praying for sunny days

application fee: $50 (though fully refunded)
round-trip plane ticket to new orleans: $200 (including a $60 flight-change fee)
cab ride from the airport: $17 (including tip and fuel surcharge…for a 1.6 mile trip)
time waiting in a hot holding room (total): 4 hours
time warming up/waiting in a practice room (total): 2 hours 15 minutes
number of auditionees in the beginning: 32 
number of auditionees in the 2nd round: 10
excerpts played: 7, plus a concerto exposition
time waiting for a cab to come get me so i could eat: going on 9 hours (i.e. it never came)
lunch that the workers were nice enough to get me (since the stupid cab didn’t come): $5
cab ride back to the airport: $7 (but shh.  he broke the rules)
getting into the semi-finals at my first professional audition: priceless 

yeah…i had a really long day today.  got up at 7:30 this morning to catch a flight to new orleans to partake in the louisiana philharmonic orchestra’s 2nd bassoon audition.  i decided to do it for the experience, not expecting to get much more than just that out of it.  i ended up getting to the 2nd round.  i played the best mozart concerto that i’ve every played in my life today.  and was really satisfied overall with everything else (obviously i did something right…).  i’m already back home and really tired, but really happy with the way everything went.  i didn’t get nervous (just a little crazy, though, hearing others in the warm-up rooms around me, but i just took really deep breaths and played arpeggios to get my mind off of them), and had a great reed (thanks, cheryl!), and played like a real bassoon player (because that is what i am…a REAL bassoon player.  not someone who just thinks they can play…i CAN play!).  so yea!

i knew it would be a fairly busy summer, as far as bassooning goes.  i had been accepted to (and accepted the offer for) the texas music festival, which is here at UH.  that lasts for a month (may 30-june 28), and includes 6 concerts (2 of the 4 are played twice), not including chamber music performances.  then mom and i were planning on going to the IDRS (international double reed society) convention in provo, UT, which is in the middle of july, for 5 days.  then we’re both playing in the pit for bach to broadway at church.

this morning, however, i got an e-mail saying i’d been accepted to the banff summer masterclass for bassoon, which is held at the banff centre in canada.  one of the teachers there is someone who i would really like a chance to study with, and have been contemplating pursuing an artists diploma with once i finish with my master’s degree, so to have a chance to work with him now is really awesome.  this program runs june 30-july 18.  i have to be there the 29th, so i am leaving houston the day after TMF ends.  

mom has told her sisters, who have indicated that they’d like to come “visit me” in banff, and auntie ellen has told us to just not deal with IDRS and we’ll have a “reunion” in canada.  ha.  

now i have even more to practice, but it’s good.  the folks who are in charge of the masterclass want me to let them know what rep i want to perform while there, and my teacher and i have decided on 2 standards (mozart concerto and saint-saens sonata) and a fun one (mignone concertino, which the teacher i am wanting to study with has recorded).  and i am taking an audition for a symphony in 2-1/2 weeks.  and for TMF, i am preparing the mignone for their concerto competition, which means i have a month to memorize it.  

so much going on, but i really really love it.  really really.