obviously my “resolution” to update more often hasn’t exactly happened (though 2 times in 1 month is pretty good for me, right?). since school started back up, i’ve been swamped. the quintet is playing in one of the 2 january operas this weekend, which had rehearsals starting the day before school started back up on the 14th. since then, we’ve had 6 rehearsals (2 just orchestra, 2 with the singers sitting behind us, and 2 dress rehearsals), and 1 performance, with 2 more performances this weekend (saturday and sunday). i’m really really looking forward to sunday night when it’ll be over (not that i haven’t thoroughly enjoyed playing in the “psychological thriller” that is The Turn of the Screw (videos of the TV adaptation, if you so wish to watch it, can be found here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, and part 12. i didn’t warn you how long it was, did i?).
on top of the opera, the quintet is giving a recital on the 2nd of february, so we’ve added rehearsals almost every single day to work on all of our music. a total of nearly 30 hours extra. it’s a lot, but it was (is) needed. add to all that, the fact that both the school orchestra and clear lake symphony have started back up, it means i’m very short on sleep right now.
the biggest thing (to me, personally) that’s going on right now is auditions for summer music festivals. it means that i have to immerse myself in orchestral excerpts for hours during my practice time every day. i had my first audition this past wednesday. my next one is sunday morning (what do you get when you ask for an afternoon audition time? 11:50 AM). then i have a nearly 2- week-long break before the next one on february 8, and the final one on the 11th. i’m submitting one taped audition, which i recorded most of yesterday, and spent time (too much time) last night cleaning it up a bit. this is all really good for me, though. i finally really truly feel like a performance major (not that i didn’t last semester, but it wasn’t all going on at one time last semester). i’m enjoying it (even though it is quite taxing in many ways…sleep, being the main one), and am still kind of in awe of myself…i didn’t think i had any sort of work ethic, as far as progressing on the bassoon goes, and now my tuesday, thursday, and friday mornings are spent in the practice room starting at 7:30 (hey…the need for a parking spot trumps the need for sleep, in my opinion). i feel like i’m “getting it” now…i’m understanding what it takes and what i need to do, and i’m adjusting accordingly. it’s frustrating at times (it’s not the most exciting thing to be sitting in an orchestra pit at 11 at night going over the same passages over and over again), but the end result is something to be proud of.