Home for the summer.

I moved back home from college for the summer today. I can’t sleep, it’s too warm and stuffy in my room. Speaking of my room, I’ve decided to reorganize and possibly repaint and (partially) refurnish my room.

I want to get at it soon, because otherwise I’m pretty sure that it just won’t happen. But to get at it, I need to unpack… and that’s just a daunting task.

I have a new idea for a transcription for a saxophone concerto, I’m going to work on that soon also.

I have big plans for tomorrow including hunting for a job, fixing the lawn mower, mowing the lawn, chopping down a tree that’s about to fall on the house, and unpacking day.

I’m hoping to read a lot this summer. Here are just a few of the books I’m thinking of:

more Dune books
finish the sword of truth series
finish the otherland series
read the kamigawa block MTG books

6 Rumanian Dances

Last night was a pretty good time.

Dad came up to drive me down to Lansing to get my soprano and alto fixed (and Jordan’s soprano and alto also). Whilst waiting for Doug to work his magic, we went to a bookstore a looked around the store, which resulted in my purchasing the game ‘Pit’ which I can’t wait to play with some people up here.

He also brought (from home) a pair of pants, a french horn, two books (Faith of the Fallen and Pillars of Creation), and a saxophone stand for me. The next rehearsal for Kiss me Kate is tomorrow, and I’m excited to see if the map i’ve laid out of switching back and forth between the Horn book and the Reed 1 book will work as nicely as i think it will.

Band was actually fairly enjoyable yesterday. I don’t care what anyone says, I love American Riversongs.

Well, off to practice.

I wonder if Dufay got to wear the pope hat.

Since my last post, I have had many nights that I really wanted to write something in here about my day, but knew that if i were to write it right then that it would have sounded all emo or whiny.

So here’s some updates.

Relationships

Things with Ryan have taken a step down in intensity, but in the long run that will be good. We still hang out about 4 or 5 nights a week and have a great time doing it. We’ve also taken to openly communicating about things, and this has really eased my mind quite a few times. We’ll see what happens to this in the future, but I think that no matter the outcome, it will prove to be positive.

Massive Migraine

So last week found me more often than not lying in my bed with a pillow over my eyes, or in quartet rehearsal with sunglasses on. Yay Migraines! It was perhaps the most intense on Monday and Tuesday and was still lingering up until about midday Thursday. Lots of excedrin kept me functional, which is always a good thing.

A short word about friends

I’ve come to realize just how much value i place in my friends up here. I really enjoy being around people such as Cassie, Kelsey, Jon, Greg, Jordan, Tracey, Liz, Ryan, Kristi, Monica, Charlie, and Jessi (and the list continues) (wow i actually did keep that short)

The Saxophone

I AM giving a recital next semester sometime. The literature on it will include Mai, the Mucyznski Sonata, Maybe the Cheetham Sonata, a Soprano piece, hopefully a duet with Jordan, and Spectrum Saxophone Quartet playing a piece.

A couple of things lately have been… negative (not the best word for it) regarding myself and professor nichol. The first instance of this was when he was talking in studio about how we at night should think about what we’ve done today to be a good person and to continue making progress in our art, and not about if we made it to the next level in a video game… then he said “right Jon?” and not only is that inaccurate about me, i think that even if it was accurate it is totally inappropriate.

Next, my lesson on monday was not one of my better ones, however it was far from being a bad lesson. The only things we did in my lesson were Minor scales, Mai, and Bach #42. Minor scales were going rather well until i skipped a note in G# minor, but really… until then and even after that, they were really pretty good. We worked a lot on movement during Mai and he kept complimenting my playing on it, and said that he liked some of the fingerings i was using better than the ones he showed me. Then with about 10 minutes left in the lesson we went to Bach (he asked me what i wanted to play and i picked it because i really was proud of the work i had done on this movement the past week and wanted to see what he thought of the articulations i chose for it). I got done with it, and it wasn’t the best peformance of it in the world, i did miss a couple of notes on the second page, but i thought that it was a decent play of it. He told me a couple of things afterward to watch out for style-wise, then we listened to a flutist playing it and then it was time to go.

The next morning in my email i get this: Jon,

You didn’t have a very good lesson, in that I thought you were sightreading again.  Why not practice and prepare a lesson?

