As classes wrap up, we find ourselves buried in a mountain of papers and finals and juries (oh my!), finals week isn't all that bad for conservatory students! Most of our finals (because they involve a small evaluation of our musical skills learned in the courses we take) only take ten or fifteen minutes as opposed to a two-hour long final! I know that personally I have two papers that were due last week, one this week, and only two written finals this week! All in all I get to work here in the conservatory admissions office, practice, and only spend a total of four hours taking tests over the week...sounds like a sweet deal to me!
Juries aren't all that bad either. A jury is the "final" for your primary instrument. It sounds scarier than it is, because your private teacher assigns you a solo piece to play/sing (depending on your primary instrument or voice) and you prepare it. Then you play it for your private teacher and a couple other teachers from your department. As a double reed player, the bassoon teacher (Jonathan Sherwin) and my oboe teacher (Jeff Rathbun) throw a small, celebratory get together after juries to celebrate our completion of the semester...so I think juries are fun!!!
Friday, December 4th, I played in our last orchestra concert of the semester! I played in the first piece, Beethoven's Prometheus Overture, which was followed by the Vaughn Williams Fantasia on a Theme. The crowning achievement of the performance, however, was the absolutely fabulous performance of Mussorgsky's "Picture at an Exhibition." Sax soloist Kate Trudgen and trumpet soloist David Perkins were outstanding and shone over the already brilliant ensemble. All three pieces received a houseful standing ovation and much applause! I felt so lucky to be involved in such an amazing performance. What a fabulous. Way to close out a semester of hard work! Drilling all those technical passages while paying rigorous attention to intonation sure paid off. Nothing beats the glow of accomplishment after a performance!
Yesterday, Sunday, December 6th, marked our annual holiday concerts. Our Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Brass choirs, and almost every choir was involved in the two holiday concerts. The concerts were full of holiday cheer and merriment, proving to be the perfect way to close out the semester. I know my roommate and I are storing presents for friends under a tiny Christmas tree in our apartment in preparation for the season.
So, as the week ends we must leave our conservatory family for a small, refreshing respite. Classes resume on January, 11th along with rehearsals and more hard, rewarding work. Keep your eyes and ears open for some of the following scheduled concerts next semester:
February 5th--BW Jazztet
February 11-14th--Our Town, Opera
February 19th--BW Jazz Ensemble
February 24th--BW Brass Choir
February 26th--BW Symphony Orchestra
February 28th--BW Women and Men's Choirs
March 26th--Symphonic Wind Ensemble
April 9th--BW Jazz Ensemble
April 16th-18th--BACH FESTIVAL, featuring Bach's St. John's Passion
April 23rd-24th--Spring Musical (TBA)
And many more! Just visit our website
www.bw.edu/academics/conservatory/events/
to find the best concert for you!
February 11-14th--Our Town, Opera
February 19th--BW Jazz Ensemble
February 24th--BW Brass Choir
February 26th--BW Symphony Orchestra
February 28th--BW Women and Men's Choirs
March 26th--Symphonic Wind Ensemble
April 9th--BW Jazz Ensemble
April 16th-18th--BACH FESTIVAL, featuring Bach's St. John's Passion
April 23rd-24th--Spring Musical (TBA)
And many more! Just visit our website
www.bw.edu/academics/conservatory/events/
to find the best concert for you!
Wishing you all well and a very happy holidays, Jes
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