Leap Year

Happy birthday to all those born today. I don't even know anybody who has a birthday today, but they are out there!

If my birthday was on Feb. 29th, on non-Leap Years I would celebrate on March 1st. Just a thought.

My past couple days have been so wonderful, relaxed, and pleasant. Last night Molly and I went to Tosca because she got a $15 birthday coupon and had to use it in February, so we enjoyed tapas and even got a pitcher of Sangria. Because of coupon - entire meal was $11. Then we went home and watched Finding Neverland, which I haven't seen since David and Mary and I saw it at Little Theater and Mary and I were sobbing on the way home and then the woman with no gas asked for a dollar for gas and Mary gave her one and she drove off. That was a hilarious night. Anyway, it was good to see it again.

Tonight are Geraldine and Jesse's recitals, one after the other. My weekend will consist of some practicing, possibly going to a concert tomorrow night, and Amanda's recital on Sunday.

Did I mention how much less stressed out I am? Maybe all this extra acne I got last week from stress will finally go away.......

Heidi Braun-Hill

Ms. Heidi Braun-Hill will be performing the Bach b minor Sonata in its entirety today, February 28th, at noon, at Emmanuel Church in Boston.

See this for more information (at bottom of webpage):

http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/concerts/evening.htm

I just initiated Molly into the world of this:

http://doublebassblog.org/2006/12/from-bad-to-worse-in-handels-messiah.html

For you C-house lovers out there.......its the Messiah organ clip we listened to in Mary's room probably a hundred times.

Molly is STILL laughing out loud - I can hear her in her room!

The competition was last night. My time was at 10:40, but I actually didn't play till after 11 pm. The first and second mvts went very well, but by the time I got to the third, I was getting tired, and had a few problems here and there. I played for 25 min total.

I didn't make it to the finals, but I am not too disappointed. I did way too much last minute cramming, so it was a good lesson for me to learn. Also, I have more chances - since I'm doing my DMA here next year, I have actually THREE more chances. And I was happy in general with how it went last night, and so is Peter. He called to tell me he is proud. That is all I really needed - myself to feel good and to not embarress myself or my teacher.

(for those of you who are interested - Ari did make it to the finals, playing Berg concerto. He sounded great in studio Monday night.)

Life can finally return to normal! I can finally do that Centrum application, as well as clean this disaster area of a room......

I Passed My Lesson

Peter is letting me compete. The 12+ hours I spent practicing this past weekend paid off.

Molly and I are playing tomorow night around 10:30 pm.

That is all.

Kimby's Blog

Go to this website:

http://kimberlyfitch.blogspot.com/2008/02/amy-winehouse_7846.html

For whatever reason, I love this. Its weird. I've been listening to it every morning while getting ready.

Maybe its my brain's way of trying to purge all Brahms from my thoughts.

Tired

I'm taking a break now from practicing. I've been very good the past couple days - yesterday I got in about 6 hours, and today I've already run the whole concerto with Molly as well as done two hours of my own work. My body is starting to give out for today, however. My left hand and right wrist ache, and I can feel the space between my shoulders getting tighter and tighter. I haven't really practiced as much as I have this past week for a long time. Hopefully it will all pay off tomorrow when Peter hears the whole thing and declares me ready for Tuesday or decides to pull me out. I just want to play well.

A new friend of Molly's that we had brunch with this morning asked if I was completely sick of Brahms concerto now. As crazy as it may seem, and as frustrated as I've been the past week, the answer is of course NO. How could anyone get sick of it. It is glorious music, and playing it has been a dream of mine since I was 6 years old and saw Itzhak Perlman do it with the Arkansas Symphony. And today I played the whole thing. I am lucky.

I'm also going to be missing trivia night tomorrow at Sunset in order to prep for Tuesday. Molly and I have been going for a couple weeks now. Last week, one of the questions was "Which famous football coach is quoted as saying, 'Tieing a game is like kissing your sister.'" I said Vince Lombardi (I'm a Wisconsin girl, I had to). Dennis thought it was Mike Dittka, an old Bears coach. I should have stuck to my guns - I got the question right, but had backed down and Dennis put the wrong answer down. Shoot!

Spring break is in two weeks. It cannot come fast enough.

Oh, and PS - David isn't conducting the Haydn for the orchestra concert. Which basically means I am. Agh.

Still plugging away at Brahms.

Magic Flute last night was really good - getting home from Magic Flute was NOT so good. The blizzard we had yesterday created problems getting home, but eventually we made it, at midnight. Yesterday was such a long day.......

Back to practicing I go.

