Ukelele player

If you're like me, you probably have some stereotypes connected with ukeleles. You probably don't think of them as particularly impressive instruments, or something that you'd go out of your way to see. That is, if you're like me and don't know anything about ukeleles. If you do know something about them, you may not be particularly astonished at the following link.

But whether you know something about ukeleles and the depth of musicianship of the people who play them or not, I suggest you watch this video. I've certainly never seen anything like it before.

A little poking around the comments on the video reveals that the guy's name is Jake Shimabukuro, and his website is here.

Resumes

Post-Spoleto, my life consists of applying for jobs, procrastinating from applying for jobs by surfing the web, reading, and watching TV (although I'm getting fed up with TV because there is increasingly little on of interest), trying to exercise every day and sometimes succeeding, and trying to be alone as much as possible to make up for the past year. The job hunt is frustrating - I'm discovering that there are far fewer private school choral teacher jobs out there than I thought, and public schools require certification, which I'm utterly willing to work towards but don't currently have. And all college jobs require a doctorate, or at least an ABD, which apparently means someone who has completed all the doctoral work except the dissertation. (I'll bet you didn't know that. See, you learned something today! What a good teacher I am! Hire me!)

So, time to turn to the internet for help! Here are my resumes - here's the education-oriented one, and here's the conducting-oriented one. If you know of any openings, please let me know, and if you feel like flinging my resume out into the world, please feel more than free to do so. (I wonder if anyone has ever had idea of putting resumes in bottles and flinging them into the surf as part of a job hunt. Couldn't hurt, right?)

An Inconvenient Truth

I went to see An Inconvenient Truth tonight, which, if you are unaware, is the new movie out by Al Gore about the current environmental crisis of global warming. Before I went, I read this quote by Roger Ebert about the movie: "You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to." (His full review is here, and it's quite good.)

"Well," I thought to myself, "that's probably too extreme. I mean, I'll see it, because I feel like I should, and maybe I'll learn a few new facts, but hey, I'm a liberal, and I took science in college, and I pretty much know what's going on, right?"

Well, I saw the movie tonight, and I have to completely agree with Roger Ebert. Everyone I know should see this film, and if I don't know you, then it's even more important that you go see it, because I'm less likely to talk to you about it. Some of the pictures are shocking, especially with regards to disappearing glaciers and projected rising water levels, and there are many interesting interconnections that I had no idea about. Berkshire folks, did you know that your caterpillar invasion this past May can be linked to global warning? Gore specifically mentions soaring caterpillar populations in the movie, albeit briefly.

Although it does resemble a PowerPoint presentation, it is never boring - the pace is clear and thorough but swift. Best of all, it doesn't just predict gloom and doom - Gore gives concrete suggestions about what we can do at the end of the movie, which can also be found at the movie's website. So what are you waiting for? Find out where it's playing, and go see it - now!

Charleston, Post 10 - Wrapping it up

I am home! I am tremendously happy to be here. The weather is beautiful, and it is so nice to be in my own home in my own bed again. It's also nice to have an actual kitchen, and be able to cook myself real meals like arctic char with citrus and fennel. I don't think I'll feel like eating out again for quite a while - Charleston was wonderful in that regard, especially the last week when my parents were visiting, but I think my digestive system is ready for some boring normal food now.

The last week is somewhat blurry, consisting mostly of Last Performances of things, most notably Dr. Flummerfelt's second Last Westminster Choir Concert. (See my remarks on the first one here.) This was an occasion of much weepiness among most of the choir, but perhaps heartlessly, my feelings were triumph and relief that I had finally graduated and was actually done, since it was our last performance at the festival. It was a pretty hard year, after all, on a number of fronts - it's sad to leave, but it's nice to be done!

Two performances during the last week deserve special mention. The first was the orchestral concert of Beethoven's 5th. This was really super - the Spoleto Festival Orchestra possessed an incredibly deep, rich, and powerful sound. No matter how big and thunderous the crescendos got (and Emmanuel Villaume conducts a very romantic Beethoven!) I still had the feeling that the orchestra could have kept going. And despite this powerful sound, the orchestra also had great ensemble and was very deft and maneuverable. I was all kinds of impressed and delighted at the performance. Special kudos to the winds, especially the first oboe, who were practically flawless, and the horns, for getting a wonderfully aggressive, brassy sound in the exposed section in the first movement.

