IrishOboe

Every day is beautiful and every day I rejoice in the Lord, but some days the sun shines down and happy praises are easy to voice, and it’s all in the little things.  Perhaps the most precious of little joys was the running hug I got from two-year-old Tamino when I came home today.  That’s the first time I’ve gotten a spontaneous hug from him, and it’s a far cry from his demands that I leave the room when I first invaded his world.  Kids are such a delight when you open your mind and give it time.  For me, the hardest thing about living away from family is living without hugs.  I believe physical, human contact is as necessary to life as exercise.  It’s one of those things that if you don’t do it, you might not noticed, but as soon as you do again you realize just how much you’ve been needing it all along.  Of course I filled up on hugs when Mom and Dad were here, but I’ll take them however they come.  Okay, so maybe not from the nuts on the street . . .

What I’m really doing is avoiding studying for my German test because there’s no way to be ready for it so I might as well be very unprepared for it, um, or something like that.  I wasn’t so prepared for things today either and it was a great day.  I lived my college years in fear I was never ready for the next thing then collapsing in relief when I actually survived.  A 3.9whatever might not look like surviving, but I have high standards for what being prepared means.  In any case, I’m trying not to stress like that but stay open and ready for whatever can be done with how much I’ve prepared.  As a teacher, I know it takes a lot of negligence on the part of a student to really annoy.  That year in Japan taught me a lot.

So what went well today?  The morning was harp class and though I was challenged as usual I think I hit more right notes than wrong notes if you don’t count the silent notes . . .

I had my second baroque oboe lesson and though I think I only played twice since my performance, they were good sessions and prepared me well enough to greatly effect (positively) my playing in the lesson.  My teacher was “surprised” at the big difference in my playing.  I managed to blurt out in some sort of German that it makes a big difference using more than half a lung!  I’m actually excited to get my modern oboe out and see if that’s much easier as well.  Though I didn’t practice over Easter break, I did think about my posture, and the way I usually stand and sit really does cut off the lower part of my lungs.  Now I remember my Alexander teacher from Eastern Music Festival 1998(?) talking about how the pelvic placement is so important to posture, but I think I let the “sit up straight” people win out and her words lay dormant in my mind until now.

My meeting with Crawford Young went well, but here we both knew that I didn’t do all the work I was supposed to.  Still, we accomplished a lot and I get a second chance next week.  In general, I supposed I should say that after a two week break from the Schola and having time with friends and family I was beginning to think that maybe I wasn’t cut out for more school and that’s I’d rather settle down somewhere then spend intense time in a specialized area which, though exciting now, would probably loose its shine as it ceased to be new.  Getting back into classes, harp, dance, etc. has rekindled my interest and confidence that I’d get a lot out of two more years here.  Who knows what will happen, but at least I’m thoroughly enjoying my time here.  Wow, I think that is the first time in my life that I’ve spelling ‘thoroughly’ right the first time.  That is one of those killer words for me.  Ha!  Even bad spellers can get better with time.  Maybe if I live to 200 I’ll spell half as well as my sister. Lol

Today I saw a dear man and one of the main inspirations for me being here.  Paul O’Dette is an absolutely amazing lute player (is it lutist?) and he teaches at Eastman.  I took his performance practice course and it opened my eyes to a whole new way of playing that I even learned to like Mozart.  Still one of the best concerts in my memory was of him and Kris Bezuidenhout  playing I don’t remember what, but they played so beautifully, so intensely, so joyously, and everyone in the audience was drawn into their playing.  I was on the edge of my seat with a big smile on my face and they were having twice the fun I was.  Words cannot describe it, but keep a look out for the names you might have a chance to hear for yourself.  Paul and Kris are the sweetest creatures as well - can you believe that Kris played for my junior jury and one of my recitals my senior year?  So, long story longer Paul is here to do a performance Friday and I went to part of his master class today.  It was good to see him again and listen to him work with a student, whose playing I’ve admired from afar and who played wonderfully again today.  What soul, what playfulness, what fun!  He’s also a firecracker salsa dancer.  Ah, Europe is a dangerously romantic place to live.  Don’t worry mama. ;)

I had a little time to catch up and chat with Paul and he let me know that Kris is playing here next Friday!  The world has noticed that he is simply amazing and he’s playing all over now.  In Paul’s words “Everyone at Eastman knows he’s the best musician that ever came through, past and present.”  That, my friends, is saying something.  I don’t know all the musicians that went through Eastman, but Kris is one brilliant guy.  I try to let all these amazing musicians inspire me rather than depress me.  What am I doing starting on harp and hoping to get somewhere?  I don’t know, but I am where I am, and that’s good enough for now.

Looks like I’m close to killing another hour.  I might as well sum up the time since Mommy and Daddy went home.  Working backwards, yesterday I had a good harp lesson and a brain-busting, but good meeting with Ken.  There is no such thing as a boring exercise with him!  It’s all I can do to keep up.  He picks a pattern, plays around with it, then walks up the scale with it.  Then at the top immediately switches to the inverse of the pattern and brings it back down the scale.  My job is to listen to the pattern, usually demonstrated a few times, imitate it, then move it up the scale with him and complete the mental gymnastics (never forgetting the finger gymnastics as well) to make the turn and the decent.  Depending on the pattern, it isn’t easy!  It is so valuable, though, and it’s helping already with my fingers, understanding, and ability to parse and remember patterns in music.  I wonder if any of that made sense without musical examples.

Renaissance dance was funny because everyone forgot everything over the holidays.  Baroque dance was encouraging because far from forgetting everything I managed to keep up rather well (omitting the arms, of course).

Tuesday was a normal day of classes minus Inlingua German classes which start Monday.  My glasses fell to the floor and broke again, but I glued them again and they’ve held.  The story of how they broke in the first place is not very romantic, but you’ll get it eventually.  That evening we had Bible study at Stephan’s.  It’s a bright bunch of people, and I really had a hard time keeping my mouth shut and my ears open.  It was over far too quickly.  Maybe if I restrain myself from speaking next time the torture will make it seem longer . . .  But in all seriousness, I am gaining a great respect for the walk of faith that many of them have – each in his own way.  That is very valuable for a Bible study.  It is sad that five of us leave in June!

Monday was delightfully warm and sunny and enjoyed the weather and did some work, enjoying a great hour of conversation with my sister and nephew. 

Random quote of the day to make some of you laugh: “It is So dry.  It is SO dry!  It’s only a little wet.”

Your crazy daughter/sister/niece/friend who hasn’t studied German and it’s 11pm,

Janet