A brief summation of the last two years

Well, as promised in my last post, I will make an attempt to summarize my two years in Texas. It was just long enough for me to not quite get over the culture shock of moving there from New England, but long enough so that I still had slight culture shock when moving from Texas to New York City.

I received my MM from Baylor in May. During my time there, I became a much better clarinet player. Finger technique increased drastically, as well as my consistency of sound. I had two great clarinet teachers there, Dr. Richard Shanley and Alan Olson (a former student of Dr. Shanley). I gave two recitals. The second one was more successful than the first. I played the Muczynski Fantasy Trio and the Copland and Weber E-flat concerti on the first one, and on the second, I played the Bassett Soliloquies, Kalliwoda Morceau de Salon, Bozza Concerto, and a sonata from Jean-Xavier Lefèvre's method book. The amazing Dr. Kae Hosoda-Ayer was the keyboardist for both recitals, and Cody Green, a fellow Baylor student, was my collaborating cellist on the Muczynski and as continuo on the Lefèvre. Dr. Ayer's husband is a clarinetist and teacher at another Texas university, so it was great working with her, as she knows a lot of the clarinet repertoire!

I also had some great ensemble experiences. I learned what it was like to play in a fabulous wind ensemble, as well as getting experience playing in a high-level all-student orchestra. With the wind ensemble, we played at two conventions the first year. The Baylor Symphony is going to Belgium this year, of which I am extremely jealous! As far as chamber music is concerned, I learned a lot about woodwind quintets and what it takes to succeed as a player in that particular group.

Academically, I took the following courses to help me prepare for doctoral work: Research Methods with Dr. Robin Wallace, Woodwind/Clarinet Literature with Dr. Shanley and Amy Marinello, Symphonic Literature with Mr. Stephen Heyde (also the orchestra director), Analytical Techniques with Dr. Eric Lai, and 20th-Century Music with Dr. Jean Boyd. I can honestly say that all of these professors were passionate instructors, and the material covered was essential in my preparation for doctoral study. Research Methods helped me develop the necessary resources for source discovery, paper formatting, and clear writing, Woodwind/Clarinet and Symphonic Literature were important for giving me a broad knowledge of the history of music as it pertains to me as a performer, and Analytical Techniques and 20th-Century Music supplied me with knowledge that will help me as I go about research and analysis for my dissertation topic at NYU. I will be considering the 20th-Century French concerto through the historical, sociopolitical, and theoretical lens of works for clarinet and orchestra by Debussy, Milhaud, Bozza, Tomasi, and Francaix. Modern classical music and composition are integral to the livelihood of academic music here at NYU, so I am finding that the material covered in Dr. Lai's and Dr. Boyd's classes is especially relevant.

At Baylor, my professors were very knowledgeable about their fields. I can only hope that I retain a fraction of what they know and tried to impart to me during my time there.

The summer between my first and second years at Baylor brought me to the Scotia Festival again, where I was able to play the Bartok Contrasts and Mahler's Symphony No. 2, the "Resurrection" symphony. It was a great experience!

Now, my next post will be a summation of things since moving to New York three months ago! That's all for now.

Nova Scotia, continued.

I am now at roughly the midpoint of my trip to Nova Scotia, and it has only gotten better. My quintet is performing the first and last (fourth) movements of the Brahms at a noon hour recital tomorrow, and I will be playing the final movement of the Weber Grand Duo Concertant on Tuesday's noon hour recital. Our quintet will also be playing the third movement of the Brahms quintet in a master class on Wednesday, and we hope to be able to get at least some work done on the second movement before the festival comes to an end, even if we don't get a chance to "perform" it. It's still great to get a chance to study this work. I think it is particularly great among the rest of Brahms's oeuvre a) because it is a major clarinet work, and b) because it is a later work, meaning that Brahms's compositional style had reached a wonderful maturity by the time this piece was written.