It is a snowy, blustery day in Boston. So far we've had about 2 inches fall, with it expected to get much worse by tonight. Whoo-hoo! I really really really hope that means orchestra will be canceled within the next hour. That would be excellent.

I just played the Royal March from Soldiers Tale 14 times for the conducting auditions. It was fun, but now I'll have it stuck in my head until orchestra starts. Anyway - it was a very nice stress relief from all the pressure I'm feeling for Brahms, and it wasn't hard. Nice to see somebody ELSE under pressure for a change. Thats cruel, but after Peter yelling about my intonation for a total of three hours yesterday.......(sigh).

Tonight I'm going to BU's Magic Flute production. Should be fun!

IT WORKS!!!!!!

I am typing this from HOME!

HURRAH!

(it better stay this way or Verizon will be getting a nasty phone call VERY soon)

Internet still broken. They're sending a guy out today to go to the local dispatch office to fix it. If that doesn't work, they have to come to my apartment, and no one will be home. So we'll have to reschedule. I expect to not have internet at home for about the next week. (sigh)

Yesterday at orchestra we did the entire Haydn symphony with no conductor. Needless to say, that gave me a lot more pressure and work for cues, tempos, taking time, etc etc etc. I was so exhausted at the end of orchestra I almost cried. Hopefully today he'll pick up a baton and help out. I understand the reasoning for it - especially since the strings in the Berlioz concert were such a disaster - but it did NOT help my tired or stress level AT ALL.

Back to Brahms I go. He and I have a love/hate relationship these days.

Internet Woes

My internet at home as been a real problem the last 24 hours. I have already spent a ton of time on the phone with the Verizon guys, and am so pissed that its stopped working AGAIN that I'm about ready to throw the modem and wires out the window.

Speaking of throwing things out windows, if the third mvt. of Brahms doesn't improve soon, expect to see my violin following the modem out the window, hopefully with a terrific crash.

In other, less stressful news, Molly and I have two new fish! They are named Couperin (the orange one) and Quantz (the purple one). They were a birthday present for us from Amanda. So far, they're still alive. Hope it stays that way - they've been looking kinda grumpy.

I finished my first whole Metro crossword puzzle yesterday (I spent all weekend on it traveling to and from weddings) all by myself with no help from friends or internet. Hooray!

Officially 24

Its Sunday afternoon, meaning everything associated to birthday fun is officially OVER.

I had a very good birthday - everyone I saw at school was very nice in their birthday wishes and also expressed how excited they were about the party. The Steinhardt masterclass went ok - at the beginning of the recap, I somehow didn't remember how short my bow is, because I swung for a retake and somehow caught my bow tip underneath my strings. Whoops. My e string was completely out. I had to stop and retune and then start again and it was embarressing. However, Mr. Steinhardt was very nice, very complimentary, and seemed to like our rendition of Schubert - even said he liked our tempo.

After the masterclass, Molly and I went to Shaw's for last minute party items and then came home with 5.5 hours to spare before party time. I also came home to a nice little UPS box - opened it, and there were some very beautifully decorated boxes and inside was candy, cookies, and everything else looking quite delicious. Found the card - it was from Mary! Thank you so much!

Molly and I worked nonstop - she made taco dip and spanikopita while I cleaned the bathroom, living room, and did my laundry - and by 10 pm, we had quite a full house! Around 30 people were here around 11 pm. It was so much fun, we both had a great time, most of the food was gone, as well as the raspberry vodka. We still have some rum and coke left. Any takers?

Yesterday I looked after Adelaide while Heidi had a lesson with Peter before heading out with Tom and Nat to Lenox for a wedding. The wedding was at the Wheatleigh Inn (David - the same road that took us to your sponsors house! Its on Hawthorne near the back entrance to the main grounds). Everything in Lenox was covered in snow and absolutely beautiful, quiet, and so clean and peaceful. It was weird to only be there a day! We had left Boston at 2:30, and Tom dropped me off at my apartment last night at exactly 11 pm. (sigh) Such a long day.

Today I decided to really sleep in. So I did. Woke up at 1 pm. Soon I will head to BU for practice time (competition is in 9 days!) and then have another wedding tonight at the Taj, which is downtown, so thankfully I can get there and home by myself and it will only take at most 40 min.

Thank you to EVERYONE who called, wrote, or facebooked me a happy birthday. I had a wonderful day on Friday, and felt very blessed and loved.

Collaborative Auditions

Today I rehearsed and played with four different pianists for their Masters Collaborative auditions (half hour rehearsal, half hour audition). I am WORN OUT. Plain tired. And I haven't even TOUCHED Brahms concerto today. (sigh) I have to go do that now too, before Molly and I head to the liquor store for tomorrow nights birthday gathering.

