My eyes are quitting on me. Lately, I have really hard time to see well with them. My contact lens don't seem to want to stay at the same place when I am tired. Eyes get really red and irritated with the contact lens that they tear constantly. I hope they get better by the time I need to drive home.
Students are improving at an unbelievable rate. They might not be ready to deliver great performances next Monday in their juries, but they are definitely playing at a different level from before. Who knows, they might surprise me next week. They are now all exploring different styles, different colors, different sounds, different characters, and different ideas. I hope that with one more semester of work, they will merge all these different things together and be able to deliver music with more ease and start to form their own ideas & imaginations. Currently, things might be either overly done, but hey, it is better to have something to work with than grow from nothing.
I hope we can catch the piano tuner today. I am really irritated by the fact that one of my students dropped the pencil inside of the piano from behind the piano cover. It is totally necessary to have someone to take it out before Friday's Schumann rehearsal. I don't want to hear the rattling and have to deal with slow action keys.
Peter is still teaching. I don't know how he can do so much teaching. I have about half of his load, and I am already dead tired... Well, that is not true. I do practice a lot during the break. Well, I definitely need to find a way to maintain my energy so I can keep playing and not damaging my hands, my brain, and my body...
Some of Schumann's music really can drive one into madness. There are dramatic passages with driven melody lines and fast running notes passages where the harmony changes are so intense and maddening that after my practicing, I ended with this hysterical almost uncontrollable mood. There are times I am almost scared to start practicing them. Am I crazy?
I started to work on the Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit again. I am re-learning it.. I can't believe that I learned it in 3 months while I was in school, and performed it. What was I thinking?? There are so much in the writing. The dark, magical creatures/characters of the first and last movements, the cold and daunting slow movements, I just love it. Unfortunately, I don't have too much time to spend on this work. Most of my time and energy has to be put into the chamber repertoire. However, I can't complain though. Schumann trios, quartet, & quintet are great also. I find myself lucky to be able to play these great works.
My sister had an interview yesterday. I hope it went well. I hope that she will find a job around where we live, so we will be close in location.
Ok, can I wait for an hour and half more before I died from boredom? My eyes are so tired that I can't practice anymore, I can't read either... I really want to go home now... Maybe Peter's last student will cancel his/her lesson?
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
Thanksgiving
This year, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. We had good companies, my siblings, Hao Chin, Ya-Chen, and Sean (her boyfriend) and my aunt, Ming, all joined us for the big feast. The turkey and various other dishes turned out great, the wine Peter purchased was good even though he did not think so, chocolate Souffle turned out better than last year.
On Friday, Peter was occupied with teaching most of the day. Our dear friend, Michael, did come by to spend the evening with us. On Saturday, we had a great day. After Peter taught his student, we went out to do our first run of Christmas shopping. We both hate shopping, we did manage to purchase very needed 4 turtlenecks for Peter in various colors. After about an hour or so of shopping, we got really tired, and were about to head home. As we were walking toward the mall exit, we passed the Apple Store in the mall where it was busy, but not as busy as some other stores. We came out of that store with $2400-$2500 worth of a Powerbook G4, an IPod, a printer, and office 2004 for mac. As we were leaving the store, we were so excited with our purchase that we did not even mind how crowded the store had become since we entered the store. We hurried home, and of course started right away to set up/initializing the new toy. It turn out to be a great buy. ^_^ We have not yet played around with IPod much, but we will. To finish the day off, we went to a great Italian restaurant with Sean & Ya-Chen.
Sunday, we went out to do more Christmas shopping and spent time doing absolutely meaningless things with my husband... Life is wonderful!
On Friday, Peter was occupied with teaching most of the day. Our dear friend, Michael, did come by to spend the evening with us. On Saturday, we had a great day. After Peter taught his student, we went out to do our first run of Christmas shopping. We both hate shopping, we did manage to purchase very needed 4 turtlenecks for Peter in various colors. After about an hour or so of shopping, we got really tired, and were about to head home. As we were walking toward the mall exit, we passed the Apple Store in the mall where it was busy, but not as busy as some other stores. We came out of that store with $2400-$2500 worth of a Powerbook G4, an IPod, a printer, and office 2004 for mac. As we were leaving the store, we were so excited with our purchase that we did not even mind how crowded the store had become since we entered the store. We hurried home, and of course started right away to set up/initializing the new toy. It turn out to be a great buy. ^_^ We have not yet played around with IPod much, but we will. To finish the day off, we went to a great Italian restaurant with Sean & Ya-Chen.
Sunday, we went out to do more Christmas shopping and spent time doing absolutely meaningless things with my husband... Life is wonderful!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Another trip
I left my dog & cat again this Saturday under my brother's care this Saturday. I hate it when they give me the looks, which say "You are abandoning us again" Anyway, left around 1 pm to pickup our cellist. Left her place around 2pm heading toward CT. What was supposed to be a 5 hours drive from her place turned up to be a 6 hours one because of the mysterious construction. I never understand why constructions on highway are year round projects, and I never seen anything being done whenever I pass them. Anyway, the hotel we stayed in was call Dolce Inn. The room appeared to be really nice, however, the bed is so uncomfortable that I really did not get the rest I needed to recover from a long drive and gain enough to perform a big concert. We managed. The concert was luckily at 3pm on Sunday, so at least we did not have spend the whole day wondering around after checking out of the hotel at 12pm. That is another thing I never would understand, if the hotel check out time is prior to 12pm, then, what are traveler supposed to do if they need to be in town working for the rest of the day? Most of people don't go to a place to just stay for the night, they are there for a purpose which would probably take the whole next day. It really does not make sense for one has to check out by noon, and carry everything around with them, and try to get to another hotel for the night's sleep, and do the same thing all over again.
