Grad School Update, Week 5, Day 1

I've got so much to share with you today! Let's do this chronologically. This past weekend, the PSU Chamber Choir took a retreat to the Oregon Coast. Now, if you're familiar with the coast this time of year, you know that it is normally cloudy and/or rainy, not to mention COLD! That was not the case this weekend. We're enjoying an Indian Summer out here, so it was cool, dry, and sunny the entire time. The choir sang for hours, part of it in partnership with Seaside High School, and began the process of really getting to know our music, inside and out. One of the side benefits of working so hard together as an ensemble, is that we also want to play hard together outside of the rehearsal. The weekend was filled with tears, laughter, food, and lots of joy as the ensemble became a family. If you've never been a part of a creative team like a choir or the cast of a play, you might not know what this is like. It's different than the bond you share on a sports team. The vulnerability level has to go way up so everyone feels comfortable making art together. You can't just be "bros" and expect that everyone is going to simply make music together. You have to truly trust the person next to you, than when you fail, they will pick you up completely. No competition. No masks. Just honesty and love. That's what this group gained last weekend. Every single member of the group is a wonderful singer. More importantly, however, each is also a wonderful human being, with hearts turned toward the collective good of the ensemble. We gained so much this weekend. ___________________________________________________________________________________ On to the week that started yesterday...Monday was a great day. Took a music history test, felt I did well. By "well", I mean that I was comfortable and conversant with the material, and didn't struggle with any of the questions on the exam. Then I co-taught an undergraduate conducting class with Ben España, a fellow conducting grad student and friend. After that was Chamber Choir, with the conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Carlos Kalmar and the President of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, Dr. Mitos Andaya, in attendance. Finally, my day was wrapped up with a trip to Salem to sing with the Willamette Master Chorus under Dr. Paul Klemme. I'm guest conducting a piece with them during their Christmas concert, and we had a strong rehearsal toward that end. The rest of the rehearsal was phenomenal, though. Paul pushed the choir in ways that I'd not seen him do before, and he got some tangible results that will pay HUGE dividends at our Veteran's Day concerts. ___________________________________________________________________________________ That brings us to today. I hope you've followed me this far, because this is the meat of what I need to say today. I realized this morning, in conducting class, that I have some real holes in my education. I don't come from the classical background that some of my peers come from. I've spent a lot of time in the musical theater, pop, rock, and jazz genres. The next few years are going to be a time of great growth for me in the classical side of things. My undergraduate degree was heavy on the 20th Century music side of things. Tin Pan Alley, Great American Songbook, modern jazz, etc...I'm highly conversant in all of those styles. I can go to a jazz club and have a coherent conversation with one of the jazz musicians during the break (no easy task if you don't speak jazz...), or I can go rock with a cover band and just step in without much rehearsal time. I'm a competent musician, but now I need to learn a different set of skills. In order to chase after this dream that is a DMA in Choral Conducting, I need to become a complete musician. Oh, I have to admit that the process scares me some. I'm going to be stretched quite a bit. This will not be "easy". But I didn't come to PSU to simply be handed a masters degree. I came to earn it. I have no doubt that on the day I graduate, I will KNOW that I've earned something of great value and worth. Thanks for taking the journey with me, friends.