Decisions, decisions.

Today has been full of decisions. Not life-changing ones, mind you, but little ones. I registered for classes for autumn quarter this afternoon, and began discussing with Rodger what pieces to play for my junior recital next year.

I can't wait for this upcoming year of school, though I really can't wait for the summer to come either. It's been a school year full of growth and a ton of improvement on my horn. Only four weeks left and I'll be done with my sophomore year, and pretty much all of my major. The next two years will only consist of taking a few classes, both required and fun, and getting to be amazing at horn. It's so frightening knowing how far I have yet to go, especially knowing what needs to be prepared for graduate school auditions. At the same time, it's comforting knowing how far I've come. Special thanks to my dad for constantly reminding me that I've proven that I have the drive to do this, all I need to do is keep going!

(I'd like to insert a side note here and state that I just discovered that I'm able to use indentations for paragraphs, so for any of you who are as anal about grammar and spelling as I am, we can now exhale a collective sigh of relief. *sigh* )

I felt very accomplished today because I finally got over my composer's block and got my final theory composition started. Twenty measures down, and only...well...I don't know how many to go. But I'm confident because the ideas are flowing, and all I have to do is sit down and write them down (before they vanish). I hope this horn solo is as beautiful as what's envisioned in my head, because I'd be disappointed otherwise. It's funny, though, because I've never thought of myself as a composer. Honestly, I'm better at being a catalog of what pieces other people have written than coming up with original ideas. Before my current ideas came to mind, I walked around humming lyrical lines from Stravinsky's Firebird. It was a sad moment each time I fell in love with what I was humming, then realized that it had already been done. It probably should have tipped me off that half of the melodies in my head had orchestrated harmonies, but hey, what can you say? This solo is definitely becoming my baby, to the point that I'm very nervous showing it to others. The performance of it will be fun though! (I hope)

I'd like to throw out a challenge to my wonderful readers. I know lots of you are checking in to read, but I'd love to know who you are! I'm hoping whatever was wrong months ago with my comments has been fixed, so leave me a note saying you were here! Thanks for reading :)

~Allie