the fun of being a college senior

Tom took this photo at my first student recital, in June '97. That's Lynn at the piano, and I'm the kid with the violin.

Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of my first violin lesson.

Every time one of those big anniversaries (first violin lesson, seeing The Nutcracker at the Maine Center for the Arts--with the BSO in the pit--other important concerts) comes around, part of me looks at the anniversary in question and thinks, "has it really been that long? Has it really been nine years since my first André Rieu concert?" (which was on April 29th, 2002--and speaking of violin lessons, the twenty-ninth was supposed to be a lesson day, but of course it was cancelled). But when I really look at it, and think about all that has happened since (good and ill), the anniversary becomes a lot more real.

Monday: Welcome to my first three-class day since FVA year. Except that this time it was a lot more brutal: in FVA, the final class of the day was History of Visual Culture, which was split into two parts--a lecture on Tuesday, followed by a tutorial later in the week--so it was only an hour-and-a-half long. Three-class day, version 2.0 was a lot more intense due to the fact that my final class--a drawing class--was a full three hours long.

By the time I finally packed up and staggered off campus and towards home, I was completely wiped, and it probably showed.

Tuesday: I didn't do much other than slog through the longer of the two readings for Digital Output (my Monday afternoon class). I have much to learn.

Wednesday: I finally started my independent project: before my Photoshop class, I bought a couple rolls of Kodak T-Max 400 ISO film, and after my afternoon Lighting class I shot one of the rolls and in the process came up with a theme for my project. The project itself is on urban/street photography, but the main theme will be juxtaposing the pretty, glamorous side of the city with the not-so-pretty, grittier side. Downtown with back alleys.

Thursday: That day, I developed the roll that I shot on Wednesday. And I made a major mistake: I used the developer that's used to develop prints (that's stored in the darkroom) rather than the one used to develop negatives (that's stored outside the darkroom, across from where the film reels and canisters are stored). That mistake caused the negatives to come out clear--not even the name of the film or the exposure number was visible. Which meant that I had to re-shoot the project on the other roll that I bought.

But after a few minutes I moved on from the "oops" moment, and actually saw it as a good thing: now that I'd figured out a theme, I could devote the entire second roll to it.

That second roll turned out almost perfectly when I developed it that evening. I busted a couple of exposures, but that was due to how I rolled the negatives on the reel. As I said to Peter on Friday, "you should've seen the celebration!"

During my meeting with Peter that afternoon, in addition to talking about my project, we also talked about life post-NBCCD (the same happened in the meeting the week before), and I'm now seriously considering doing a BFA at NSCAD University in Halifax. With my credits from NBCCD, I'd only have to do a year there.

When I skyped with my parents today, Mom and I talked about the possibility of NSCAD (which is her alma mater), and it's doable. BFA in Photography, here I come (though if I decide to get a degree in art education, I'll have to go somewhere else because NSCAD doesn't offer any sort of education degree)!

Friday: Workworkwork all day. I finally started my drawing homework (I knew that if I started it earlier in the week, I'd probably do it with a "finish it" mindset, and the finished drawing isn't due until a week from tomorrow). I'm working from a photo that I took of my plate and mug from breakfast (the theme is "mundane"). I also put the negatives from the second roll in sleeves, and shot my lighting homework--which took three hours.

Although I was finished at school at around six, I didn't get back home until about nine because I couldn't help getting caught up in the fun that is the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. One of the guys who lives down the hall from me was selling his paintings (and making new ones) across the street from the school, so I stopped to watch. I really liked one of the paintings that he made while I was there, so I spoke for it and will probably buy it this evening.

Saturday: I spent most of the day working on my drawing homework--and watching Drew cart huge pinhole cameras (one was made from a garbage can) in and out of the studio. That evening I made a contact sheet of the roll that I'd processed on Thursday. I'll probably make prints on Tuesday.

And again I didn't get home until about nine, due to all the fun of Harvest.

If all goes well this week (which will be the infamous Third Week), this coming weekend I plan to order tickets for Anna Bolena (Donizetti), which will be simulcast on October fifteenth. LET'S GO, FRENCH HORNS! (Yes, MOO violin section, you're awesome, too.)

drawing to a close

Earlier this week I wrote an open letter to the FVA Class of '11, which you can read here. I can't begin to say how much I sympathize with the FVAs right now: I know what it's like, as I was an FVA last year and will never forget it (and if I ever do, I'll hunt Adam down and beg him to do his worst to me because forgetting the FVA experience is not an option).

