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June 10, 2005 at 5:40 PM

First entry from Ottawa. Arrived here at the NAC YAP yesterday and it's great to see familiar faces again. My roommate is Carolyn, my old violist from my chamber group last year. This year my assigned pieces are the Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major, and the Britten Phantasy Oboe Quartet.

The accomodations here are totally luxurious compared to most summer music programs. We live in the University of Ottawa dorms; each suite has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchenette with fridge and microwave. There's a free Ethernet connection, which is how I'm able to update. Air conditioning also is practically unheard of at Meadowmount, which I attended last summer, so it's certainly a welcome relief here.

The city is very beautiful and quite clean. I made a quick trip to the Rideau Centre, the local mall, last night with my roommate, another old friend from last year, and the oboist in my quartet whom I just met. We stopped at the pharmacy and then went to the Market to have dinner at a restaurant and watch the street performers, who are fond of doing tricks which involve setting things on fire. I really enjoy being back in Canada.

Some downtime now, during which I should really practice. I feel a bit out of shape since my recital. I need to learn my chamber music and do some good scale work. My guess from my experience last year is that Mr. Zukerman and Ms. Kopec will hear at most a page of my Beethoven Concerto before stopping me and teaching me some open strings again, so I'll just work well on that. My first lesson is Sunday at 11 am.

Also, for those of you who are interested, the brand name of the shoulder pad Mr. Zukerman recommends (just a simple styrofoam pad) is, ironically enough, "We Bad." It should be for sale in the Shar catalog, accompanied by a picture of disgruntled-looking violin students.