Doctoral Applications, Mozart Piano Concerto, and Other Updates!

MMMMMM Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Batter is delicious! I just pulled cupcakes out of the oven and they smell amazing. I will be bringing them to my Keyboard III Class at CSU Stanislaus tomorrow. We had a review game for the midterm 3 weeks ago and the cupcakes are long over due for the WINNERS! Yes that's right... Winners get cupcakes! #awesome

So right now my computer is rendering my pre-screening audition for UC Santa Barbara and I thought it would be a perfect time for me to write a BLOG. Like the cupcakes, my blog has also been long over due for a new post, and I hope to post more frequently as soon as these Doctoral Auditions are finished. Life has been a little stressful lately and that face from the Giant's game above expresses my mood perfectly. Believe me when I tell you that I can't wait for February to come and go. After February I will finally get to relax, and I can't wait to switch gears into waiting mode. It will be out of my control at that point and hopefully I will have some options of where to attend school for a Doctoral Degree in Piano. I am applying to NYU, USC, the University of Michigan, Cincinnati Conservatory, and UC Santa Barbara. Each one of them required a ton of work and preparing the applications has been exhausting. I've had to write essays, fill out mile long forms, and create a bunch documents and pre-screening videos. I am taking the GRE Exam on Wednesday and I have also been cramming for that. It is the worst test in the history of tests, and if you thought the SATs were bad multiply that by a billion. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT TO BE DONE THIS WEEK! I will be drinking heavily to celebrate that the torture is over. All of this side work has been getting in the way of my practicing. In January I will need to have around 90 minutes of memorized solo piano music, and another hour of Collaborative Repertoire prepared for the auditions. While it has been a lot of work, the end result will be very exciting and definitely worth all of the hassle. I'm ready to get out of Turlock and move into the next chapter of my life.

While this doctoral application process has been going on I have also been doing a lot of performing. I played Bruch's Kol Nidre with Dan Davies, I played piano for Townsend Opera's Music and Verse Concert, and I accompanied Talon Smith on Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto. Talon is an extraordinarily talented pianist and it is remarkable that he can play that piece as well as he does at the age of 14. It is very inspiring and it was an honor to have collaborated with him. After February passes we will be performing the Tchaikovsky again in some other venues around the state. I will keep you posted on that. I also rehearsed Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Modesto Symphony's Soloists for their upcoming concert. It was really neat watching the conductor work with top notch musicians, and I think I did pretty well for receiving the music 3 days in advance. (ORCHESTRA REDUCTIONS = DEATH)

I almost have dates nailed down for a couple of upcoming recitals. I plan on performing my doctoral audition repertoire in concert at Covenant Village in Turlock and Fresno Piano Gallery in Fresno. It will be great practice for me to simulate the auditions, and see what happens under the pressure of a performing environment. Those should be taking place in January and I will post more information about them soon.

I got a new video camera last week which means new content will be coming to YouTube soon. The quality on this Sony Ax-53 is fantastic and it has been a lot of fun experimenting with it the last few days. All I need to do now is buy a new audio interface to replace my old one that is broken. The mic on the camera is alright, but not high quality enough for classical music recordings. I've been learning Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects and I can't wait to do some fancy video tricks. I've easily watched over 100 tutorials and I have been brainstorming a ton of ideas for new content.

Lastly, I am most excited to announce that I will be playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major with the CSU Stanislaus University Orchestra in May of next year. It is very rare to get to perform with an orchestra and I am grateful for the opportunity that Ryan Murray (Orchestra Director) has given me. This will definitely be a concert that the Fresno and Clovis people should make the drive up for. I will keep everybody in the loop as soon as I have more information.

Look at that, I didn't even mention the election or the Giant's blowing their playoff run pretty hard..... TIME TO EAT CUPCAKES! Until next time......