Freakin Fun Park

Wednesday was 'Chamber Group Number 2's' last day off. It was also Christa's 23^rd birthday. Harry Potter was pretty awesome, but not having read the books I'm all anxious as to what happens. Once Melissa got back from her chamber rehearsal, we all headed over to the Peak 8 Fun Park. It was so much fun. Not only was there a fantastic alpine slide with 3 different lanes, but there was also a rock wall, mining corner, human gyroscope, bungee jump, human maze, and a putt-putt course (which we didn't get to…).

The human maze was a lot of fun. The first time around I was the fastest of everyone. Calvin got so lost and took over 15 minutes: The time it took for a small child to do it twice. We did it again later on and all of us were much more successful with our times the second time around. Melissa, Jenn, and I decided to pick cute little butterfly tattoos as our prize for doing the maze in under 8 minutes. We immediately went to the bathroom to stick them on our arms. J

After we had done the alpine slide at least 7 times and done everything else with proper photo shoot moments we headed home. I had forgotten to put sunscreen on anywhere besides my face and I was starting to feel it. I would soon find out how much of a lobster I had become. After dropping everyone off at home, Christa and I went over to Micasa for some dinner. We were just in time for happy hour with $1 tacos and cheaper margaritas. A fabulous dinner option- so much food! There was also a tequila rep walking around giving free samples of different tequila varieties. It was also really cool. As we finished up dinner, Christa and I quickly went over to the Riverwalk Center to hear Chamber Group 1 perform their concert. They sounded really great. However, we only stayed for the first half because we were both starting to feel really crappy from all our time in the sun from the afternoon.

Thursday morning, 7:45 in the morning we all got on our buses to go to Vail Colorado. We were playing for the Bravo Festival at Vail. I think it would have been a much more enjoyable experience if we hadn't had to leave so early in the morning and didn't have a concert after a big break in the time of an hour rehearsal. Not to mention, being in a new and foreign playing space added some new unexpected twists. After our children's concert we stopped for lunch in the Vail Park. We all found spots to sit down and eat, trying to find shade where we could. I was sitting with some other orchestra people next to some fellow audience members. A really cute girl, named Rachel, was visiting with her family from Wisconsin. She played violin and really like our concert. She went around the circle and asked for all of our autographs. After our lunch we headed back on stage for a sight reading of Symphony Espanola with the Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I really enjoyed working with him. I would like to have seen how we would have played had we been rehearsing the last 4 days. I was so tired afterwards; all I wanted to do was fall asleep on the bus. As soon as I grabbed my seat, I passed out. 2 hours later, I woke to the sounds of complaining orchestra people. Apparently for the last hour we had traveled all of a mile. In as much as we only were an hour away from Breckenridge to begin with, I think people were a little exasperated. I was so apathetic about it, there wasn't anything we could do about the traffic, I just wanted people to stop complaining about it. Thankfully, not too long after I woke up, the traffic let up enough for us to pass the construction. When we got back, we had one more rehearsal to do. It was literally a day from hell as far as my body was concerned. Up at 6:30, 2 ½ rehearsals, 1 concert, and a bus ride later, I was exhausted. Thursday was more tiring for me than the 4^th of July even. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was really tired and dehydrated from the day before, but maybe it was just more stressful. Well, either way, we got to play in the Bravo music festival, the summer tour stops for NY Philharmonic, Philadelphia Symphony, as well as guest artists like Anne-Marie McDermott and Gil Shaham. All in all pretty exciting; despite the momentary lack of energy.

As we were in rehearsal with Stilian for our upcoming Saturday concert, we got the announcement that the violins were having a masterclass with David Kim. Oh, and by the way we are all playing Brahms 1 and La Mere for him. *Insert Small Panic Attack*

So today, after our morning rehearsal, all the violinists headed to the masterclass. Erin, Brandie, and Irene played solos for the first hour. I really liked the things he had to say to all of them. Each one of them sounded better when they were done. His masterclass approach reminded me of Felicia. He was all about body stability and letting go. When he was finished with the soloists we all got on stage with our instruments. There was huge confusion. Once we all figured out we were all playing 1^st violin, there was a scramble for seating. Unfortunately, by the time I gathered myself the only seat left was Assistant Principal 2^nd- Very scary when you're sight reading Brahms 1. He helped get our two sections to work more as one and to get the front to play softer and have the back play louder. I liked it when he addressed concertmaster leadership. He likes the head movement leadership over any real large scroll or body movement. It's very subtle but effective. That's something to tuck back for future reference, knowing that my usual tendency leans towards the larger movements.

Our Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 concert is tomorrow evening. Topilow is off for this concert so Stilian is in charge. It will be interesting to see how we do tomorrow.