Masterworks Letters IV

I'm sitting in the student lounge on the 4th floor of the main building here, waiting for my practice time (I have a room signed out from 4-6). I don't have a lot of time, but I'll try to give you an idea of what the schedule is like here.

I'm waking up around 6 AM, more or less. Shannon and I are trying to practice for an hour before breakfast each morning, so we get up and head over here fairly early. This morning I was here at 6:40 and practiced till 8. Breakfast is at 8 and it's a good walk away--about a half a mile, we think. There is an optional (small) prayer meeting at 7:30 and I went a couple of times; that requires getting up even earlier.

Piano program devotionals are at 8:40. We eat till something like 8:30 and then run back here in a hurry. There are 21 piano students and the students are doing the devotions each morning; it's been really neat to hear what everyone has to say. I haven't had a turn yet.

We have piano class every day; afternoons on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and mornings on Tuesday/Thursday. The afternoon classes are often recitals by faculty, and the mornings so far have been masterclasses. I played Rachmaninov last week and...learned a lot. It's good to be shaken out of my box, and I think my interpretation of it is morphing. Not sure where it will land yet. We each get one lesson a week, with a different faculty member. Last week I played Beethoven for Mr. (Walter) Cosand. That was another shaking-out-of-the-box experience, but it was good...to get some things to think about. Tomorrow I have a lesson with Dr. Hung. She played an amazing recital for us on Monday. Love her playing style, so I'm looking forward to learning as much as I possibly can in the space of an hour.

We both signed out practice rooms from 11-12 AM each day. Lunch is 12-1 and we have to be there by...12:20 or 12:30, so sometimes I'll push this practice session a little later. Then there's the usual walk. :)

Evening now; I'm in our room. We're feeling a lot more settled in (a good thing). Our refrigerator does work, and it's really great to have our own microwave and kitchen sink. We actually don't bother using the desks so the fact that we only have three chairs for four of them doesn't matter...and we're down to three people in the apartment anyway. :)

Anyway, back to daily life. We have an interesting phenomenon called Scheduled Quiet Time each day from 1-1:45: the entire campus shuts down. No practice, no partying; it's time for being quiet with God, or otherwise being quiet if you have your devotions at another time. After the faculty devotion at lunch (one member gives a devotion each day, and it has been great; we've had talks on comparing, choices, and lots of good stuff) we come back to the apartment for our quiet time. That's why we can practice so early; we're having our devotions later in the day. It's good to have the time to be quiet and spend with God.

The fact that we have class alternating mornings/afternoons means that we have alternating afternoons/mornings off. In the morning slot I try to get work study done; I just head to the costume shop after devotions and work till my practice time at 11. It's been great. The lady who runs the shop is named Anne, and she's Norwegian. She's an excellent seamstress and delightful person (with a delightful accent!) and we enjoy our time spent there. If we have free time in the afternoons, getting a little rest is an option, along with extra practice, work service, or who-knows-what-else. Even on class days, we have an extra bit of time before our next practice block.

We both signed rooms out for 4-6 PM each day. That slot really runs into dinner (5:30-6:30) so we eat fast. One of these days I'll have to learn to gauge how much I can eat in a given time. Sometimes it's hard to focus on practicing but eating chocolate-covered coffee beans helps. I've gone through a lot of them already. That completes our 4 hours of practice daily. And yes, my arms are holding up just fine. I feel a few things now and then but overall I'm doing really well with it; praise the Lord!

Dinner is kind of a scramble most days, because on Monday-Thurday we have Bible study at 6:30 (hypothetically--it starts later). We generally wrap that up at 8. Sometimes there are evening events, but I've been picking and choosing; can't do everything. Friday, Saturday and Sunday we have concerts or faculty recitals. I could get used to being around this much music. This weekend (tomorrow, actually, since the concerts got moved up due to the pops concert, which doesn't look any more "wicked" than the July Colorado Symphony concerts :P ) they're doing Scheherazade. That is going to be really great.

Well, I need to head to bed. Sleep is a good thing and not to be under-valued, good people.