The second performance was the Sara Baras Ballet Flamenco, which was beautiful and exciting and rhythmic and stunning. If she comes to your town, go see her. I want to take flamenco lessons now. And those dresses have got to be the most beautiful garments I have ever seen.

The chamber music also deserves a special shout-out, of course, as does its host, Charles Wadsworth. I believe I ended up seeing three of the chamber music concerts this year. Although all the chamber musicians were fabulous, I think my favorite performer was Jeremy Denk - he had such an expressive touch on the piano, and was so connected to the other performers, and phrased things so conversationally, it was a real delight to hear him perform.

It was a good month, and the performances were, I think, the best part of it, but I'm so glad to be home. I had reached the saturation point by the time it was over, and it's nice to finally have some time to process the past year...and figure out what I'm going to be doing for the next one!

Charleston, Post 9 - More music, what else?

Monday evening was the Mozart Mass in C Minor concert, with Jennifer Larmore. It went fabulously - the Mass was a hit (the Westminster Choir performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Festival Orchestra.) Larmore has lost a shocking amount of weight since we performed with her last year, but in the interests of kindness towards public figures I will try to refrain from extensive fretting about how this worried me. Her voice is still rich and her charisma is as incredibly magnetic as ever.

Monday before the Mass I went to the Intermezzo V concert in the afternoon. In addition to great singing, all three performers were incredibly attractive. (Two were stars in Don Giovanni, and one was the tenor from Romeo et Juliette.) I kept wondering all through the performance about why there were not legions of screaming adolescent girls at the front of the stage. What's wrong with this culture? Meltingly beautiful voices, stunningly attractive singers, intense delivery, charismatic presentation...what more do you need, really?

Tuesday was rehearsing all day and then the last Don Giovanni in the evening (to which my parents came.) It was fun, but exhausting - there were a lot of performances, and I'm not too sorry it's over.

Today was more rehearsing, lunch with my parents, and then the first Westminster Choir concert, which I think went very well. It was so wonderful, after the past year (which was very hard for the choir) to finally feel like we had arrived - I think everyone on stage felt like they were part of, and deserved to be part of, the tradition of excellence that has always been associated with the Westminster Choir. My one regret, watching the standing ovation, was that two people who had been in the choir all year weren't there - one bass couldn't come to the festival because he had a prior engagement, and another had to go home sick about a week ago. I wished they had been there.

And then there was a long and excellent dinner with my parents and my cousin Dee, full of the kinds of wide-ranging conversation that is sometimes lacking in a group of predominantly undergraduate singers. And now I'll go put my last loads of Spoleto laundry in the dryer, and watch some Angel with my suitemates!

Charleston, Post 8 - Money, Food, Clothing

One of the most difficult things about being at Spoleto is the way money flows like water. It is extraordinarily difficult to not spend above your means here. The main reason for this is that most of the choir eats most of their meals out. (The dorms we are staying in have refrigerators and microwaves, but nothing else.) So being social with other members of the choir pretty much requires going out for meals with them, and eating out is expensive. There's also the fact that most of the choir is undergraduates, most of whom are not yet worried about paying their own rent or bills, and who suddenly have a paycheck every week. As a result, the choir culture is very much one of enjoying being in a charming city at a wonderful festival, going out to eat all the time, going out to shop all the time, and in general not worrying about conserving a lot of their paychecks. (I have a feeling that most of them would deny this, but hey, that's how it looks to me.)

At any rate, it's very hard to continually turn people down when they ask if you want to go out to dinner. It feels rude. After all, when your suite says, "Hey, we're all going out for dinner! Please come!" it's hard to say no. It's also hard to turn down the prospect of Charleston cuisine, which is not to be sneezed at, and much more appealing than Easy Mac in the microwave at the dorm. And I have to admit, I'm a foodie! With places like Meritäge, Blossom, and the Hominy Grill right around the corner, it's hard to be fiscally responsible.

Then there's the fact that being in a city for a working vacation means you're tempted to visit all the little stores you might not see again, like The Brass Pirate...and there's the festival arts and crafts fair...and then there's just establishments you grow fond of, and want to support, like the Kudu Cafe.

