Stuff

I always want the bad news first. I got my rejection letter from the Zellmer Competition today. That letter rounds out an academic year of no fewer than 5 failed auditions/competitions (now that I'm actually writing that out it doesn't sound like as many as it feels). In or not, I got a lot out of making that tape. Failures and all, I am improving a lot this year. I won't lie, though, I really wanted to get into the finals for that competition, because I worked really, really hard on the tape. I guess that really doesn't matter in the end...it's the results that count. Back to the practice room. On the plus side, I won't have to worry about honing that nasty list in the first three weeks of my new baby's life. Always a silver lining.

Which brings us to the good news. We went to the obstetrician yesterday and saw an ultrasound that showed the baby's eyes opening and closing and showed her rib cage expanding and contracting as she practiced her breathing motions (just like her old man!). We also saw her face, but it's hard to make out the details and the picture was really grainy and the shadowing was strange, so I don't really trust that she'll look anything like the picture. It was still neat anyway. The doctor said that if Lisa went into labor now they wouldn't try to stop it. The baby is completely viable. It sure puts things into perspective realizing that we're that close.

I'm working on a paper on Brahms's first symphony. Last night I did a detailed formal analysis of the fourth movement. That guy was incredible. I would highly recommend getting a score and a recording and doing some study. It is well worth the time.

Speaking of Brahms, this Thursday I played a concert in Orchestra Hall with the University Orchestra. The program included Brahms 2 (also worth study) and some modern pieces which were pretty good (though no Brahms). The best part...Osmo Vanska conducted! What an experience working under a great musician like that. Here are some things that intrigued/interested/inspired me:

• When he conducts you (or your section) he really makes an effort to connect with you. His eyes convey his wishes amazingly well. There are no hastily thrown cues or gestures. Everything means something and you almost always know exactly what.
• He moves really fast in rehearsal, especially between movements. You can definitely tell he is used to working with unionized musicians.
• He would laugh every time someone played out of time. I noticed this when I played my big, loud descending scale at the end of the symphony way too fast in the first rehearsal. He was laughing like it was a joke instead of a mistake. I noticed afterwards he did this almost every time anyone rushed or dragged. I took it as a clue as to what the biggest difference between the University Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra could be.
• He conducted almost exactly the same in the concert as he did in rehearsals...for the most part. I was surprised after all of the stories I've heard (especially recently) of conductors going hog wild in the concert. My conclusion at this point: he brings everything he has to rehearsals as well as concerts.
• Details, details, details.
• Humility, humility, humility.
• He wore black pants and a black t-shirt to all four rehearsals. This isn't important, but it was noticed by someone in my section, so I thought I'd include it.
• I don't recall him saying, even once, that we need to try to be musical/emotional/inspired/etc, but he communicated it nonetheless.
• Sometimes he was busy conducting a musical line or shape and didn't conduct a downbeat, or the beats around the downbeat for that matter.
• Though he worked our butts off, he didn't seem angry or flustered or annoyed even once.

That's all can think of right now. Needless to say, it was enlightening.