The last couple weeks I've been really getting focused on this Navy Band audition. I'm the type of person that believes that everything happens for a reason - I try to find the positive result of every negative situation. I think that there is a reason that I'm having to wait until May to join the Navy, and that reason is this audition in January. I really want to do well at this audition. My recruiter is really excited for me, and he's putting a little bit of pressure on me to win this audition. If I win, I will be superior to most of the recruiters in the office! As of now, I will come out of boot camp and be an E-3 (Seaman). If I win the audition, I will come out of boot camp an E-6 (Petty Officer First Class). For most, it takes several years of enlisted service to achieve this rate. So what does it mean, really? Um, more money, pure and simple. To the tune of about $600 per month! So for me to get to E-6 right away would be awesome!
I read a blog the other day of Richie Hawley, who is the clarinetist in the Cincinatti Symphony - he quotes another renown clarinetist/teacher, Yehuda Gilad (ahem...his students are winning all the auditions, I might add!): "When you are on stage, everything leaves you EXCEPT your preparation". Ain't that the truth!!!! This may have been my problem all along. As much as I thought I was prepared for all my auditions, I really wasn't TRULY prepared. I was dependent on other things that I have in the practice room but vanish at the audition: calmness, steady fingers, etc.
Obviously I've had somewhat of an epiphany. I realized that I did well at my Navy fleet audition was because I was SUPER prepared (I had almost 3 months!). I practiced slowly, meticulously, and efficiently. I had a great routine everyday - and it paid off! I was confident, cool and (somewhat) collected at my audition. So I've decided to do this to the nth degree. I have settled on the same routine pretty much every day: about an hour of long tones/scales/articulation exercises (based on Robert Spring's warm up routine - modified for Sandy, a mere mortal), then I play through every Navy excerpt slowly - even the "slow" excerpts I take about 10 clicks off the tempo. I think about technique, breath control, tone, and especially musicality. Well, all but one - the Dvorak Carnival Overture excerpt. It is the obligatory band transcription excerpt, although it is much more manageable than others I've had to attempt (ahem...ARMY BAND argh). For those who don't know, in band transcriptions of orchestral pieces, clarinetists get all the violin parts. Except generally its a lot harder on clarinet than on a violin (obviously the arrangers don't care). I have a recording of the Marine Band playing the piece, and it literally sounds like the clarinets are one metronome click away from crashing and burning. And that's the Marine Band. Anyway, I've never played it before so I'm trying to get it up to tempo. Its really high and really fast, but I'm slowly making progress. I'm close to breaking the half note = 100 barrier, and the final tempo is half = 132. My goal is to have it at tempo by Christmas, then I'll practice it slow for two weeks after that, then alternate slow and at tempo practice until the audition. Hopefully that will work...eek.
In other news, I did not get chosen as a finalist for the Youtube Symphony thing. Meh. I was disappointed at first, but now I'm over it. My video was pretty good, but it wasn't super. It could have been much better. Hey, it was pretty good considering I only allowed myself 3 weeks to prepare excerpts that I hadn't played in almost a year! And I learned a lot about making videos, which is good. I think I'm going to make videos every few weeks to check on my playing, since I don't really have a teacher at the moment.
Well, that's all for now. Merry Christmas everyone!
December 10, 2010
November 29, 2010
My directorial debut????
First off, Happy Thanks giving! Ben and I were lucky enough to spend time with our friend Andy and his family for the holiday in Syracuse. It was really great! And I had my first garbage plate ever on Wednesday night. I guess I couldn't leave Rochester without having one! Anyway....
For the past week I've been working on creating a video for the Youtube symphony auditions. If I get chosen, I get a free trip to Australia to play with the 96 other people who get chosen at the Sydney Opera House. Freakin sweet! And the audition excerpts aren't too crazy, only three excerpts plus Mozart. Here is my final video that I submitted:
I am fairly happy with it. I would like to mention that I am thinking the scherzo in two, not three (see my last blog entry) and it seems to help A LOT! I am pretty nervous about the Capriccio excerpt (the first one after the Mozart) because I'm rushing a little (ok - a lot!), but according to Ben it had the best energy. I'm taking a risk by choosing style over technique. We'll see if it pays off.
Making the video was pretty labor intensive - I used my digital camera plus my minidisc. During several test recordings that I did a couple weeks ago, I found out how crappy the sound is on my camera. So I recorded both video and sound separately using the above mentioned equipment and then merged them together using Windows Movie Maker. It took some time to get it lined up just right, but I think the end result was worth it! Lets just say, the "microphone" that is on my camera really doesn't like the upper register! So I did that first with all the raw footage, adjusted the sound settings so that all you could hear was my minidisc recording, saved the movie file (which takes forever!!! Stupid slow computer) and then cut and pasted the takes from there. I made four separate (and very organized!) videos of each piece, and then I sat down and critically watched (more listened, actually) all of them. Here's an example (its my Beethoven takes - its the shortest one, I think you'll agree that I got it on the third take!)
The others were not so smooth, I had 5 takes of the Mozart, 7 or 8 of the Capriccio, and 5 or 6 of the scherzo. It took a lot of time to decide, I worked on it Saturday night for about 3 hours! Anyway, the end result was decent enough to submit. Now I just have to hope that I get chosen as a finalist! If I make it, then my video is up for voting! So we'll see what happens.
In other news, yesterday was my birthday! I had a really wonderful day. Started out with a 4.75 mile run, which was meant to be a 4 mile run, but I ended up getting lost in the cemetery - lets not even go there with the jokes of getting lost in a cemetery on my birthday, haha. I actually like running through the cemetery here because there is lots of hills, and its actually quite peaceful and beautiful, despite all the dead people. There are grave markers of people who died in the early 19th century! Totally awesome. Anywho...I then taught a lesson, and she actually practiced so it was a great and fun lesson. After that Ben and I went to lunch at Aja Noodle (which is our new favorite place to eat!) and then went window shopping at Eastview Mall. The mall closed at 6 (WTF...no holiday hours???) so we came back home and hung out at home for a bit, I skyped with my mom and dad. Then we went to Plum Garden for dinner - all I can say is SUSHI OVERLOAD. It was so good though:
I was so full, I could barely move. After dinner, we went to the cheapy theater and saw Despicable Me. Cute movie!! I enjoyed it very much. After the movie, we came back home and we had birthday "cake" that Ben made, which was fruit pizza, it was sooooo good! Way better than a regular cake :)
For the past week I've been working on creating a video for the Youtube symphony auditions. If I get chosen, I get a free trip to Australia to play with the 96 other people who get chosen at the Sydney Opera House. Freakin sweet! And the audition excerpts aren't too crazy, only three excerpts plus Mozart. Here is my final video that I submitted:
I am fairly happy with it. I would like to mention that I am thinking the scherzo in two, not three (see my last blog entry) and it seems to help A LOT! I am pretty nervous about the Capriccio excerpt (the first one after the Mozart) because I'm rushing a little (ok - a lot!), but according to Ben it had the best energy. I'm taking a risk by choosing style over technique. We'll see if it pays off.
