Notes from the third annual trip east.

It has been a very long week, and I am happy to be home. Here's a day by day look at my trip:

Friday, Feb 6

Got up entirely too early to catch BART to get to SFO. On my flight to Phoenix, I was sitting at reading my book (Mozart in the Jungle, an interesting read, with lots of cool info about funding in the arts) when I hear someone say my name. I look up to see Dr. La Rocca, who was on my flight, on his way to Jersey. Of all the flights at all the times, we happen to be on the same one. I thought that peculiar. From Phoenix, I caught another plane to Detroit, where I was met by Andrew (who, along with his fiancee Jamie, I met at the Fresno Composition Workshop thing) who then took me to Bowling Green.

Now, I'd never been to Ohio, or Michigan, or pretty much anywhere in the midwest/wherever Ohio actually is. I knew it was going to be different, but that didn't prepare me for actually experiencing it, even if only for a few days. It was flat, flat flat flat. And gray. Way more gray than here, looking outside my window right now. It was a flat depressing gray. And so much more away from things than I'm used to.

Got into Bowling Green in time to catch the last couple of pieces on a composer recital, Jamie's, which had some extended bassoon techniques that were kind of interesting, but I still don't buy the need for electronics, and another that I don't remember much of because I was kind of nodding off. I met some of their friends, and got home to get rested for the interviews on Saturday.


Saturday Feb 7

My day at BGSU started with a talk by...director of grad studies I think? He went over a handout, I can't say I paid a lot of attention after I figured out he was going over the handout pretty much word for word, and instead tried to mentally prepare myself for the day ahead. I accidentally stayed for a talk to the instrumentalist, as my next event was in the same room and I didn't really want to leave and get lost. Then there was a Q&A with grad students, they talked of diversity and I quietly laughed to myself, and took us on a tour. We were fed lunch (Free lunch, definite plus) and I went to explore the library.

The library was...interesting. It was purple, which was a shock, and there were records hanging from the ceiling. While interesting decor, it doesn't seem very library-esque. They have a HUGE collection of random records, cds, tapes, 8 tracks, 4 tracks, and probably other obsolete media forms, and judging from what I've heard and seen, the guy in charge of that stuff is a bit of a pack rat.I then had a tour of the tech stuff with the tech person, Dr. Lillios, one of the composition faculty. I was generally lost and understood only a handful of terms. They are into this tech and tape and electronic stuff a little too much for my liking. And while I was told I didn't have to do any electronic stuff if I didn't want to, I don't know how much I believe it, since Jamie's piece the night before was electronic only because she was pressured into it. That makes me a little wary.

My actual interviews started shortly after my trip to the library. I started with an interview for an aural skills assistantship, in which I played piano poorly, but nailed a melodic dictation before he'd even gotten through all the playings, felt confident on the harmonic dictation as well, and warbled my way through a sight-singing exercise that I know I missed the modulation on, but eventually found my way back on track. Overall, felt good about it.

I then had my comp interview, which was kind of bizarre because they'd already heard about me from Jamie and Andrew. They asked me about the bowed piano stuff, since Andrew is listed in the premiere info in the score, and asked me what the bows are made of and how they work. My interviewers were Dr. Shrude who did some bowed piano in the 70s, and also knew La Rocca, Dr. Lillios who did the tech tour, and Dr. Kuehn who didn't really say much at all, except to try and figure out my connection to UC Davis (which is Kurt). They asked me about my influences, which I'd had the presence of mind to write down and go through on the plane, and thus went through it without a hitch. Since they were all men, and two of the comp faculty there were women (and, well, so am I), they kind of pushed me on that point, asking if there were any female composers I liked, who I could not think of on the spot. They kept at it, trying to suggest people (I said "no" perhaps a little too quickly to the suggestion of Joan Tower, but really, I don't like her stuff at all) but finally let it go. I ended up emailing the list of women composers (at Jamie's suggestion I should), which were Kristen Kuster, Alex Shapiro, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. They did not ask me to describe my music, for which I was grateful since I hate that question. Oh, and I asked them how hard it would be to get a large ensemble piece played, and they were honest and said it'd be quite hard, and even more difficult for orchestra than wind ensemble. Another aspect that makes me wary.

