News from NY
I’m sorry it’s been a very long time since you last heard from me, but I have good reasons!! Firstly, my recital (which happened a few weeks ago) was the only thing on my mind and since then I’ve had a few visitors over from Scotland! So please forgive me for the lack of a blo
It’s been a very busy semester and it’s not over yet! I’ve been leading the orchestra again, and I’ve had to play the solos in Ravel’s Mother Goose and Dvorak’s 8th Symphony. They went very well and I enjoyed the challenge enormously. It was great to be able to help the student conductors with advice I’ve picked up over the years! The next concert is a performance of Smetana’s Ma Vlast. I’ve only ever played the piece as individual movements before so I’m finding the full work quite difficult. I was amazed last semester that Maestro Peress made us even attempt Strauss’s Don Juan, but I find Ma Vlast to be more difficult than that! It’s not the notes necessarily, but the stamina required that is most difficult. I’ll probably need a few days off to recover!
I’m also enjoying playing in the college’s ‘flagship’ string quartet – the Balsam Quartet. We’re really coming on well with Beethoven Op.59 no.1. We’ve done a few gigs at college and in a few weeks we’re performing a concert at a venue somewhere in Long Island. I’ve been finding teaching quite a struggle as it’s quite difficult for me to articulate in words precisely what I want to say about the violin! Most lessons have been successful but occasionally I just get it wrong!! But I learn from my mistakes and get more confident with practise! I have to coach a string quartet and I thoroughly enjoy that as I feel as if I have something to say. It feels good to hear them coming on and they value my input and often supply me with sweets to munch on during the session!!
I feel coaching could be something I can really get my teeth into when I get back home. Well it’s time to mention my recital! It went so well and I’m really proud of myself! I had worked incredibly hard for it and went through a roller-coaster of emotions. The whole process was another voyage of discovery for me and there were highs and lows-very low!! The ’16th of March’ almost felt like the day I would be executed! But, yes, I’m still here! By the time it arrived I actually just wanted to get up there and do it no matter how it went. I received a lovely bottle of champagne-flowers-balloon delivery from my parents and I just stepped out on stage and all the work and heartache paid off. It went like a dream – literally! I felt someone else was ‘playing’ me-like a puppet! It was almost like autopilot! So an hour’s recital went past -without a hitch- in what felt like 5 minutes! The result can now be heard on the Aaron Copland School of Music website. Click on podcasts and then March 2009 and scroll down until you see my name! I’m pretty pleased with the result.
This time last year I wouldn’t have dared doing anything like that! It’s a huge step forward for me and one I’ll continue when I get back home. I’ve had a few friends visit me recently and that’s been really good fun! I can show off with my knowledge of the New York subway, which bars and restaurants are good and ‘alternative’ things to do whilst in the Big Apple. I’ve been to the top of the Rockefeller centre so many times I can almost see the view with my eyes shut! I even said to one of the staff who recognised me that I should get frequent visitor points! It’s only about 4 weeks to go until, with some degree of apprehension, I fly back to Scotland and start back at work with the RSNO-on the morning I get back! It feels amazing that I’ve almost completed my dream! I will write another blog before I leave, but I’m just going to say that although I’m coming back to the UK, I really feel that this has been just the beginning of my ‘re-enjoyment’ of music and there’s a lot more to come! As you’ll see from one of the photos, Elmo has been spotted!!!
Posted by Paul Medd on April 22nd, 2009.