So far I've managed better than last year, although I did visit the library book sale yesterday (library book sales are THE best thing ever) and also bought a skirt and a couple of shirts at the cheap clothing shop down the street. Speaking of clothing, Don Giovanni was interesting last night because my corset split a seam up the back right after I bounced on-stage. Since our outfits are entirely silk, people are getting used to having their pants rip, but I think this was the first time someone ripped a corset. It was probably because I waited too long to put it on (well, wouldn't you?) and it had to be laced up too quickly. Luckily it stayed on, and I kept my over-shirt on over it, but it makes it hard to concentrate on your job when you're wondering whether or not your clothes are going to fall off. Carrie the costumer said that clothes can tell when the end of a run is coming up and start to fall apart - since there's only one more performance of Don Giovanni, I guess that fits the trend.

Tonight is Mozart's Great Mass in C with Dr. Flummerfelt. We had the final dress rehearsal this morning, and it looks like it'll be an amazing concert. Here's hoping nobody rips anything.

Charleston, Post 7 - Bill T. Jones Dance Ensemble

This morning, after rehearsal, I finally got to one of the chamber music concerts. We heard Kodaly and Korngold, and it was amazing. I was especially impressed by the violinist Chee-Yun - she was an extraordinarily engaging performer, although everyone was great.

This evening was a difficult decision, since it was the only day I could see both Mahler's 5th and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company. I decided to go for the Bill T. Jones Blind Date, since, as many people said, I will probably get the chance to hear some Mahler in the future. While I'm not sorry I did, this is mainly because I would have been eternally wondering what I had missed.

First of all, we saw Mike Daisey outside the performance. This is the monologist that I loved so much at last year's Spoleto, and unfortunately will not get to see this year, since I'm performing every night he's performing. Secondly, he was wearing my Schrödinger's Cat shirt! Everyone in the choir who saw him said, "Hey, he's wearing your shirt! Go talk to him!" I felt kind of star-struck, but after some of the other choir members went over and told him they knew someone with his shirt, I kind of had to go over and introduce myself. He was really nice, and we had a brief geek-bonding moment. I'm now even more disappointed I can't go to any of his performances.

Anyways, then came the dance performance. It was kind of interesting, but I have to say that on the whole, I wouldn't recommend it. The performance involved lots of multi-media - lots of screens with different things on them, and two live singers, and some of the dancers speaking or singing, and words scrolling down or pictures phasing in and out of each other. The movement itself was great - it had a distinctive style, and was beautiful to watch, and the dancers were enormously accomplished. There were some very effective moments, such as when individual dancers told stories on the video, while at the same time they were dancing in real time.

However, it was very political, and the politics was not very well done. I was continually wondering, "What is the point of this? What is your message?" And while I do tend to want lots of explanation and clear-cut communication in my performances, I really feel that my confusion and impatience were a failing of the performance rather than a manifestation of my preferences. I got that war is bad; there was also the message that people who join the military are "sitting ducks" who just do what they're told and don't know what they're getting into; there was also a very ill-defined message that religion can lead to war, and some other negative messages concerning religion, although I'm not sure what they were. There was a rather mocking section where statistics about terrorist attacks and natural disasters were recited, interspersed with "Praise the Lord!" and "Hallelujah!" and the whole effect was sarcastic, and sort of mean-spirited without any point. There was an interesting point at the beginning about the ways in which the pure love of country that is patriotism can be manipulated into a tool of war, but that idea wasn't developed later on. All in all, the whole point of the piece was political, but not specific, or complex, or well-thought-out. I agree that the war in Iraq is not a good thing, but I didn't agree with some of the other messages - I thought they were disrespectful, especially the religious stuff. And at the same time as not agreeing with all of the message, I also didn't agree with how it was presented. Also, after a while, not knowing exactly what the piece was trying to say got old. If I don't get your message, that doesn't necessarily mean it's really deep - it might just be badly assembled, or not make sense to begin with. However, it certainly led to a lot of dialogue within the choir - people had a variety of reactions, and did a good deal of talking about them.

