December 8, 2007 at 5:41 AM
So I've managed to survive my first term at university. In a lot of ways it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting in other ways it presented obstacles and challenges I would have never even dreamed could happen but did. This last 3 months or so have been quite the experience. School has been intense but nothing I haven't been able to keep up with thus far (or at least mostly...). It's such a different life living in Vancouver than back home. I can go to concerts daily (if I want) and of high caliber and usually for free or next to nothing. Back home, I'd be lucky to see one or two concerts throughout the whole year that I would consider at all remotely contending with any of the concerts I've seen here. I have friends here who I can sit and browse through scores with for minutes on end or discuss the structure of a shostakovich quartet and we don't get bored... if I even just uttered Shostakovich back home alarm bells would go off yelling "retreat! retreat!"I love it here! Some of the highlights so far have included being in a quartet with three great players who we all feel comfortable communicating with and saying, i love this but i hate this....can we go over this spot or i want to hear this part in the 1st violin. It's great! Performing Firebird right off the bat was also a pretty major musical high, challenging but fun. Seeing and meeting Mark O'Connor was very funky and a nice retreat from strictly classical stuff. Seeing Indian Drumming was incredible! I also got to see Tori Amos last night and what an incredible show that was! So many cool things have happened. Oh yes... and i broke my first piano string and have completed a composition for submission to Sonic Boom. :)Richard, I was simply playing a beautiful song on the piano and *TWANG*! And that chord in that piece will never sound the same again!
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