In fact, my comp interview lasted so long, I was late to the history assistantship interview, which I take as a good sign. That interview was just to describe my teaching experience, and what sort of history background I have (hooray for substitute teaching and taking unnecessary grad history courses! woot!).

My final interview of the day was for the theory assistantship, in which I still sucked at the piano but did a little better than in the morning, was so thorough in describing mistakes and how to fix them in a four part writing example that he cut me off after I got halfway through, and spelt a Fr6 in F# (which...I may have missed...I think I may have forgotten an accidental, which would make me feel really stupid after asking him to clarify if the Fr6 he wanted was to an F# chord, or to V in the key of F#, since he didn't really specify, and both are totally plausible). Overall, however, I felt good about it.

Afterward, Jamie had an orchestra concert, where I again nearly fell asleep, and the orchestra is good, but not amazing. Heard a new composer, Eric Ewazen, who I don't like at all, and heard two renditions of the Ibert concertino for sax...actually, the concert wasn't very exciting, to be honest. We then went out for drinks, which was nice post-interview. =)


Sunday Feb 8

This was a pretty lazy day, I slept in, and then went with Jamie and Andrew to the library and hung out while Jamie worked and Andrew plugged away at his thesis. I caught up on the news, quietly expressed my annoyance at people at WSU for being difficult and constantly bugging me, composed (and took a very long time on two bars, you know, the kind of day where you think you're being productive because you're working hard, but by the end of the day you realize you only have two bars to show for it...and now I'm not so sure I even like those two bars. oh well). Then went home, had some lovely food, and watched Janacek's Jenufa. Which I quite enjoyed (though could have done without the incredibly obvious stone metaphor that was beaten over my head continuously throughout) and am now thinking I should start my own opera dvd collection. We also watched Gianni Schinni (or whatever) by Puccini...you know, the "o mio babbino" one. Quite funny, although the production, which must have been from the 70s or 80s, had silly costumes and..yeah. A nice quiet night in with opera and friends.


Monday Feb 9

Today I went with Jamie to school late, composed while she was at orchestra rehearsal, then we went to the local cd store Finders, which was a very good cd store, a nice size collection of classical cds. I got one with Marilyn Shrude (on faculty at BGSU) and Dan Welcher (I want to say he's at UT Austin, but I don't remember for sure). I listened to it one the way to the airport, but don't remember much and will have to listen again more carefully. I also got a cd of Rzewski, something about people being united, I know it's one Hdez recommended ages ago, and I finally found it (they're always out of Rzweski when I go to various stores in Berkley), though I haven't listened to it yet. We then went back to the school, met up with Andrew, and I watched their quartet rehearsal of a piece by another grad student, which I actually kind of liked. After that they had a Percepta meeting, their sci student chapter, where they talked about other avenues of income for composers, including engraving, tech stuff, a bunch of other things I don't remember, and also other useful things we thought each other should know (I mentioned Lulu). I then took Jamie and Andrew out for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening listening to their music.


Tuesday Feb 10

Jamie took me to the airport this morning, and I spent the morning and early afternoon on various planes to take me to Boston (I hate plane rides, by the way, so the six flights I took over the last week really sucked, especially the one home post-buffalo incident). Once there, I was instantly happier. Something about being in a city was comforting after being in the grey flatness of Ohio, even if the cold cut through more (because it wasn’t actually much colder, but the wind, and therefore the cold, just cut straight to the bone. I wore lots of layers). And I LOVE the T, the transit system in Boston. With a Charliecard, it’s so easy…and I could get most places I felt I needed to relatively easy. In fact, we took shuttles and the T from the airport back to Frank and Sarah’s, my friends in Boston I stayed with. We then went to NEC to meet up with Sarah and so I could have my meeting with Michael Gandolfi.

