Today started off quite late. Because the curtains are drawn and the lights are off, I have absolutely no idea what time of the day it is! The alarm rang at 7, I shut it off and slept until about 8.30. Lazed around in bed a bit more, packed my bag for school and went out to make breakfast. Grace cleaned up the kitchen all by herself! Made her a croissant, packed lunch and headed out for oboe lesson.
Lesson today was good! I played a little better than I’d expected. The running notes for the Mozart were definitely better than yesterday’s practice session. Sandy was at the dentist’s this morning before my lesson, and the dentist told him not to play for an hour after the visit. He played the opening of the Mozart for me anyway, defying his dentist’s orders, and the tooth crown came out! And so he kept it in his reed box, and carried on playing whenever he wanted to demonstrate something. We worked through the whole of the first movement, and a little of the third. Then we did the Vivaldi. He asked me why I was playing it, and I told him it was because I liked it. He then said, “Just last week I sat in for the auditions, and someone played this. I felt like it seemed to go on and on and on forever! Don’t know if its because of the way she played or the nature of the piece.” He’s so funny. He asked me to get the Gillet studies, and practice those. I think he’ll bring a copy for me next week. 25 pounds! Expensive.. I’ll have to ornament the second movement of the Vivaldi, do the third movement of the Mozart, and practice the six metamorphoses. All by friday. That’s loads to be done!
Watched a harpsichord recital at 1.05 in the Corus Room. My second Baroque concert, and I loved it! The harpsichord was tuned a semitone flat though, so it kind of ruined my sense of key because of my perfect pitch. The harpsichord itself was much more elaborate than NAFA’s old one, it had two manuals and more keys! Repertoire for the concert was works by the Bach family, J.S. Bach, C.P.E Bach and W.F. Bach. The harpsichordist was Despina Homatidou, a graduate from the RWC and GSDM. Her sensitivity was amazing, and her technique just as good. She switched effortlessly among the two manuals without disrupting the flow or sounding abrupt.
I went for Orchestral Repertoire class from 4-5.30. It was interesting. People from the woodwind section would take turns to attend orchestral rep class, and each class would be like a sectional session where we read through pieces that were difficult for a woodwind section. Today we did Leonore Overture and Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture. Fun (:
That’s it for now. I’m tired. Nights!