Making the video was pretty labor intensive - I used my digital camera plus my minidisc. During several test recordings that I did a couple weeks ago, I found out how crappy the sound is on my camera. So I recorded both video and sound separately using the above mentioned equipment and then merged them together using Windows Movie Maker. It took some time to get it lined up just right, but I think the end result was worth it! Lets just say, the "microphone" that is on my camera really doesn't like the upper register! So I did that first with all the raw footage, adjusted the sound settings so that all you could hear was my minidisc recording, saved the movie file (which takes forever!!! Stupid slow computer) and then cut and pasted the takes from there. I made four separate (and very organized!) videos of each piece, and then I sat down and critically watched (more listened, actually) all of them. Here's an example (its my Beethoven takes - its the shortest one, I think you'll agree that I got it on the third take!)
The others were not so smooth, I had 5 takes of the Mozart, 7 or 8 of the Capriccio, and 5 or 6 of the scherzo. It took a lot of time to decide, I worked on it Saturday night for about 3 hours! Anyway, the end result was decent enough to submit. Now I just have to hope that I get chosen as a finalist! If I make it, then my video is up for voting! So we'll see what happens.
In other news, yesterday was my birthday! I had a really wonderful day. Started out with a 4.75 mile run, which was meant to be a 4 mile run, but I ended up getting lost in the cemetery - lets not even go there with the jokes of getting lost in a cemetery on my birthday, haha. I actually like running through the cemetery here because there is lots of hills, and its actually quite peaceful and beautiful, despite all the dead people. There are grave markers of people who died in the early 19th century! Totally awesome. Anywho...I then taught a lesson, and she actually practiced so it was a great and fun lesson. After that Ben and I went to lunch at Aja Noodle (which is our new favorite place to eat!) and then went window shopping at Eastview Mall. The mall closed at 6 (WTF...no holiday hours???) so we came back home and hung out at home for a bit, I skyped with my mom and dad. Then we went to Plum Garden for dinner - all I can say is SUSHI OVERLOAD. It was so good though:
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| The sushi spread |
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| Happy birthday to me!! |
I was so full, I could barely move. After dinner, we went to the cheapy theater and saw Despicable Me. Cute movie!! I enjoyed it very much. After the movie, we came back home and we had birthday "cake" that Ben made, which was fruit pizza, it was sooooo good! Way better than a regular cake :)
Here are the gifts that Ben got me, a new super fancy running jacket, and a skull shaped bottle of vodka with matching skull glasses. I wanted it more for the bottle than the vodka, I've been eyeing it for awhile, since we go to the liquor store often because of Ben's obsession with whisky.
Anyway, it was a pretty successful birthday! And I still can't believe I'm 28. That means I've been an official adult for a decade and that means in two years I'll be 30! Eeeeeek! Looking back, I've made plenty of mistakes in my ten years of adult life, but I've learned just as much! I've also had plenty of successes and good times too. At 18, I would have never thought I would be where I am right now, especially with the whole Navy thing! Even two years ago, joining the military was crazy to me. But I still think I will be happy with my decision to join, I think it is exactly what I was looking for.
Now I'm going to enjoy my extra day off! Time for Christmas decorations! And then back to the grind tomorrow...
November 18, 2010
duple vs. triple
This past week I've been exploring the use of a technique that I've kind of developed on my own. I call it the "two-against-three" practice technique. What I've been experimenting with is if playing duples against triplet rhythms actually makes your duples more even (and visa versa). In the past, I've used this on an excerpt that's an old favorite of mine (NOT, lol!), the first movement of Beethoven 6:
I set the metronome at around quarter = 80 (no faster, but you can certainly go slower!) and set the subdivision on the metronome to duple eighths. I ended up practicing it this way kind of by accident - I tended to rush the 16ths in the first three bars, so I would put my metronome on the duple subdivision to make sure I was getting it exactly right...and out of laziness I would go on to the rest of the excerpt with the same duple subdivision. I ended up discovering that I started to play the triplets more evenly! So I began to intentionally practice the triplets in this manner. Basically, I think the reason for this is that because your brain is fighting the sound of the duple, it has to think really hard about playing the triples - in turn they are extremely accurate. Plus, I think it makes practicing excerpts more fun! I would say challenging, but we all know that excerpts are super challenging because they have to be super super perfect!
For awhile, I only used this technique for that particular excerpt, but recently I've wondered if this can be applied to others. Right now I'm working on a few excerpts for the Youtube Symphony audition - Mozart, Beethoven 8, Mendelssohn scherzo, and RK Capriccio Espagnol. I haven't practiced any of them for several months so I thought it may be a good time to see if this technique of practice really helps. For each excerpt I'm setting the metronome subdivision on the opposite rhythm (e.g. Mozart - triplets, Scherzo - duples, etc.) So far, it seems to be working fairly well - I am actually catching myself rushing here and there when I'm using the two against three method, where I don't think I would have notice before, especially in the Capriccio. And each excerpt seems to be getting more rhythmically grounded!
I've actually taken this a step further with the Mendelssohn Scherzo excerpt - I've been practicing it in 2/8 time. Huh? You can stop scratching your head now. I'll explain...basically, instead of thinking of the excerpt being written like this:
I think of it being written like this:
Hold on, I'll let you clean up from your brain exploding... You're right, its totally weird at first - its like running backwards, but once you get the hang of it, its fairly easy. (I always have to make sure I play it in 3/8 afterwards in order to "cleanse my pallate" - it feels pretty odd to leave the excerpt in 2/8 time). Going back and forth from thinking in 2/8 to thinking in 3/8 is a little tricky too! If you're like me, the first 16th of the measure is always difficult to place exactly in time, and this is a way to fix that problem. I always rush it, or its late. Its never just right! But for some reason, placing the emphasis on different notes in the measure helps with evenness...not sure why, but it seems to work for me! I could go on and on and on about changing rhythms for practice purposes...but I think I'll reserve elaborating on that topic for another day.
Of course, the two against three method doesn't work with all types of music. For example, I attempted to practice the Eb excerpt of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique in this way, and it was a fail. Since the excerpt is composed of mostly "long-short-long-short" rhythms, putting a duple rhythm within that just muddies things up and it gets too confusing. After just one try, I knew this wasn't going to work for this particular excerpt and I didn't want to try to force it. This technique should never be forced! It will either click in your head or it won't.