Nova Scotia is still beautiful, though it is a bit chilly. Yesterday we had a lobster boil, and I decided that lobster meat isn't worth the trouble of getting it out of the shell, and certainly not worth the money that you would have to pay for it if it weren't provided to you for free (as it was yesterday, though I guess it may have come partially from my festival tuition).

The other cool thing about this festival is this: we are given the opportunity to make friends with other folks of the same age who are serious about music, and these are friendships that I anticipate to welcome a reestablishment of whatever relationship was formed here at any time in the future. Also, it shows me that string players and wind players can get along (or at least clarinet players, anyway :-) ).

And on the location in general: my host family is the nicest one ever. I couldn't ask for anything more. They're so helpful in any way they can be, and it has been great getting tips from them about local restaurants, geography, and things to do. I've decided that if given the right opportunity to move to this area, I would probably do it. I actually prefer the chilliness to what I'll have to experience for the next two years in Waco. :-)

That's about all I have for now. More later, if you're lucky.

It is finished.

And the sky turned black as the night.

I think that's from an old Petra song... I'm not exactly sure. You know, 80s Christian rock?

Well, actually, my undergraduate education is finished, and that's far better than any 80s Christian rock song you could ever think of. I handed in my last paper yesterday. You have no idea how annoying it is to walk across that stage on commencement day, get your case for your diploma that they will send you in the mail -- if, after checking on your grades, you have actually met all your requirements. I still had a paper outstanding for a 2-credit elective course. However, this elective course was one I needed to fulfill my graduation requirements, so I didn't have that oh-so-desirable sense of finality as I sat listening to Rick Warren go on forever and ever about things that will last forever, like his sermon did.

By the way, I didn't want a sermon for graduation. Oh well. I probably would rather have listened to Hillary Clinton for those 20 to 30 minutes in her strained, monotonous, half-yelling sort of oration. While we're on the topic of graduation speakers, I will only say this of the Baccalaureate address: talk to me if you want to hear my opinion.

So I found out for sure that I'm playing the Brahms clarinet quintet (clarinet + string quartet), Op. 115, at the Scotia Festival. If you have not listened to this piece, you need to do so. I'm also going to bring a bunch of other chamber music for clarinet, strings and piano as well, because we can probably work on more than just that one piece. I'm very excited for this opportunity - not only because we get to be coached by world-class musicians, but also because I'll be playing with other young people who are serious about their craft. In addition, while the wind program at Baylor is very strong, doing a festival like this one with a large string component will be good, since the strings at Baylor (from what I understand) aren't quite as strong as the winds, and there's not a ton of collaboration between strings and winds for chamber music.

So I was mistaken...

Due to my not receiving a confirmation email from ETS about the GRE, I thought that the exam I registered for was on Friday, though in reality (I found out Thursday) it was on Thursday. Thus, I had to drop another $140 to register for it again. This time I got a confirmation email. It's tomorrow. Oi. I really don't have the time to study, but it doesn't matter, because.........

I ALREADY GOT AN ASSISTANTSHIP!!!!!!!

I received three letters this morning - acceptances from Duquesne and Oklahoma, and an acceptance with assistantship from Baylor. Before I even knew about the assistantship, all my professors here at Gordon have been telling me to go to Baylor. I just yesterday bought plane tickets to visit Baylor at the end of the month, and this morning I got the letter. So excited. Hopefully I'll like it when I visit. So now the list is as follows:

Baylor - assistantship!

Duquesne - accepted

Oklahoma - accepted

Ohio - accepted

Georgia - unofficially accepted, pending GRE

BU - accepted, not going

FSU - rejected

So, a recital in less than two weeks, a visit to Texas a week after that, and a decision to be made very shortly.

Also, I found out recently that I have been accepted into the Scotia Festival of Music, which is a two-week chamber music festival in Halifax, NS, CA, where the Ying Quartet (faculty at Eastman) will be guest artists/faculty, in addition to clarinetist Todd Palmer and a bunch of other amazing musicians. It may cost me a grand or so, but I think I should jump on this opportunity. I'm excited to do a festival - something I've never done before - and to meet other passionate musicians coming from a different place than myself. Networking is everything in music.