Haven't written much lately, though a lot has gone on.

Memorial Concert went well, I (and the Maestro) were very happy with how my movement of the Lutosławski went. Rest of the concert was awesome as well. This week is the pops concert, which is always a lot of fun.

I've been happy with how the summer has turned out. When I came here his year, I was a little down on myself with my technique and just how I was conducting. But, I really feel like I progressed here this summer and bad a couple of "a-ha" moments that will help down the road.

The summer has also had its share of awkwardness - but I'll try and get into that in a tactful way when I can organize my thoughts.

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Week 4 in situ

It's been a bit of a rough week here for me. No particular reason, but I've been unhappy with how my conducting assignment has been going; many small affectations that I have been able to expunge from my technique have creeped back in, resulting in a rather disastrous dress rehearsal for today's concert. It really is quite frustrating and a little disheartening - it also feeds into my (rather severe) self doubt. What if this is my pinnacle? What if the best orchestra I ever work with is here? I've been job searching for four years now. Should I look at my lack of success as writing on the wall? Seeing as I have no plan b, that is terrifying. But, I also acknowledge that I have a (rather severe) sense of paranoia and lack the ability to self evaluate. So, it may be in my head.

On happier topics: a group of us went for a whale watch yesterday and ha a blast. The boat ended up about thirty miles off the coast, so it was pretty cold. Coming back in, we watched a thunderstorm come over the mountains; it was really pretty. Then a great dinner was had, and we all came home and crashed.

Concert today; I am conducting the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony.

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Children's Concert

Well, this morning our idyllic day off is cut short for a children's concert we give at the halfway mark. This year it's Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, and will be narrated by my wonderful wife Olivia. And, on the plus side - we get served breakfast by the school's associate board.

Things have been going well, if not a bit stressful; more on that when I can find the right way to put it.

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Settling into a routine

The weather here has started to even out, although for the third year in a row it was super foggy and rainy on July 4th - so no fireworks. But we had a potluck picnic that day which ended up being a lot of fun; we also had our fair share of dime store sparklers.

Earlier in the week, a group of us headed out to Acadia for the day off and did a little bit of hiking. It was quite pleasant and bolstered my confidence ever so slightly: I am in a bit better shape than I thought.

I still haven't had my podium time for the week (Beethoven 2, for the 3 of you who read this), but hopefully I will get it done this morning.

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It has been a week...

I've slightly avoided writing this week; it's been a bit unusual and I'm still somewhat scratching my head over it.

People have weirdly been on edge, partly because of this week's concert repertoire (Shostakovich 6, Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso, Elgar's Enigma Variations, and The Dance of Vengeance from Barber's Medea), which is proving to be most difficult. I've personally been a little off because of my reading piece (which went well, but I didn't get a ton of feedback) and because I've been stuck in the percussion section again. Oh well.

On the plus side, some of us have starting working on Schönberg's Transfigured Night for performance on a chamber concert - something I've wanted to do for years but never had the chance. Plus the concert is today; which means the end of the week and new rep. One of the things I love about this place is even if you have an off week, you roll over fresh in the next.

We're going to explore Acadia tomorrow, so lots of new pics soon.

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Week one highlights

Concert went very well - the Hanson especially so. I've always been afraid of a letdown after a good dress rehearsal but the quality and focus was a bit higher on Sunday, which is always nice.

In addition, I was drafted to play percussion on the Prokofiev Love of Three Oranges Suite; I guess it worked out well because I'm playing percussion again this week. I enjoy the change of pace, but I kind of hope that it doesn't necessarily become a normal thing - I really enjoy playing cello in the orchestra.

So the rep for this coming week is a bit more challenging; in addition to a challenging concert, I've got John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine (you'll have to YouTube it, I can't seem to embed links on my iOS app). Maybe the most difficult thing I've conducted in a long long time.

On the non-podium front - the maypole went very well. It was much like herding drunk kittens, but everyone really enjoyed themselves. We finally got out to Bar Harbor for the first time today and it was much like going home (of sorts).

More to come...

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A hootenanny was had...

So, I guess I can add maypole dancer to the additional skills of my resume?

It went well - it was a but like kitten herding, but really fun. Not necessarily something I'll do often (if ever again) but something I was glad that I produced.

In rehearsals, we've gotten through the concert music twice and started on some readings; this year's batch of first year conductors is quite good. There's an evenness to them that I haven't seen for a while.

Looks like we're about to get out first Maine thunderstorm of the year - just in time for evening rehearsal. :)

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Now for something a little different...

So, filed under something I never thought I would have to do: this week I had to build a maypole, arrange a tune, and choreograph a dance. In 36 hours. We'll see how it goes tonight.

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Day 1: let's start this again...

So, we got here yesterday and settled in; we were fortunate to get the same housing we've had for the past two years.

The first week's concert rep has been set and I am conducting the last two movements of Howard Hanson's Merry Mount Suite - a piece I was interested in, so bully for me.

The first week here is usually interesting (and terrifying if you're a first year conductor). Because the teacher has never seen them conduct before, he assigns an audition piece of sorts, and throws you in the deep end to see what you can do. Once those are done, the first years are still assigned a reading piece; so in that first week, they get two works.