The meeting went well I think, he asked me some questions, like how fast I write, and how much faster I think I could write, also asked me how many of my pieces I like (about six, but only three…I think three…are serious pieces, the others are lighter, cuter pieces). He then told me about the program, and all the incredible resources at my disposal, like orchestral readings twice a year, and they have more than one orchestra, and a resident orchestra. A resident chamber orchestra. How freaking cool is that? There are also several in house competitions, 6 or so new music concerts a year for our works, and lots and lots of things that I didn't write down but I should have because just crazy good stuff happening all the freaking time. And then he told me about all the cool stuff happening in Boston outside of NEC, and it’s just all so amazing, so much new music stuff, which isn’t to say SF doesn’t have this too, but it all seems very Bay Area, and I’m tired of that new music scene (mostly because it’s overpopulated with minimalism and post-minimalism diatonic sameness). And then he told me about scholarship stuff, and that on average students get 43% of costs (I think just tuition costs, but I’m not sure) covered by these, and that it’s possible to petition for more, which is good to know. We ended the meeting with a tour of the building we were in (NEC has three) where I saw three halls, Jordan is amazing and beautiful, Williams (I think) is the one that’s great for recording, and Brown which no one seems to like much. Also saw the audio library, various halls and things, and a giant statue of Beethoven (which I found funny, since I like NEC so much, and here they have a statue of a composer I’m not so fond of). I was impressed and now want to go to NEC (so much for not choosing a favorite school and getting my hopes up).


Wednesday Feb 11

Got a slow start to the morning, but went out to the MFA (Museum of Fine Art) to check it out. It’d been a while since I’d been to a museum and it was long overdue. Had some trouble getting to the train, and ended up out by the Boston Public Library. I’d forgotten that Kahlil Gibran had a plaque outside the library, but found it as I was looking around for the T stop I needed. Once I got to the MFA, the best exhibit by far was the musical instrument room, where I saw a trombone with a serpent head for a bell, loads of old trumpets and cornets, some with keys, an ophiclide, an old school contrabassoon, a serpent, a serpent shaped bass clarinet, other old woodwinds, a hurdy gurdy, various viols and other old string instruments, several pianos, harpsichords, clavicords, harps, and several folk instruments, including some Tibetan ones made from human bones, a nay and oud, and lots of others. I spent the longest in this room, looking at every instrument and reading every placard (because I am a nerd). Then Frank met up with me at the MFA and we headed back to their place to meet with Sarah and then go out to dinner with Meghan and Derek. It was nice to see them both again, and to do so over some good Chinese food. Derek gave me a little more insight into NEC, and it was good to get an uncensored account of life there. I still really want to go there, his complaints seem rather minor to me, and something that I’d encounter no matter where I’d go, though I appreciate his honesty.


Thursday Feb 12

Sarah and I got a late start to the day, and were headed out to the Sam Adams Beer Museum, when she realized she left the map at home, and ended up checking out the NEC library while she printed out a new one. So cool, I love libraries (because I’m a nerd) and they seemed to have quite a bit of stuff, AND they are connected up to a bunch of other libraries, so even if they don’t have it, someone somewhere probably does, and it wouldn’t be hard to get. We made it to the beer museum, which was a lot of fun, and to be honest, I don’t remember much about it other than the beer tasting at the end, which was yummy, and I was shamefully buzzed after three 7oz tastings since we hadn’t had lunch yet. Found a lovely little café, totally Berkley or Santa Cruz-esque , you know, health conscious and all that. Made our way to North End to get some canolis and hot chocolate, where we met up with Frank and had to head back so I could pack and get ready to go to Hartford. Took the T to the bus station (no sketchy bus for me this year, I went Greyhound) and caught the bus. By the time I made it into Hartford, I was too tired to bother with dinner, and instead got my things prepared for my interviews the next day and got some sleep.