Lastly, I really should mention that this is intended for people who have mastered the two against three rhythmic conundrum. If you aren't very good at two against three, you will quickly get frustrated with this particular technique and want to throw your clarinet out the window. Trust me, I've tried (and failed) to teach this technique to students who haven't mastered it. Its a bad idea - we're talking about "deer in headlights" looks all around.
So how do you "master" the two against three rhythm? Look no further than Dr. Lawson's (from CSU) scrubber (left). Set your met to 60 and practice your scales. I still do this exercise as part of my warm up - but I articulate all notes and use it as articulation and rhythm practice (two birds with one stone, yes). But it is just as rhythmically effective to slur, and make sure to repeat each one at least three times. And to throw another wrench in the mix - practice it by note, not by the pattern; which means do all the patterns on each note before moving on the the next note. This forces you to switch your brain quickly between twos and threes (in this context, 3s, 5s, 7s, and 9s are considered "threes", and the rest considered "twos"). This is a great way to practice your awkward 5s and 7s also!
Hope you enjoyed my little post about my newly discovered practice technique. I challenge you to give it a try it if you can!
Happy practicing!!
For awhile, I only used this technique for that particular excerpt, but recently I've wondered if this can be applied to others. Right now I'm working on a few excerpts for the Youtube Symphony audition - Mozart, Beethoven 8, Mendelssohn scherzo, and RK Capriccio Espagnol. I haven't practiced any of them for several months so I thought it may be a good time to see if this technique of practice really helps. For each excerpt I'm setting the metronome subdivision on the opposite rhythm (e.g. Mozart - triplets, Scherzo - duples, etc.) So far, it seems to be working fairly well - I am actually catching myself rushing here and there when I'm using the two against three method, where I don't think I would have notice before, especially in the Capriccio. And each excerpt seems to be getting more rhythmically grounded!
I've actually taken this a step further with the Mendelssohn Scherzo excerpt - I've been practicing it in 2/8 time. Huh? You can stop scratching your head now. I'll explain...basically, instead of thinking of the excerpt being written like this:
I think of it being written like this:
 |
| (I wrote one of the accents wrong...oops - be sure to place it on the B, not the A, which is tricky in this time signature) |
Of course, the two against three method doesn't work with all types of music. For example, I attempted to practice the Eb excerpt of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique in this way, and it was a fail. Since the excerpt is composed of mostly "long-short-long-short" rhythms, putting a duple rhythm within that just muddies things up and it gets too confusing. After just one try, I knew this wasn't going to work for this particular excerpt and I didn't want to try to force it. This technique should never be forced! It will either click in your head or it won't.
 |
| "The Scrubber" |
So how do you "master" the two against three rhythm? Look no further than Dr. Lawson's (from CSU) scrubber (left). Set your met to 60 and practice your scales. I still do this exercise as part of my warm up - but I articulate all notes and use it as articulation and rhythm practice (two birds with one stone, yes). But it is just as rhythmically effective to slur, and make sure to repeat each one at least three times. And to throw another wrench in the mix - practice it by note, not by the pattern; which means do all the patterns on each note before moving on the the next note. This forces you to switch your brain quickly between twos and threes (in this context, 3s, 5s, 7s, and 9s are considered "threes", and the rest considered "twos"). This is a great way to practice your awkward 5s and 7s also!
Hope you enjoyed my little post about my newly discovered practice technique. I challenge you to give it a try it if you can!
Happy practicing!!
November 8, 2010
Syrinx
I have decided to post my arrangement of Debussy's Syrinx that I performed at my recital last month. And don't worry, the original composition is in the public domain! (I checked) People seemed to love it, and a couple people told me that they would be interested in playing it themselves! So here you go:
Claude Debussy - Syrinx (A Clarinet)
I tried to go through it and make sure there were no errors, but I'm sure there still is! Please let me know if you find a typo. Also, my only request is that if you play it, please send me a recording! I want to hear how other people interpret the piece.
If you are interested in comparing the score, here is the link to the original score on IMSLP:
Claude Debussy - Syrinx (Flute)
And there are tons of videos of this work (played on flute) on youtube, so if you want to hear how it sounds you can check it out. The clarinet version doesn't really sound like the flute version, and I don't recommend trying to make it sound like it. While I was arranging the piece, I began by trying to match the sound of the clarinet to the sound of the flute. But I quickly realized that was going to be an impossible feat - I would actually recommend making it sound as opposite to the flute version as possible. The result is an extremely dark and beautiful piece - I would describe it as a "shadow" of the flute version. I hope to have a recording of myself playing this at my recital posted in the media gallery soon!
And if you are wondering what the heck "syrinx" is or means, here is the Wikipedia article, which actually mentions the piece by Debussy.
Anyway, enjoy and I hope to hear some different takes on this awesome piece.
Claude Debussy - Syrinx (A Clarinet)
I tried to go through it and make sure there were no errors, but I'm sure there still is! Please let me know if you find a typo. Also, my only request is that if you play it, please send me a recording! I want to hear how other people interpret the piece.
If you are interested in comparing the score, here is the link to the original score on IMSLP:
Claude Debussy - Syrinx (Flute)
And there are tons of videos of this work (played on flute) on youtube, so if you want to hear how it sounds you can check it out. The clarinet version doesn't really sound like the flute version, and I don't recommend trying to make it sound like it. While I was arranging the piece, I began by trying to match the sound of the clarinet to the sound of the flute. But I quickly realized that was going to be an impossible feat - I would actually recommend making it sound as opposite to the flute version as possible. The result is an extremely dark and beautiful piece - I would describe it as a "shadow" of the flute version. I hope to have a recording of myself playing this at my recital posted in the media gallery soon!
Anyway, enjoy and I hope to hear some different takes on this awesome piece.
November 2, 2010
starting fresh
If I can after a big event, usually I like to take some time completely away from my clarinet. Although I love playing (and sometimes it takes a lot of effort to not pick up my instrument!), time away from the instrument allows me to de-stress and recover faster and better. Usually I will take a week off, sometimes two depending on how long it has been since I had a break. This time, I took just one week off - yesterday was my first official day back in the practicing grind since my recital. Last week I was able to get a lot of non musical things done...including updating my blog site!! Oh and I did another 5k on Saturday - this one was a lot harder...it went up Cobbs Hill in Rochester, which is a insanely steep hill and it goes on and on! I felt like I would never get to the top! But I still ran it under 30 minutes, which was great!
Anyway, the next thing on the agenda is the DC Navy Band audition in January. I literally have not seriously practiced any excerpts in many, many months...longest time I've ever gone since I started working on excerpts! I played through them yesterday, it wasn't too painful...ha. There are a lot of common excerpts between these excerpts and the Marine Band excerpts from January...which conveniently is the last audition I did!