The most dramatic bit happened at the end, after the bows, while the lights were coming up. As the applause was becoming scattered, and people were leaving, somebody in the balcony shouted out, "Boo!" Bill T. Jones immediately bounced out on stage, and yelled, "Who said that! Who said that!" I will now relay an approximate transcription of the interchange (which I believe was not planted, but in fact spontaneous, and with an actual audience member):

Bill T.: Who said that? Come down here, out of the dark!
Booer: I don't want to!
Bill T.: What's your problem? Use words! What are you booing?
Booer: I thought it was a cliche, badly disguised as third-rate art.
Bill T.: I think you're wrong! I think your gut disagrees with my message, and that's what you're responding to!
Booer: Well, you're right. That's it. I do disagree with your message!
Bill T.: Well, if you don't criticize my art, I won't criticize your politics!

(It was actually longer than that, with a bit more hot air, and more wordy, but I'm pretty sure the booer's criticism and Bill T.'s last line are accurate.)

I mean, what the hell? First of all, of course people can criticize your art! Secondly, you are criticizing the guy's politics, starting with the fact that you just put on a performance with a very strong (if vague) political point-of-view that was critical of some other political points of view. It just seemed hypocritical in the extreme, and put the whole performance in a different light. However, it sure was dramatic and exciting!

It was an interesting experience, so I'm glad I went - but I'm also glad it was free!

Charleston, Post 6 - Nrityagram Dance Ensemble

Yesterday was another free day, so in the afternoon I went to see the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble perform a show called Sacred Space. It was amazing. The unity of the ensemble was unreal, and their precision was unbelievable. From the first movement you could just relax, knowing that you were watching dancers who absolutely knew what they were doing. Every part of their bodies is considered - hands, toes, facial expressions. And since they were wearing bells everywhere, the dance was part of the music, and far more connected to the sound than I usually feel is the case at dance performances. The only thing I've seen to compare, in terms of music and dance being one and the same, was here at Spoleto last year, when I saw Savion Glover. The difference was that Glover, a tap-dancer, concentrated all his energy into his feet, and the dancers of Nrityagram concentrated on everything. It was really beautiful, artistic, impressive dancing.

In the evening I went out to dinner with a few friends, and picked up some of the world's best pralines at a candy shop on the way. I never had pralines before - I had no idea I liked them. But these are amazing, and I think I've found a new food obsession! We also saw the artistic director of the chamber music program having dinner in the same restaurant, so we sent him a drink, and he came over and talked to us for a bit. I'd never sent someone a drink before, but it's fun! Now I'll have to actually get to some of the chamber music performances, or I'll feel guilty. The difficulty is getting myself to a performance at 11 am, which is when the chamber music is. That may not sound like much, but when your opera gets done at 11:30, and you get home at midnight, and nobody goes to bed for at least an hour, it can be difficult to get up before noon.

Charleston, Post 5 - Pickles! and reviews

I neglected in my last post to mention the most important thing about the Spoleto Festival opening, namely - the Pickle Ceremony! Before opening night, the assistant electrician of every show rigs up a pickle with some wires and a power cord. The entire cast assembles in the green room about 10 minutes before curtain, and after the lights are turned off, everyone starts a slow chant of "Pi-ckle! Pi-ckle!" Then the assistant electrician throws the switch, and if the pickle glows, then that means good luck for the festival. Naturally, both pickles did indeed glow. There was one at Don Giovanni at the preview, and one at Romeo et Juliette on the actual festival opening night. (That pickle was artistically decorated with a white veil and a knife in its little pickle heart.)

Today was our first day off since the Festival started, meaning we finally had time to attend some of the other shows. (As a Spoleto Festival member, I can show my badge and get in free to any show that's not sold-out.) In the afternoon I saw the Paul Taylor dance company, which was just fabulous. It was beautiful, and one of my favorite things about it was that there was so much joy in some of the pieces. Often it feels like artists feel compelled to only present dark things, but the first piece of choreography especially, set to Handel, was just pure happiness. And the second piece, set to early American jazz, was very funny, with incredibly original ways of moving. I enjoyed the abstract pieces the most, because that was where I felt the choreography really explored shapes and new ways of moving.

