With New Year's Eve comes visions of champagne, bubbles, the clinking of glasses, smiling friends, sparkling dresses, and those pesky resolutions. I have plenty of resolutions myself, in addition to coming up with a brand new January challenge, which I'm keeping under wraps until tomorrow (trying to hide the fact that I don't even know what it's going to be yet). I've been trying to see all the great movies of 2012 before the year changes, but I sort of failed on that front. I did see Les Miserables, however, and I can't recommend it enough. I've never seen the musical before, but I gotta say, the movie that's out right now is phenomenal. I also realized it had the same producer as the Phantom of the Opera (in Royal Albert Hall). Still on my list is Lincoln, (directed by Steve Spielberg and music by John Williams), Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, and Silver Linings Playbook.
The past few New Years have been interesting to say the least. I don't think I've ever had a successful New Years Eve party in years. In fact, probably since high school, when I had all my best girlfriends over for hot tubbing bliss and cups of ginger ale.
The year after was spent with my cousin and brother...not so much bliss in the hot tub that year, except for my brother shouting "shit! my cell phone" after realizing it had been in his pocket, submerged.
Throughout college nothing too exciting. I've celebrated the new year in Miami, New York, Boston, and Providence. I've never been to a first night, I prefer to watch the crowds from the comfort of my own home.
Two years ago was kind of an epic fail. I say kind of, because it actually worked out quite nicely. I eventually found myself at a friend's frat house, we all said happy new year, clicked our champagne glasses (after a few gin and tonics), and watched some fireworks from the roof. The only problem, was that I was trying to meet up with my friends who were coming into the city "later"...and nobody really knew what time "later" was. The year after that I had to work, and celebrated with some work friends at a local bar.
I'm looking forward to this year's celebration, since I get to spend it with some of my best girlfriends, from the aforementioned hot tub experience.
It doesn't really matter where you spend New Year's Eve, as long as you're surrounded by friends and family. If you're away from someone you love, you can keep them in your thoughts and in your heart. 2012 was a tough year, possibly with more downs than ups, but 2013 holds hope. Hope for more ups than downs, most opportunities to do the right things, be a better person, and have a good, happy life. You don't need January 1st or a new year resolution to change for the better. Just do it.
You deserve to be happy.
Have a happy, healthy, and safe New Year's Eve everyone!!
There was a light dusting of snow on Christmas Eve, but as I predicted, the morning was cloudy, gray, and was raining on and off. I spent the night on the couch listening to some awesome Christmas music by Sufjan Stevens...a new musical discovery...and somehow slept through my little brother opening his stocking from Santa.
Christmas Day is rather low key for us. We usually open most of our gifts on Christmas Eve, since that's when my family tends to get together. Then Grandma sleeps over (hence, my staying on the couch...in my haunted living room). My mom made a delicious Christmas dinner...brisket with au jus, squash, cheesy potatoes, and rice pilaf. A glass of white zinfandel (I never drink zinfandel...but for some reason I had so much of it in the past few days).
One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a fabulous dress...and I hope I get invited to a fabulous new years party...or a fabulous event...where I can go and look...fabulous.
My mom and I finished up the night snacking on chips (seems to be our thing lately), and watching Big Bang Theory.
Day after Christmas? Also...a light dusting. But the Day after the Day after Christmas (aka today) was the same rainy, cloudy, gray day. The day after Christmas was really great though. Finally got to meet up with my friends in Providence and we went to Providence Coal Fired Pizza. Which is AWESOME. I thought it would be a lactose intolerant's nightmare, but it was so. damn. good...and on the swanky side! Not only do they have pizza, but they had wings, hummus, soup, salads, and amazing cocktails. I had two Orange Basil Mojitos, which went really well with my hummus. Our party of 6 got to sit at the really awesome pizza bar, where we got a great view of all the guys making pizzas in "Rhode Island's only authentic coal fired oven"...although I don't know how big of a deal that statement is since Rhode Island is...tiny. I didn't have a whole lot to eat, because my mom and I had shared a plate of Nachos and a sandwich a few hours beforehand.
For the rest of the night we laid low...had a few glasses of white zin at my friends' apartment while chilling out, watching Ted for the second time, and playing with Otie. I'm not actually sure the spelling of the dog's name...but he's really cute and friendly. Not to mention loyal...as he almost bit one of my friends who got into a fake slapping fight with his owner. There were also some fish in a really, really cool fish tank.
It's a fun place.
My only complaint was that it was really crappy snow-man making snow. But at least it was a day-after-Christmas magical miracle moment.
What a great couple of days of the start of vacation. So relaxing.
Yesterday was, of course, Festivus (for the rest of us), a made up American holiday as seen on the TV show, Seinfeld. Here is a short clip of the episode, which explains all of the facets of the holiday.
Here in Rhode Island we don't have a crawl space to store an aluminum pole, nor do we participate in the "Airing of Grievances" or the "Feats of Strength". Those we save for the Costanza family. Instead I celebrated by cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry, and packing for my two weeks at home. I took the train from Back Bay (I arrived with enough time to eat a muffin before our departure), and arrived an hour later in Providence. I know in other posts I've bragged about my amazing packing capabilities, but this time I forgot my tooth brush. Fail.
We had grinders for dinner, and my mom and I ate almost a whole bag of chips "because they were there". Then I went to meet a friend for drinks and learned that Bailey's has .05% lactose in it, and being lactose intolerant that is very important information...so I can have as many espresso and chocolate martinis as I want! (well...in moderation of course).
I also learned about this creepy little video game fact: Japanese video game music composer, Kazumi Totaka, has hidden a signature melody in some of his video games. And it's really creepy.
