After School.

I attended a friend's graduation recital this evening and suddenly realized that one year exactly has passed since my own day of epic, awesome, and terrifying music.

At this time last year it felt like music could not get any more scary or stressful. I worked ridiculously hard for two years to get to my recital and I can still remember the feelings of accomplishment, exhilaration, and satisfaction I felt afterwards. It was nowhere near a perfect performance but it was an evening of risk taking, music making, and lots and lots of nerves... mostly due to the table of adjudicators writing and analyzing my every phrase.

Today I also had my last lesson with Mr. Keene before our travels. My lessons have at times over the past couple of months made me feel like I've jumped feet first into a technical pool that has no bottom. I think I've improved but like most things, the more you learn, the more you figure out how little you actually know. I've definitely appreciated his encouragement and mentor-ship in my own teaching. I told him I would be back come August and promised to send him a postcard or two.

Maybe one day I will figure out how to post an audio track on this little blog and let you listen to some of the tunes of my recital evening. Even a year later, I don't feel like the same player I was at MacEwan. I suppose that's a good thing. Growth is good.

I closed my program with an epic song by one of my biggest inspirations and influences in music, Sufjan Stevens. It's called "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" This song took me months to chart out all the parts. The final score was 26 pages long. I should really mail it to Sufjan. I'm telling you he's brilliant.