In the evening I went with some other Westminster Choir folks to try and see Tristan and Yseult. Owing to being sold out, and some confusion with the ushers, we didn't get to see the first ten or fifteen minutes, but after my friend AG approached the house manager again to see if we could stand in the back, we finally got in. I was sorry to miss the beginning, but glad I decided to stick around and watch it anyways. It was wacky and funny and odd in parts, but it achieved some really heart-rending moments, and the whole show was original and well-done.

Tomorrow is one of the longest days we'll have - rehearsal at 10, call for opera at 1 pm, with the performance at 2, and then call for a different opera at 7:30 and performance at 8. Luckily there's another free day afterwards, which means more shows! I'm either in an opera or planning on watching a show every single night until we go home. Who knows when I'll be able to come back again, after all.

Charleston, Post 4 - Festival Opening

Today is the official opening of the Spoleto Festival. The opening ceremony was at noon down at the Old Exchange Building. Apparently Philip Glass wrote a fanfare for car alarms, but I got there too late to hear it. I'm not too sad about this, as I hear it was highly anti-climactic.

Last night was the preview performance of Don Giovanni (which just means it was a performance before the official opening of the festival) and tonight the festival really gets swinging with the first performance of Romeo et Juliette. This entire past week has been piles of dress rehearsals for both shows - there's always a piano dress/tech and two orchestra dresses for each show. It's exciting that we're finally into performances, because those are much more exciting - having an audience can really transform a performance.

Doing both operas really eats up time - Don Giovanni has seven performances, and Romeo et Juliette has 4, which means that there are very few days off (or more importantly, evenings off) to go see other performances. All performers in the festival get free admission to any performance they want, as long as it's not sold out, and since there are so many performances, very few things are sold out. One of my favorite performers last year, Mike Daisey, is coming back, but I sadly won't be able to see any of his performances as I have performances at all the same times.

The make-up and wig call is in half an hour, so I'll sign off here. (I am wearing a black wig. I look rather like a wax-work person in it, since I'm so pale.) It's hard to know what else to say about the festival - give me help. What should I post about?

Charleston, Post 3 - Water

The theme of this year seems to be water. We were met with a torrential downpour coming into the Charleston airport. The first day rained. In the Gounod opera, Act III ends with us being rained on (after Tybalt and Mercutio die.) And in Don Giovanni, there is an onstage lake that we splash around in, and get totally drenched in. Don Giovanni has a set that truly deserves a lengthy description, another day. For now, suffice it to say there is a pool with a small stream that runs to an onstage lake. On the chorus's first entrance, we run to this pool as fast as we can, jump into it, and then proceed to splash each other. Today was the first day practicing with water, and we sure do get soaking wet! We then proceed to go and sit next to the audience in the aisles, and watch the rest of the act, still soaking wet. At a later point, Don Giovanni also sprays us with champagne. (Hopefully it will be real - don't know yet!)

Luckily I have tomorrow for laundry - it's our first day off! Also for trying to find an optometrist, so I can get contacts - splashing water plus glasses do not combine to create the best vision.

Charleston, Post 2 - The choir

Day 3 of the Westminster Choir's schedule at the Spoleto Festival rehearsals was much like days 1 and 2. Music rehearsal in the morning, 10-12:30. Staging rehearsal for one of the operas, 2-5 pm. Staging rehearsal for one of the operas, 7-10 pm. Sprinkled in between are meetings with the costume shop and the wig shop for fittings.

The Westminster Choir has been a part of Spoleto Festival USA since the festival's founding in 1977. We serve as the opera choir for all the operas at the festival - last year there were three, this year there are two, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Mozart's Don Giovanni. The chorus for the Mozart is smaller, only using half the choir, and the full choir is in the Gounod. I am in the half of the choir that is performing in both. In addition, there is one performance of Mozart's Mass in C and two performances of the choir performing shorter works accompanied only with piano (a Bach motet, some of the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Barber's Reincarnations, etc.) We have two weeks of rehearsal before the festival to get the two operas staged - it's been three days, and they are almost entirely staged already - only a few scenes remain in each to really nail down. A good thing, too, because we begin orchestra rehearsals on both sets tomorrow.