I am also contemplating submitting a video to the YouTube Symphony auditions. If you don't know what that is....click here. If I make it, I'll get to go to Australia, and that would be cool. The excerpts are pretty simple - Mozart Concerto, Beethoven 8, Mendelssohn Scherzo, and Rimsky Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol. There is also an audition for Eb clarinet - Berlioz Symphony Fantastique and Strauss Till Eulenspiegel are those excerpts. The deadline for this is November 28 (ahem, which is also my golden birthday), so its coming up fast. I'm going to decide for sure if I'm going to do it next week after practicing the excerpts.
Today at work, I finally heard back from people about doing a performance for the hospital's recital series (yes-they actually have a recital series!!). Looks like it might happen! There are a lot of things that need to be finalized before anything can go forward, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Its really funny, a lot of the people that I work with have no idea that I am a musician, let alone graduated from Eastman! They are amazed at what I do - I think it would be so great to play for them! I need to start thinking about a possible program...this time I won't be limited by time/pianist since I live here! I'm hoping to get to play with the wife of a research doctor in the Neurosurgery department, I heard her play a recital at Eastman last spring and it was a-freaking-mazing! I would be honored to play with someone of that caliber. So I hope everything works out!
On a completely different note, I voted for the last time in NY today! I messed up my first ballot, so I had to fill out a second. Yes, I was that girl. LOL. Also, tomorrow marks 200 days until I leave for the Navy! Yoohoo! Its getting closer and closer!
October 28, 2010
updateage
So instead of practicing this week, I have filled my evenings with updating my blog site! I have gotten my own domain, which is something I've been meaning to do for awhile now. So now my blog is at www.sandyclarinet.com! Woo so exciting! I have also posted my resume, and I figured out how to post some recordings of myself. I only have a couple pieces posted that were recorded from my dress rehearsal of my ESM recital back in January of '09. I'm going to dig around for some more recordings that I think is decent enough for posting, but I think most of what I had was lost from when my hard drive committed suicide back in December. Wah. I also hope to post some pictures and video of this past weekend. As soon as I get them from various people!
I know it doesn't look like much, but I have spent a lot of time perfecting the site...and it has forced me to get back into coding and stuff (I was an expert at html back in college, but I have long since forgotten most of it) which has been pretty fun. And annoying at the same time, because I'm a perfectionist! For now, since blogger is dumb and won't let you make a "home" page, I'm keeping it mainly a blog site. But I think its useful to have other information about myself and what I do other than my daily musings.
Anyway, enjoy sandyclarinet.com!
I know it doesn't look like much, but I have spent a lot of time perfecting the site...and it has forced me to get back into coding and stuff (I was an expert at html back in college, but I have long since forgotten most of it) which has been pretty fun. And annoying at the same time, because I'm a perfectionist! For now, since blogger is dumb and won't let you make a "home" page, I'm keeping it mainly a blog site. But I think its useful to have other information about myself and what I do other than my daily musings.
Anyway, enjoy sandyclarinet.com!
October 25, 2010
Trip to Colorado and recital
Wow! The last week has gone by in a flash! I had such a great time in Colorado, I really didn't want to come back! Actually, if my husband wasn't still in NY I probably would have stayed!
I arrived in Denver after a very smooth trip; the only delay was in Rochester because a bird ran into the plane on the way in and they needed to "clean up" and inspect the plane (it ran into the actual plane, not the engine)...but I still arrived in my connecting airport early! My sister and her husband came to pick me up, along with her friend (and now my friend too) Courtney. I had quite an entourage.
Wednesday morning I went to breakfast with my sister, my brother in law, and my mom to Lucile's, which is like, the best place to have breakfast in Foco. Just saying. After that my mom let me use her truck (I know, shocker! I'm almost 28 and she finally trusts me to take one of her vehicles, LOL) and I went to Greeley to meet with my friend Adele, who was playing the Poulenc with me on my recital. We ended up rehearsing the Poulenc for a little bit and then talking and playing other duets for a couple hours! It was great fun. But then I had to get going to get my hair cut...my ends were quite gross - it had been over 10 months since I had it cut last!! Obviously I really like my hairdresser since I let my hair go for months and months until I can make it back to Colorado, ha.
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| Mmmmmm Lucile's |
Wednesday night was the whole reason that I came at this particular time: my sister was having her last concert with her a capella group, Curious Gage. My brother in law has been in it for awhile, and right when I moved to NY she had auditioned and won an open spot in the group. So I've never heard her sing in the group!! And this was my last chance to see her, and I am so happy that it worked out! I seriously was so blown away by how much she has improved her singing and I was so proud of her, I thought I was going to cry during the first song! The concert was Halloween themed, and I totally wore my tinkerbell costume! All the members of the group also dressed up - Kristi being a vintage Barbie of course!
Thursday and Friday were spent mostly preparing for my recital on Friday night. I had enough time to go for a run with my mom and also have some good quality time hanging out with my mom. It was really nice! Thursday night was my dress rehearsal. I won't go into details, but it ended up being a little frustrating. I'll be honest, it ended up not being the quality that I hoped - I have been so spoiled with Eastman pianists!! Rehearsal ended up lasting almost three hours without a break...I was so pooped at the end! Luckily Kristi was armed with cupcakes, so I felt better!
Luckily my reeds changed very minimally in Colorado, but I am glad that I got the slightly softer strength, they ended up being just perfect! I hardly needed to work on them, which was nice. Also, my breathing adjusted very well to the altitude. I had to re-do some breaths in the Poulenc that were on the verge of being impossible in Rochester and became entirely impossible at 5000 feet, but other than that I didn't need to adjust anything!
I also had a slight wardrobe emergency. The outfit I planned on wearing was a long skirt and a shirt that I ordered from this Chinese company about 3 weeks ago. I paid for 7 day shipping, thinking that it would be here in plenty of time. Well, it didn't actually arrive until last Tuesday (the day I left for CO) and it needed a signature confirmation...I was at work and Ben was asleep when the guy came to deliver it. So he left a nice little note that stated that it would be available to pick up at the post office after 9am on Wednesday. Well that sucks! I was leaving that night! So Ben had to go pick it up for me, and he overnighted it to me at my parent's house. Which was fine, it was better than trying to find a new shirt. (Although now, a $15 shirt ended up costing me almost $50...) Well when I finally opened the package on Thursday night, it ended up being WAY to small (I had ordered a medium, but I guess I wasn't thinking in "asian girl" sizes, ha!). I tried to stay calm, not panic...we can fix it. And I showed it to my mom in the morning...and she fixed it! There were only little buttons that fastened the shirt closed, and and all we needed to do was move the buttons! It ended up fitting perfectly and looked fabulous. Whew!