Being Christmas Eve, and by the way, it's snowing right now (although it will probably turn to rain tomorow), I have already eaten myself into a food coma, and received a few gifts. My family opens the majority of our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, since that's when our family gets together. We started the late afternoon with a huge Christmas Eve dinner, consisting of baked shrimp, green bean casserole, carrots, buns, and baked stuffed potatoes.
Yummy.
Then we opened up our presents. My grandma started this awesome tradition of getting all the girls something, and all the guys something. It started a few years ago when all the guys got warm fur winter hats. The next year, all the girls got warm furry hats. This year, all the guys got some really nice warm socks that you can wear in boots, and the girls got pajama pants. We proceeded to wear them on our heads.
Lookin' like a fool with our pants on our heads...
My night also had an awesome surprise, as one of my very good friends from the Dominican Republic video called me! One of the sweetest girls I've ever met, and she called me to say Merry Christmas! It got a little weird when my uncle tried to speak Spanish to her, but it was hilarious and a good time.
My brother and I finished up the night by making a stop to see my dad before heading home. We had a drink and caught up, which was really great, and well overdue.
On our way home, it started snowing, and it was the perfect end to our Christmas Eve.
Judging by the title of this post, you probably can guess what I ate tonight.
A good friend of mine just finished her bachelor's degree, and tonight we were celebrating! My little girlfriends and I stopped in at a great tavern in Harvard Square, a little place that goes by the name of Russell House Tavern. I chose to have the hickory smoked lamb's belly toast, with walnuts, apricots, and harissa-ginger aioli over the house made terrine, which was made of meat from a pig's head...but I've eaten that before. Yes, I've eaten some weird things in my day. To elaborate quickly, I attended a pig roast where we essentially ate the whole pig. My favorite part was sampling all the different parts of the head. I had pig cheek, forehead, eyeball, and brain.
Back to the lambs belly...
Lamb belly is really really good. It's part of the "unctuous" (a more appetizing term than 'fatty') midsection, located below the loin, that supposedly has some of the strongest flavors in the lamb. I personally like pork belly a little more, but the lamb and the walnuts and the apricot...so tasty.
Then we made a stop at Burdick's for some hot chocolate. I know some of you will be very disappointed, but I didn't get any hot chocolate. Mainly because one of the main ingredients other than chocolate is milk...and I didn't exactly feel like encountering a lactose episode.
Christmas shopping happened next, and we ran into a few other friends. Actually, the enemy of the friend I was with...and lo and behold, a Christmas miracle happened. We met them for drinks at City Bar in the Lenox hotel, and they became friends!
I still need to pack, do laundry, clean the kitchen, and take care of a few things before I leave tomorrow (actually, today, since it's 2:38 am)...but staying true to form, I am saving those things for the very last minute. I'm a packing expert, remember?
Some music, non classical today. I can't stop listening to this song...
Just as I decided to change my goal for this month from good deeds to expanding my knowledge, a good deed falls into my lap. Holidays make people crazy, and apparently makes people leave their keys, wallet, and other assorted important looking things on a bench by the T. After looking around to see if anyone was rushing in a holiday induced frenzy to claim it at the last minute, I picked it up and brought it to one of the MBTA officers. Something tells me they won't go very far without their keys/wallet/important looking things. I hope they realized they left their stuff at Kenmore station, and went to get it.
On another note, I've been self-teaching myself Spanish. The website I've been using is http://www.studyspanish.com/, which works a hell of a lot better than google translate. It has all these different lessons, along with someone from Spain and Peru saying it correctly (I assume) and has quizzes. Oh, and it's free...which is a lot cheaper than investing in Rosetta Stone. For now. I spent a few hours on pronunciation, the alphabet, vocabulary, diphthongs, etc. So definitely learned a few new things today. At least when I return to the Dominican Republic I can hopefully communicate like a human being. Although since I'm self-teaching myself, it will probably be a really messed up, weird version of Spanish.
In other news, I also learned that the ears of a cricket are located on their front legs just below the knees.
Perhaps some music this evening? Sorry this is such a weird post.
Since the world is supposedly ending tomorrow, here's some festive music, Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen.
I've been feeling rather uninspired to write due to this month's challenge. Okay, doing a good deed every day is a really good idea, but what am I supposed to write about?
"Today I held the door open for someone" or "Today I gave an elderly woman my seat on the T".
We all do good things for each other every day, and most of the time I don't even notice. I need something I can actually write about. So I'm going to change it up, or in the very least start the January challenge early.
I've been inspired by this book I'm reading, entitled The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs. He spent a full year reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. I just finished reading his book called The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, where he tries to follow every rule written in the Bible. He does these year-long challenges (instead of my measly 30 day challenges) and then writes a book about it, and/or has a TED talk about it. His newest book is called Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, which is next on my list.
Here is the TED video for the book I just finished, and in it, he talks about other "experiments" he has done:
We live in an age where our phones are smarter than us, where people playing word games on their cellphones are at an all time high, and yet it seems that people using correct spelling, grammar, and vocabulary are at an all time low. Our phones correct our spelling for us, penmanship is a lost art due to computers, and grammar is corrected by the little animated paperclip in Word documents.
We all have questions that randomly pop into our heads, from the serious to the funny, for example:
"How much does an unmarried dependent student have to make before he/she has to file an income tax return?"or most recently,"What is a dingis?"
I would say most of us have a version of an iPhone, where no matter where we are in the world, we can look up the answers to these questions. So what's our excuse? "I don't know the answer because I'm too lazy to take my phone out of my pocket and type the question into google and then wait for the answer to load". Seriously.