Physically, staging is fairly exhausting (especially the Mozart, which involves sprinting around an auditorium in bare feet.) Mentally, being at Spoleto is more restful than being in school - after all, I only have to be where people tell me, and then do what other people tell me once I'm there. However, physical exhaustion alone can be overwhelming, and my wig fitting tomorrow is at 9:30 am (yes, I will be wearing a wig for the Gounod!) so it's off to bed for me.

Charleston, Post 1 - Arrival

I made it to Charleston, SC! This is slightly more of an accomplishment than it sounds. We (the Westminster Choir) left yesterday afternoon, and flew into the Charleston airport in the middle of a fairly impressive thunderstorm. While I felt this was less exciting than I would have imagined, we did see some fairly impressive bolts. Once we landed, we had to wait for a while, because the thunderstorm meant it wasn't safe for the airport workers to go and unload our luggage. Then we had to stay in the airport because there was a tornado warning for the airport - several tornados were seen touching down close to the airport, one 1/4 of a mile away. In addition, the chorus was on two planes - the second plane was not allowed to land, but was diverted, and we had to wait for them to arrive.

Once planes were allowed to land and we were allowed to load the bus and leave, we reached our temporary lodgings with no further adventures, but since it was sheeting down rain, very very wet. We're staying in the dorms of the College of Charleston, which are fairly nice - two to a room, with bathroom included, and two rooms to a suite, which has a mini-kitchen and a little area for a couch and TV.

More on what the Westminster Choir is actually doing here in Charleston tomorrow.

Roseae Feminae

It's approaching that time of year when everything gets the adjective "last." Last night was the last concert of Roseae Feminae, the women's choir I put together a year and a half ago.

It went really well! We had more audience than at any previous concert (meaning double-digits!) and the group sounded really strong. There were a few bobbles, mostly because I got overly enthusiastic in the last month and added too much new repertoire, but concert as a whole was strong and solid. The sound was beautiful, and I was proud that there were many different sounds of the choir, depending on what era of repertoire we were singing. And even better, I feel like we all, me included, were energetic, extroverted, and communicative, something that after last year I knew would be my biggest challenge. I was able to look at specific singers and think, "Wow! They are really delivering the piece! I know they didn't sing like that a year ago."

I'm glad I got to do one more conducting concert after my Master Singers concert - I felt like I was able to continue applying a lot of what I learned several months ago, and continue to make progress.

So thank you to all my Roseae Feminae singers - not only was leading that choir one of the most educational things I did here, but it always reminded me that the reason I do this is not for class credit or a degree or recognition, but love of the job!

P.S. Apparently what I was complaining of in the last entry is not tennis elbow, which affects the outer side of the elbow, but golfer's elbow. This is disappointing, as it's much less fun to claim I have golfer's elbow. However, since my arm feels fine now, I suppose it's irrelevant.

Final Roseae Feminae concert

The final concert of my women's choir, Roseae Feminae, is tomorrow, May 2. I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to come - it will be at 7:30 pm at Christ Congregation (50 Walnut Lane in Princeton, NJ.) The chorus sounds really awesome - I'm very encouraged at how everything always sounds better and better! I know that's what's supposed to happen when you rehearse, but it is nevertheless quite encouraging that it actually does.

However, we just had our dress rehearsal, and I am sorry to report that I am turning into that dreaded being, the over-enthusiastic conductor who runs over time. I kept them 15 minutes past the end of the rehearsal. Luckily they have not been smart enough to form a union yet, or I'd be taken out and thrashed. However, keeping people late is something I really do try not to do - I'm rather ashamed I didn't quite succeed.

Also, I'm getting tennis elbow from conducting too enthusiastically - this happened during my Master Singers concert as well. Suggestions for how to care for tennis elbow (ice? heat?) are welcome.

The merits of light-sabers vs. batons

Someday I'm going to conduct with a light-saber! (Mom, you can be the Storm-Trooper in the middle of the video on the tympani, of course.) This video link was sent to me by my friend Johanna - credit where credit is due!

In other news, I passed my orals. Classes are over in a week and a half, and graduation is the week after that. There sure is a lot to get done in that time!

Kantorei performance

I am pleased to announce that tomorrow, Friday, April 6, and Saturday, April 7, Westminster Kantorei and Fuma Sacra will be performing Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. We will be in Princeton on Friday, and in Manhattan at the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church on Saturday. Both concerts are at 8 pm - I encourage you to check out the Westminster website for further information.

