thursday report

Hola!!

Been a great day today. Started with breakfast at 830 with some score study along with it. Met Jim at 945 to prepare to watch the World Cup game. Game started at 10am and we watched the first half from our 2nd floor hotel balcony overlooking the park which was full of Paraguayans cheering their team on. During halftime, we walked down into the park and through all the people just to get a vibe for what it was like. Too hot to stay there, tho. We went back to the hotel restaurant and watched the rest of the match inside where it was cool. We went back up to the balcony for the last few minutes of the match to watch the celebration. Horns honking, fireworks, whistles and lots of people cheering. It was darn cool

We then came and got our stuff and walked over to rehearsal. Streets were packed with people and cars honking horns.

needless to say, the orchestra members were in a good mood today since the team is advancing to the next round. They really like the fact that Jim and I had on our team shirts.

We did some great work on Candide today and it is coming along nicely. Then we did some nice work on Jim's Vibes concerto and it is almost there, with the exception of some brass licks that are inconsistent and the fact that we haven't had a piano player yet. After break, we spent the remainder of the rehearsal on the 1st movement of the Hanson Symphony. some good work and it is getting closer. So many transitions in tempo that they have to understand and react to. The good news is that they REALLY like the music we are playing. They say it is so different than anything else they ever play. That is good to know that I can bring them some new sounds that they aren't used to.

The next cool thing is that I brought along four chamber music pieces that I hoped we might be able to put some players together to rehearse. I didn't know if they would be able to give up the time or not. I had all the players i need volunteer to stay around and play and they were willing to rehearse all the way until 5pm if needed. WOW. So, we read the Persichetti Serenade No. 10, the Jacob Old Wine in New Bottles, the Gounod Petite Symphonie (my favorite), and the Haydn Octet in F Major. They liked all of the pieces and they are volunteering their time to come back tomorrow for a 2 hour rehearsal to actually work on the stuff. jim is doing percussion ensemble pieces as well, so we will give an OSN Chamber Music concert sometime next week. That is so cool. I asked them if they ever got to play music like this and they said no. I told them one of my dreams is to come down to Paraguay and put together a wind ensemble and play some of the great wind band music with them someday. They really liked that idea.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped and got a carne empanada (meat/boiled egg) and a Jamon y queso (ham and cheese) empanada for my merianda (a late afternoon snack to hold you over until dinner, which is at 9 or 930. Heck, that is bedtime for me!!!

Now I am just working on my computer stuff with no plans for the evening. Jim has percussion ensemble rehearsal from 6-9 so we are on our own for the evening. I am meeting my singer at noon tomorrow to go over the national anthem, then the chamber rehearsal, then off to the falls for a little weekend sight seeing excursion, which I did not get to do last year when I came.

I will probably write a bit more tonight before bed. Things are going great and I hope you enjoy hearing about my days.

Ciao, Ciao