Natasha, are you a (INSERT COLLEGE NAME HERE) Woman?

February 7, 2007 at 2:22 PM

Why is it that I always seem to write more in the days preluding a Chemistry exam?

Well, in any case, I *do* have a Chemistry exam tomorrow which I am half dreading and half looking forward too. I feel quite prepared, although I've said that before with dire consequences.

Oddly enough, I was interviewed recently by the local newspaper who, apparently, got information on me off this website. I can only assume they google-searched my name and found my bio page, unless they somehow hacked into my xanga account. So that was surprising.

Appreciation dinner #1 went quite well, despite the fact that I had no time to warm up at all. In fact, as they were announcing my name, I was running to unpack my violin. But it sounded quite good and I got to meet part of the musical circle up in Fort Meyers. Being so involved in Naples, I don't get many opportunities to associate with the musicians and administration of the SWFL Symphony, so this was quite nice.

Appreciation dinner #2 for the Naples Music Club is rapidly approaching, but I'm very confident I can pull that off. I have to have the lovely Symphonie Espagnol recorded and shipped off to numerous summer camps by March 1st, which makes me a little nervous, but my teacher assures me I am far ahead of schedule. This year, I'm going to try to get into CIM's Encore, since I'll be trying out there for college and I'd like to meet some of the faculty, check out the campus, etc. My boyfriend recently auditioned there and liked it a lot, so I suspect I'll like it too. Just as a safety-net, I've also auditioned for Brevard again. Concerto competition falls yet again on the week before my birthday...something else I have to have the Lalo polished up for. Nothing like working under pressure!

I was privileged to attend the most recent concert at the Phil, namely, Jennifer Frautschi's performance of the Khatchaturian violin concerto. I really enjoyed myself! The opening piece was the overture to Donna Diana by Raznecek (I'm sure I spelt that wrong), which I had never heard before and actually enjoyed very much. The Khatchaturian was, in a word, amazing. First of all, I've never heard someone take it that fast. It was about twice as fast as my recording (with Oistrakh) but Ms. Frautschi did an excellent job. One complaint I would have was that her violin didn't seem to project very well. I feel horrid saying that, because she plays the ex-Cadiz Strad, but I had pretty good seats in the middle, and I couldn't hear some of her low and high notes at all. The following Prokofiev symphony no. 6 was not my cup of tea, but I attribute that more to a fault in my appreciation of modern music than to the orcehstra's performance. Nonetheless, it was an evening well spent and it was certainly worth the five dollars I paid for my ticket!

Much to Mr. Neal's delight, Mr Gao, the associate concertmaster of the Phil and the first violin sectional coach (not to mention the instructor of many of the violins in the youth orchestra) has pulled together a quartet with the section leaders of our orchestra. Being concertmistress, he selected me to play first violin. We had our first rehearsal Sunday. It was great fun! Mr. Gao selected some really fun music to play and we're already starting to "mesh" as a good chamber ensemble should. We already have three concerts booked, so I'd say we're off to a darn good start!

Mr. Neal's starting to plan where I need to go to try out teachers for college. Luckily, my academic scores are high enough that I shan't have any problems getting into a college there...in fact, since I took the PSAT, I've been getting about 10 emails per day from various colleges with those great subject headers like "Natasha, you have a choice to make..." and "Brown wants you to take a survey..." and "Natasha, you have strong academic abilities..." So funny. I made the 96% percentile, so I'm hoping I get a commended scholar thing from the National Merit people, but I won't know until next year. But anyways, Mr. Neal's started throwing places out at me: Indiana, CIM, Oberlin, Carnegie-Mellon, Peabody (oddly enough), U of Michigan...places places places. Now I just have to scrape together the money to get airline tickets.

Now about that Chemistry exam...I really should review that stuff and read ahead for class...which starts in half an hour...so...tata.

~Natasha

From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on February 7, 2007 at 2:47 PM

FYI, Encore isn't held at the CIM campus. It's on the campus of a boarding school in Hudson, Ohio.

From Sydney M.
Posted on February 7, 2007 at 10:24 PM

Glad to hear you like Frauttschi. I'm seeing her in May playing the Saint-Saëns No. 3!

From Natasha Marsalli
Posted on February 7, 2007 at 10:52 PM

Thanks, I didn't know that it wasn't on campus...my teacher seemed to think it was...in any case, I'll probably go visit/get in some trial lessons there after camp ends...in any case I'll get to meet some of the teachers and stuff.

Yeah, she's really good! She should be awesome with the Saint-Saens...you'll have to tell me how that goes.

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Natasha, are you a (INSERT COLLEGE NAME HERE) Woman?

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