Music and the "other" Banff

Hiya!!

Well, I suppose its about time I posted an update of Haggisland adventures, right?

The last time I wrote was March 8th...so a week ago today. Hmm. What has happened in that past week? This entire paragraph here is really just completely unnecessary... I'm just thinking through my keys. 

Speaking of keys, that reminds me. My parents sold my piano :( So sad! I lovvvved that piano so much -- I grew up playing that piano! If it could talk, I wonder what it'd say. It has seen me progress from chopsticks to Chopin Nocturnes, from Hot Cross Buns to Flight of the Bumblebee and jazz renditions of Christmas carols and popular numbers from The Sound of Music and Wicked.  And now it's being shipped off to ALBERTA of all places. *sigh*. I feel like I'm losing a pet or a friend, without getting so say goodbye. It had such a nice sound, you know? It was an upright piano, over 100 years old now, and the wood was dark and it had engravings of leaves and flowers on it. 

Not to fear, though -- the money that we're getting from selling my first love is going towards a replacement in the form of an electric piano. Which isn't quite the same in terms of how it makes you feel when you play it, BUT it's mucho more portable, and it can do more things that might be handy for teaching and/or composing. One day, I'll get a house and have a big open room with large windows so that all the natural light can get in, and there will be hardwood floors and I'll get a grand piano. One day, friends, one day.

 This was the closest thing I could find to what I am imagining...

I'm slowly getting used to the pianos in the music building. When I first came, I remember I was so shocked at the state of them...it was hard to find one with a decent sound and a most of them had some notes that were sticky or a pedal that didn't work or some other defect. But now I'm starting to find the few practice rooms with the pianos I like. And now that I have some piano music with me (I got my mom to send it over earlier this term), I'm really able to get back into it. I really do miss the piano. As much as I complained during those 2 years of keyboard harmony, I actually did learn a lot, and as my musical ear is developing, I'm able to learn pieces without having sheet music. Since I didn't have any sheet music last term, that's what I relied on (my ears). But now I have both--and its great. 

I helped my friend Alex this weekend prepare for her auditions for the university student's musical production society. I was surprised at how well I was able to chord my way through songs she gave me. 

But enough about piano -- anyone who's not musical is probably getting bored. Although...I don't really think I have many friends or family that don't appreciate music or at least who don't support my music-making, anyway. I'm so lost as to where I was going with that.

What else? OOOO, my French course is all done! :) I had my last of 6 assessments last week (it was an oral presentation that could be on any controversial subject--I chose animal captivity in zoos, etc), so now since all the coursework is done and handed in, the rest of the course is marked as "optional". I'm not too sure if I've explained before about how the French department works, so I'll do that now -- and yes, to warn you, it's just as strangely complicated as the rest of the entire freakin' university.

Basically, the 3rd and 4th year students are lumped into classes such that there can be 3, 4, even 5 different course codes all sitting in on the same class -- so we're all getting the same lectures, doing the same activities, etc. The point is that in 3rd year there is no assessment (unless you're on exchange, like me) because the 3rd year is designed as a preparatory year for the huge-big-massive-scary exam at the end of 4th year (who's wrath I have so luckily dodged). So for those of us that are on exchange, we NEED assessment in 3rd year, so we did 6 assignments throughout the year that were marked and put together for a final grade. ANYWAY. That was a long and winded road (*sigh, Beatles*) to tell you that the rest of them have to go to class, but I DON'T! SUCKERRRRSSSSS!!

hahaha but honestly, I probably will go to some. Just not this week because it worked out so lovely that I also don't have quartet today, a lesson Thursday or tutorial on Thursday....so all I had was 1/2 hour of class today, some rehearsals on Wednesday, and then a lecture/tutorial on Friday. AWESOME WEEK.

Which reminds me to remind you -- ITS MY BIRTHDAY ON FRIDAY! WOOOOOOOO!