So for the next 30 days, I will let no question go unanswered. I will learn correct spelling, attempt to use correct grammar, and will find out which actor plays that role in that movie I watched a few days ago...instead of waiting until 3 in the morning for it to pop into my head. We've all been there.
There's the saying "You learn something new every day", or in the spirit of this challenge, "You learn several new things every day". Now, I want to be original and I don't want to make it easy for myself, so I won't want to take any information from The Know-It-All. I'm not on a quest to be the smartest person in the world. I'm not even on a quest to become smart. I'm just simply trying to make the best use out of the technology that I have, retain some useful information, and learn something interesting.
I wanted to write about how Paul Hindemith, one of my favorite composers from Germany, favored Budweiser over any other beer. After pouring over articles, letters, and wikipedia entries, I couldn't find any proof to back that up. It's a nice thought though.
Here's a fact for you. If Stravinsky was around today, he would most likely have an iPhone with the Words with Friends app. Apparently, the guy was a big fan of Scrabble...in addition to being a musical genius.
Here's a clip from a performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and this video just happens to begin at my favorite part. Well worth the watch, so many colors and textures, really fun to play, and there is even some subtle humorous camera work in there.
Above is the best recording I could find of Camille Saint-Saens Tarantella Op. 6. It is my newest chamber music endeavor, and an exciting one at that. A Tarantella is a southern Italian traditional folk dance, characterized by a fast tempos, usually in 6/8, and accompanied by tambourines (I should know...I danced a tarantella in my short-lived career as a ballerina).
I'm the cutie in the green
There is an interesting history behind this dance. Basically, back in the day if someone was bitten by a certain poisonous tarantula, there was a common belief that one needed to engage in a frenzied dance; a sort of "musical exorcism", to prevent a hysterical condition known as "tarantism", followed by death of the disease.
Even when I am playing, when I get to the chromatic passages, my fingers and hands almost feel like the itsy bitsy spider, going up and down the clarinet. As you can hear, it is still a beautiful piece of music, beginning with a creepy crawly theme which comes back, with some really beautiful passages in the middle.
I've always been afraid of spiders, and I feel like everyone has a funny spider story, whether it's leaving fake spiders in a siblings bed (guilty), or trying to squish one but missing and having it run into a closet/heater/unreachable crevice (also guilty). However, after my most recent trip to the Dominican Republic, spiders don't scare me as much, since I had lizards to worry about. Although, I'm sure east coast spiders are nothing like spiders found in other regions, so I withdraw my last statement.
Hopefully we will have a great recording of the Tarantella soon so I can share it with you. Speaking of recordings, here is a great one of me and my chamber group during a live performance of our trio!
P.S. I sincerely apologize for being lacking in my blog lately, I've been very under the weather, but I've been regaining strength and feeling a little better.
Being no stranger to military auditions, I came in knowing full well what to expect. The usual check in at the front gate, but instead of hoofing it to the music building, I was lucky enough to get a ride with four other auditionees. It being a foggy day in Sacramento, and a little on the chilly side, I was hoping my reeds hadn't changed too much. After warming up for about a half hour, I realized they were in good shape, and I felt good.
We gathered in a large room for the first round, which consisted of Poulenc Sonata (our chosen piece), the exposition of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, a few excerpts, and some scales and arpeggios. Last year, when I was taking these auditions I didn't even get past the first round. My goal for this audition was to at least advance, and I did.
The second round consisted of some more excerpts, plus sight-reading, which I thought was blasphemous, but it turns out I did really well. Some of the excerpts I had seen/heard/played before, so that was a nice surprise.
One big airplane
I didn't advance to the third round, but at least I got that far. Music is such a competitive field, and even though there were less people than most auditions, they were all really solid players. I am very happy for all of the auditionees who advanced to the final round, and for the person who won the job.
I was offered the rare opportunity of speaking with the audition panel to get some feedback on my audition. They really had nothing bad to say about my playing, which made me feel really great. I knew deep down that I had truly played my best, and that is what counts. I might not have made it this time, but at least I now know the few things that I need to work on to really stand out (in a good way) for next time. They loved my sound, and how in tune I was, and they especially liked how expressive my playing was. Unfortunately I had made a few technical errors, but they were very sincere when they told me I should come back an audition again, should a position open up. Really in the end, I just need to clean up a few little things, and I'll be good to go.
Feeling good about the audition, I returned to my hotel. I wanted to unwind by hanging out in the hot tub a little bit, but it was a little unkempt, so I opted for a more relaxing bubble bath...while watching Nightmare Before Christmas...while eating Cheetos. Keeping it classy. Then I took myself out to dinner, and I was hooked up with a $30 gift certificate type thing which I was able to use, to I basically was able to eat and drink for next to nothing. It was a really, really good day.
I feel great about my playing, great about my next audition, and I finally got some reassurance from the actual audition panel that I was doing a lot of things right. I was so close to advancing to the final round, I could almost taste it. I was a little bummed that I didn't (but who wouldn't be), but after giving it a lot of thought, my goal was to advance, I met that goal, and I played to the best of my ability.
Every audition is a learning experience, and I definitely was able to learn a lot...and it was possibly the best clarinet lesson I'll have all year.
The next time you'll hear from me, I'll be back home in Boston!
With my no-see-um bites barely starting to fade (over 100), and my suitcase still half packed from my most recent trip, I was off again to the airport. Going through airport security at 4:45 in the morning was so easy I basically did it on auto-pilot (pun intended). Liquids? Out. Electronics? Out. Jacket, sweater, shoes? Off. Slide everything down to the conveyor belt, wait for the "okay" and walk through the metal detector. Shoes and sweater back on, repack liquids and electronics, find gate. Piece of cake. Landed in Chicago, had an hour to grab my transfer flight...fell down. It seems to be my tradition, falling in airports...because it happened almost exactly a week ago in Miami. Or maybe I should wear flats instead of my really cute booties with a heel...those sneaky airport floors.