The recital was held at Magnolia Music Studio, which is owned by Cynthia Vaughn, who used to teach voice at CSU. Basically, she is awesome, and I loved playing in her space! It was very intimate, which I liked, I felt like I could really connect with my audience because they were right there.
The actual recital went very well. I don't think I could have played better considering the time frame that I had to prepare. The turnout was great too, almost a full house!! I have a feeling that the pianist went home and practiced a bunch on Friday because it was so much better than it had been on Thursday night. And I actually spoke to the audience without feeling like I made an ass out of myself. Win! Unfortunately, I had a projectile spit event on the Sutermeister, but I recovered the best I could. It happens.
Everyone LOVED the Debussy that I arranged. I was really surprised by the reaction to it - many people said it was their favorite piece of the concert. I think it was mine too, actually!
Saturday, my parents hosted an open house for me, so that my friends could come see me, instead of having to stress about making sure I see them. That was really fun, a lot of the same people who came to the recital came to the open house too. It was nice though, because I could chat with them more at the open house since it wasn't as crazy.
On Saturday night, I went to the Zombie Crawl in Fort Collins with Kristi and Courtney. We got all "zombied out" and had a great time. Kristi was a zombie bride, and Courtney and I were her zombie bridesmaids.
 |
| Trying to eat my dad's brains (and he's also being attacked by golden retrievers) |
Saturday night was so much fun, but I had an extremely early flight the next morning so I definitely paid for that fun. I think I went to bed around 1am and I got up at 3am. My flight was at 6am out of Denver, gross. But I made it, and luckily the flight back was even smoother than the flight into Denver. I slept almost the entire way. Oh and then I taught a clarinet lesson that afternoon...that's how desperate for money I am!
It was kind of sad to be back in Rochester after having so much fun in Colorado, but it is what it is. Back to real life!! At least I have Ben here, and we are going to be leaving soon. Although I would love to move back to Fort Collins, but its just not in the cards, unfortunately. But somewhere other than Rochester sounds real nice right now.
Coming up, I am forcing myself to take a week off from practicing (seriously forced - I keep wanting to get my horn out!), then I am going to start preparing for the Navy Band audition in January. I met with my recruiter today, and he is totally excited for me to audition for the band. Apparently, if I win the job, I will outrank almost everyone in the office after I get out of basic training. Ha! So crazy. I was hoping to repeat my recital here in Rochester, but it looks like I won't be able to afford it (I really don't want to charge for tickets). So I'm going to focus my efforts elsewhere. I'm still hoping to maybe work something out with the Medical Center and their concert series, but nobody seems to be getting back to me. Whatever.
So I'm going to enjoy my week of no clarinet! Maybe I'll try to be productive....
October 18, 2010
Updated site
Just a quick update...this weekend I was able to completely update my blog site. Now you have access to my bio and other information, and I hope to have my resume and other features up very soon. Yay! Closer and closer to a real website. I'm hoping to reformat it to the logo my dear and talented sister made for me...someday. (shameless plug...if you ever, EVER need graphic design services, she is the one to go to: www.kristisiedowthompson.com - I highly recommend her, and not just because she's my sister, she rocks at design!!)
In other news, one more day of Rochester practicing before my recital. I am leaving tomorrow night! I had a chance to play the Poulenc yesterday at the Eastman House during the Ad hoc concert. It went pretty well...although I'm so thankful to get in a performance of it under my belt, it really showed where I'm weakest!
Now I have to figure out some notes so that I can speak a little about each piece. I need to work on my public speaking skills, and what better place to do that than at my own recital! My goal is to not speak too much, because I really hate when people go on and on about the piece they're going to play. Get on with it already!
And if you are wondering, this is the final order of the program:
Bolcom (Eb piece)
Sutermeister
Poulenc
Debussy
Finzi
I decided to go ahead and make the Finzi the last piece...seemed to make more sense to me even though it doesn't end big or anything. So that's it...I probably won't have time to blog while I'm in CO, so I'll see you on the other side!
October 12, 2010
the home stretch...
The last couple weeks I have been practicing like a mofo...seriously. My aspirations are getting the best for me again. Literally Monday through Friday I practice 2 1/2 to 3 hours after work...and somehow I am still finding time to work out! I can’t really do anything else though, and I’m feeling exhausted by bedtime. Its ok, it will be totally worth it. My recital program is really starting to come together! It will be ready by next Friday...I hope. I’m so excited! Hopefully my reeds won’t freak out because of the dryness and altitude. Lots of practicing will take place in the few days before the concert to make sure I adapt well!
Right now I’m fighting with figuring out an order for the recital. I have 4 out of 5 pieces that end softly and anti-climactic, and the the 5th is really short. I have to think of what makes sense for the audience and myself (since I’m using all three of my instruments). I’m thinking of this order:
Bolcom - Little suite of four dances (Eb clarinet & piano)
Sutermeister - Capriccio (solo A clarinet)
Finzi - Five Bagatelles (Bb clarinet & piano)
Debussy - Syrinx (solo A clarinet)
Poulenc - Sonata for two clarinets (Bb clarinet)
The thing I’m fighting with is whether or not to switch the Poulenc and Finzi. Neither are good closers in general, but they are the best closers relative to the group of pieces that I have. Hmmmmmm...I’ll take a week to think about it.
Anyway, in other news, I’ve been invited back to play with the group Ad Hoc again. (Check out their website, www.adhoc-music.org) We are performing the Mozart Serenade (again - we did it in the concert series back in August) at the Eastman house this weekend. I’m playing the 2nd part again with the same clarinetist as before playing the first part. There are some new players, so it feels like a different group - better actually. I’m also playing the Poulenc duo with the other clarinetist on the concert, which is great because I will get some practice performing the piece before the real deal next week. We worked on it last night; it was the first time that I played the piece with another human being and it felt pretty good. I think we play really well together - its great when you just click with another musician. Unfortunately, I’ve had more of the opposite situation, where we are mismatched and it takes a lot more work to achieve the same result. Its so refreshing when things come together so easily. Our playing just flowed very well together, it was nice.
Last night I also had a moment where I felt so grateful that I played such a cool instrument, and that I’m actually really good at it and this is what I’m going to be doing as my profession! I truly love playing clarinet, I really feel like myself when I’ve got my instrument in my hands. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else and being as happy!
It really feels good to be performing again. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon Ad Hoc, and its beginning to open up some doors for more performing here in Rochester. I’ve been focused the last couple years on auditions and its refreshing to be playing for people who isn’t critically judging me! I hate auditioning, but I love performing. Maybe that’s why I don’t do that great at auditions sometimes....ha.
