As annoying as I find Dory, she has a point.

October 1, 2005 at 5:43 AM

While the ups and downs of practicing are not entirely controllable, I've decided the least I can do is fight to stay there once I'm on an up-turn. I've been doing that this week and it's generally working; I have a lesson tomorrow with piano and feel I've worked well again through the first movement. It's at a more decent-sounding level now, although the weakest spots are still the opening, the second themes, and the cadenza--all crucial. The second movement comes more naturally to me and has potential but I haven't had time to fully work everything out yet and fiddle with new fingerings for the octaves (Mr. Preucil does a crawling thing rather than shifting, so I might look into that), and the third movement is just hell. So I have a long way to go but am relieved to finally be getting somewhere at all.

I have also been recording myself while practicing and need to record my lesson tomorrow to send to the Waukegan Symphony conductor, as I may end up having only one rehearsal with the orchestra. (No, that's not a typo, though I wish it were.) I have had the idea of podcasting some excerpts and talking about practicing and improvements for some time, and Robert has updated the blogging portion of the site partly at my suggestion, but it's something I'd have to put more thought into, plus I'd need some kind of fairly basic audio program to be able to insert speech and stuff, so this may take a while.

Another long-term goal: make it to as many Cleveland Orchestra concerts as possible in the next two years. CIM students are also allowed to sit in on some rehearsals (as long as you get there at least 15 minutes early and refrain from breathing or blinking the entire two-and-a-half hours; a specific rule in our handbook explicitly states, "Do not approach the conductor for any reason"), so I will try to do that as well. In my self-absorption I entirely forgot to mention that the opening concert last week was wonderful. Mr. Preucil's Brahms 1 solos were great, and I spoke to raving people who went on different nights, which means he must have played amazingly three nights in a row. (Or his entire life.) I also said hi to my old NUSO stand partner Alicia Koelz who is a new first violinist; it was great to see her. The orchestra's sound is so clear and unified, as anyone who has seen them knows, and I enjoyed Welser-Moest's conducting although I thought his tempos were rather fast for Brahms. There is a new principal oboist this year, Frank Rosenwein, and I thought he was amazing! I absolutely love his tone and vibrato; all of his many solos were quite breathtaking. In general, it is easy to see why Cleveland is considered the most European of the great American orchestras. Which simply increases my interest in studying abroad eventually--I have a couple friends who studied in Austria and it seems like the place to be. However, I figure I'd better become more secure in my playing in my own country first, so for now I'm making the most of living in exciting Ohio! I guess regardless of whatever doubts and uncertainties plague me from time to time, I still somehow (perhaps even arrogantly) sense that finding the right path will be inevitable, that things do work out and come together in the end.

As annoying as I find Dory, she has a point.

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