Le Sigh, August.

August… WTF!?!?!?!?! WHY ARE YOU HERE, AUGUST?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! AOIEJFOAKLDSMOIASJDFAOKLSDFJAOIDSJFALDFOIAJSDFOIAJDFOIJADOI/endrant

Time sure does pass by quickly.

With that, the summer has taught me a few things: 1) I am human, as ambitious as I set myself out to be ( I feel the title of my last entry sums this up); 2) I need to think* of summer gigs before summer actually happens; and 3) It’s a beautiful time for gettin’ shit done.

*along with booking

Regarding #1, I’ve been chiseling away at the workload I set for myself and made progress. Despite the fact it’s not at the level I wanted to be at by this time, I internally argue about auditioning anyway for exposure (which is a word of advice that I pass off to friends and colleagues) knowing that I’d ultimately be making a complete fool of my professional self. Another internal struggle with me is sticking with a schedule I established… which could be simplified into one word: discipline. Ironically, I have enough insight into myself to identify what the bane of my existence at this moment is, realize it’s plagued me for the last fifteen to twenty years, and still not do anything about it. I get to the point where I start fixing and putting my life back together, feeling good about it, then blah: I go back to square one. It’s something I cannot put off anymore considering I’d like to live a somewhat decent and happy life. Not to say I am unhappy with my current situation; I feel I could be happier and more relaxed if I can nip this in the butt. Moving on.

#2 is simply a fluke on my part, but a very understandable fluke: Verge of graduation, senior recital (which, mind you, I STILL have no idea why they passed me), realization of a much needed break from school… you get the picture. I am usually pretty good about this. Just not this summer. I got through it, but now is the time to roll my sleeves up and get my hands dirty hunting for gigs for the next year. Lots of options available: a string quartet (www.belmontstringquartet.com*), a cello quartet (www.love4cello.com*), a duo with a flute player (www.website-to-be-determined-but-stay-tuned-anyway.com*) and myself (www.professional-looking-website-for-myself-with-links-to-above-mentioned-groups.com*), so your input/references for getting a good, solid word of mouth out would be greatly appreciated. As gratitude for your help, I’ll buy you lunch/dinner/food/coffee/tea/Magic cards (yes, I got back into it… ^_^)

*will be constructed by the end of the month O_O

Originally, I wrote #3 in the spirit of being free from the binding, somewhat-restricting chains of the devil we all know as ACADEMIA!!!!!!, which was a few weeks ago… Come to think of it, perhaps it’s better to say since starting this blog. However, I recently had a conversation about the current state of classical music as we know it with a good friend of mine on the way to a rehearsal. He had two really strong arguments:

1. To perform a symphony (of any size, whether it be Mahler or Mozart, regardless of the quality of the work itself), it requires a LOT of people. This can become expensive, especially when you consider the people you hire to perform it (75% of the time – hoping) are professionals. Chamber ensembles – for this example, a professional performance ensemble that has three or more members – are cheap, but are also professionals.

2. To start a chamber group during our current economic situation may seem somewhat crazy, but essentially it would be the best time to start. Personally, I have a hunch we’ll hit rock bottom soon, and the only way from there is up – everyone will make the effort to restore our economy – which will result in people spending money for whatever reasons (I intentionally made this sentence vague and broad for NOT starting political arguments on my blog). Regarding the chamber group, the time spent during the economic recovery will be directed towards learning a lot of repertoire and developing a core sound – two very vital points for any group.

So now that August is accounted for, September definitely has a lot of potential to be a great month. I have a lot of important communication to establish, a ton of ideas, and too much work to get it all done. But as one of my current inspirations has mentioned before: “Just go out and do it.”

p.s. Speaking of above quote, if you’re reading this and have NOT subscribed to my blog, I’d appreciate it if you did. Creating an account doesn’t cost anything, nor does subscribing, and I’d like to know who my readers are. Thanks!