The easy part of the trip was not having to check any bags. So I threw my audition clothes, 4 shirts, PJs, 2 pairs of pants, and 2 pairs of shoes into my backpack (with room to spare, I felt like maybe I forgot something...but I didn't...because I'm a pro). My books and homework are in my purse, and of course, my laptop is in my clarinet case. I may look like a bag lady, but at least I didn't have to wait at baggage claim, or chance that I wouldn't have my audition clothes.
After a much longer ride in a cab than I expected from the Sacramento airport, I finally arrived at my hotel room, with a huge king size bed, big TV and big clean bathroom (very important). Whenever I get to a hotel room and I'm by myself, I feel kind of lonely. So I unpacked my nice clothes so that they wouldn't be wrinkled, and called Adam. I realized that I had been up since 3:30am, and I was probably just tired. In fact, it seemed that the only good deed I did today was not killing the small child who was crying on the airplane. It was only 1pm with the time change, so I climbed into the fresh linens and slept for a good few hours. When I woke up, I was still a little tired, so I rested while watching Hot Tub Time Machine on Comedy Central, followed by Wedding Crashers. Took a hot shower, and decided to run through my audition rep. Felt so much better. I feel really, really good about this audition, not necessarily the outcome, but my playing has improved so much since my last one.
There was a little bit of an awkward moment. My room is located right beside a large room with many chairs in it. Unbeknownst to me, there was apparently a church/memorial type service taking place there, but I didn't notice, since I hadn't yet left my room. I was playing with my "indoor" dynamics, and during my run through of Stars and Stripes Forever I heard someone talking in the hallway. I looked through my peep hole in my door, and but could still hear the voice even though I didn't see anyone. I opened the door, which opened with a pretty loud squeak, to find the room across from me full of people, complete with candles, and a woman was speaking, and it sounded emotional. So here was this emotional speech going on, and I realized that they could probably hear me practicing. Awkward.
By this time, then I was hungry. There is a large complex right behind my hotel, complete with McDonalds, Subway, a sushi place, Outback Steakhouse, and a theatre. I brought back a sandwich to my hotel room, laid in my comfy bed, and began watching the Food Network. It was a good day, and now I'm going to catch up on some sleep, with the time difference working in my favor. Tomorrow morning I'm splitting a cab with a fellow auditionee, and getting to the Travis Air Force base bright and early.
Can't wait...because every audition, no matter the outcome, is a learning experience.
I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. After returning from the Dominican Republic, I was sick for quite a few days, and needed to recover some of the hours of sleep I lost. I've also been working extra hard on my audition material for this weekend's big challenge-flying to California to audition for the United States Air Force Band at the Travis air force base. I fly out tomorrow, but I didn't want to leave you hanging...
image from the internet
This is a short post, but I've decided on my simple December challenge. With the holidays fast approaching, and the December days flying by, lets all find the good in all of us, and do something nice for someone every day.
from the internet
So this holiday reason, while rushing around trying to get presents for loved ones, trying to get places, try to remember the words of the Buddah:
"Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and guidance of virtue."
or the Dalai Lama: "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." or Jesse Jackson: "Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up." or H. Jackson Brown Jr.: "Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day." or Ralph Waldo Emerson: "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." and Mark Twain: "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
artofdharma.org
Happy Holidays everybody, and stay warm. The next time you hear from me, I'll be in California.
The rest of the week was a blur of sectionals, sectionals, and orchestral rehearsals.
Tuesday
We began with clarinet sectionals upstairs in a hot room that we shared with the oboe players, separated by a curtain. I acquired one more clarinet player from Haiti who arrived the night before with the other Haitian kids. We had a woodwind sectional, co-run by me, the flute teacher, and the oboe teacher. The language barrier caused a very funny situation. The flute player knew more spanish than me and the oboe teacher knew combined, and so he was speaking more Spanish to the kids. We were trying to get the articulation amongst the winds a little clearer and clean, and so he said "más sucio!...más sucio!...crisp...clean". One of the clarinet players who spoke English said, "Do you mean más limpia?" Everyone laughed. He had been saying "more dirty! more...dirty!"
Then we all met for the full orchestra rehearsal, where the teachers played right next to the kids. There was a lot of work that had to get done in three days, and (spoiler alert:) we did it. Tuesday night we held a mini rehearsal for a piece we were going to play in the faculty concert, co-composed by one of the violinists and her friends. It was a fun, quirky piece that pretty much made fun of Mahler, with almost every quote from a Mahler symphony. Very witty, and very well written. We also met two of the older students who hung out with us for a little while, and I actually learned a bit of Spanish. Once you're surrounded and submerged in a culture, it doesn't take long to learn. I think one more week and I'd be speaking it no problem. The violinist who wrote the piece and I, plus the conductor of one of the pieces stayed up very late (until 4am) talking about things that needed to change for the next day. They needed (and wanted) more orchestra! It was because of that conversation that we had additional orchestra rehearsals the next day. And after that night, we became The Trio, staying up until all hours of the morning, hanging out and talking about everything.
Wednesday
In the morning, after eating fresh pineapple, papaya, and watermelon (:-D), I joined my fellow musicians on the beach, who were buying Conch shells. The beach is fine during the day when the sun is out, but if you even venture near the beach towards the end of the day when the sun is going down, a security guard will actually accompany you (with a loaded weapon), for your safety.