I'm actually so excited! I really do just love birthdays. I find it really special, in a way, when no one around you knows its your birthday. It kind of feels like its your own little secret. I'm sure that that 'secret' feeling will happen on Friday because I am practically invisible in the music department, so no one will know...but aside from that, I've decided to make this year a big deal--and I mean, it SHOULD be a big deal -- it's not every day a girl turns 21! I've been telling people and counting down the days, and my mom sent me a package in the mail for my birthday that I've been dyyyying to open. So needless to say, I'm getting really excited! I really wanted to do something spectacular for my birthday, like go somewhere or do something exciting, but for reasons beyond my control (aka simply me not being able to decide and time running out and things being too expensive for people to want to join me) I've decided to do the usual dinner with friends and a pub crawl. I think I'll have something spectacular when I'm with my Queen's friends. I'm thinking up a theme for my own welcome back/its 4th year/housewarming party. So Keens and AChan, if you're reading this....be prepared! <3 haha

OH! Another exciting thing that happened...Todd Fallis, from Utah State University, came and did a masterclass with all the trombones at uni here. His wife was from Canada, which was cool, so I chatted with her a bit as well! We each got our own private lesson with him, which was SWEET because he showed me a lot of things to work on and helped me with warmups and breathing--2 big things!! :) And the coolest part of all? HE KNOWS JOE ALESSI!!!! For real. And he passed on his words of wisdom. Dad, if you're reading this...Joe Alessi is the trombone player I saw at the airport that one time and started freaking out. Yea. I know. Awesome.

A dated picture, but this is Todd Fallis, anyway.

Just for self future reference-- (and reference for any trombone playing friends at Queen's or elsewhere that may be interested), some of the things that really helped me were 

1) Aiming to make "brick notes" -- that is, a clean attack, a solid body, and a clean release (no increasing/decreasing/'banana'-shaped sound.

2) For tonguing, think about having ping pong balls in your mouth and shooting them out like a nerf gun or something out of your mouth. 

3) For practicing difficult passages. Start with the first 3 notes, in tempo. Play them 3 times. Then add one note, and play that series of 4 notes 3 times. Then add another note and play the series of now-5 notes 3 times. By the time you get to the end of the passage, you've played the thing about 30 times and it should be good!

4) If you concentrate on how you breathe when you're laying down, it's a good way to reenact it when you're standing up. You can't breathe "wrong" when you're laying down.

5) For warm ups, start with 7 minutes of buzzing, then move to long tones, lip slurs and legato playing. Do that for a nice long warmup everyday and you'll be good to go! I usually do that anyway, but some of the exercises he gave us were really great. 

Anyway, after out lessons, he also coached our trombone 4tet for 2 hours, which was great help! After that day I was SO MOTIVATED to practice! Then on the Tuesday, Heather and I took our chances with the Aberdeen bus system (aye, aye, aye...) and helped out at Todd and Joe's masterclass for all the primary/secondary students of some of the local trombone teachers. There were like 30 kids there!! I don't think I've ever been in a room with more than 6 or 7 trombone players before...and it was SO COOL. I loved every second of it. It helped me with playing as a performer and it ALSO helped in terms of being an educator. It was really great to see how Todd interacted with the kids and appealed to them all even though there was about a 10 year age range. It's so crazy how they start them so young here. There were some kids there that looked to be about 7 years old!!! To the best of my knowledge, students in Canada generally don't start playing an instrument like trombone until high school, or perhaps in middle school if their school has a music program. Then they start right in a band setting -- no individual mentoring. I think the only lessons an average student might have before that is maybe tin flute or recorder or perhaps a bit of piano or other common instrument. (Unless they seek individual lessons from a company or individual specialized teacher, etc) But here in the UK, they get private lessons from such a young age! Some of these kids were amazing -- one in particular was DEFINITELY better than me and could probably get into the music program in any school he wanted...and, typical musical genius, he wants to study geography. Send some of that talent ov'a here, boi!!!