Right now I’m fighting with figuring out an order for the recital. I have 4 out of 5 pieces that end softly and anti-climactic, and the the 5th is really short. I have to think of what makes sense for the audience and myself (since I’m using all three of my instruments). I’m thinking of this order:
Bolcom - Little suite of four dances (Eb clarinet & piano)
Sutermeister - Capriccio (solo A clarinet)
Finzi - Five Bagatelles (Bb clarinet & piano)
Debussy - Syrinx (solo A clarinet)
Poulenc - Sonata for two clarinets (Bb clarinet)
The thing I’m fighting with is whether or not to switch the Poulenc and Finzi. Neither are good closers in general, but they are the best closers relative to the group of pieces that I have. Hmmmmmm...I’ll take a week to think about it.
Anyway, in other news, I’ve been invited back to play with the group Ad Hoc again. (Check out their website, www.adhoc-music.org) We are performing the Mozart Serenade (again - we did it in the concert series back in August) at the Eastman house this weekend. I’m playing the 2nd part again with the same clarinetist as before playing the first part. There are some new players, so it feels like a different group - better actually. I’m also playing the Poulenc duo with the other clarinetist on the concert, which is great because I will get some practice performing the piece before the real deal next week. We worked on it last night; it was the first time that I played the piece with another human being and it felt pretty good. I think we play really well together - its great when you just click with another musician. Unfortunately, I’ve had more of the opposite situation, where we are mismatched and it takes a lot more work to achieve the same result. Its so refreshing when things come together so easily. Our playing just flowed very well together, it was nice.
Last night I also had a moment where I felt so grateful that I played such a cool instrument, and that I’m actually really good at it and this is what I’m going to be doing as my profession! I truly love playing clarinet, I really feel like myself when I’ve got my instrument in my hands. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else and being as happy!
It really feels good to be performing again. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon Ad Hoc, and its beginning to open up some doors for more performing here in Rochester. I’ve been focused the last couple years on auditions and its refreshing to be playing for people who isn’t critically judging me! I hate auditioning, but I love performing. Maybe that’s why I don’t do that great at auditions sometimes....ha.
September 28, 2010
There's a first time for everything!
This post doesn't have much to do with clarinet, I'll be perfectly honest. But I experienced a couple major "firsts" that I feel I must share. The one that I'm most proud is from Saturday. I completed my first 5k race! It was never a goal for me to do a race when I started to run at the beginning of the summer, but it seemed like something fun to do and something motivating to keep me in shape since I have to wait so long before I ship out.
The race itself was not a true 5k, only 2.9 miles, so just short of a full 5k. It took place on the UR river campus and the course was really nice, most of it was along the Genesee river (which if you don't know, is the river that runs through downtown Rochester). I told myself I was going to go all out because I wanted to get it under 30 minutes, which I had yet to do in my 5k workouts. Usually I don't run 100% during my workouts, mostly because I don't want to overdo it, but there is a little bit of laziness there too!! I figured I had no excuse not to go 100% here.
I set a pretty fast pace from the beginning, I think because I was so excited and there were about 100 people around me! I had to remind myself several times that I had to hold back my pace a little if I wanted to make it through the entire race! But I was still booking - I got to the first mile marker and I looked down at my watch at it said just over 8 minutes! Woo! Personal record for a mile for me! I've been struggling to get my miles under 9 minutes, so I felt awesome. What was really inspiring was a group of Marines who were running next to me in their uniforms with 60lb packs on (oh and boots, no running shoes!!). Yes, I'll be in the military soon too, but I'll probably never be like that. I'm only doing it to play my silly instrument! They were very inspiring and motivating! Totally awesome.
At this point I had a good pace going, and I felt really good. About half way through the 2nd mile, that's when I started to pass a lot of people. I think other people were blasting through the beginning and then they ran out of gas. I got to the 2 mile marker and I was at about 16 minutes...holy cow! Even if I had walked from this point I probably would have been under 30 minutes! I kept pushing on, though, cuz that's how I roll. The last mile was the toughest, because it had a lot of up and down hills. I felt like I was going to run out of gas at the end, but then I saw the finish line, and I decided to really push it and sprint the last 100 feet or so. I saw the official clock as I was approaching the finish line, and it said 24:05!!!! I was so proud of myself and happy. I don't know what my official time was, because I saw the clock several seconds out from the finish line, but I don't really care because it was so much faster than I had even anticipated!
So after a great weekend, I had a lovely meeting with my recruiter. This is where the second "first" comes in...I'm much less proud of this one. I had to give a military salute for the first time yesterday! Haha and it sucked ass. Now since I'm in DEP I have to do a salute routine before I can enter the recruiter's office. Basically it goes like this: I march in, flank left on this Navy rug, do a salute to the American flag in the corner, turn to anyone in the office, hold up my DEP ID card and salute and say, "Future Sailor Herrera requesting permission to board", and then wait for someone to say, "permission granted". And when I leave, I have to salute my recruiter (and hold up my DEP ID card) and say "Future Sailor Herrera requesting permission to go ashore", wait for them to say "permission granted", and then turn and salute the flag, and march out of the office. Ugh, it did not go that smoothly. I won't go into details, but it was pretty! And I was super nervous, which didn't help at all.
Last week my recruiter said that the reason that they make us do this is because this is what is expected in basic training, and they are trying to get us used to doing it. So i guess I'm glad I'm making these mistakes now instead of later! My recruiters are a little more forgiving than the people at RTC!!! Ugh, but I was still embarrassed...mostly because Ben witnessed the whole thing!! LOL! I'll get used to it I'm sure...and I'm sure I will be embarrassed several more times before this journey ends!
237 days!!!!
The race itself was not a true 5k, only 2.9 miles, so just short of a full 5k. It took place on the UR river campus and the course was really nice, most of it was along the Genesee river (which if you don't know, is the river that runs through downtown Rochester). I told myself I was going to go all out because I wanted to get it under 30 minutes, which I had yet to do in my 5k workouts. Usually I don't run 100% during my workouts, mostly because I don't want to overdo it, but there is a little bit of laziness there too!! I figured I had no excuse not to go 100% here.
I set a pretty fast pace from the beginning, I think because I was so excited and there were about 100 people around me! I had to remind myself several times that I had to hold back my pace a little if I wanted to make it through the entire race! But I was still booking - I got to the first mile marker and I looked down at my watch at it said just over 8 minutes! Woo! Personal record for a mile for me! I've been struggling to get my miles under 9 minutes, so I felt awesome. What was really inspiring was a group of Marines who were running next to me in their uniforms with 60lb packs on (oh and boots, no running shoes!!). Yes, I'll be in the military soon too, but I'll probably never be like that. I'm only doing it to play my silly instrument! They were very inspiring and motivating! Totally awesome.
