October 10, 2004 at 10:49 PM

I just returned from London. I did all the touristy stuff: saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and London Bridge. One of the most impressive things was St.Pauls. The last time I had been there was the morning after Princess Diana died. Today I walked in while they were having a service. The choir was singing and the big organ playing. The sound was amazing. Boys singing like what I really imagine angels to sound like, the organ and the men together made the air almost visible tremble. A new dimension of sound has definetly made it into my colorrange of what I would like to have my violin sound like.

Exactly one month from today I will go to a competition in Korea. It is the first time they are holding it for violin. I am excited, but also very nervous. I am starting the repertoire tomorrow, which is quite late (new pieces for me are: 2 pieces by Yun and Ysaye 5, the others are: Bach, 2x Paganini, Franck, and Tchaik concerto)
However the audition has given me a complete new impulse to work very hard. Mainly because 24 hours later, the thing that stands out from the audition, was that I again noticed how much I love performing and interacting with people, even if it is the entire 1st violin section of an orchestra. The thing that I expected to stand out (the fact that I completely screwed my Strauss) isn't that important feelingwise. But I did learn a lot from it, to start with I need to practice more!

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