Seize the Day: Concerto Competition!

Greetings! :)

I guess I'll start by telling you all about the dreaded concerto competition that took place on Friday. This is the first annual UMSL concerto competition, so details are still in the process of being worked out, which is why it took so long for us to even know when it was. There were three divisions that actually had participants this year: piano, winds, and strings. Only one pianist and one trumpet player auditioned, so since they were the only ones in their bracket, they automatically moved on to the final round. There were ten string players: all six violists (Stephen, Ingrid, Tess, Rachael, Me, Anne), two violinists (Renita, Kathleen), and two cellists (Natalie, Alex). I had a breakthrough on the character of the piece the morning of the competition....I finally figured out what the piece was "about," at least for me. Most often when I learn a solo I won't be able to play it with any convincing character until I understand what the piece means to me, what emotions I'm really portraying and how I'm portraying them, what I'm thinking about while I play, if there's a story behind the piece, if I see colors or people or scenes while I play, what sort of movement the piece inspires, and so on and so forth as long as I have SOMETHING. Finding this is important, but sometimes hard because it comes to me differently for each piece. There's no formula to find this core idea, or heart of the piece, which kind of sucks because that would make things a lot easier and less frustrating! :) Anyway, I started to get a tangible hold on the heart of my solo that morning, so I felt as ready as I was going to be when my turn came to play. The members of the Arianna were the only judges, so it wasn't too scary. I actually wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. Unfortunately, the solo had to be memorized and I randomly forgot several sections of it, even sections that I had never blanked on before. However, all of the piece that actually came out of my instrument I felt really, really good about because it finally had some life in it! :) Even though I didn't win, I learned a lot from this competition and I'm excited to get a piece ready for next year and stick it to the man. ;) (by the way, Natalie, Alex, Stephen, Tess, and Kathleen all moved on to the finals. They're all seniors except for Tess, who's a junior.)

The Wednesday before the competition, we had an UMSL orchestra concert. It went pretty well and was fun. I can tell you that I definitely didn't come to UMSL for the orchestra program, though. I had another concert on Sunday with SLSYO. Our first two shorter pieces went really well. Unfortunately, the Appalachian Spring and the New World Symphony were.........a bit lacking. :( Our violinists have a rushing problem, so we almost fell apart a few times, but we held it together in the end. It could have been worse, which is not the most optimal thing to say about a concert, but there you have it. I at least enjoyed playing the pieces! :)

In other news, IT'S REALLY COLD. That's all I have to say about that. Stephen thinks it's funny to walk up to me and say something like "How about this weather, Maren?" or "It's almost t-shirt weather today!" just so he can watch me scowl or make a disgusted face at him. Ha, Ha, Ha, Stephen.

I'm getting ready for the final push to the end of the term. I had a giant music history test today, and I only have a few big projects left to think about: two research papers, juries, four small concerts, one theory exam about definitions, and finals. So close! I can tell it's near the end of the term just by looking at everyone's faces. We've all been pushing ourselves to our limits to study, finish papers, practice, and the innumerable other things there are to do. Today, actually, was a little dramatic because one of my classmates fainted and another one came close, due to stress and other health issues. It can be so easy to forget to take care of yourself... That's one thing I have noticed about being away from home and family: in many ways students often end up taking care of and looking out for each other. I am thankful for the abundance of opportunities to serve and give sacrificially to my classmates.

So apparently St. Louis is really big into toasted ravioli. I had never heard of it before coming here, which was a shock to many natives, but it showed up on ProHo's menu for lunch today. It's not half bad! Here is a picture documenting the momentous occasion of my first taste of toasted ravioli. Can't you tell that's my excited face? ;)

Here's another random picture from the week. Rebekah made some coffee and let me use her amazing Einstein mug to drink it out of. The mug says "coffee makes me smart" which is basically my mantra. ;) Maybe coffee is to Maren as spinach is to Popeye? Hahahahaha.......wow, it's getting late. Nevermind. :)