At this point I had a good pace going, and I felt really good. About half way through the 2nd mile, that's when I started to pass a lot of people. I think other people were blasting through the beginning and then they ran out of gas. I got to the 2 mile marker and I was at about 16 minutes...holy cow! Even if I had walked from this point I probably would have been under 30 minutes! I kept pushing on, though, cuz that's how I roll. The last mile was the toughest, because it had a lot of up and down hills. I felt like I was going to run out of gas at the end, but then I saw the finish line, and I decided to really push it and sprint the last 100 feet or so. I saw the official clock as I was approaching the finish line, and it said 24:05!!!! I was so proud of myself and happy. I don't know what my official time was, because I saw the clock several seconds out from the finish line, but I don't really care because it was so much faster than I had even anticipated!
So after a great weekend, I had a lovely meeting with my recruiter. This is where the second "first" comes in...I'm much less proud of this one. I had to give a military salute for the first time yesterday! Haha and it sucked ass. Now since I'm in DEP I have to do a salute routine before I can enter the recruiter's office. Basically it goes like this: I march in, flank left on this Navy rug, do a salute to the American flag in the corner, turn to anyone in the office, hold up my DEP ID card and salute and say, "Future Sailor Herrera requesting permission to board", and then wait for someone to say, "permission granted". And when I leave, I have to salute my recruiter (and hold up my DEP ID card) and say "Future Sailor Herrera requesting permission to go ashore", wait for them to say "permission granted", and then turn and salute the flag, and march out of the office. Ugh, it did not go that smoothly. I won't go into details, but it was pretty! And I was super nervous, which didn't help at all.
Last week my recruiter said that the reason that they make us do this is because this is what is expected in basic training, and they are trying to get us used to doing it. So i guess I'm glad I'm making these mistakes now instead of later! My recruiters are a little more forgiving than the people at RTC!!! Ugh, but I was still embarrassed...mostly because Ben witnessed the whole thing!! LOL! I'll get used to it I'm sure...and I'm sure I will be embarrassed several more times before this journey ends!
237 days!!!!
September 22, 2010
Recital!
So it’s set! I am officially giving a recital in CO in October! This is thanks to my awesome sister, who has graciously put in the time and effort to raise funds for the trip and recital related expenses! I am so excited for it. It will take place on October 22 at 7:30pm at Magnolia Music Studio in Fort Collins. Also thanks to Cynthia Vaughan for the performance space! The program is still subject to change (and it has changed once already!), but for right now it is as follows in no particular order…
Sutermeister – Capriccio
Bolcom – Little Suite of four dances
Finzi – Five bagatelles
Poulenc – Sonata for two clarinets
aaaaaand possibly an arrangement of Debussy’s Syrinx for solo flute that I am currently working on.
Originally, I wanted to put Muczinski Time Pieces on the program….but after the date was set I kinda figured that it was a going to be hard to prepare it in a month (!!), even though I’ve played it before. It’s a pretty challenging piece – I played it for my jury at ESM. I might save it for a potential spring recital. In its place I wanted to try to do the Brahms Eb sonata…but after going through 3 pianists I’ve decided that it’s not worth the effort. I needed a pianist that had played it before (semi-recently) and that was also available. Easier said than done! I can possibly also save that one for a spring recital.
And if you have read my past blog entries, you might be wondering why I didn’t include the Poulenc Sonata (for clarinet/piano). I really wanted to play the Poulenc duo…and I couldn’t really justify putting two Poulenc pieces on the same program!! It basically came down to which one I wanted to do more.
So now I had to figure out something easy enough to prepare in a month and that was easy on the pianist (or involved no pianist). So on Friday I opened up my itunes and shuffled all of my recordings of clarinet music. The first one to pop up was the Sutermeister (played by Robert Dilutis). That’s it! I’m going to play that. I’ve never played it before, but I know it’s relatively easy because I taught it to one of my river campus students my last semester at ESM. Plus, it doesn’t involve any piano, which is probably a good thing considering the whole time situation!
Unfortunately, the piece is much shorter than the Brahms/Muczinski, so I explored other options to fill in the gaps. I have always had a love for this flute piece by Debussy – but I was never good enough at flute to play it! So I thought…what would happen if I arranged it for clarinet?? Turns out…it works pretty OK for the A clarinet. So depending on how I feel about the arrangement I think I will try it out! It’s my first arrangement (well besides arranging 16th century polyphony into duets for my students – which they love by the way!) so I’m a little self conscious about right now! I will post it once I’ve made some tweaks….
I’ve noticed that my program has an unintended theme – pieces that I could never get away with playing in school! With the exception of the Poulenc, all of these pieces would be too easy to study for a degree recital or a jury (at least at a graduate level). But it doesn’t mean that they are lacking musically – they are all very enjoyable for the audience! Which I guess is what I’m going for...
Anyway I better stop blogging and get practicing! T-minus 30 days…
And while we're on the subject of countdowns...243 days.....
And while we're on the subject of countdowns...243 days.....
September 21, 2010
An interesting article that caught my eye...
Makes me understand why my husband is so crazy about brushing his teeth before he plays his tuba:
http://www.vpr.net/npr/129725678/
Kind of gross, right?
Now, I am not exactly an angel when it comes to eating and playing...in fact I've been known to teach or practice while drinking coffee (tee hee...). But I think us woodwinders have an advantage over brass players - we actually get to swab out our instruments all the time. Now, I'm not sure all the crud gets out, but it helps. Honestly, I don't think the inside of my instrument is dirty at all...I have had my instrument for 6 years and it is clean as a whistle inside - I would feel comfortable eat off it if that were possible.
Now it sounds gross, but I usually try to "swish" out the chunks of whatever I have just eaten with water or whatever I've got on hand (celery sticks are great for "cleaning out" your mouth!) before I blow on my instrument. But I never ever brush my teeth...I don't see a real need for it.
I do try to refrain from snacks during rehearsal breaks...I usually give string/piano players the evil eye to make sure they leave me and my woodwind friends some for after rehearsal is over. The only reason I do this is because I don't want crumbs getting stuck in my reed/mouthpiece! Not because I'm concerned of the potential germs, haha.
So call me a bad girl, but I don't care!
http://www.vpr.net/npr/129725678/
Kind of gross, right?
Now, I am not exactly an angel when it comes to eating and playing...in fact I've been known to teach or practice while drinking coffee (tee hee...). But I think us woodwinders have an advantage over brass players - we actually get to swab out our instruments all the time. Now, I'm not sure all the crud gets out, but it helps. Honestly, I don't think the inside of my instrument is dirty at all...I have had my instrument for 6 years and it is clean as a whistle inside - I would feel comfortable eat off it if that were possible.
