Masterworks Letters II

Tuesday/Wednesday, June 21/22: We all wear laminated nametags on lanyard things (like what we use for GNC). Ours are bright green, about the color of my waterbottle cap. Some of us also hook our keys on the lanyards. They’re kind of noisemaker-ish.

You know, I can write all kinds of good and interesting paragraphs in my head but when it comes to actually typing it out I keep forgetting things. :P

Each evening (Monday-Thursday) we meet in small groups for Bible study. The whole festival is going through the same study; it’s about the culture of the Kingdom of God (culture in a broad sense: belief systems, etc.) and influencing/impacting the prevailing culture of the performing arts. My group is quite varied; two Chinese guys and an African-American guy, a handful of girls in their twenties or so, and two faculty members (Chinese and Taiwanese). A mix of cultures and thought processes; it was a little odd the first night but it’s ending up to be a great group, with lots of good discussion (and laughs).

Concerto competition was yesterday and today. The jury was in there for hours and hours, over the course of two days, listening to all of us. I played yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. Because of the short times allowed, I only got to play about half of my concerto (last movement of Grieg—I got almost to the end of the slow section). I felt like I was able to project confidently but still hit some very strange and random notes… :P Overall it was a good experience. It was just a blessing to be able to play something I’ve wanted to play for years. I didn’t make the finals (which actually makes for less stress) but two of the pianists did. The finals concert is tonight (Thursday) and it should be really exciting. All 8 finalists (from three categories; high school, college, post college) play their entire movement tonight and then one from each category goes on to play with the orchestra in a couple of weeks.

Thursday, June 23: There’s a road leading up to the town/campus called Wooster Road.

In return for the scholarship I got, I owe the festival 20 hours of work over the course of the four weeks I’m here (this is the Work Study program so if I say anything about Work Study you’ll know what I mean). It can get a little stressful trying to get in all your time, but Shannon and I are working in the costume shop (responsible for outfitting both the dance productions and the theatre productions). The lady in charge is delighted that we can sew--she was just about struck speechless when I showed her a picture of Will’s coat and told her that my sister and I made it, and she had the same response to Shannon and her experience--and we’re happy to get guaranteed hours in an enjoyable place.

All right—just back from the competition finals and it’s ridiculously late (we have been getting up and practicing an hour before breakfast). Need to go to bed so I’ll just post this thing. It’s been three days in writing. Later!