Contest and a Random Surprise

Phew... my private teacher wants me to play a solo. I've never played one before, so this should be interesting. It'll be a good experience though! I'll be playing the first movement of the Bach A Minor Concerto.

I'll also be playing a duet but the decision still has to be made for who I'll be playing with. I have a couple friends in mind. For the duet I'll be playing something from the Telemann six canonic sonatas.

Lots of stuff to do! But contest isn't until late March so I have a good-sized amount of time for practice.

Random note: I'm finally getting a letterman jacket! It was my birthday yesterday so we went by the downtown sports store and got my order set up. I had to get an extra small with two inches off the sleeves-- geez! I'm a pipsqueak. Where are all my 5'1" girls at? :)

Did you know...?

Carlos Santana played the violin in his younger days!

Holiday Concerts, Finals Week, and Violin Cookies, Oh My!

My holiday concert was a week ago and it went great! We ended with a bang... by playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" last. And with a couple electric violins, mind you! We were going to have an electric cello as well but something went wrong so it couldn't be played, unfortunately. That didn't make the concert any less awesome, though!

I played in yet another holiday concert last Saturday at a nursing home with some of my private teacher's other students. It was so much fun. Stressful in the beginning, but fun. There was so much sheet music to keep track of and everyone was missing at least one piece, but we got it all figured out before we performed. The old folks loved our performance and one old man even asked to hear "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", not knowing that I just played that for my holiday concert last Tuesday! We really brightened up their day and got them in a joyful, holiday mood, so that made us all happy that we could that for them. I hope I can do that again some time!

At last, it is the week before winter break. But what comes with that is, you guessed it, finals. Starting tomorrow, my life will be a living hell, blazing with perpetual studying and inopportune sleep deprivation. Tomorrow I have to have my project for Drawing 2 finished and turned in (you could say the project's our final in that class). However, I pretty much just started on it.

It's crunch time.

Second of all, my Spanish 4 final is tomorrow and I'll have to find time to study for that along with getting my project done in time somehow. Then Thursday is my IB English final and Biology 2 final, and finally Friday I just have an Algebra 2 final. No final in American Government since I passed a required test and no final in Symphony since we'll be sight reading music for contest. (Speaking of which, my private teacher wants me to play a solo and a duet for contest. I'm currently sight reading Bach's A Minor Concerto for my solo.) It will definitely be a hectic week, but once it's over it'll be Christmas time and I'll be able to relax and enjoy the upcoming snow (let's hope!).

This past weekend I baked some violin-shaped cookies to give to my private teacher on Wednesday for a Christmas gift, along with a little violin pin. I thought the cookies turned out really cute. Here they are!

What do you think? :) I know there's only 3 strings... I didn't have room. But that doesn't take away from the cuteness, now does it!

Holiday Concert Coming Soon!

The holiday concert for symphony (not the holiday concert with my private teacher's other students) will be December 11th. Here are the songs we're playing:

• Hark! The Harold Angels Sing
• O Come Emanuel
• O Holy Night
• .... and The Devil Went Down to Georgia

That's right... The Devil Went Down to Georgia. That's my symphony teacher's humor, for you! Yes, including that last song in our concert is a controversial decision, but I think most people will understand my teacher's sense of humor and know that it's all just a joke and not meant to be offensive whatsoever. At least I hope so... wouldn't that be sad if people got upset and left? Let's hope the audience will enjoy the song, not get hung up about the reference to satan! :P

(Side note: My symphony teacher is changing the song's name, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", to "The Devil Went Up to the North Pole" specially for the holiday concert. One of the cellists created some new lyrics too. They're pretty awesome.)

Special Visitors to my Symphony Orchestra Class

As we walked into class today we were greeted by Arianna String Quartet from St. Louis, Missouri! They performed a few songs for us and we were absolutely blown away. Each of the performers played with such ease and always moved with the music-- almost dancing-- as if embracing each song's uniqueness. Arianna String Quartet also answered our questions and gave us tips for auditions and practicing. At the end of class we played one of our songs for them. That was nerve-wracking, but we played quite well.

Make sure and visit ariannaquartet.com to learn more about them and listen to their songs!

Breaking the News to My Private Teacher...

Yesterday I told my private teacher about my district audition failure and she understood. She actually said quite a few people let their nerves take over on the last excerpt (like me!) and that messed them up. She told me that I just need more practice playing in front of people and once I have a year of private lessons under my belt I'll be much more experienced and ready to try out again next year. So basically because I've only been taking private lessons for a few months I'm not very experienced and that's one of the main reasons why I didn't make it into district orchestra. Plus nerves on audition day didn't help!

Despite everything my private teacher told me that if she were in my place she wouldn't be playing at the level I am now. She's really impressed by how well I play considering the fact that I have never taken lessons before and figured out everything on my own and in school. My private teacher said that I have a lot of talent, which means the world coming from someone who went to Yale and has dozens of students and tons of experience. It makes me feel like I actually have a chance to do big things...

I left my lesson yesterday feeling much better and I wasn't so hung up on not getting into district orchestra because I realized that I have a lot going for me and I just need to get more playing experience, especially from lessons. Speaking of which, my private teacher is going to have me play in a holiday concert that she's organizing for her students in December! I even stayed to sight read some pieces with a 7th grade girl who has her violin lesson after me each Wednesday. It was nice to play some easy holiday music for a change. :)

District Orchestra? Or no?

I didn't make it into district orchestra. :(

It sucks to know that even after months of practice and work I didn't get in...

There's always next year I guess.