A Valuable Lesson

I would love to have that violin. Pink and yellow polka dots. It was just meant to be!
Side note done with, here's my actual post. Yes, the polka-dot vioin is involved. In a way. This past Saturday was my private teacher's annual "Prep for Federation" concert. She does this every year to help get all the jitters out before you go perform your solo in front of judges. Usually, I don't have any sort of problem with this. Usually, I've secretly learned my piece a long time ago, and I'm just being lazy in lessons.
Not this time. For some reason, Mozart's Concerto No. 4 in D Major eludes me. Totally and completely. And this makes no sense! All of the notes are logical, all of the rhythms follow through precisely. It's Mozart, the most technically composer possibly ever for crying out loud! It's my hands and my mind. My mind comprehends the notes, my hands vaguely comprehend how they're supposed to move. But put the two together, and for some reason, they struggle on this piece. I secretly blame it on all of the 1/16th and the 1/8th notes that make me come off the string. For years, I've known spicatto (for you non-string players, that is off the string and bouncy sounding) and string crossings (back and forth across 2 or more strings) are not my strong point. So, it would logically follow that I would put all of my efforts into practicing this concerto and mastering these techniques.
Well, logic has failed me once again! Life happens. What with AP classes, string quartets and Utah Youth, and trying to keep some sort of a social life and/or hobbies (other than music) I only get an hour per day in om average. I should be breaking my butt right now practicing. Instead I'm blogging. See? I'm very good at avoiding the inevitable.
Of course I already know this. Friday night, I was having a near-hysterical outburst after dinner because I knew I wasn't ready for the concert the next day. And even Saturday morning, I was spending all of my time worrying about the concert.
Truthfully, I learned several lessons on Saturday. First and foremost, I learned that practice is essential, and it's not just how much you practice, it's WHAT you practice.
Second, I learned that letting your nerves get to you is not helpful to making you feel good about a performance you're not prepared for. Watching the recording afterwards, I looked like I was about to burst into tears up on the stage because I was so nervous that I heard every mistake and it added to my nerves. Besides that, I made tons of mistakes I've NEVER made before, all because I was so terrified to mess up!
Lastly, I learned that we really are our own worst judges. As I said above, my parents recorded the entire performance. (No, that will not make its way online). I freely admit that for the majority of the piece, I was so nervous my fingers missed notes left and right. However, my rhythms (when the notes were there) were accurate, and I had good tone when I wasn't shaking so hard that my bow only quivered above the string.
I think that overall, I've really learned this week not to be so hard on myself. One bad performance won't determine my life as a violinist or as a person. No one is perfect. No, it's much more important to just enjoy the moment, which I really wish I'd found it in me to do on Saturday. Hopefully when I get another shot this Saturday at Federation, I'll feel more confident and at ease as I massacre it again. Wish me luck!

Oopsiedaisie

Of course right after I announce I'm going to blog every week I miss two in a row! Not that it's all that surprising truthfully. But I had my reasons! And they were good reasons!
Maybe not. The age-old homework excuse will never really go away, sadly. And besides that, it's been the change of semester, so there haven't been any huge tests to study for for two weeks. So there's that.
No, I have two legitimately real reasons. The first, is that I was sick last week. Now that may not sound like an excuse not to blog, however, when I'm sick, I tend to watch a lot of tv. This time, I had three episodes of Once Upon a Time to catch up on, and two more episodes of Psych made it onto hulu, which has become my best friend since our cable box vanished.

In addition to this, my family recently discovered Lie to Me on Netflix. So, all told, I had over 30 hour-long episodes of tv that I absolutely HAD to watch while I was sitting around the house in my pajamas.

My next excuse is far more legitimate. For real this time!
I have been going insane for the past two weeks. Why? Two Wednesdays ago, I got asked to the Junior Prom. It was mucho fun! And there is why I haven't posted for two weeks- I spent all of the weekend before last hunting through stores like a demon for a dress and shoes. When I wasn't shopping, I was trying to get other things ready like a boutonniere, alterations to my dress, figuring out how in the world to dress up my hair (which I've since decided is impossible)..... My mind absolutely exploded! For two weeks now, I've been constantly thinking about Prom.

And I think my insanity paid off. The dance was Saturday, and I had an insanely good time. It was great to see so many of my friends all decked out while dancing ridiculously. I got to feel fabulously gorgeous in an enormous prom dress (only in Utah!), and my feet didn't die after a few hours of tramping through Saturday's storm in heels. The best part of course getting to go out on a date. The guy who asked me is an amazing friend, and I'm sooooooooooo happy he asked me. (The happy-dance resulting from this joy lasted for days). That was probably the most fun I've had at a dance yet. I really hope I get the chance to have this much fun at a dance again before leaving high school.

K, well, that about sums up the past two weeks. Hopefully I get the chance to check in again soon. Toodlies!

Concert at Libby

It's my first week back at school. How am I going to celebrate? With a performance of course!
This sunday will be my first performance with the Utah Youth Philharmonic. Am I excited? Yes! Utah Youth is filled with so many amazing young musicians who are my weekly guilt trip for practicing. They make me jealous! There are tons and tons of musicians who play things I could barely manage, if that. Thus it's probably a good thing that I get an extra incentive to practice!
So, the concert. It's going to be at Libby Gardner Hall at the U this Sunday at 7. Admission is free last I checked, and I would be so psyched to see anyone I know there! It should be fantastic, we're playing Symphony No. 2 by Tchaikovsky, and In the Steppes of Central Asia by Borodin. Be there, or be square!