Now it sounds gross, but I usually try to "swish" out the chunks of whatever I have just eaten with water or whatever I've got on hand (celery sticks are great for "cleaning out" your mouth!) before I blow on my instrument. But I never ever brush my teeth...I don't see a real need for it.
I do try to refrain from snacks during rehearsal breaks...I usually give string/piano players the evil eye to make sure they leave me and my woodwind friends some for after rehearsal is over. The only reason I do this is because I don't want crumbs getting stuck in my reed/mouthpiece! Not because I'm concerned of the potential germs, haha.
So call me a bad girl, but I don't care!
September 14, 2010
Plans for the future
Each day I feel more accepting of how long I have to wait for my new job. I suppose that is a good thing, right? Although I still feel somewhat crappy about it, but I’m coming to terms that it is what it is.
I emailed my main contact over at the Navy Music office to let her know what happened and to see if they had any pull to get the date changed. Unfortunately, they don’t, but I found out a little more about what’s going on. Basically, I’m not the only MU who got the short end of the stick, which made me feel a little bit better. But I found out that I had another strike against me – I’m female. Apparently, they’ve hired *too many* females over the last year and there are only so many female MU spots (I guess it makes a difference…or something), so basically us ladies got screwed (apparently I’m not the only girl who has requested an earlier date!)
This has also completely screwed up my husband’s plans. He was hoping to move out to CA while I was in boot camp/”A” school to study with the tuba teacher at UCLA – which will give him a better chance of getting into the DMA program there in the fall, and also he’ll have CA residency so he will only have to pay in-state tuition. But now things are different – he’s going to talk to the teacher to see if something can be done where he can learn his teaching style while still living in NY (at least until May). We have decided that a move to CA before I go to BT could be an option, but only if we both have jobs and have the cash to move our crap across the country (probably a couple grand….yikes!!). So no more spending for the both of us! We need to save as much money as possible.
But in the meantime, I am planning on going forward with a recital in CO. My AWESOME sister is trying to get people to donate funds to help me with a plane ticket and other expenses, since I really cannot afford it right now. Here is the link to her facebook note if you are interested:
I literally started to cry when I saw what she was doing for me! I did not ask her to do this, and I am so grateful that she is committed to helping me play for all my friends in CO! Most people haven’t heard me play for almost 5 years…I want to show them the mad skeellz I’ve acquired since then. It will probably take place sometime between October 21-24, but we have yet to find a venue (hoping for Magnolia Music Studio in Fort Collins) and I need a pianist! Right now the program will go something like this (in no particular order): Muczinski Time Pieces, Finzi Five Bagatelles, a wind duo of some sort (either Beethoven clarinet/bassoon or Poulenc Bb/A clarinet – depending on who I can get to play with me!), and an Eb piece (still thinking about that one…). I have a little over a month to prepare so I’d better get crackin!
September 10, 2010
Finally...a date
So I went back to MEPS today to finalize my enlistment paperwork. Yay! So I have good news and bad news.
The good news: I got sworn in and I'm officially in DEP (delayed enlistment program).
The bad news: my ship out date is not until May 23, 2011. WTF?!!
When the guy there told me this I thought he was joking. In fact, I kept expecting him to say, "nahhh! just kidding your shipping out in October", but he never did. I couldn't believe it. At one point, there were about twelve people (including several higher ups) fighting for me to get an earlier date, but to no avail. I asked, why? I was so confused because the Navy Music people had told me that they have spots every month reserved for musicians, and they gave me the impression that it would be no more than a couple months before I got to ship out. And plus, I had never heard of musician in the military having to wait that long (unless they wanted to).
Are there really that many MUs? No, there is not, actually. Here is why I can't ship out until May: Apparently, the admiral who is in charge of everything has decided (due to budget constraints) that NOBODY will be shipping out anymore from October through December. The first slot available to MU's is in February and they are all filled up, and the next available date is May 23.
Luckily, if a musician drops out that is shipping out in February, I will most likely get their spot. But unfortunately that is not likely to happen. I actually cried in the Navy processing office...not proud of that. Aren't I supposed to be tough or something to be in the military? Ha. I actually considered not signing my contract. But luckily the recruiter (never met him before this morning) that drove me to the station was really supportive and he got me to remember why I was enlisting. I also made a quick call to my sister who made me feel more at ease about the whole thing.
So now Ben and I have to figure out what we're going to do - he was wanting to move to CA in the next few months (while I was at boot camp), but obviously things have changed a little bit so we'll see what we decide.
I've accepted the fact that it may be 8 months before I leave - I have to because there's nothing I can do, and nothing that anyone can do. I just have adapt to the new situation. The good thing about this is that now I have plenty of time to prepare a recital!
The good news: I got sworn in and I'm officially in DEP (delayed enlistment program).
The bad news: my ship out date is not until May 23, 2011. WTF?!!
When the guy there told me this I thought he was joking. In fact, I kept expecting him to say, "nahhh! just kidding your shipping out in October", but he never did. I couldn't believe it. At one point, there were about twelve people (including several higher ups) fighting for me to get an earlier date, but to no avail. I asked, why? I was so confused because the Navy Music people had told me that they have spots every month reserved for musicians, and they gave me the impression that it would be no more than a couple months before I got to ship out. And plus, I had never heard of musician in the military having to wait that long (unless they wanted to).
Are there really that many MUs? No, there is not, actually. Here is why I can't ship out until May: Apparently, the admiral who is in charge of everything has decided (due to budget constraints) that NOBODY will be shipping out anymore from October through December. The first slot available to MU's is in February and they are all filled up, and the next available date is May 23.
Luckily, if a musician drops out that is shipping out in February, I will most likely get their spot. But unfortunately that is not likely to happen. I actually cried in the Navy processing office...not proud of that. Aren't I supposed to be tough or something to be in the military? Ha. I actually considered not signing my contract. But luckily the recruiter (never met him before this morning) that drove me to the station was really supportive and he got me to remember why I was enlisting. I also made a quick call to my sister who made me feel more at ease about the whole thing.
So now Ben and I have to figure out what we're going to do - he was wanting to move to CA in the next few months (while I was at boot camp), but obviously things have changed a little bit so we'll see what we decide.
I've accepted the fact that it may be 8 months before I leave - I have to because there's nothing I can do, and nothing that anyone can do. I just have adapt to the new situation. The good thing about this is that now I have plenty of time to prepare a recital!
September 7, 2010
YES!!!
Right after I posted my last entry I got THE phone call! My waiver has been approved!! I go to Buffalo on Friday to sign my contract and then they will give me a ship date, yooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!This made my week. Actually it made my f-ing month.
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