...) I was reminded of the time last year when all of CCE was in PCO except Kim...strange how the ensembles have never seemed to get us all together in one thing...this year in Musica Nova it was all of us except Heather. Maybe we will still get that concert at some point...but back to the opera. The singers were great...the costumes were great, the set was great...the music was not...the story made almost no sense (however that isn't the worst possible thing for an opera). It was still fun to see...and I am glad I didn't have to play in it. And Robert Ward (who I had a little run-in with) even came up on the stage for a bow. Afterwards it was time to party, so we went to the Old Toad, had some drinks, had some food. Went back to my apartment, had some more drinks...got an email from Brad informing me and Kimberly that we will be playing in the next Musica Nova concert. This most likely means we will both be in double rotation...since the Phil piece is Bartok Concerto for Orchestra and we both want to play it. At least that rotation is very short. And as a sidenote...Lauren informed Brad that there was a picture of him posted on this very blog...which was a little bit awkward for me...but whatever...it was kind of funny too. RPO audition on Monday...I want it to be over so I can practice music that I need to practice. Ugh...

Ipod...Inventory

This entry could also be called: Things you don't really care about, but you will most likely read about them anyway...Come to think of it, most of my entries could be called that. But I'm bored and my ipod is plugged in, so here are some random facts that you most likely didn't know: 1800 Songs...6.5 Days of Music...10.03 Gigs Currently Listening to: Entry of the Builders from the Trojans by Berlioz Most Listened To: Quando me'n vo (Musetta's Waltz) Least Listened To: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Minimalist Music: 27.5 hours (16.6% or ipod) Search for CCE reveals 1.4 hours of Music including a movement from Mahler 8 And that's probably all you need to know...

Orchestra Rehearsal (not Phil)

Today, at my second shift in the library, I watched the worst movie I have seen in a long time. Perhaps I just didn't understand it, but to me, Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal is a total mess. Its kind of told through a series of interviews of musicians of an orchestra. The interviews are all horribly overdone, usually the person talking about how their instrument is amazing and how it is so much better than everyone else's. Each person in each section hates each person in every other section, and all of the musicians hate the conductor, and the conductor hates all of them. Eventually things descend into a massive free-for-all that is broken up by a giant wrecking ball that nearly destroys the church they rehearse and perform in. Perhaps I hated this movie so much because I know that things are really not like this at all. The movie is purposely overdone like this, but I guess it is too hard to relate to, because the situation is so completely ridiculous. If found myself hating each and every character and hoping that they all got killed in the end (which they don't, unfortunately). Maybe this movie was beyond me, I read somewhere that it is supposed to be a retelling of the history of Europe (in just over an hour...Sure whatever) but it seems a little more general to me. I am curious what other musicians think of this movie. However, I do not recommend it to anyone. And as a side note: this was my first Fellini movie, I hope they are not all like this. Ugh... Orchestra Rehearsal (1979)...53%

Thursday Morning Library Blogging

It seems that all of my blog activities are now taking place in the library. This means one o two things: 1) I work in the library far too often: I have no other choice than to leave blog entries from the library...2) I write blog entries far too often: I have no other choice than to leave blog entries in the library. But anyway...I am here in the library, bright and early, at 8:30am...don't know why I took this shift... Apparently my grandmother is getting acccustomed to her new surroundings. For those of you who don't know (which is basically everybody, I think, cause I never talk about it) My grandmother recently made the move from her house in Evanston, where she had lived for a very very very long time to a retirement home on the other side of town. This was a very difficult sitiution because she was not ready to move out of her house, but she really needed to for several reason I won't go into. But in recent weeks she has changed from calliing The Mather Place 'The Jail' to calling it 'The Hotel.' I think from looking at the pictures you will agree that it resembles a hotel much more than anything else. According to my mom she is getting her hair and nails done all of the time and she is even insisting on buying high heel shoes...because of course she has to look fashionable in front of the other ladies. And she is also doing Yoga everyday (she even turned down a trip to Nordstrom with my mom to do her yoga)...which means that my grandmother is currently more phisically active than me (which is my fault...ugh...I need to get back to the gym). I had a interesting run in with a certain composer yesterday. I was working in the library (surprise) when a nice old man wanted to use the DVD player in the listening room. I told him where to go, and about 30 minutes later, he came back and told me he couldn't get it to work. I kindly went back nad pressed play for him, and of course, nothing was wrong with the machine. He had a few more troubles including accidentally hitting stop (after which I had to go back an press play for him again since he didn't remember how to do it). It turns out that this nice old man (and he was very very nice) was none other than Robert Ward. Ward is here since there is currently a production of his opera going at Eastman. The performances are this weekend and I plan to go on Friday since everyone in my chamber group is playing except for me!

Wednesday Morning Library Blogging

I am trying to get a few new things in my "sidebar" at the right. Hopefully you will notice a new section of recent comments and at the bottom there should be an archive of previous posts by month. I can't seem to get each month to appear on a new line though, which kind of annoys me since every other list at the side has this feature. Does anybody have suggestions for new and exciting things to put up here? So, I have been a bit frustrated lately...as Brian can attest to (listening to very frustrated sounds coming out of my room when practicing...but one good that is that I am getting pretty good and the dive bombing sounds in Black Angels). The RPO audition is this coming Monday and I am not prepared at all. The thing is: I can't play off the string...or spiccato of any kind. This is really starting to worry me. I have tried to do everything that teachers have told me, and the stroke just doesn't happen. It is very toubling right now since I need to play Beethoven 8 and Mendelssohn 4 for the RPO audition (Mendelssohn is really becoming a problem) as well as playing principal in Phil with several spiccato solos in the Bancks and the entire Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony (which happens to all be spiccato). Ugh...But enough of me complaining. This has been kind of a nice week so far, and I expect it to keep being a nice week. Having now lesson really seems to clear everything up (even though it is only one hour out of the week) and I have all of this free time to practice. It is very nice having the luxery of a free evening to sit around and practice, then take in a movie or something. Last night, to relieve some of my frustration, me and Brian took in an episode of Twin Peaks (the fabulous TV show created and partially directed by David Lynch). Its fun to keep track of all of the relationships (both acceptable and affairs) as well as the drug running, prostitution, and sketchy dealings that go on in the small town. It seems that at every episode at least two people are connected in some way that you never expected. It really is a great show! Following the episode I continued to practice, got even more frustrated, and then we watched the second episode. Ran downstairs to Kitty's and accidentally interupted Matroyshka rehearsal to grad some DVDs and me and Brian watched Moonstruck. Of course, nothing compares to watching Moonstruck with Heather or Alison (who can both quote every great line at will) but it is always a joy to watch it. And even Brian liked it, and I would say that it is not really a Brian movie. Although, we were very very close to watching Mean Girls...which is easily my most watched DVD (and i have only had it for a few weeks). I put it back on the shelf before I had a chance to open the case. Today will make the 3rd CCE rehearsal in three days for me and Kitty...yesterday we had a sectional and just went through everything we have done up to this point: cleared up a few issues that had escaped us. I think those little sessions would be good to do...just break into two haves and go over things. Maybe we could do it in different combos...if we did it once a week for the next two weeks, every combo would get covered...well, its just an idea. Kimberly and Heather are going to work rock out on their 17 pages of 16th notes at dotted quarter=489. They should have fun with that.