Back in the Saddle - Senior Year Edition

We're already on day three, but I've only just found half a second to stop and update everyone. This breeze of a school year? Yeah...ha ha.

I was really excited to get my job at Starbucks last spring, seeing as it's a chance to have a job I can hold onto outside of school, and maybe even transfer to a new location when I go to grad school. I held 20-30 hours all summer, and finally got enough hours to qualify for benefits. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I got promoted at my school job, and now will be working 15 hours a week. Now, I know working full-time while doing full-time school has been done before, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the one to try it. On the upside, all three jobs at school that get me up to that 15 hours are jobs I enjoy. I was just the band librarian, but I have now been promoted to Instrumental Librarian, which means I take care of both band and orchestra. In many ways, this is great. We're completely re-organizing the library, and now I can take complete control without worrying about stepping on another librarian's toes. Unfortunately, it also means I'm responsible for the ENTIRE library. I'm also LA Coordinator for our new Aural Skills program, which means I'm in charge of the LAs (Learning Assistants) who work with small groups of freshmen on their aural skills twice a week. With a huge incoming class (there are 66 freshman in first year aural skills!), this means that I'm now in charge of 16 main LAs and 2 substitutes, 7 more people than last year. Oh, and my last job? That's the best one...I'm a practice room monitor on Saturday afternoons. Who could turn down an opportunity to get paid to practice? (Well, and also keep the practice rooms clean and fairly secure) However, with everything there is to do getting the ensembles set up for the school year, I'm left on the edge of being overwhelmed with how much there is to do. It's still manageable, especially considering I have almost the whole day to work on it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but it's still pretty daunting.

On the more exciting end of things, I came back from New York on a big high. I've settled down into school some, but I'm still pretty excited about horn and grad school. This next month will be lots of hard work getting ready for my pre-audition for Eastman School of Music (which I just found out I should have ready by November 1st, instead of by the December 1st deadline like I had originally thought). Fortunately it's just about the same material I had ready for my lessons last week, so just more work on the same stuff. I'm really excited to get this done, but it's also super intimidating. There's part of me (somewhere in the back of my head) that wonders what's going to happen if I don't get past the pre-audition. I can't afford to think that way, but sometimes the thoughts still creep in.

Practicing is going well, even with all the work that needs to be done. I've pretty much maintained being "jet lagged" so that I can get up really early without too much trouble. Considering I have to wake up at 4 or 5 for Starbucks, it's actually a lot easier just consistently waking up early rather than constantly switching my sleep schedule around. It's also wonderful to practice early enough in the morning that no one else is there. 7 am is a quiet time in Crawford! My goal is to keep my face up in really good condition, putting in 3 hours of practice a day, maybe even 4 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I also got to talk to my awesome friend Curtis, who's a professional photographer, about getting some really high quality head shots, since those are going to be more necessary as I keep going in this. Plus, who wouldn't want some really good pictures of them all dressed up with their instrument? Hopefully I'll be able to use them for my senior recital posters in the spring too.

Basically, the last three days have been a continual thought process about either two things: work or horn. Not a bad combination, but I am excited for Friday night when I get to finally hang out with friends! Here's to pretending to have a social life!

Allie