We began the day with sectionals. I brought some duets that were photocopied and passed out the parts. We played Home on the Range, Greensleeves, and some simple Mozart and Bach arrangements. It was a great listening exercise. Then we had sectionals (in air conditioning!) and orchestra rehearsal (also in air conditioning!) In orchestra I sat with the first clarinets, since one of them had to go to Santo Domingo. It was a great learning experience, because I was able to help out the first clarinet section. Since the student who played the solos was gone, I thought it would be good experience for the other clarinetist to play them. I was able to help by playing with them, but she did a really good job when she played by herself. All the clarinet players were really fast learners, and it was so nice to be able to work with them. The other students were also really smart. I met a girl who spoke very, very good English who played the trombone. She was a really sweet person, very talented, and very smart. The beauty of the faculty sitting in on the orchestra rehearsals was that other sections could help out. A few times I turned around and spoke with the trombone/trumpet players about the music, and the violins would do the same, etc.
That night, we ate dinner, and started the hang out. Although the hang out never really starts at a certain time. Dinner kind of winds down, drinks get ordered and people just kinda...talk. People gradually leave and go to bed, usually leaving the Quartet (me, 2 violinists, and the conductor). On this night, we had more rehearsals for the faculty concert that would take place the next day. We had a beautiful arrangement of "Call Me Maybe", and I also jumped in reading the 2nd violin part for Por Una Cabeza. Gorgeous music, from Scent of a Woman. Want to see Al Pacino tango?
Thursday
Now the fun begins. The day began with a quick sectional, where we worked on tuning with the oboes and bassoons, since sharing a room separated by a curtain was a bit counter-productive. We had a break, and then each of the teachers held an open class, where anyone in the community who played clarinet could come. I had about 15 clarinetists, including the 5 clarinetists I already had. The other clarinetists had only been playing for 3 or 4 months, where as mine had 3 or 4 years. I was really nervous, on how to keep them all engaged. What do you do with 15 kids who had varying levels of clarinet experience? You have a masterclass. I started by talking about long tones, which we practiced with chords. The kids were in a square on four benches, and I had each bench play a different note to form a major chord. Luckily, they all knew solfege really well, so it was easy to say "Do, Mi, Sol, Do" for C, E, G, C. After doing that, we played some scales together. I was so thankful that I had someone there who could translate, one of my clarinetists. His teacher was even there, watching the class. Then I had some students come up and play what they were working on. A boy came up and played his part for the National Anthem, and I worked on rhythm with him. Then I had two girls come up and play together one of their band pieces, and I worked on singing notes and rhythms, and we did some listening exercises. Another three boys came up and played their pieces, and I shared with them the importance of subdivision. Then one of my own students came up and played the beginning of the Mozart clarinet concerto. Everyone was listening, and it was so wonderful that even though we speak different languages, we were all able to connect through music. I gave him some musical ideas to work on, since his technique and sound was very good. I tied everything together by saying "All these things I've talked about today are important...long tones, scales, chords, rhythm...but the most important thing while playing music...is to play with your heart". Afterwards, I had a good conversation with the teacher who looked on, and he told me about his clarinet festival he has every year in Santo Domingo. I was really looking forward to hearing their clarinet quartet play that night for the faculty concert.
Then, after lunch I learned the most important lesson. Never walk the 10 minute walk back to rehearsal from lunch while eating a popsicle. There was popsicle everywhere! All over my dress, in my shoe...I felt like a four year old who was eating one for the first time. It was yummy though...and dairy free :)
My clarinet masterclass
Then we had our faculty concert. We rehearsed a bit immediately after the orchestra rehearsal, and then it was time to perform. The concert was held where the first ceremony for us was held (the one that had all the dancers), and tons of people showed up!! The concert started with some flute trios, followed by a Telemann string quartet, a trumpet and trombone duo, a trumpet and percussion duo, an awesome clarinet quartet (2 of my students, plus their teacher and a bass clarinet), then I played Call Me Maybe for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, we played Jordan's awesome piece based around Mahler quotes, and ended the concert with all of us playing Por Una Cabeza.
The concert was great, and it was really inspiring to see how our students came and supported us. I remember being at festivals as a student and going to faculty concerts, and it was the first time I was on the other side, as a faculty member.
That night after the concert we all celebrated. There were more people staying at the hotel, and the bar was actually still open when we got back. A few people came to hang out, and we were relaxing and talking by the pool. It was yet another late night with the Duo (me and my fellow violin player new best friend/big sister/partner in crime). Turns out, when you know the right people, you can get better beer. I had a delicious Belgian beer, which was a huge difference from the Presidente light and crappy Sauvignon Blanc we had been drinking all week. We stayed up late talking about Egmont Overture, of all things, and had a wonderful three hours of sleep. :)
Friday
Ah, the last day. We arrived at the concert venue, which held hundreds of people. We rehearsed and went to lunch. We lucked out and instead of heading over to lunch with everyone, knowing the right people and all, we stopped at a sandwich stop which had been closed the night before, and all got really delicious chicken sandwiches, and I had a mango juice too. Then we came back to rehearse some more, and the second part of that rehearsal was hilarious. Musicians are the same in every culture, turns out. I was sitting at the end of the clarinet section, right next to where my new friend was sitting at the end of the violin section. We were making fun of our conductor friends' conducting, and the horn section caught on...then the percussion section got involved and it was all over. With tears in my eyes trying not to laugh we played through the end of the piece. Then finally it hit me...I was really tired. So me and my big sister got up and sat in the audience to listen. After the rehearsal, we all went on a mission to buy coffee, then we got back to the hotel and quickly showered and dressed for the concert. The concert began with speeches, about bringing both the Dominican Republic and Haiti together. Apparently the night before, the kids all had a big dinner and they shared what they thought about the other country, and it was beautiful and very emotional.
