Yup, it's definitely that time of year again. For the vast majority of you not working to obtain degrees in music currently (nor having done it in the past), juries are a type of musical test where you stand up and play for a panel of professors, including your private instructor and your adviser. When you have finished, they usher you out of the room, talk about you and where you are in your playing, and then pass or fail you. I'm not really sure what happens if you fail a jury...I fortunately never have, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to affect your grade in your lessons.
Anyway, education aside, it's juries week at school. Today I watched while vocalists panicked while filling out their jury sheets (a summary of all you've worked on since your last jury), tomorrow I'm sure all the instrumentalists will be doing so, and finally on Friday it will be the piano players' turn. I get to go on Thursday, so my stress hasn't arrived yet. Either that or it's already come and gone and I'm taking it in stride. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.
Since my last post, I have played a big concert (woot Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony!), spun some yarn out of wool (big, BIG accomplishment), grown a little older and hopefully wiser, and just generally had some big moments of self-discovery.
Today's big self-discovery came out of my private lesson with my horn teacher. We were discussing my plans for graduate school, and how that fits into what's going on in my life now, and how I need to spend my time in preparation for it. I'm pretty sure that it's set that I'm going to take a year off between graduation and grad school, just because I'd love the extra time to practice my butt off, and work to repay some of those loans before jumping into new loans from the next round of school. Besides, as much growth as I've had in the last two years of serious study, I know I could grow even more. I'll never stop learning about how to play horn, but these years around college seem to be the really formative ones. I really am proud of how much better of a player I am from when I first came to school. During my lesson, my teacher asked if I ever had those thoughts of regret that I hadn't started early enough, or anything like that (in the context of understanding how my mind works). I could honestly say that I don't look back. The years I hardly touched my horn in high school were incredibly big years for personal development...my first year in college, I wasn't really sure I was going to be a music major. I'm proud that I figured it out as soon as I did, and really started to practice like I needed to (hello, three hours a day in a white cubicle of space, with nothing but my horn, maybe a piano, and me).
The funny thing is that despite all the anxiety about how up-in-the-air my life feels much of the time, I'm happy. I love playing horn (even when I hate it lol), I love getting to do what I do in ensembles, how I can relate to other geeky people just like me...and outside of music I'm so incredibly content.
My grandmother called today, just to check in and see how I was doing. She asked after my boyfriend, and checked that we were still dating (yes, 2 years, 3 months and counting :D), and when I replied yes, I loved her response. "Well, who knows? Maybe you two will end up attached later on." I kind of chuckled and told her that was the hope...but at the same time, we're really content to wait and see where life leads us first. We're young, and have a lot of life yet to live. No need to jump into marriage when we're not even close to graduating. Okay, that's a lie. I'm close to graduating, with just over a year of school left. He has just over two. Eeek!
So, the summary of this blog post is this: :)
~Allie
I actually learned how to spin a couple weeks ago, but this was my first success with fiber that I bought. I'm still working on getting it more consistent, and hoping my next one will be thinner, but we'll see. I have a pattern in mind for it, but I need some more yardage first. Hoping it works out :D 