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).