Oh Tuesdays...

Sick again? How can this be?!?!? I somehow am now fighting off a cold-type thing. Really difficult to swallow and kind of tricky to breathe. :/ Hopefully this is a short lived thing.

On a lighter note; only 9 days until Houston! While I am completely dreading the flight itself (I HATE flying) I can't wait to see Becker and spend some quality time together. That'll be awesome...these 9 days can't go by fast enough. It sounds like we might go to see the opera (Lohengrin) which would be a perfect date night. I loved seeing "Faust" up in Minneapolis; my first opera experience. :D

Slowly getting things done for grad school auditions; I spoke with Mark Kellogg on the phone last night and I had a very favorable impression of him. He seems to be a straightforward guy and had some really fantastic info for me about the studio. Conducting opportunities seemed to be available as well. Through email correspondence I think I have my graduate schools narrowed down a bit.

-Eastman
-Indiana
-U of Iowa

Madison is still in the mix pending my lesson with Mark Hetzler. I'm just not so sure about the school itself; so close to home and there are going to be so many Eau Claire trombonists that will probably be going there within a year or so (Rosevold, Will and Bader), and I would like to get out and experience new things with new people. That being said, if my lesson with Hetzler is really great, I'll still consider Madison, but we'll see.

U of Austin, TX is boarderline because of the lack of conducting opportunities available to me. I need to be somewhere where I'll have a chance to conduct a group (large group) if needed. Not sure if I can find that there. I am also unimpressed with the speed of the correspondence compared to other schools. All the other professors contacted me quickly and took their time sending me information. I felt that my messages from TX were a bit "Thrilled you're intersted. Studio here is great; taking a few masters students for next year. Not many conducting opportunities. Let me know if you'll be in town." Very short; informal, and for some reason I'm just not feeling impressed by the correspondence thus far.

I'm looking into Northwestern, but haven't heard back from Michael either. That would be a less expensive school to audition at (travel-wise) and I know all the excerpts but one. The downside is that this school is extremely competitive, difficult to get into and I would need to learn the entire Martin Ballade PLUS all the rest of what I'm working on. Kind of a lot to go through for a school I'm not sure about. I'll keep you all posted.


Time to warm up for my lesson; hope it's another good one; I worked REALLY hard on things this week!!!! :)


Love,
Rachel Catheryn