Tomorrow my quintet (we're doing Schubert cello quintet) is playing for the Arnold Steinhardt masterclass, which should be good. Fortunately, with the orchestra concert done, we had no orchestra the rest of this week, thank GOD. Next week starts a new rotation, and yesterday I was very surprised to find out that I'm concertmaster for it. We're doing Faure and Haydn Clock. Oooooh la la.

Oh, and I'm trying to enjoy as much as possible my last 6.5 hours of being 23.

Whew

"Also, you played beautifully at your "audition" Saturday. The stupid schedule made us a little grouchy, but your playing cheered us up. Yuri carped about the somewhat headlong character, and i agree: some triplets on page 2 can be more spacious. Still - terrific playing. Bayla suggests the vib exercises in "Basics", back of the book." ~email from Peter today.

I have been freaking out about this audition, with the "Bach incident." After this and speaking in person to Peter today, it no longer seems like a doomsday situation.

My vibrato will never be right. Never never never. "Basics" may help, but only if I'm as relaxed as possible, which, lets face it - when it REALLY counts, I'm not relaxed, I'm nervous as hell. I can't make my left arm move correctly to save my life - its hopeless.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All those within 4,000 miles of Boston are required to attend tonight's performance:

Boston University Symphony Orchestra
Sur, Lacrimosa
Bartok, The Miraculous Mandarin
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique
Tsai Performance Center, 8 pm

Happy Birthday Molly!

From Dad's iPhone

My parents' house, which he took last Tuesday when they got between 12-15 inches of snow, enough to cancel school even at WLC. There has been more snow in Milwaukee this winter since we moved there in 1992.



Also from Dad's iPhone. Most of the family (not Boston people, obviously) were in Indianapolis this weekend. Hannah goes to school at Butler, and Holly is there for two weeks for a new branch of her bank (M&I) opening there. Her job requires her be at every new branch opening. So my parents drove down to Indy to see them both and celebrate Holly's 32nd birthday! How much I wish I could have been there......

I want an iPhone!

A lot has happened in the past 24 hours.
I had rehearsal with Molly last night at 6, to go through some Brahms and Beethoven quickly for my audition this morning, and about halfway through Brahms, my shoulder rest fell off. Completely and utterly. Gone. After fiddling with it for awhile, I seemed to have found a way to make it stay. Tried beginning of Brahms again - and as I'm sure you all know, you NEED a good shoulder rest for the first few lines of Brahms concerto. Shifting all over the place. And - the shoulder rest fell off again, this time about midway through the first line.
Panicking profusely, we stopped rehearsing and I went up to have my lesson, scheduled for 6:30. When I get up there, Chaerin, a harpist here, is standing outside Peter's studio looking VERY expectant. I knock, go in, tell him my shoulder rest woes, and before I know it, she's wheeling her harp in. The BSO harp auditions are this week, and she arranged with Peter to go through the Tzigane cadenza in preparation. I figure it'll just take 15 min, so I settle in and listen too. She sounded very good, and I hope she plays well on Monday morning! It was also fun to hear it again - I have fond memories of harp studio class at Eastman with that excerpt! :-)
So. 7 pm rolls around, and there is a knock on the door. A girl with a violin enters, and Peter tells me he has to teach a lesson now and good luck for tomorrow, he'll see me later at the Bach concert, blah blah blah. I just kinda stood there looking so confused for a moment. He completely forgot we had scheduled a lesson for 6:30. Its fine that he forgot, since it would have been my THIRD this week. And I didn't have a shoulder rest anyway.
From there I went to the Bach concert, where Katherine very nicely offered to give me her shoulder rest to borrow for this morning. This was good, because it meant that Heidi did not have to drive hers over to me this morning early, and she has been pretty sick lately. I tried Katherine's for awhile, and I actually really like it. I went down to the Symphony Hall area this afternoon and bought one, as well as the same Wolf one I had before. I have now learned to always have an extra shoulder rest handy.
Ok. This morning, I get up, warmup, run through with Molly, and head to the Marshall Room for my audition. First, they were running 15 min late, so I stood there forever, listening to others, before I got to go in, which I HATE. It just makes me more nervous. I finally go in and play Brahms. Went very smoothly, thanks to Katherine's help! Then Yuri, another teacher here, asks if I have any Bach.
(sigh)
Peter had told me not to worry about anything except Brahms concerto and Beethoven sonata. So no, Yuri, I don't have any Bach. After a moment of bad awkwardness, I play Beethoven and leave. I'm praying Peter helps me out on this one - if he had told me to prepare Bach for today, I would have!
I have also been to the post office today to mail some things, including Holly's bday present. And bought a new shoulder rest. And Brahms clarinet trio for Molly. I tried to deposit a check, but they were out of deposit envelopes - shoot.