Normally Monday's are days off, but we have a warmup rehearsal tonight before we leap in tomorrow with a double rehearsal day. Let's see how it goes.

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It has been nice to have time with family in the northeast before heading up to Maine and the Monteux School. For the first week (after the two day drive), Liv and I went camping with my parents, which is something neither of us has done in almost 15 years. It was nice - especially the opportunity to spend some real time with my parents. We stayed on Lake Eaton, which is just to the north east of Long Lake and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was really relaxing - got a lot of reading, card playing, and canoeing accomplished. We also took a dy trip to Lake Placid, which was a normal haunt for me when I was studying in Potsdam. Despite not being there for over 10 years, it hasn't changed much at all - we even ate lunch at the Lake Placid Brewery (a microbrewery I absolutely adore). For this week (up until Sunday) we're at the in-laws house, spending time with her family as well as her best friend (who still lives in town). Sunday, we'll drive up to Maine, and we start rehearsals on Monday.

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Rep list

Since I was making up some packing lists, for giggles - here's this summer's rep (the last one makes me laugh a little, it almost seems out of place):

ADAMS, John

Short Ride in a Fast Machine

BARBER

Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, Op. 23a

BARTOK

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

BARTOK

Two Pictures [Két Kép], Op. 10 (Sz 46)

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, Eroica

BERLIOZ

Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

BERNSTEIN

Divertimento for Orchestra

BOCK, Jerry

Excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof

BORODIN
Overture to Prince Igor

BRAHMS

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

BRAHMS

Tragic Overture, Op. 81

BRITTEN
Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a-b

BRUCKNER

Symphony No. 7 in E major

CHABRIER
España

COPLAND

Suite from The Red Pony

DEBUSSY

Jeux

DEBUSSY

Symphonic fragments from Le martyre de Saint Sébastien

DVORAK
Czech Suite in D major, Op. 39

ELGAR

Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme), Op. 36

FRANCK
Four orchestral excerpts from Psyché

GRIEG
Norwegian Dances, Op. 35

GROFÉ Grand Canyon Suite

HANSON

Suite from Merry Mount

HAYDN
Symphony No. 104 in D major, Hob. I:104, London

HINDEMITH

Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 38

HONEGGER
Symphony No. 3, Liturgique

LALO

Overture to Le roi d’Ys

LISZT

Mazeppa (Symphonic Poem No. 6), S.100

LUTOSŁAWSKI

Concerto for Orchestra

MAHLER

Symphony No. 4 in G major

MENDELSSOHN

Märchen von der schönen Melusine [Fair Melusina Overture], Op. 32

MOZART

Overture to Così fan tutte, K.588

MOZART

Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550

MUSSORGSKY

Pictures at an Exhibition [orch. Ravel]

PROKOFIEV

Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33bis

RAVEL

Alborada del gracioso

RAVEL
Pavane pour une infante défunte

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Scheherazade, Op. 35

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Suite and Flight of the Bumblebee from The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57

RODGERS, Richard

Selections from The Sound of Music [arr. Bennett]

ROSSINI
Overture to Guillaume Tell

SAINT-SAËNS

Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, Organ

SCHUBERT

Rosamunde Overture, D.644

SCHUMANN

Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52

SCHUMANN

Overture to Manfred, Op. 115

SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54

STRAUSS, Johann Jr.

Wein, Weib und Gesang, Op. 333

STRAUSS, Richard

Don Quixote, Op. 35

STRAVINSKY

Le sacre du printemps

STRAVINSKY

Symphonies of Wind Instruments [1920 version]

STYNE, Jule

Overture to Gypsy

TCHAIKOVSKY

1812 Overture (Ouverture solennelle), Op. 49

TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, Little Russian

WAGNER

Good Friday Spell from Parsifal

WAGNER
Suite (Act III excerpts) from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

WALTON

Crown Imperial (Coronation March)

WILLIAMS, John

Harry Potter Symphonic Suite

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So want does 60 scores look like?

So, I've pulled together all the score for this summer's rep list (here's the complete list). For the first time since 2007 (my first year in Maine), I have more than 2/3 of the music without scanning/copying/downloading from IMSLP. The lower box is a case for 8.5x11" copy paper and it's overflowing, and the upper is the lid. I did the math, and a full set of scores (substituting Dover when possible) comes in at close to $1500; thus it's lucky that I own most of them already (my first year I owned almost nothing and since it was pre-IMSLP, bought everything I was missing - it hurt).

How many of these will be played? All of them. In 6 weeks, we read every single piece. 1/4 (give or take) will be performed on either our weekly Sunday concerts or, in a few cases, on Wednesday chamber music concerts.

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Monteux School 2012

Well, we're going to try this again. I'm headed up to Maine for my fourth summer at the Monteux School and I'm looking for a way to keep myself accountable for documenting my trip (something that I haven't done particularly well for the past three times). So, I've got this blog for pics, thoughts, happenings, and more.

Don't like it? Blame Tyler. He gave me the idea (kind of).

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