May 2006

Pre-Summer, 2006

May 23, 2006 21:28

Well, another blog entry. About a year apart from my last one- which is about two years after my first entry. I guess that anyone who reads this can discern my relative laxadaisacal attitude when it comes to blogs and any sort of journals. I've decided to try to be better- I won't have internet when I'm away at festival this summer, but it's a good place to keep track of my progress and my ideas.

Anyhow, I'm getting ready to get the gear together and head to Breckenridge, CO for my second year at the National Repertory Orchestra. For those that have not been there, it's an 8-week, all orchestral festival that takes place in the tiny town of Breckenridge at about 10,000 feet altitude. Once you get used to the lack of oxygen, it's amazing. It's the most beautiful place on earth and the musicians are wonderful. It's 5 hours of orchestra a day and about 25 concerts a summer, but it's a blast. Especially the hot tubs.

The thing that makes me a little uneasy about it this year is that Andres Cardenes is going to be coming to give a 2-day series of master classes on the biggest violin excerpts out there- Don Juan, Schumann Scherzo, Mendelssohn Scherzo, Prokofiev Classical Symphony, and Mozart 39. All of these are excerpts that I have worked on before, but I'm still a little nervous about it. I'm only 20 and I don't spend much time on excerpts- I'm still trying to solidify my technique, so it's mostly etudes, concertos, sonatas, etc. I'm not planning on concentrating on excerpts until graduate school, as most people do. Most of the violinists that will be there this summer are older and far more experienced, so it's going to be extremely intimidating to get up in front of these very accomplished violinists to play for the concertmaster of Pittsburgh Symphony. This is a good reason for me to really start practicing hard again. I got home from my junior year on Mother's Day and I have since been very lazy. It's been a nice break but it's time to get going.

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May 2006

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