2012

Well, another year's gone by, and the world has yet to explode. Admittedly, it's tried pretty hard over the past year, but we're all still here.
I'm surprised to say it, but I'm actually very excited for the New Year to come in. The beginning of a new year is always a good chance to reflect back on what's changed over the past year. Just personally, I'm able to come up with a few.
1. I've been able to find some of THE MOST AMAZING friends- or discover that I already had them.
2. Diabetes diagnosis in April. That was fun, but I'm glad that it's turned out to be manageable.
3. Survived my first year of high school!
4. I chopped my hair. It's gone, and I'm pretty sure that the pixie is gonna stay for a while. Yay!
5. Had one cousin get back from a mission and another leave.
6. Had the cousin who got back get engaged- freaky in and of that if he's the oldest cousin, there's only 3 more between him and me.
7. Had my first boyfriend, and then dumped said boyfriend.

I'm sure there's plenty more, but I honestly don't want to list more than just the seven. There were good and bad parts to last year (I won't go into which was which), but overall it was a huge time of growth for me as a person, which is part of why I'm excited for 2012. I'm excited for the new opportunities that will come up through the year, especially as I begin to prepare for leaving home and choosing a college (a very scary thought).
So with that in mind, I've also come up with a list of goals for myself for 2012. Notice, I said GOALS, not RESOLUTIONS. Resolutions are a bit too absolute; goals leave room for editing and adjusting, and they're far more measurable to boot. Will I achieve each of them? No, I can already guarantee that I won't. But the important part is that I will have tried.

Goals for the Year 2012
1. Pay more attention not only to what I eat, but how it affects me.
2. Practice violin and/or viola at least 5 days a week.
3. Make a genuine effort to be kinder. Yes, this includes being overly sarcastic.
4. Excercise more, even if it's just for 1/2 an hour a week. It's more than I usually get anyways.
5. Stop procrastining long-term projects; if I have a spare moment work on them then rather than the night before they're due.
6. Blog at least once a week. That's right, I'm gonna make this a regular event!
7. Make more of my time- be genuinely focused on what I'm doing rather than thinking about other things to do.
8. Study more effectively- this applies to music, school, and the gospel.
9. Make sure that I always give things my best effort, regardless of a crap week or dinsterest.
10.Be more willing to use a camera- I never post any photos of my own on here, and the ones I do post turn out looking like crap anyways.
11. Be more creative. Find ideas online, and then DO something!
12. Be less afraid of being wrong.

Hopefully, I at least see some success! Wish me luck.!
And Happy 2012!

A Christmas Story

Only a week until Christmas Eve! In honor of the occaision, I'm posting a little snippet on what it one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time- A Christmas Story. While not every childhood is like Ralphie's, it does bring up those memories about Christmas when you were about 7 or 8. There was always that anticipation for that one certain gift that Santa would bring- you spent all month dreaming about what you were going to do with that toy. For Ralphie, of course, it was always his "Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time." This BB gun is legendary, and essentially is Ralphie's constant throughout the story. Of course there are other things- the quirks of the family. There's Rudy, who (quite literally) eats like a pig, his mother, and as always, the Old Man. This is the Old Man who was an oldmobile man, who mourned the loss of his leg lamp, and absolutely hated the Bumpuss's dogs. This the old man who "worked in profanities like other artists worked in clay. He was a master." And yes, this is THE movie which made (in my world at least) famous THE leg lamp. It always makes me laugh to see when people have strings of christmas lights that are leg-lamps, or have one in their living room window, just for christmas.

The movies we get to watch at Christmas, like The Grinch, Rudolph, The Polar Express, and A Christmas Carol are always such highlights to this season, but this movie especially is what makes it so much fun for me. I can't wait until I finally get the chance to sit down and watch the whole thing from beginning to end.

Return of the Cupcakes

Well, I'm back with the images of my venture into the cupcake-making world. Obviously, my skills are, as yet, unhoned. Technically, it worked. You see the green triangle in the middle of the one I spliced? That is my success. True, you can't really tell it's a Christmas Tree unless I tell you (by the way, it's a Christmas Tree), but you couldn't really tell it was a christmas tree when I put it in the cupcake anyways. The ideas was actually simple enough. -Make any sort of a sponge-cake batter. -Spoon out about 1/3 of the batter. Cover the rest and put it to the side or in the fridge; you'll need it later - With 1/3 in front of you, mix in several drops of food coloring. -Bake the 1/3 at the suggested temp. until the batter is just firm enough to hold it's shape. Take it out and allow it cool COMPLETELY. - Use VERY small cookie-cutters to cut out the shape you want. - Make a foundation from the remaining uncolored batter. Gentle put in your shape, then spoon more uncolored batter around it to make walls around your shape and support it. Your cupcakes should be about 2/3 full. -Bake until done. Be careful; the center is already mostly baked, and the rest of the batter will cook at a different rate then your cake recipe says it will! IF you actually try this, I wish you luck with getting a better shape then I did! I'll have to try this again and see if a simpler shape works better. And I'll have to practice my icing skills a bit more before then. We'll see, I'll try it until I get it right!

Holiday Baking Plans- Forestalled....

Well, sure enough, I'm back again! I'd had a plan- I was going to take pictures of these amazing cupcakes I was going to make yesterday and make you drool over their deliciousness. However, my honors and a.p. teachers had other ideas, so instead of making these objects of salivation, I worked hard to get my homework done. The good news is that I got all of my homework due this week done, so all of my homework from here on out won't have to get any new homework done until Saturday or Sunday. I'm not too grieved by this delay to my plans; I thought up a new scheme pretty quickly. My new plan is to make said cupcakes when I get home from the endocrinologist's tomorrow (ironic that they'll ask me if I'm eating healthy, isn't it?). So, hopefully, either tomorrow or Friday, I'll be able to take pictures of these delicious little creations so that you may be hungry with me.