J. Nichol
CMU

So this kind of hit me out of nowhere, and as such provided quite a crappy start to my day yesterday. Then in studio he lectured us on how some of us needed to practice more and kept looking at either myself or Andrea (we were sitting next to us and it was hard to tell) he pointed at me when he said that we can never be sightreading in our lessons and at liz about the 4th mvt of something, then asked if we all understood, we all shook our heads, he kept staring at me, and said nod if you understand, so i nodded and he kept looking at me… it was very unnerving. I just don’t see how he can honestly think that i was sightreading, and am quite confused on why he seems so mad at me at the moment.

Later Chelsea said that he mentioned me in her lesson and (i had cancelled my lesson the week before due to the migraine) told her that he thought i was faking a headache to skip my lesson.

I just don’t understand

Andantephobia? is that the fear of a ‘walking speed’ tempo?

History and Theory tomorrow are going to SUCK. Luckily there is no EDU 107 tomorrow though, so i’ll be able to nap between 11-3 if i decide to. Then after quartet and marching band, i’m taking my dad to dinner at the dorms (he’s never been) then we’re picking up liz and ethan and heading home.

I’ll be home for a very short amount of time before heading out to Lapeer for the Order of the Arrow Conclave. I don’t think Colton or Carter are going though 😦

I watched moulin rouge tonight with Ryan and Kristi (in Kristi’s room… which is also Cassie, Ali, and Kelsey’s). I didn’t really get to watch much of it though, because there was lots of interesting conversation that was being very distracting.

Not really looking forward to my lesson on monday, since i won’t have the weekend to prepare for it. Maybe I can talk dad into driving me up as soon as we get home Sunday.. then I’d be up here around 4ish… hopefully, and that should give me a good practice session before monday, then i’ll have another 45 minute ish one right before my lesson… that’ll be good (continues thinking about this… but not in typing)

So, as long as I’ve been here… i still don’t quite feel settled into my room yet, i think i’m going to rotate the bed 90 degrees and put it up against the window, then put the dresser on the other side, then i might find a good place for that other poster i have.

Ketchup

It has been quite a long time since last update. I have a couple of different things to address, but my thoughts are bouncing around from topic to topic, so hopefully this post will make a small amount of sense to the people who read it.

Priorities

Throughout my couple of years of having a blog, I sometimes post revelations that may seem obvious to some people, but they just hit me. My latest version of this has to do with the way people set their priorities. I guess it’s just amazing to me that someone’s priorities can be so different from my own, and yet I don’t think that any one person’s priorities are the same as another person’s.  That’s pretty vague and I guess not all that insightful, but to go into detail could offend more than one of the people that might read this.

Relationships in the Fall

Fall is my absolute least favorite time to be single, especially on cold and rainy days. There’s just something about the leaves turning and the weather begining to get colder that makes me crave a person to cuddle with, or to sit, watch a movie, and hold hands with. That craving is often my downfall when it comes to fall relationships also, like my latest incident with Mark: Mark is truly a sweet guy, and someone that I could trust no matter what. Tracey, Mark, and I were watching a movie at Tracey’s apartment and he went to grab my hand, unfortunately I didn’t stop him… and this has led to about a week of him begining to obsess over me. Honestly I considered the possiblility of the two of us together, though I came back to reality shortly. Mark and myself would never work, and hopefully he wasn’t too hurt when I expressed this to him.

I would still love to have someone to hug and spend my time with, but I also know that actively looking for such a person often leads to failure.

The Saxophone

Oh, the saxophone. I feel like I’m both ok with being dragged deeper into the saxophone world, yet repulsed that that is the case. I still feel that learning contempory music is not going to help me at all when it comes to directing high school band. I am however starting to get into Mai, by Ryo Noda, a contemporary saxophone piece about a samurai.

Practicing this year is only a little different than it was last year. I still hate being in a practice room at all. I find that I love working on a new piece, but after getting the notes and rhythms of it, I get extremely bored. I’m afraid that I’ll never really perfect any single piece beyond ‘performable’. When I try to force myself to practice longer on a piece that I already have down, as far as notes and rhythms, I begin to really loathe that piece. The opposite is true however in quartet.

In quartet I almost always am sightreading the right notes and rhythms. I find joy in quartet when we have those true musical moments that come from lots of rehearsal past the basics of a piece. Our quartet is going to go far in this and coming years, and i can’t wait to see what happens.