We played for a full house
The concert went so well, and I am so proud of all my clarinetists, the woodwinds, the entire orchestra, and the work that we all put in. We all worked so hard that week, and it really showed. It's such a great feeling to know that you've really made a difference. During the concert, the lights went off! People in the audience freaked out, but the orchestra kept going! Really, really great job. And the music we played was so much fun. We started with Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, then we played two Haitian dances, and ended with a piece called Tres Imaganes Folkloricas (I'll check the spelling on that tomorrow), which my students taught me how to pronounce :) There were so many references to dances, fun percussion spots, and crazy brass melodies that it was so fun to play, and you couldn't help but to sway (at the very least) to the groove.
MESDA group at dinner
Then it was time for a celebration! On our way over to the bus, because me and my new best friend knew all the right people, we were asked if we wanted a beer, and "Salut!"...right in the middle of the parking lot. So we took it on the bus with us, and headed over for dinner.
I'd say we look pretty good for getting less than 4 hours a sleep per night!
The dancers from the first ceremony came back, and we had dinner where we ate lunch every day, except now there were table cloths, covered chairs, center pieces, it was beautiful what they did! We took lots of pictures with our students, shared hugs and stories, took more pictures, and said our final good byes. It was such a rewarding experience, and since we all had worked so hard, we decided we would take a night on the town!
We got back to the hotel and packed for a little bit, and went down to the bar to wait for our friends who had a car. After a glass of wine, they came to get us, and we all crammed into the car. We went to an outdoor bar that had lots of dancing, loud music, and lights. Since we were Americans, we got lots of looks, but we found a table and ordered some drinks, and mixed our rum with some coke. And then I learned how to merengue! Fast learner. :)
Then some of us were hungry and cranky, so we stopped at a place called Juniors, right around the corner and ordered burgers and fries. Then we got dropped off and hung out for a little while longer. One by one everyone left to go to bed, leaving the Trio. We sat outside on a balcony watching youtube videos, talking, laughing, and just having a good time. The sun was almost up and I fell asleep in my big sisters room looking at all the pictures I took. An hour later, I woke up to the sounds of her packing and I ran back to my room and finished packing up. We went downstairs for our last breakfast, and boarded the bus.
We shared the bus with some Haitian students, which was hilarious. Even though they were speaking Spanish, you could tell they were making fun of our conductor friend. Yes, musicians are the same everywhere.
Yes, we were exhausted and totally fell asleep for most of the bus ride back to Santo Domingo. Too much fun for us! It was an amazing trip, and I really hope to go again next year. If I had the option to stay there for another month, year, two years, I would. My only complaint is that we had to leave! We boarded the plane to Miami after eating some fried food (which gave me a really intense stomach ache until tonight!), and after our lay over, finally made our way to Boston. It was cold and dark when we got back, and I was tired and felt sick, but it was good to get home and sleep.
I finally feel much better, still a little sleepy, but comfortable. I needed a day of sleep and relaxing.
xoxo
(Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors...so tired.)
Our first full day...unreliable internet last night :/ Sorry for no pictures, they take forever to load.
I'm about to make everyone living in
the northern states a little jealous. I'm just sitting poolside,
typing in the dark, a few of my new friends are close by, but I
already went for a swim and it's time to blog. Today was
incredible-the first time I saw my surroundings in the sun
light..palm trees everywhere! I woke up early, and indulged in some
fresh pineapple, watermelon, and papaya, as well as some potatoes
cooked with onions and peppers. My roommate and I took a quick walk
on the beach and then went for a dip in the pool, before heading
upstairs to get ready for today's adventure.
We got to the school at 11, and met our
students for the next week. I have 5 amazingly talented
clarinetists-4 on Bb and 1 bass clarinet. If I didn't have a
clarinetist who wasn't amazing at English I don't know what I would
have done! I always knew I should have taken Spanish in high school
instead of French! My limited vocabulary posed a little bit of an
issue, but we were able to laugh about it. A fellow oboist had only
one student today, because we were still waiting for our Haitian
students to arrive tonight. She started speaking to the oboe player
and he said “No English”...she responded “No Spanish” and
they laughed...but it's amazing. I found that you can teach music
without even speaking. By demonstrating on our own instruments, we
found a new means of communication.
Here was my schedule:
11-12: meet and greet with our
students, then finding out respective rooms for the coaching
12-1:00: auditioned them, handed out
parts, warmed up and started playing the rep
1:00-2:00-lunch
2:00-3:45: clarinet sectionals lead by
me, with the help of one other student who could speak English and
translate for me
3:45-4:30: break, where I hung out with
some friends in the shade of some trees while meeting a really nice
Dominican girl who was helping out with MESDA, plus some
snacks...papaya juice with these huge fried wonton-esque chicken
filled snacks
4:30-7: more sectionals, including the
oboe, at at 6 we joined with the flutes
7-9:30: ceremony
We all had a huge lunch together at the
school, and went back to rehearsing. Lunch was salad with generous
slices of avacado, rice, and beef cooked with peppers and
onions...with some pineapple juice that was too sweet (probably
because sugar cane is the most valuable crop here). For the last hour
(out of 5), the clarinets, flutes, and oboes joined together to start
learning one of the new pieces.
At the end of the day there was a huge
outdoor ceremony complete with speeches, a small chamber piece,
awards, a high school band playing their national anthem, dancers,
singers, and even some fruit-filled punch at the end.