I'm gradually getting assignments done, and I'm glad I don't have to spend the weekend ploughing through the entire 2D design section of Launching the Imagination. Instead I have to write a couple of papers: a critical review for Communication for Visual Artists and a paper on Julia Margaret Cameron for Photo History (I also have to do a five-to-ten minute PowerPoint presentation based on the History paper). Both are relatively easy, though. I have a few other things to do, but I'll accomplish them at school starting on Monday.

This coming week will be a bit wacko: due to three of my teachers doing assessments this week instead of the week of the fifteenth (happy birthday Mom!!), I won't have class on Tuesday (though I'll go to school to work on stuff), Wednesday (though I have my assessment for Creativity in Photography in the afternoon), Thursday afternoon (Film and Darkroom Techniques and Photoshop: Tools and Techniques assessment), or Friday. Yow. The next week is the official assessment week, so I won't have any classes. I'll have assessments on Monday (Communication for Visual Artists), Tuesday afternoon (Lighting: Available Light and On-Camera FlashTech and Photographic Digital Imaging, which I could've done this coming week, but I want time to do the final assignments with as little stress as possible), and Thursday (History, though I don't know what time). And then I'll go home some point Thursday afternoon.

Yesterday I handed in my final Photoshop assignment, which was my entry for the Bridgestone Photo Contest (which, I believe, is worth twenty per cent of the final grade for that class). Drew printed the entries off yesterday afternoon on the studio's big Epson photo printer (he'll mail them on Monday). I'm really happy with my entry.

Also yesterday, I found out that the Met Opera Brass has released a new CD: Waltzes, Songs, and Festive Scenes, which I've asked my parents for. Check out the video--and prepare to have your socks knocked off. GO MOO FRENCH HORNS!!! (In a couple of clips you can even see my favourite hornist--at two minutes in and three minutes, three seconds in. The first time is a still photo, but the second time you get to see him in action--with a strong horn part to boot.)



Speaking of the Met Opera and the MOO, there are now exactly two weeks until the first radio broadcast of the season (Don Carlo by Verdi)--which also happens to be Nutcracker Weekend for the BSO. BRUBAKERS FOR THE WIN!!!!!! French horns! Violins! Favourite musicians (who happen to be siblings)! **swoons**

I also got my schedule for next year this week: I have no class on Mondays (YAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!), class all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then one class on Friday afternoon. I'll be taking Lighting: Professional Lighting Studio, Photographic History: People, Representing Ideas, Professional Practice, Lab Techniques, Photoshop: Professional Techniques, and Design: Shaping Space. Here's to an awesome second semester for all of us (diploma students and FVAs alike)!

What I'm thankful for, 2010 edition

• NBCCD
• NBCCD photography studio
• NBCCD photography teachers
• The fact that this year isn't as difficult as last year
• Met Opera
• Met Opera Orchestra
• F'ton's art scene
• All the different kinds of art and ways of creating
• Music
• Dance
• Creativity
• The freedom that I have at NBCCD to do (almost) whatever I want creatively
• My parents
• The people who've influenced my art (visual and performing) over the years
• Activism

HAPPY (CANADIAN) THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!! 

March Break: we're almost there!

Things are starting to wind down in preparation for mid-term assessment week next week and MARCH BREAK the week after. Yes, I'm excited--but I'll fill the week not by going to Mexico, but by going home and gorging myself on my favourite music on a good sound system (hello, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra French horn section **swoons**). Maybe a few other things (like hanging out with Mom and Tom), but I intend on keeping it low-key.

This semester my drawing class has been doing life drawing. Yes, that means that we're drawing a nude model (a woman in our case). In the beginning I was a bit nervous, but I've gotten used to it--it's one of those things that all art students have to go through, no matter where you go to school. It also makes for good stories to tell your friends and your kids.

For five or six years I've had an idea for a piece of music going around in my head and a few weeks ago I finally decided that this summer I would commit to writing it. The current concept is that it'll be an autobiographical piece. I also want to push myself to the limit and try to make it as complex and advanced as I can--even if it means doing a few things that I don't quite have a handle on. I figure, I'll either learn, or I'll ditch the idea in question. I also want to make it longer then four lines, which is my current average.

Back in November I really made my views about the Olympics known. Well, guess what--last Friday night I stayed up until three in the morning watching the opening ceremony with about half of MJC. I couldn't believe how emotional I got when Canada entered BC Place: I actually cried on Liz's shoulder. (Though I didn't like how CTV kept tossing in commercial breaks--even if they only contained one ad--every ten minutes or so)

Earlier this month I found out the PBSO will be performing in late-April and early-May--just as I'm coming home from my first year at NBCCD! It's like getting a fanfare to welcome me home. YAY, PBSO! I love that orchestra.

I love the Met!

Tom and I went to see Avatar yesterday afternoon. This was his first 3D movie and he was just as amazed by it as I was the first time I saw it. This was my first time seeing a movie more than once at the theatre, and it was just as magical as it was the first time around.