It has finally FINALLY snowed enough in Boston to make a difference. It took long enough with all the stupid rain we've had this week. My parents both had school canceled because of 19 in of snow on Tuesday - crazy. Wish we'd get something like that here, with some school canceled. Boo.

As I walked out my door this morning to get to school, I ran into the FedEx guy looking at the mailboxes in a very confused fashion. I took one look at the package he was holding, and it was for ME! Its my birthday box from my parents. So I took it back upstairs before leaving. I'll open it later tonight, and if there is anything wrapped, I'll wait till next week to unwrap it. Only 7 more days left of being 23. Not sure how I'm feeling about this.

Reality Check

Just got this in an email:

With close to 100 days until graduation, obtaining your graduate degree is something you should be proud of.

100 days? What??

I'm turning 24 next week, and I'll have a masters in 100 days.

(sigh)

LOVE this:

http://www.rbk.com/us/perfectville/

I'm taking a break from heavy practicing.

Not really much to say. Its been a long day. Had dinner with Molly a bit ago, and had a roast beef sub - thats right Mary Keener - tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, meaning no meat for the next 6 weeks. Its weird, because Lent is so early this year. However, I'm going home for Easter this year for the first time in 6 years, so my next meat will be at home with my parents, which I am very much looking forward to.

And of course, can I mention how HAPPY I am that the Patriots lost??? Molly and I enjoyed the last few minutes of the game. I loved all the headlines yesterday for Boston newspapers - they all had pictures of poor Tom Brady looking quite dejected. Ha. Take THAT.

Also, one of my best friends from high school, Amy Kant, is going to be coming to visit me for a few days in March! I'm so excited.

Look at that. I guess I did have some things to say.

Back to Brahms I go......he is my true love these days.

Another weekend has flown by.

I got a lot of good practicing in, as well as bought Holly's bday present. They are really cute shoes from Ann Taylor, and if she doesn't want them, I'll tell her to send them to me since we wear the same size and I'll send her something else. I also bought Valentine's Day cards. I haven't done that in YEARS, but this year, I've decided to be festive. Especially since Molly and I are having a big joint birthday party on the 15th.

Today has been a bit of a lazy day - I still think I'm recovering from what I had last weekend - food still makes me feel really weird. However, the cupcakes Molly are making right now smell wonderful!

Tonight I'm playing for a flute recital at NEC and then heading home to hopefully catch some last good commercials and a few minutes of the super bowl. I really want to be OFF the MBTA by the time the game is over (see last paragraph for a good reason why - besides, Bostonians get drunk and stupid when their sports teams play). All I can say about the game is that I am actually praying for the Giants to win. Booooo, Patriots. Booooo!

(I witnessed an actual physical assult on the train today. It was so fast, it was over before it happened, but a poor woman now does not have her college textbook anymore. Some guy started talking to her, she ignored him, he hit her, grabbed the textbook she was reading, threw it across the train, then grabbed it from where it fell and ran out the door. I guess next time I'll think twice before ignoring the weirdo talking to me on the train.)

Tonight was Craig Smith's memorial. He was the founder and director of Emmanuel Music, and the memorial service was held at Emmanuel, to a completely packed, full church. And this is not a small church. The rehearsal was in the afternoon, from 2 to about 4:30. The service lasted almost three hours. The music included mostly Bach, as well as Cantata 127, which was his favorite, and a recording of him playing a Choral Fantasie by Brahms. A lot of speeches, memories, and some hilarious stories. Everyone seems to have a Craig story, and as I was listening tonight to some of the ones told, I remembered suddenly my first meeting with him. He was at TMC my first summer there, doing some Bach with the BUTI chorus and TMC instrumentalists. I told my sister that he was there, and she told me to go introduce myself. So, a day later, at the back stage of Ozawa, I went up and did just that, of course including that my sister was Heidi Braun-Hill. "Oh, Heidi!" he practically shouted. "We know Heidi. We LOVE Heidi." I only played one cantata last year when he was conducting, but I remember it well because I had my first bad cold on being in Boston and I spent the entire rehearsal trying desperately not to cough so I would make a good impression.

Tonight was very moving, very sad, but very sweet. It was also the first time Heid and I got to be standpartners, which is memorable - we have John Harbison to thank for that, which was very nice of him. And I got to see some of David's favorite people, including HW and Mark Morris.

I didn't spend one minute today at BU, for which I am grateful. Tomorrow - I'll be there all day.