Anyway, the concert went pretty well. The audience loved the program, which we were happy with. This is a very well educated audience. It always really nice to play for an audience which really enjoy, and understand what we really are trying to express through music. Not the usual ... oh you fingers move so fast, that was a great Tune, I like the way you look on stage, I don't like the way you look on stage, you should try to match your dresses, love your program why didn't you play Mendelssohn Piano Trio since you call yourself Mendelssohn Piano Trio, or what instruments were you playing on? love the sound as if the instruments could speak by themselves. Anyway, one audience member used to play viola, Betty Williams was her name. She told me lots of interesting stories of the great artists whom she encountered or work with during her younger time. So many real personalities came a live by her narrative for me. I was so happy, I felt like I am a little girl again listening to stories I love from a great grandma.
The drive from CT to Grantham PA was long and tiring especially after that big program. Luckily we found OutBack Steak House to recuperate some of our energy to go on with the rest of our long journey. We arrived Grantham at about 1 am.
The idea of teaching 2 full days at school immediately after the trip was painful and almost unrealistic. Both Peter & me had been constantly encouraging each other to go on as the day went by. I wondered if this is about 3 years ago, would I feel as tired and burnt out as I do now? Just another hour, we can rest in the hotel... Tomorrow, yet another day of teaching...
I am so looking forward to open the door of my home tomorrow night, and greet my dear Totoro & Tiger as they awaiting at the door... One more day, I will be home!
Anyway, the concert went pretty well. The audience loved the program, which we were happy with. This is a very well educated audience. It always really nice to play for an audience which really enjoy, and understand what we really are trying to express through music. Not the usual ... oh you fingers move so fast, that was a great Tune, I like the way you look on stage, I don't like the way you look on stage, you should try to match your dresses, love your program why didn't you play Mendelssohn Piano Trio since you call yourself Mendelssohn Piano Trio, or what instruments were you playing on? love the sound as if the instruments could speak by themselves. Anyway, one audience member used to play viola, Betty Williams was her name. She told me lots of interesting stories of the great artists whom she encountered or work with during her younger time. So many real personalities came a live by her narrative for me. I was so happy, I felt like I am a little girl again listening to stories I love from a great grandma.
The drive from CT to Grantham PA was long and tiring especially after that big program. Luckily we found OutBack Steak House to recuperate some of our energy to go on with the rest of our long journey. We arrived Grantham at about 1 am.
The idea of teaching 2 full days at school immediately after the trip was painful and almost unrealistic. Both Peter & me had been constantly encouraging each other to go on as the day went by. I wondered if this is about 3 years ago, would I feel as tired and burnt out as I do now? Just another hour, we can rest in the hotel... Tomorrow, yet another day of teaching...
I am so looking forward to open the door of my home tomorrow night, and greet my dear Totoro & Tiger as they awaiting at the door... One more day, I will be home!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Teaching Music
They are good kids. Yes, they might be lazy sometimes, but truly, they all want to do well. Each one has his/her individual character that is so vivid which is hard to overlook. My challenge is really how to not force my own character onto them while still teach them styles, sounds, colors ... Etc. Everything about music is so personal if one loves music. I can only hope that I have not stepped on or created any block on their imaginations for any of them yet.
Chamber music is not an easy thing to teach. Each students come from different background and training. How to get them to come up with an unifying idea is really challenging. It is hard when a member is more advanced than the others. How do you teach them to control the urge of taking over the rehearsal situation and be patient with the others? Also, it is hard to know whether I am introducing an idea that is totally outside of the frame work setup by their teachers.
One of my students has decided to pursue another major. I am happy that he finally decided to pursue what he loves the most. However, I am also glad that he is not going to quit playing piano because he loves playing and he is starting to feel good about how he plays. It is always hard to see one struggle with finding the right path for his/her life.
Chamber music is not an easy thing to teach. Each students come from different background and training. How to get them to come up with an unifying idea is really challenging. It is hard when a member is more advanced than the others. How do you teach them to control the urge of taking over the rehearsal situation and be patient with the others? Also, it is hard to know whether I am introducing an idea that is totally outside of the frame work setup by their teachers.
One of my students has decided to pursue another major. I am happy that he finally decided to pursue what he loves the most. However, I am also glad that he is not going to quit playing piano because he loves playing and he is starting to feel good about how he plays. It is always hard to see one struggle with finding the right path for his/her life.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Oxygen
My asthma has been acting up lately. It makes me feel low on energy most of the time. Sometimes I get headache just from not having enough oxygen. My muscles get so tense from coughing. It was really tough especially today during the concert at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Spencerville, MD. Today's program had Tchaikovsky Piano Trio & Richard Strauss Piano Quartet. I love both pieces, but was very disappointed with myself for not being able to have enough energy to do what I really wanted with them. I hate the feeling of barely getting through them instead of taking charge of colors, pacing, music that I want to create ... Oh well. Luckily I had great people to play with. Having Michael Stepniak as the addition to the trio was wonderful. He not only brings in support of sound, but also depth of his feeling of music. There is one more concert with the same program tomorrow at Towson's Central Presbyterian Church. I hope I will be in a much better shape, although, I doubt. Well, at least I love the program!
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