Whirlwind

Mardi Gras break ends today. It has been a relaxing weekend, full of sleep, piano practice, and sleep. The nose goes back to the grind tonight with Carillon at 8pm. There is one piece that is completely kicking my tail. But rather than start at the end of the program, I will start at the beginning.
The opening song, Chester, is fun. It then transitions into Gramann's Celebration which requires counting like mad on the runs. Silk Road is cool, though it is easy to overplay the bell. It has such a quiet beginning and that G4 is so loud. The runs are surprisingly good and the chime part requires a bit more polish on my part anyway. Fantasy on King's Weston is my absolute favorite right now. It requires me to split my brain. One hand rings one rhythm, while the other hand rings another. And the themes woven in and around each other creates a really cool effect. There's also a lot of 3 vs 2 action in this piece. We took Faith out of the program. I didn't like that one much at all. Change Ring Prelude on Divinum Mysterium is wicked. The penultimate page of the piece has the meters in the following order: 3/4, 7/8 (2+2+3), 3/4, 6/8, 3/4, 7/8 (2+3+2), 5/8, and 2/4. So if you can't count to at least 7, you're screwed. Festive Fanfare is festive. It starts with shaking of my two bells, which are not bells one would normally shake. This is the exception. Rustic Dance is fun. I was moved back to my old bells, E/F4. The mallets at the end are awesome. You just have to remember to hit the bell and not the table. Amazing Grace is one word: gorgeous. Te Deum is wow, I think I've met my match as far as pieces go. There's a tough repetitive part in the middle of the piece and my musical moronic self drags on it every time. I guess that's why I suck at playing upbeats. One of the pieces at the Scotland festival will be In the Bleak Midwinter, which we played last year. I've requested my old bells for that piece, because in truth, it is a toughie.
Carmen is coming along rather well. We are supposed to be off book by now. There are still a few places in each act where I feel a bit sketchy, but with a little hard work and help from above, I'll be fine. Carmen is April 12 & 14 at Mannoni in Hattiesburg, and April 21 at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson.
I have my piano lesson tomorrow. I did work on Firefly over the weekend and I did change one fingering because I hated that index crossing action. I love my piano lessons. They are so much fun. Curses to me for not taking them as a kid.
Voice lesson is Thursday. And I'm sick of hearing Dr. Nichols complain about me scheduling my lesson at 8:30 in the morning. For one, my afternoons are booked, and the free hours I do have in the morning are spent studying. I am taking 22 hours. I need to study at some point. I am already up there practicing. So what's wrong with me having a lesson that early in the morning? I just wish he would quit complaining about it. I love him dearly as a person. He's a good person to go to when I am down about something, but lately this has really been pissing me off. And it's hard to tell whether he is teasing me or not. My advice: Just accept it and drop it!
Wednesday, I get my theory test back. Thursday, I get my Aural skills test and 18th Century test back. Friday, I have my opera history test. Lord, I'm scared of the outcomes of those grades. In every Hafer class I have taken, I always manage to screw up the first test of the semester. The movements of the symphonies screwed me up this last time. I know one of the answers that I changed at the last minute, I had it correct the first time! grrr it makes me mad. I'm deathly scared of the Aural skills grade because I suck at harmonic dictation and I know it. The theory one is creeping me out because that last part of the Haydn string quartet was confusing me like mad. Studying for this opera test is interesting. I have an idea of what format his tests are in. And Dr. Hauer really is a great guy. I'm just worried over the essay questions. Dr. Hafer at least gives you examples of what he might ask on his tests.
I'm also still working on the Classical Period timeline and I should finish it up this weekend. Hafer said he did not care what format it was in. Mine will have to be the way it is on Word. It would take about a mile and half of butcher paper just to fill in the information
Must complete my Opera History study guide at some point today. Take care!