I've been keeping up with my homework--this was the second week in a row in which I had everything finished by the weekend.

However, last semester I did well during the first two weeks--and then got completely derailed during Week Three, so I admit I'm a bit nervous about this coming week.

The Met played Carmen on Saturday, and by the end I'd named it my fourth favourite opera. Afterwards I posted a thank you note on their Facebook wall: "THANK YOU for helping me to name "Carmen" as my fourth favourite opera this afternoon! BRAVISSIMO!!" I've been listening to various pieces from the opera since forever--Tom has a recording of Suites 1 and 2 by l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal--but I completely fell under the spell of the MOO's version (all in a day's work for them). And since I was so familiar with so many of the pieces I couldn't resist humming/singing along.

Here are some videos from '87 of the MOO playing the Overture,

the Entr'acte from Act II,

the Entr'acte from Act III,

and the Entr'acte from Act IV.

I love watching an orchestra play. As I watch, I think about all the practising and rehearsing that went into the pieces that they're playing, and the teamwork needed to pull it all off (especially when said orchestra is as big as the MOO--if you count every single musician on the orchestra roster page, the total is a hundred and forty-five musicians).

One more thing: the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra RULES (these videos prove it)!

T-minus two weeks

To celebrate two weeks until the Met's first radio broadcast of the season, here are some videos of pieces from the operas that will be broadcast (including seven that were recorded at the Met). Enjoy!

O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi from Il Trittico. I remember asking Tom about this when I heard it for the first time in '99 and at the time I really wanted to hear it in context. I forgot about that dream until I saw that the Met will be performing it this year.

Song of Olympia (Les oiseaux dans la charmille) from Les Contes d'Hoffmann. I think Natalie looks like Shirley Temple in this production. Tom has a CD of highlights from the opera and before I left for NBCCD I listened to it constantly. Especially the Entr'acte, which I can't wait to hear the MOO play.

The final scene from Elektra with Deborah Voight, who'll be singing it this season. Besides this video (which was recorded at the Met) I've never heard of this opera.

A scene from Hansel und Gretel. This is from the simulcast that the Met did in '07/'08. Wonderful music (BRAVO MOO!!!) mixed with a wonderful mess. I bet this production is a lot of fun since by the end of the performance the lead singers are absolutely covered in food. Note the KitchenAid mixer.

WOW! I can't wait to hear this for the first time.

The Habañera from Carmen. I've heard a few pieces from the opera, but it'll be nice to hear the whole thing.

This is another one that I've never heard of--but I'll take anything the Met throws at me. This one won't be live, though: it'll be an archive performance from 1958.

Ditto for this opera--but bring it on!

...and this one.

Brace yourself for the high C's--BRAVISSIMO! This is Pavarotti's very first performance of this opera at the Met (1972). This is one of the few times when I actually feel sorry for those who don't like opera (not everyone has to like the same thing): this is such a classic, monumental performance. The high C's (middle C's) are difficult for a tenor to reach and are sometimes downgraded to B natural to make it easier to sing.

Let's just say that this year I'll be hearing a lot of operas that I've never heard of before.

This is one of my favourite operas. It's also the Met's most-performed opera. Tom gave me this performance on DVD for Christmas last year (I'd seen it on TV a few months before). Dig out the kleenexes: the Met knows how to make me cry--and enjoy it at the same time.

The summery of this opera sounds ridiculously intriguing, but I'm not exactly a fan of the music.

Now this is one I could get into--it looks so darn cool! (And it's another one that I've never heard before)

Natalie will be be singing this role at the Met this year. Yet another one that I'll hear for the first time.

This is one of those pieces that I've never heard in context. This was recorded at the Met in '89.

Glory to the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra! If you want a reason why I love that orchestra, here's one--now go listen to the demo of the Hunters' Chorus played by the French horns for the other reason (if you decide to listen to that, prepare to have your socks knocked off by eight wonderful musicians). For the last couple of seasons the Met has been performing a "Family Production" of the opera, which is shortened to one act (it was the first simulcast). As for the overture, just the first three notes are played. This season, however, the Met is performing the whole thing--YAAAAY!

I know almost every word of this piece and have heard it live (André Rieu and the JSO). I also love the Overture, but have never heard either one in context.

I'm familiar with this piece, but I've never heard it in context.

This is one that I've never heard of before, but it sounds really cool.

This will be the Met's final broadcast of the season and it's yet another one that I've never heard of before.

Last season I realized how big the world of opera is and how much I have to learn and this year is no different. The Met is a good teacher and I'm enjoying learning from one of the greatest opera companies (and orchestras) in the world.