Friday Feb 13

My day at Hartt was short, started with a shuttle ride from my hotel to the University (the main reason I booked this hotel ) and to be honest, the driver was a little weird… Anyway, once there I signed in, and then shortly thereafter went to take the “Music Aptitude Profile” test, which was a joke. Last year I struggled to stay awake during it, and this time was no different…in fact, it was the same exact test. The test is screechy violin sounds, and I’m supposed to identify if the two examples played are the same or different, first in terms of the melody, then in terms of rhythm or meter. I have no idea why they have grad students take this test because I imagine most undergrad applicants were bored too. It’s almost insulting, really, but whatever.

After the “test,” there was a grad student Q&A with a guy who didn’t really seem to know what was going on (and was filling in for someone who should have known more) and a current grad student. I met three other grad comp applicants, two seemed quite young and immature to me, and reminded me that they probably were younger than me, having gone through this process too many time. One in particular was quite annoying, but I played nice, no reason to be an asshole yet, may never see the person again. Anyhow, after the Q&A, the other composers went to lunch while I went to go to my interviews.

I think my interviews went really well, I met with Robert Carl first, and it took him a while to remember me. He asked about writing my orchestral piece since something I’d written in the program notes had caught his attention, and I tried to explain what I meant, in any case, I kept talking even if I wasn’t being particularly clear or eloquent. He also asked who I’ve been listening to lately (and since this was the third time through this question, it was easy). He then told me that my chances of getting in were quite good, though he obviously couldn’t make any guarantees, and that he thought my portfolio this year was much better than last years. I then asked him about opportunities for getting pieces played by large ensembles (quite good), and if starting up bowed piano would be realistically feasible (absolutely). After meeting with Dr. Carl, he then took me over to my interview with Ken Steen, who’s the electronic guy (though he writes for acoustic groups too). He hadn’t seen my scores yet, so I was glad I’d brought extras with me, which I then handed to him. He seemed to be most impressed with how the scores looked (a BIG thanks to Hdez for that!) and even asked if they were done in Sibelius (which they weren’t). He asked how I got started in music, what my instruments were, and then he asked me about my views and involvement in electronics. I was honest, said I tended to stay away from such things because most of the electronic stuff I’ve heard it seems the electronics aren’t really necessary, like tape pieces, but that I wanted to keep and open mind and I felt I’d still benefit from learning tech stuff. It turns out this wasn’t such a horrible response, as he felt similarly before he got into the electronics stuff.

After that, my day at Hartt was done, and I was kind of pissed that I didn’t know sooner so that I could have booked my plane home on that day (since I was really missing home by then). I was even more pissed waiting 45mins in the cold for the shuttle to come get me. Once back in the hotel I relaxed a bit, started to pack again, and then headed back to Hartt for the collage concert, where they have a little bit of everything (oh, and the jazz program there is kind of pathetic…just to note). The concert was good, one of the musical singers was obnoxious and I couldn’t stand her voice (not to mention it wasn’t in tune), found that Carmina Burana done by wind band just isn’t as good (I’m a bit of a purist that way I suppose) and noticed that I don’t understand ballet much at all. The orchestra was good, they played Bartok, and some amazing (and one not so amazing) tenors singing “o sole mio.” At this point, I left since the shuttle was supposed to be waiting for me. Half an hour later and three phone calls, the shuttle finally got there (I was again pissed, since I could have stayed for the whole concert). I got back, ate some cheap pizza, finished packing and got ready to go home.

I arrived home on Valentine’s Day, and was really glad to be home. All in all, I think I’d be pleased at Hartt or certainly NEC, and I think I did the best I could at all of these interviews. Should hear from BGSU soon, and NEC by early March (they don’t have formal interviews, another reason I’m hoping my visit gives me a bit of an edge). Still have to record a cd for WSU, since I just can’t see travelling up there, especially after all the scheduling conflicts with them, and now as far as everyone else goes, I think I just wait.