It's October and Vancouver rocks!

October 5, 2007 at 3:05 PM

Who says it rains in Vancouver all the time? Oh wait....it does. I actually haven't minded it too much (yet and with the exception of not having rain boots yet and sneakers being horribly uncomfortable when you step into a pool of water unsuspectingly and then have wet feet for the rest of the day). I actually had a major "WOW" moment the other day when I was walking up at the UBC campus. I had gone home for awhile and then went back for orchestra (or was it choir? or some other class?) later in the day and the sun was peeking out from the clouds. It was lightly raining and misty and the sun shining through the raindrops made me smile and wish that I could capture something so beautiful on camera. To add to the beauty of the setting, I was under some thick trees looking out towards one of my favorite buildings on campus that right now is covered in this incredible bright red ivy. The intense greens contrasting with the white of the building and red of the ivy and the way the lighting and water drizzling from the skies all intermingled was truly a "life is good" moment.

Tonight is the dreaded debut with the symphony here at UBC and this afternoon is my first studio class. The orchestra concert actually doesn't scare me even though the repertoire is challenging. The studio class does though. I've only had a short short time to learn and memorise my piece for it and it's not where I want it to be at all. I can play it, ok with the music but i've been so panicked about trying to memorise it on time that all the little technical things have been pushed to the side since I'm not allowed to perform from the music. It sounds like everyone else in my studio class is feeling the same though so hopefully it will be a supportive crowd this afternoon.

Mostly, I love UBC. I have some frustrations for sure but it's mostly a positive experience so far. Great repertoire in my ensembles, an amazing theory professor, a great composition seminar class on 20th and 21st century chamber music (we've looked at Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg, Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time and had a guest lecture by an electro-acoustic composer from the Netherlands) and I've made a lot of really great friends and eaten way too much sushi. :)

Anyways....it's 8am and I have a midterm in an hour. So wish me luck!!! Oh, and if you live in Vancouver - come to the concert at the Chan Centre tonight at 8pm, tickets at the door and it's free!!

And PS - I got to see Sarah Chang play Mendelssohn last weekend!

From Tom Holzman
Posted on October 5, 2007 at 3:19 PM

Sounds like everything is going very well for you. Enjoy!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on October 7, 2007 at 7:33 AM

Good luck with your studio class. I'm glad you got to hear Sarah Chang and see the beauty through the rain.

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