(It is here where I take a break from
blogging to take one more swim...the bar at the hotel closes at 11,
but apparently right outside they were selling more beer, so five of
us split 2 more 40s while talking about Mahler in a pool in the
Dominican Republic. Dude...life is so good)
We got back to the hotel at 10, and
started eating dinner...then we were wired from dinner and a few of
the girls decided to go swimming. There is nothing better than
getting into a pool after being sweaty, hot, and clammy all
day...plus our brains were mush from teaching all day.
I can't wait for tomorrow. We get out a
little on the early side, so there will be time to not only teach,
but relax. What a rewarding experience so far.
At 5 in the morning, I stood outside waiting for the T, the cold winds showing no mercy whipping my hair in my face, winter jacket bundled up tight with a scarf up to my nose, hands in my jacket pockets, shivering. Currently, it is 11pm for me, as we are an hour ahead of the east coast. I'm sitting at the hotel's outside restaurant at a table, in a long white t-shirt with leggings and flip flops. It's hot and humid down here, and a bunch of us just went swimming in the chilled pool.
It was a 12 hour commute. We met at Logan Airport at 6:30am, and hopped on a flight at 8 down to Miami. A few hours later, we boarded a huge plane for a relatively short flight to Santo Domingo-which was uneventful except for the harsh landing...where a few compartments opened up, but nothing fell out thankfully. We got off the plane, and it was probably around 90 degrees and humid. I made sure to exchange my US money, and in return got about 2,000 pesos...how rich I feel right now. Then we boarded a bus for what was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride, but turned out to be 5 hours. We shared it with some of the youth orchestra students, and towards the end they were getting a little rowdy. They started attempting to sing a Gregorian chant with all the harmonies, and ended with and interesting version of the Stars and Stripes Forever...I love traveling with musicians. We stopped at a rest stop where the bathrooms were terrifying, but necessary...but hey, if I can pee in a hole in China I can take on a Dominican bathroom. Too much information? At the rest stop, some alcoholic purchases were made and taken aboard the bus. Apparently, if you ask for a beer they don't bring you a puny little 12 oz bottle...they bring you a 40. And it's only about 3 US dollars.
Palm trees! The view from the bus ride
We got to the hotel, unpacked, changed into assorted summer outfits and went down to the covered, but outdoor restaurant/bar area. There was a buffet style dinner set up for us with salads, beef with onions and peppers, an unknown fish that was really, really good, potatoes, rice, and a dessert area.
Dinner
Dessert
The entrance to the elevators
After eating our fill (and waiting the obligatory 30 minutes), a few of us went swimming. The water was surprisingly cold, but after hours on planes, trains, and automobiles it was refreshing and rejuvenating. In the shallow end there are little bar stools so you can chill in the water while drinking...an excellent idea, but it made me wonder about the alcohol content of the pool water. The chilliness of the pool got to us after a while, and so did the little obnoxious mosquitos, so I went back up to the room to unpack. The rooms are amazing, and my roommate is a really sweet girl. There are two huge beds, and we have a balcony. Super nice. My only complaint is that the wifi doesn't work incredibly well up in the rooms, so I'm typing this outside at the restaurant that has long since been empty...but I'm hanging out and getting to know two of the girls who are on the trip as I type.
My room!
Our balcony at night...I'll take one in the daylight tomorrow, but we have a great view of a palm tree.
Tomorrow is the first day that we get to work with our students and I'm so excited. More tomorrow!
Here we are. It's the eve of my departure from the United States to the Dominican Republic. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am...but this is how this weekend has gone, thus far:
This weekend was amazing. From Thanksgiving Eve (apparently the biggest drinking night of the year, over New Years) all the way until now has been utterly amazing and fun. I got to see some of my best friends, got to know some people who I haven't really been able to hang out with, and met lots of great, new friends. We went out on the town, chilled at friends' houses, and stayed up way past our bed times (and I apologize ahead of time for any spelling or grammatical errors...so tired right now).
Just one of the gems from this weekend's fun
Thanksgiving was great, got to see all my family and close family friends. My mom cooked up a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, complete with lots of turkey, butternut squash (basically dessert), stuffing, mashed potatoes, green been casserole with crispy onions, carrots, gravy, and of course biscuits. Not to mention the pre-dinner snacks: tortilla chips and mango salsa, crackers with cheese and chutney, and assorted nuts. And the pumpkin, apple, and lemon meringue pies. Oh, and the many glasses of wine, liquor, and cocktails that were poured (most notably, the amaretto sours). I was glad my family stayed for the football game, where the Pats totally crushed the Jets, while snacking on chips and onion dip and homemade chocolate peanut butter fudge.
So again, it is the eve of my Dominican Republic trip with MESDA. I've got my Jimmy Buffet pandora station to put me in the mood to pack and go somewhere tropical. I swear my packing skills could win awards. Now, I'm a pretty well seasoned traveler, but nothing too crazy. I don't have 40 stamps in my passport, actually, I probably don't even have 10...but I've been to some really sweet places. I've spent a few weeks during the summer in Canada at Domaine Forget twice in a row (packing bed sheets is always a hassle). I've played in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, as part of a Catholic mass (and I really should have left more room in my suitcase for the amazing leather jacket and assorted pastas and goodies I brought back). I've spent three weeks in China as part of an orchestra tour with Benjamin Zander's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, but my mom helped me a lot for that trip. Oh, and then there was that time I lived in Austin, Texas for a month...but let's not get into that.
Then there are the little trips I've been on...packing for auditions in Virginia, Ohio, Washington D.C., Arizona, and soon California. Not to mention all the vacations I've packed for. With each trip, no matter how big or small, I've adapted a very methodical approach to packing.