Routines

I feel like something is missing this semester at CMU. I have all of my classes, and I’m keeping on top of homework better than I ever have before, CMENC is giving me some admin things to do, I’m practicing about 2-4ish hrs a day, as opposed to last year’s 1-3ish and I’m even finding time to read for enjoyment, but I still feel like not quite everything is where it should be. There were very few times I felt like this last year, and I’m starting to really wonder why. Last year I didn’t really settle into a routine until about the time of midterms… this year I’m already there.

I hate to come back to this, or whine about it, but I think that what I might be missing is that someone that I know I can share absolutely everything with.

ผม การดูงานต่างประเทศ ประเทศไทย

So, yep… we’re more than likely going to Thailand.. which is frickin awesome:

yay for the World Saxophone Congress, and the ราช of thailand playing the saxophone.

and now some pictures:

and now for the Thai phrase of the day

สวัสดีครับ

sawatdee khrap

Hello

The Cavaliers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT_S1estF5E&feature=related

This pretty much sums up the awesomeness of the cavaliers. I’ve decided that I’m going to let no one talk me out of it. I’m auditioning and (hopefully) playing with the Cavaliers this summer. I only have 3 years left that I’m young enough to do this, and it’s something I’ve always really wanted to do.

On a similar note: I hate teaching saxophone, and I’m starting to dislike playing it also. It is such a picky instrument that takes more practice than it is worth. And when you teach it, you have to use the phrase “it could be ___” a million times when a student is having a problem. The saxophone is by far the best woodwind instrument… but brass is where it’s at.

and I leave you with this

hero they deserve

So I went to see Dark Knight with Ben last night. It was a great movie (like everyone else has blogged about). I usually don’t like superhero movies, but I have to make an exception for this one.

After the movie we went to Tim Horton’s to get something to drink and ended up talking in the parking lot until about 1:30. I think it was good for both of us to see that we really can do things as just friends, and I think that this may be an important step to rebuilding our friendship.

We talked about a lot of things last night, from music, to history, to past friends, to college life…

We’ll see what happens, but I hope to get him back as a good friend… He is someone that is not afraid to tell me that I’m being stupid, and will give me his honest opinion all the time… something a lot of people don’t do

With College quickly approaching, I find myself really excited for the year to come… except for saxophone lessons. I know Nichol is going to say that I didn’t practice enough this summer… but I don’t care. My goal at CMU is not to become a top-notch saxophonist.. it’s to become a top-notch band director.

da-dot da-dot da-da- dot da-*slap*

Hmm…

i think that perhaps my ears were extra sensitive today or something… it seemed like i could hear when something was even the slightest bit out of tune, which was a source of great frustration today

also a bunch of little things were annoying me today, stuff that people always do.. and i never really ‘liked’ but always just brushed it off before

maybe it’s time for me to become a little more aggressive about what i actually think sometimes…

lunch with kelsey was nice though, i really admire how much she cares about people and i think she will make a great teacher and/or mom

brass tech was fairly interesting today, dr cox gave a lecture about tubas and euphs

quartet at 7, then maybe a recital at 8… if i feel like going, then back to the room for some intense chill out time because practicing today has
been futile so far and i dont think it will change any as the night gets closer

the jury is coming up, which i’m not all that worried about. the thing i’m most worried about at the end of the semester is the quartet recital (since i definitely have gotten 100% on the scale tests that todd and nichol have been giving me for a while, and sight reading has never really troubled me)

nichol gave me a lot of compliments today, but i felt like i didnt play anywhere near my potential…. odd how that man works

this turned out longer than i thought it was going to be

grr

prof nichol has been a jerk this week

first there was that rotten studio class

then he chewed ali out for being sick

he yelled or whatever at liz, and made her cry

then i ask him about the pit, and he (at first) says its fine, but then i get a voicemail later saying that he’s gonna adjust my grade
he also told me that i better not accept a job playing pit again while i’m in college, because playing another instrument is going to ruin me as a saxophonist, that is just stupid, i feel like i’m going to learn a lot more playing in this pit than i will otherwise

UGH!!

i’m really starting to be put off by the saxophone, listening to the horn reccital tonight made me realize how much i love other instruments

i wish there was a way to not do sax anymore and still be in quartet….