nothing new

Ok, I"m trying very hard to get this 8 hours of sleep thing right...but its hard to go to bed by 10pm! I"m off to bed now (its 10:15)...

Today went well. I have moments where I feel prepared and moments where I feel like I have so much farther to go. I have days where Strauss and Schoernberg go well, and days when I fall flat on my face. Today was a BAD Strauss tuning day, but yesterday was good. I have to gain the consistancy I suppose.

What a boring blog lately!

I have 3 days left, and I leave Wednesday morning for NY. Sunday I have a lesson at MSM with Stepansky...I"m SUPER excited about it!!!

IN other news...I"m getting a new mac...I"ve had it with the other one....now just to be able to afford it! :-)

preparations...

Today I woke up at 6am and was practicing by 730am. I'm trying to get myself on a schedule that supports an 8am audition check in...but with my normal schedule being late (due to concerts and driving time) its a hard thing to switch. The most ironic part of all of this is that I AM a morning person-but my lifestyle makes me a night person. I think I was supposed to live on a farm but suddenly find myself doing quite the opposite. Ironically once this audition is over I have to change my schedule back to "nights" to survive holy week and the next BPO concert cycle.

I feel like I have so much more to prepare, and not enough time. Wednesday I take off for NY! Tomorrow I will practice (duh), pack a bit, and try to fit a quick gym trip in. So much to do in so little time!  I also need to contact the rest of my students and tell them I will be "out of town" this week.  

 

nothing new and a crashing computer.

6 days until my audition! Today I had my hair cut, practiced most of the day, and listened to my lessons again. Exciting, huh?  The boys upstairs fixed my Mac but then it froze up again. I'm on it again, but its acting fishing again. I really need a new computer, but its just not in the budget right now!

um, how is it suddenly 11:15 pm?

Today was a practice day for me, but I feel like I really didn't get enough practice-and I 'm not sure why. I ended up having a phone call in the morning that sort of pushed the start of my day later, and I went to practice at church with R for 1/2 an hour...but aside from that? Maybe 5 hours of work, but I'd really like to be at 8 hours for the next few days (minimum). Oh well, we all have days like that. I did listen to my lesson with Sato, and although at times it was "colorful" it was helpful and I"ll wake up early and apply some of his thoughts to my excerpts.
Lets see, I made an appointment to get my hair cut Saturday at 12 noon in Lexington, and a cello adjustment apointment for 7:45 am on Tuesday. I also sent out my deposit for Ny's audition. Wednesday after rush hour I'll start my commute to Ny. Lastly E also did some great detective work for me..such a good friend!!!
Did I go to the gym today? Unfortunately not, I start to get anxious that I"ve not practiced enough and suddenly the day is done and the gym is closed. I did make a fruit smoothy though, and it was fabulous!

In other news, I'm really excited about R's new solo cello piece. Its so much fun to play and I think a fabulous piece. I"m dying to work on it more, but find myself so over my head with excerpt work that I can't right now. Its so frustrating, but I'm trying to see it as a little "prize" for myself once I finish this audition and Kansas City.

April 3rd at 9AM

Today I received my audition slot...April 3rd at 9a.m. OMG I'm auditioning for Ny phil in one week. SO much to do in so little time. At 8am I report to the stage door of Alice Tully Hall! Pretty crazy. 9 years ago I couldn't really read music...so bizarre to me that I'm actually doing this audition now.

Today I taught for 6 hours. Tomorrow begins a week of intense finals preparations for the audition. I think I might have one more lesson, and then on April 1st off to NY!!!

Another lesson

Ok, I'm not that great at this Blog thing. Today I had a lesson with Sato. It was great, I learned a lot from it and I was exhausted when I got home. I have found my lessons go from abotu 2-3 lessons each, and we cover a lot of excerpts. After years of not having lessons, its nice to have someone pointing things out for me. Its kind of wierd, being at symphony hall after TMC, because it seems like I really know a lot of people there now.

Tonight I was going to practice and totally forgot that I had to teach a lesson. I had to quickly get out of the "practice" mindset and get into the "teaching" mindset. AFter that I spent about 2 hours arranging my teaching schedule for the next few weeks and catching up on general emails.

I'm waiting for an audition time for NY phil, and I"m practicing like crazy. I cant' believe these auditions are coming up so fast...April is going to be a Bear!!!

Cello Blake

     Yesterday I spent a long time on the phone with Midwest airlines. It seems that they don't think that I should be given frequent flyer miles for my cello EVEN though I always buy a second seat for it.  I was passed from manager to manager until I found someone that thought the policy might be unfair too. They are going to have a meeting this week about how they can rewrite the policy. hurrah!  When I first tried to sign it up, the representative said "I can't sign up a cello!  What would I use for a name?"  and I said "Well, Cello Blake of course!!" I wish I'd signed up for Frequent flyer miles in September with the Milwaukee trip, but I didn't think I'd be using Midwest airlines again...oh well!

     I"m kind of amazed how as we get older the days go faster and faster. I used to think the time from 2:30-5:00 was such a long time (when I used to get out of school) now I think that time slot flies by, and I can't seem to get nearly the amount of things done that I would like.

Yesterday I received my time slot for Kansas City's cello auditions, and  I purchased my flight and booked my hotel.  I'm still waiting to hear about my CD for NY. Atlanta still hasn't set a date for their auditions, I really do hope they follow through.  

Today is a practice day and I think I"m going to teach 1 student in the afternoon. I also need to practice turning pages and pulling stops for R's piece at church and I want to get to the gym.