I've already packed most of my things. Coming back from the weekend with my stomach full of turkey and pie and a little sleepy, I forgot I had to do laundry. And this was after I went out to dinner with some old friends from GBYSO. I've already packed what I could clothing wise (roughly 10 outfits for 7 days...and too many pairs of shoes), and it made me so happy to be packing flip flops and shorts! (and the obligatory concert attire). My backpack is pretty much packed with books I intend to read (in the little free time I'll have), a planner, and my passport and assorted liquids (in an accessible place)...not to mention my phone, computer, and kindle chargers. The stuff I'll need for tomorrow morning is out near my backpack so I'll remember to pack it. My outfit for tomorrow is laid out. My clarinet is all set with all the music I'll need, with plenty of room for my laptop. Yup...I'd say I've got this.
I'll be updating my blog as much as possible (hopefully every day). This is my big challenge for November. I'll be working (and playing) extremely hard this week, because this is one of the first big teaching opportunities I've had so far in my career as a working clarinetist (Peter Hadcock reference anyone?).
I will be sharing everything I know with my students, and I'm sure I'll be learning just as much, if not more.
My posts have recently began with "On a sunny, beautiful (insert day of the week), I..." well, yesterday was sunny, beautiful and really freakin' cold! But it was still a great day to check out the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Let's break that down.
Oldest: launched from a shipyard on Oct. 21, 1797 right across from where she is currently docked.
Commissioned: Still sails on the sea as part of tours
Warship: Has seen battle, most notably the capture of HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812 *cue music*
afloat: this boat is not dry-docked, nor has it sunk. It is still afloat and maintained, crewed, and operated by the U.S. Navy.
As my fellow curly brown-haired friend and I stood in a line waiting to board the USS, and older gentleman behind us struck up a conversation. I think he was wondering why two local little twenty-something girls were at the shipyard, surrounded by tourists and boy scouts. Well, we just like doing things like this! We're not exactly history buffs, but I have a great newfound pride when someone asks me a question about the history of Boston and I can actually answer it.
After showing our fresh anchor stamps on our hand (after going through security) (I should also add that I was proudly sporting my anchor pendant on my necklace...however you couldn't see it due to my jacket and scarf being bundled all the way up), we were allowed up the ramp and onto the top deck. We learned that the spine of the boat is still the original oak, and it's one piece of oak too, meaning the tree they cut down to make it was over 100 years old! The hull is also made of Live Oak (found in the south), and was the reason she has the nick-name "Old Ironsides" (a story I will soon tell). She remains undefeated, 33-0...as our tour guide said "She's the only undefeated Boston sport's team!"
She was given the nickname "Old Ironsides" during the war of 1812 which is a remarkable story. In order to free trade and sailors rights, America declared war on Great Britain. An enemy ship was spotted south of the Gulf of Lawrence, which turned out to be HMS Guerriere. HMS started firing cannons at the USS, but the cannon balls were falling short, and when the ships got closer, because the hull was made of such strong oak, the cannons did very little damage, making one sailor say "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!". The captain of the USS didn't tell the crew to fire until the boats were abreast, and only about 25 yards away, and then he commanded the crew to "pour into her!". The USS began to circle around, creating a T shape with the other boat, but then (awkwardly) got stuck on the HMS. As the USS pulled away, it tore down the entire length of the enemy's decks, cutting away most of the rigging. This forced the HMS to shoot a cannon in the opposite direction, signaling surrender.
There are a huge amount of pictures today for the simple reason that I love boats:
All the cannons have names written above them. I believe this one is named "Victory or Death".
Each cannon was manned by 4-6 men, and having 30 something cannons on deck, and a whole bunch on the second deck, the boat needed at least 400 sailors. That's one crowded boat.
This is a scuttlebutt. Also the term for "gossip". This is where sailors could come and get fresh water, much like the water cooler at the office. Men would come down with their friends while the other men aboard were busy rigging, and the captain's quarters being at the other end of the deck, they were able to talk about who did what and when.
Little hammock beds. I can't imagine a night on the high seas in a swinging hammock.
The very precarious and steep staircase down. I'm surprised there were some people who weren't afraid to go down. There was even an old Asian man with a cane who made it down.
The USS constitution bell
The USS with a sunset and the city of her birthplace, beautiful Boston.
The stern
As it turns out, catching the last tour of the day (at 3:30) has many upsides, despite the setting sun and dropping temperature. I overheard someone say something about a cannon, and when I asked a nearby seaman, he said to follow the fence to the back of the ship, where I could not only get a good picture, but a good view of the cannon being fired. I did attempt to take a video, but sadly it did not save. We were back there with a small group of people left over from the tour whose curiosity also took precedence over the temperature. The crew aboard did a 2 minute countdown, then one minute, then 30 seconds, and then there was a huge bang, complete with smoke, reverberation, and the startled screams of most of the girls. A lone trumpet sounded, and the boat closed for the day.
After the boat closed, we walked over to the USS Constitution Museum and were able to see most of the museum before they also closed. We even took a walk through the kid's exhibit and had a little fun there. I think a lot of people don't go to visit the USS because it's kind of a hike, and not really close to a T stop. We got off at the Haymarket stop on the Green Line, and my friend had never been, so we took a walk through the produce and loud-mouthed Italian families haggling over the price of squash. We then figured out we had to take the 93 bus, which was about a 10 minute bus ride over a bridge and down the highway...not really a place you would want to walk. We did have to wait a while for the bus back, but we were in a good part of town in a well lit area in front of a store (for the family members who read my blog).
When all was said and done, we had a great time, and a little too much fresh air...the kind that really tires you out (I did take a little nap when I got home). Obviously, I recommend the USS to anyone, locals and travelers alike...the subway-to-bus-to-Navy-yard really isn't that complicated, and is totally worth it.
Oh, and did I mention that the whole thing is free? (Suggested donation, of course)