This will be my last performance with Kantorei, since I'm graduating, and it will be pretty spectacular to boot. We have period instruments (think sackbutts, cornetti, theorbo) and the dress rehearsal today was very exciting. It's an effervescent piece, and there will be some pretty good performers involved, if I do say so myself! Please come if you can!

Paulus

The Masterworks Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Megill, is performing (among other things) Stephen Paulus's Visions From Hildegard, Part III in our spring concert. I am an intern for the group, meaning I show up and sing, and run sectionals when necessary. Since Paulus was in New York for the week, and he and Dr. Megill are friendly, he came to our rehearsal today to talk about the piece and work with us. It was quite an excellent experience. We sang through each movement, and then he would talk about what he thought were important musical points, what he had been thinking about when composing it, and his feelings about the text. He also fielded many general questions about his life as a composer. He was very down-to-earth and somewhat self-effacing. It was great to see him warm up over the course of the rehearsal and feel more and more comfortable talking about himself. He presented his work and his life as a composer in a very simple, accessible, and charming way. He also talked about the spirituality of the work (the text is all by Hildegard von Bingen) in a manner that made it feel very accessible and personal to me - he was very careful to be inclusive, and I came away from the discussion feeling more personal ownership of the piece. All in all, it was a great rehearsal, and a great experience.

Post-Concert Post, WC tour

It will probably come as no surprise that I passed my concert. Although it was a rocky road getting there, I was happy with the result. I programmed some fairly challenging music, and we all performed it very well. However, my primary feeling about the whole matter is relief that it's over!

The other major event that passed since my last post was the Westminster Choir's tour to England. This was not a particularly happy event. I did appreciate the chance to get to know the choir better, and feel that the group is a remarkably positive, energetic, and generally nice group of people. However, there were problems with the schedule, which was far too busy, and left us all exhausted and unable to fully appreciate the experience. There were also problems with the leadership. Due to these factors, our musical performance was not nearly what it could have and should have been.

This whole event brings up a very pertinent question about blogging, which is how to address negative issues. Obviously, saying bad things about people, especially personal acquaintances, can lead to problems. I know that certain of my readers who care about me get very concerned when I say anything that might offend someone. However, I also don't want to present a picture of my life, and especially my musical experiences, that is utterly skewed towards sunshine and roses. Sometimes things may be really, really hard. In the musical world, especially, I have already come into contact with a profound amount of drama and unprofessional behavior, and I'm young yet! I don't think it's to my benefit or anyone else's if I pretend those problems don't exist - I want this blog to tackle a wide variety of issues, and sometimes that will mean the problems I encounter. Another aspect of this question is that I feel society in general views musical careers through an extremely romanticized lens. Conductors, especially, are often viewed as a breed apart. One of the purposes of this blog is to chronicle the passage of one conductor in a realistic and down-to-earth manner.

Wil Wheaton (formerly Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, now a writer, actor, poker-player, and well-known blogger) addresses this question in his book Just a Geek. He chronicles the history of his blog (which is now hugely popular) and explains that in the beginning, he used it as a front, only saying positive things, and pretending things were going smoothly when they weren't. It was when he started honestly confessing that things weren't going well for him, and writing deeply about the issues that he was facing (at that time, as a struggling actor) that his blog really took root, and his readership expanded.

Obviously, being honest with the struggles one may be facing is quite different from publishing negative remarks about people, or being insulting. Every blog must find its own point of balance about such matters. I try not to write anything in an entry that I would not say to anyone who might possibly read this blog (and to me, that means anyone alive on the planet.) Sometimes, no doubt, I will cross the line. Feel free to weigh in - what do you think about being honest with negative experiences when blogging?

Concert post, #4

I am happy to report that I passed my jury today!

In the middle of the last week of rehearsals, the conducting faculty drop by to make sure that your chorus will be able to sing your music in concert. It is understood that you have a little rehearsal time left, but you have to get through all the pieces. With only a few mishaps, we were able to do this. I am enormously relieved.

However, these last few days are going to be a huge amount of work. If you wish to see the final product, my graduate conducting recital is on March 4 at 7 pm in Bristol Chapel on Westminster Choir Campus. Hope to see you there!