October 1, 2005 at 6:55 PM

(the audio file is the 1st mvt from the Martinu sonata for cello and piano played by Denise Djokic and David Jalbert)

It's been a week...time to update my blog again. How did they even come up with the word "blog" anyways? Why not "journal" "diary" or what it's derived from "weblog" ? How did it become the BLOG? Then there are all the spinoff's of "blog" such as "blogger" "blogged" "blogging." Blog....sounds like some you shout when you're hiking and come across a fallen tree........oh wait....that's a log. Anyways....if anyone has the answer to the "blog" please feel free to let me know.

Now onto something a little more dense in content.

I am really enjoying working at the local music school. I've been there for a month as an official faculty member and it's proving to be a lot of fun! I have 7 private students and 3 Suzuki groups which along with school and my own practicing keeps me very busy. It's good practice in learning how to balance things though and it allows me to be able to save up a bit of money for my own lessons and endeavors. I have kids from as young as 4 to adults in their 50's and a couple in between so I have a nice variety in ages! Some students are really motivated, others are not so motivated. Some students have great parental and family involvement others do not. It's so interesting to see all the different personalities and types of people who are taking lessons with me this year!

It was my birthday this past week and to my great suprise some friends got my icecream cake and brought it to school! I was not expecting it at all and it was a really nice thing for them to do for me! I got a digital recorder from my parents which was greatly appreciated. I can use it to record lessons and for practice purposes. It's going to be super helpeful as I prepare for my upcoming violin exam. I can record myself playing through a piece and hear better where I bump notes out a little bit or where there are messier spots or extra noises that don't enhance the piece.

One thing that doesn't make me the happiest person this weekend is I have the house basicly to myself and don't have to be going places at all, nobody coming to visit - I can practice! And do homework.... I have a cold though so I'm not feeling quite as productive in the practice department. Don't you hate that congested, stuffed up head, plugged ears thing going on while you practice? Oh well....I've gotten a lot of homework done so far which is good. That all has to be done at some point so now is as good a time as any. My personal goal for today is to get all my homework done so that tomorrow I can do whatever I want without having to be saying to myself "you have an assignment due tomorrow morning at 8" "you have a test tomorrow - you should really finish your review sheet." We'll see if I can actually accomplish that.

Last night I went to a concert. I got to be in the audience for a change! It was really good! I had bought the tickets for this concert months and months and months ago. Cellist Denise Djokic and pianist David Jalbert. I had picked out my tickets to this concert a long time ago so I made sure I was sitting in the perfect spot to see the pianist and the cellist with no obtrusions. I was suceessful on my choice! I had one of the best seats you could have asked for in the whole theatre for that type of concert. I had studied with the cellist's dad, Philippe in the summer so it was kind of cool to hear his daughter perform!

Have you ever been jealous of a players intonation or bow arm? I was last night. I was jealous of the pianist too! Djokic had an incrediably seamless sound. No bumps or scratches or impurities in sound. Her technique and intonation were of extremely high quality and when I've heard people say that she reminds them of Jacqueline du Pre I can definetly see why! Her musicality and sensitivity towards the music was engaging and she made everything look effortless. I was completely drawn in for the whole thing. They played a Brahms sonata, Prokofiev sonata, Louie's Bringing the Tiger Down from the Mountain II and Denise Djokic also played a Bach cello suite, No. 4 in E flat. Talk about a huge program! Jalbert, the pianist was also incrediably engaging and fun to watch. There'd be this myriad of notes coming out of the piano at insane speeds but you'd look at his hands and they just delicately floated over the keys. You can tell these two players have played together for a long time too, the ensemble was really incrediable. It was just a really great evening!