 HAHAHA! I googled 'trombone' looking for a cool pic, and I came 

across this--obviously too good to NOT put up...

Finally, the last thing I wanted to include in today's entry was my trip to  Banff this past weekend with the one and only Sima (well she's probably not the ONLY Sima, but the only one in my life, anyway!)!! We decided to make a day trip up to see Duff House in Banff. It was a grand estate built for the dukes of Fyfe, and it was used to hold people during WWII as well. It was basically like a castle, but in the form of a bit house/mansion. There was meant to be a lot of additions to it, but it was never fully completed because of construction issues. Anyway, so now people can tour it, go inside and see the furniture, paintings on the walls, and lots of cool things like the in-house library and an old piano and stuff like that. Lucky for us, we didn't know it going in, but there was an exhibition of art themed around dance, and so we got to see that, too! It's worth mentioning for a few people who may read this, that this town was right next to a town called MacDuff. And I'm not just referencing Shakespeare.

Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the house (not even with the flash off) so I don't have any to show you here. I'll post some of the other ones, though. I was going to try and sneak some photos anyway, but there were surveillance cameras in every room and security guards walking around, and we were probably 2 of about 10 guests in the entire place, so we were being watched like a hawk and didn't want to get kicked out because the ticket was pricey! Wait. Did I screw that up? Not watched like a hawk. They were watching us like a hawk. They're the hawks, not us. Hawk, hawk, hawk. So funny.

The sign leading to Duff House. Below is a shot of the outside (and me on the stairs -- it was very "Princess Diaries")

So after we toured the house, we went to the tea room and had lunch. Then we went outside and played in a little playground for a bit. Then we went on a nature walk (photos below) and meandered our way through the town of Banff, down to the beach, and then caught the bus home around 5 or 5:30.   

           

 <  and ^ :Tea Room in Duff House. Sima with her coffeecoffee cake. Typical. and

Having fun at the park -- just acting like kids!

The swinging zip cord thing that Sima is on here --> 

was SO MUCH FUN! :)

 

Just some pics of the nature we saw on our walk...it really made me miss Canada!

 Sima is such a natural model! I love it! :)

Playing on mossy trees

:)

We met so many dogs and owners on the walk, 

it was so great...and I mean to mention before, how

it's so funny that like 90% of the dogs here really

are Scottish Terriers...

  A really cool hollowed out tree we found (above), and Sima looking into it (below)

 

 

 The beach -- unfortunately there was a wooden barrier so we couldn't really get down to the water...but it was cold, anyway -- better just for taking pictures!

 Some stones at the beach, and the beautiful sky saying goodbye to us as we left Banff:

OH! And one more thing that happened -- today I was walking outside with my trombone (I had to lug it all the way to the music building) and it was so heavy and then it started raining and my hair was a mess because I didn't get to put it up properly after the gym and I was all flustered and trying to carry my trombone and another bag and my ipod was falling out of my ears AND THEN in the middle
 of all this hustle, a guy stops me and asks if I'd like a free hot chocolate from Christian Union. I stopped, heaved a thankful sigh, and smiled in relief and thankfulness of their thoughtfulness. It was a good wake-up call to take a step back and know that people out there really do care.

Anyway, so I had a quick chat with them and then I continued on to class, drinking my hot chocolate, when BAM-- I realized something that made me stop in my tracks -- I GAVE UP CHOCOLATE FOR LENT!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I feel horrible. I really do. But I didn't know that Lent is actually 40 days but the distance between ash Wednesday and Easter is actually 45 days, so lots of people actually take Sundays off from Lent (day of rest) and indulge in what they gave up...but I didn't have chocolate or cheese on any Sunday, so I'm hoping that the hot chocolate thing is okay...but I was DOING SO WELL. How could I forget? Sad times. And to top it all off, it was given to me by Christians. Does that count for anything?

Anyway, it's tea time now so I'm gunna go! 

Until next time,

Beckers 

xxxx