BYU and now KU!!!! What?!!!

In the last little while, I have started to become much more excited about College Basketball than I have in a long time.

Because of that, you can imagine the dissapointment I felt when on Thursday, BYU was defeated by Florida.

Jimmer sure looked like he wanted to kill everybody during the second half.  Of course, it didn't help that his team wasn't helping him out much throughout the game.  Arrgh!!!

It's okay, though.  BYU did such a great job this year and really opened up the nation and maybe even the world to BYU.

GO BYU!!!!!!!

but . .. . 

I thought for sure that KU would go far, because they were so good this year, but I found out today that they also lost.  You win some and you lose some, but 

MAN!!!  IT'S DISSAPOINTING!!!!!!!!

but hey . .. . 

KU STILL RULES!!!

Life Changing Decisions

Ever since my Senior Recital, I have had to start thinking about the next steps in my life.  I have one more year at BYU until my Bachelor's Degree in Violin Performance is complete.  What does that mean for me?

Graduate School!

During my time at BYU, my dreams in music have really changed.  For so many years I was so certain I wanted to compose music for movies, but the more I researched it, the more I was turned off by it.  It did not seem like the lifestyle I wanted especially if I get married and want to support a family.  Therefore, I thought I would go the Violin route, which has been a huge blessing.  I've had many opportunities come my way, because I changed my major to Violin Performance.

Growing up, my Dad was a Violin Professor and the more I think about it, the more I see myself doing that.  So . . . many could say that I should just get a Master's and Doctorate Degree in Violin Performance and go teach at a university . ..  but . . . who knows it there would be an opening for me right away.

Therefore, I have considered getting a Master's Degree in Music Education and a Doctorate Degree in Violin Performance hopefully giving me more options, but I'm not sure about that . . . and I still don't want to completely abandon my talent in Composing music.

So . . .. I have also considered Composition for a Master's Degree.

Basically, I am deciding between three degrees for my master's degree:

VIOLIN PERFORMANCE

MUSIC EDUCATION

OR

MUSIC COMPOSITION

. .. . and then, I have to decide where to go 

.... and if I'm doing performance I have to learn hard music, that I've already started on such as:

Sibelius' Violin Concerto

(feel free to watch this recording of the first few minutes of David Oistrakh playing the first movement)

and 

Paganini's 20th Caprice

(feel free to listen to this recording of Jascha Heifetz playing it)

I'm excited to learn this music.  I never thought when I was younger that I would play the great violin works such as the Sibelius Violin Concerto.  I just need to decide where I want to apply and what I want to do.  I just pray the Lord will help me know the answer in his own due time.

This is an exciting time of life . . . .. . 

I went on tour :) . .. . . . . to . . . . Wyoming :(

Last weekend (March 18-20th) I went on a mini-tour with the BYU Chamber Orchestra to none other than . . . .

WYOMING!!!!

My first reaction to going on this tour was . . .. what?  Are you kidding me?  We are about to go to China, and we are practicing by going to Wyoming.  How exciting?   :(

Well . . . I will be honest that the trip ended up being what I needed.  Recently, after doing my Senior Recital, I have been having a hard time adjusting to the fact that I have new horizons ahead of me and I have found myself being lazier . . .. and not as on top of things.

Going to Wyoming actually helped me get away from BYU for a little bit and change my prospective on things.

We performed two concerts on our tour in Worland and Powell, which are smaller cities located in northern Wyoming.  Our audiences were small, but the people in those audiences were great people.  Our Mormon host families we stayed with were amazing people.  They were so incredibly generous.  I mean . . . I had my own bedroom to stay in both nights and was spoiled with lots of free food.

Because I'm not so well cultured, I admit that I expected to see a lot of cowboys while we were there.  After all, when you see signs like these:

it's easy to assume that you're in Cowboy country, but the members proved to me that the people there are real people that live normal lives like us.

We did have the opportunity to go to the:

BUFFALO BILL HISTORICAL CENTER

which sounds a little lame, but I found it quite fun and interesting.  They had a gun museum within the center that had about 2700 guns made throughout the years.  They pretty much looked very similar, but there were some quite scary guns such as:

A KNIFE PISTOL

Yah . .. many of the weapons got kind of morbid.  I'm glad I don't really play with guns.

Probably the best part of the tour was on Sunday when we had a testimony meeting on the bus.  It was about 2 and a half hours long, because the majority of the Chamber Orchestra (50 people) bore their testimonies.  Many of the people talked about how grateful they were that our orchestra is more than just an orchestra, but a family of brothers and sisters in the gospel.  One of the violinists said that they feel like everyone around them wants only the best for them and is praying for them when they are playing an important solo in orchestra.

When I arrived home from that tour, I found myself grateful for the wonderful friendships I have made here at BYU and how the gospel strengthens my relationships.   I am truly blessed to be at such a great university.

Floating Islands . .. . what?!!!

So . . . I'm sorry I haven't written an entry in a while.  I was planning on posting my Senior Recital Video so that everybody could watch it that wanted to, but that's going to be delayed a little while longer, but it will be posted.

On another note . .. . lately I've realized that I seem to come in contact with a variety of WEIRD people on a daily basis.  In the last year, my ward here at Alta Apartments has been filling with more . . . and more . . . and more weird, awkward people.

Well, my point of tolerance for awkward, weird people hit its peak on Thursday, March 17th.  I had a violin lesson with on of my BYU students at 2:00 in the afternoon.  When my student came into the lesson he told me he needed to tell me something important.  He told me that he had dropped all his classes.  I asked him why and he said that he was . . . .

MOVING TO TENNESSEE

AND  .....

WAS GOING TO COLLECT RECYCLABLE MATERIALS . .. 

AND ....

WAS GOING TO MAKE HIMSELF OUT OF THESE RECYCLABLE MATERIALS A ......

FLOATING ISLAND!!!

I looked at him and said . . .. "Are you serious?"  He replied confidently, "Oh yes."

He said that he was going to float this island down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico and was going to make it big enough so that he could build a house on it.  He claimed it was easier than getting a college degree and that he would be able get away from US politics, which he hates.

I asked him if he was Mormon.  He said that he wasn't.  I then asked him if he wanted to get married.  He said that he wasn't seeing that as a priority, but . . . .

he assured me that he liked girls.  Whew! . . . .. Thank goodness.

So, he told me that that lesson was going to be our last lesson and that he wanted me to teach him everything I knew about the violin in about 20 minutes.  So . . . . he videotaped the lesson and I taught him a crash course in violin playing.  Of course that it was way too much and that I would never do that, but I thought I would endulge him and let him go on his special ..... um .... island adventure.  

After all, he did say he was taking his violin with him on the island .. . . . Isn't that great?

 

Oh . . .. what is the world coming to??????