Keep on Keeping on

Going to a university has been such a different college experience than community college was! At the community college, you went to your classes, stayed only as long as you needed to, and went home. Maybe you made friends, or maybe you didn't...it wasn't very important since you were only there for a few hours every day and you were in class for those. Here I live at the school. Even though according to my friend Ethan less than 10% of UMSL students live on campus, it still feels a bit like being in a bubble. I am almost always on campus, and pretty much everything I need other than groceries is here, too. I live in the same building as many of my friends. I eat, sleep, go to class, practice, read, breathe, and socialize on campus, with the occasional outing. I suppose this is what boarding school feels like. School as home is a very odd shift. It's not bad, it's just very different.

Here's the path in front of the dorm. The dorm is on the right. That pile of rocks thing in front on the left is called The Grotto. I think it was a prayer grotto at one point...many of the buildings on South Campus used to be part of a convent.





On Wednesday I had my audition for the St. Louis Youth Symphony Orchestra. It was a blind audition, meaning the judges were behind a curtain so they couldn't see who was playing. I was the very last person of the night: violist number 14. They had a carpet set up on the stage with a stand at the end of it. This is so they can't tell if you're wearing high heels or not. Other than the manager, who communicated with the judges for me, I felt like I was completely alone on stage, which made it a bit less nervewracking for me. By the way, Powell Hall is wonderful to play in and if you ever get a chance to play there you definitely should take it. :) The audition went alright.....not spectacularly, but not badly, either. I'll find out about the results sometime next week, I think. Rehearsals start September 14th, so I assume I'll know sometime before then.

Oh! I learned some new St. Louis slang the other day! Ready for this?

Janky (adj) ; also Jank (adj) - of low quality or in poor condition; squalid
"That house with the broken windows and roof caved in is so janky!"

Hooptie (n) - an older car that is in bad condition
"I can't believe you're driving that hooptie! The paint is peeling, it has bad tires, the trunk doesn't open, and the roof leaks!"

These are courtesy of my friend Erin. She was really tickled that I didn't know what these meant. :) OH! Have I told you all what the name of the grocery store they have here is? It's Schnucks (pronounced shnooks)! It makes me giggle every time....hahahahaha, it's so much more fun to say than Fred Meyer.

My quartet finally got our music! We're playing Haydn op. 20 no. 6, but since the Haydn doesn't have a lot of notes for Emily and I, we're playing another piece, too. Emily and I are doing a viola/cello duet! I think we're going to play the Beethoven Eyeglass Duo, which is a really great piece. However, when I told Joanna that I played it a couple months ago, a pensive look came across her face and she asked me if I could whistle. "Ummmmmm, I think so?" I gave her a sample. She laughed and said she has a tango that might be fun for us to do. So I may be playing this mystery-whistling tango thing instead. We'll see. :)

We're going to make great duet partners. Can't you tell? ;)





I had my second lesson this week. I have so much to learn! My technique is going through the wringer a bit. Joanna is just having me make minor adjustments, but there are enough adjustments and I have enough muscle memory built up that they're really hard to implement consistently. When playing an instrument, your teacher can show you how something needs to be and explain it a billion times, but until you can experiment enough so that you can FEEL how it needs to be, you won't get it. I'm still in that process of trying to figure out what the adjustments Joanna is having me make need to feel like. Ah well....back to the practice room.



I have a slight conundrum. I've been learning intervals, and I can't think of a song to go with a minor 6th! If you sing the beginning of "Happy Birthday," it's a major second. If you sing "Red River Valley" it's a perfect 4th. If you sing that song that Disney Snow White sings into the echoing wishing-well thing, that's a major 6th, and so on and so forth. But I can't for the life of me think of a song that begins with a minor 6th. I can pick them out by using other knowledge, but a song would be so much more fun. Please let me know if you think of any!




One more thing: the weather here is bonkers! The first two weeks of school were so humid, hot, and nasty...then as soon as Labor Day hits, it becomes rainy, cloudy, and rather Oregon-like, which I find quite pleasant. :) Maybe it's the remnants from the hurricane. From what I've heard, however, it gets like this for maybe a week, then either goes back to the sticky or jumps headfirst for winter. I guess I'll find out soon!


I've got to run....I'm going grocery shopping today! I might get to see a couple of my friends play in their jazz band as well, which I'm really looking forward to.


Peace,

Maren