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Kelsey Z.

looking back and ahead

August 24, 2007 at 7:35 PM

I'll start off today by summing up my experiences at YAE. I was really challenged and pushed this year. Playing the Shostakovich was an especially big learning curve when it comes to playing chamber music but more than just the music, the other activities really helped me to appreciate where my strengths are (dance, music) and to really respect where they aren't and the people who excell at those areas (theatre, sciences, art). I've grown so close to so many of the people there in such a short time and since it ended, nearly two weeks ago now many of us have remained in touch. The trio I worked with for the Shostakovich is planning to get together throughout the year since I'll be living full time in Vancouver starting next week. I'm really looking forward to that. The guys were awesome to work with and their humor and musicianship just makes it so much easier to let go and give it your all in a performance and by the end we were starting to get comfortable with speaking out if things weren't gelling or we were frustrated over certain spots.
The concerts were so much fun (and sometimes stressful!) to do. I was so incredibly sad when the final 4+ hour marathon gala concert was over. Saying goodbye to my new friends and old friends from last year and the faculty was hard but at least this time around, I'll be back to Vancouver sooner and be staying so I'll get to see some these faces a little more often again. Some of the workshops that we did throughout our two weeks were drumming, a variety of dance workshops in hip hop, tap, salsa and jive dancing, Shakespearean Theatre, music sensory/perception, astrophysics, conflict resolution, art drawing, new music and so much more. I had so much fun this year, like last year and it was so very hard to leave after the concert despite the fact my body was tired and felt like a piece of lead.

Now that YAE is over and I'm slowly getting over the sadness of not going to music camp, I'm starting to get really excited about school! This last year has been nice to not have the commitment of being in classes all the time from 8am-3:30 everyday but I'm really thrilled to be going to university and studying what I really want to and what I've dreamed of studying for years. It's still surreal that it's actually materializing but I'm sure once I've been there for a few weeks it will start to sink in as I have to begin preparing for midterms and such. I still don't know who my private teacher will be yet but a lot of other things are looking very positive and exciting for this year. It's going to be an exciting, and I'm sure challenging, journey this year.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on August 25, 2007 at 3:01 AM
I'm glad that you have such a pleasant experience to look back on and another one to look forward to. I'm especially glad that your dream of studying music at UBC came true. You worked hard to achieve your dream. Congratulations again.

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Kelsey Z. is from Vancouver, Canada. Biography

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