Life ain't over yet. Where are you headed? Where are you trying to go?
What is something exciting in your near future? A date, a concert, just a day off? What's something big coming up?
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My wife is pregnant, but only recently. Obviously can't tell any of my family or friends yet, not for awhile in case we lose it or something. But, she's pregnant for now. So, kind of looking forward to that. It's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Found out two nights ago. I feel weird telling this to people on the internet, but I can't tell anyone else right now, and not for awhile. So, feels good to at least put it out there under anonymity and tell SOMEONE. All of you have to promise not to tell my parents. Thanks in advance. And I don't game much anymore, but I got an Elder Scrolls Online beta invite for this weekend. Might have to give that a whirl.
This December I'll be performing in Carnegie Hall in NYC. As a young pianist it's a big and humbling opportunity for me to touch the keys that so many virtuosos and masters of music have graced. As much as an honor it is, it's also a pretty shiny addition to a college resume, so that's nice. But i don't want to perform. I am representing my nation of Armenia as a finalist in this competition, and I was chosen to perform a very very odd piece. Like, a very odd piece. This is a sonata by Aram Khachaturian It's not beautiful. It's ugly, cacophonous, brutal and relentless. Worse yet, i have to represent a nation that is proud of its inner strength, composure-- and values the love of community and family over anything else-- with the dissonant squeals of a lonely but expressive crackhead. That said, I'm still happy to be up there. And for the third time too :)) My horn has been tooted. What's up with you?
Khachaturian is his own thing, in a way. For as modern as he is, he could be a lot worse. My objection to any of the technicals is that people tend to play them like they've got the piano roll between their shoulder blades - no emotion, no humanity. If I had the chops to play Carnegie I'd play whatever they gave me and just try to rawk the fuck out of it. You never know what might come of it. My mother is a semi-professional violist. She used to play all over Santa Fe with lots of different people. She got to talking with one of her cellist buddies once, who revealed he'd spent a brief interlude out in Hollywood in the '60s composing before packing it in and heading back to the desert. She asked him if he'd ever gotten anything on TV or movies or anything. "Just this embarrassing little rip-off of Khachaturian," he said. "I still hear it on late-night TV sometimes." *Embarassing little rip-off of Khachaturian?* Take the piece and make it yours. If you hate it, you aren't representing your country properly. Find the stuff to love and bring it out. You never know who might hear you.
Maybe i've gotten tired of it. Glad you like it though :)
I'll get a couple minutes to warm up and see what the piano feels like. Not much of a preparation. But honestly, pianos at stages like that have the tendency of being quite... incredible. An average model D steinway costing upwards of $90,000 carries a bit of comfort and adaptability with it :D still, its not easy
My upright at home was <$4k. Seeing people with bosendorfers and steinways, I think that no one man should wield such power.
My father forbid piano music from being played in the home, let alone the possession of a piano. When I was 17 I traded my oboe straight across for an RS505 and never looked back. As soon as I left the house, of course, my mother brought home some raggedy-ass YMCA upright. Nobody knew how to play it. When she left my dad 10 years later she and her new husband bought a Kimball, just to entice people over to their house to play quartets. Me? I've got an A-80 and a K2500XS so y'all can bite me. ;-)
A. You show 'em chief B. Why did your dad forbid piano music!??!
I've tried questioning my parents for the longest time. Hopeless. Now I just learn from their mistakes as much as my own and hopefully turn out okay :D
I'm... really digging the sonata. I think you need to listen to it with fresh ears. I mean, I understand that it's not n the same tonal realm as mozart, but it's got more in common with Debussy or Mussorgsky than it does with Schoenberg or anything else fiercely atonal. maybe you should start asking yourself why you're phrasing things the way you are in the piece, what you like and don't like about that phrasing, and try to if not like the piece, then come to respect it. As to Khachaturian being a loner and a crackhead, he's not alone in being a damaged person in music. A person can have a shitty life, or be a shitty person (like Wagner) or be really crazy (Scriabin, Satie) and still create great works.
Oh please don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing him to Mozart! I've been in love with contemporaries from Scriabin to Satie for the longest time, and am not one of those Mozart & Bach Master Race musicians. as I told lil, it might just be a matter of me being tired of it after playing for a while, But to represent my country with such a wild and out-of-bounds sort of piece is just kinda wrong :P You guys are mature and open-minded.. I don't know if my audience will understand.
absolutely. As a performer though it's a bit unnerving knowing you very well could be one of the 80. Everybody wants to be the best ;)
The best way to help your audience understand is to "sell" the music as best you can, and really be passionate about it.
For now, I am looking forward to finding out if I made it to the third round of the Foreign Service Officer Test process. I guess I'm also looking forward to the way I finish preparing for the GRE, so I can take the damn thing. I used to teach the writing and verbal parts, but they've changed those up since 2011 (thanks ETS).
My girlfriend, arguewithatree just took the GRE. What fun that was.
How does this test process work? and good luck on your gres!! i hear it can be one of the most satisfying tests you'll ever hand in.
Thank you. Well, first one has to take the Foreign Service Officer Test, which consists of a whole bunch of questions in diverse areas of knowledge. Before one takes the test, one has to choose a "track" meaning, an area in which one would like to be hired. The tracks are, Consular, Economic, Political, Management and Public Diplomacy. One cannot change tracks once the process has begun. The only way to really "study" for it, is to keep abreast of current events around the world and how that might influence foreign policy. Learning stuff about those countries, as well as economics in general can be helpful. Next, is the Personal Narrative Questions, in which a series of open-ended questions are asked about certain times where one reacted to a given situation. Third, is the Oral Assessment, which I believe is in two parts, individual and group. Then, there is the background check. I'm not sure if the optional language proficiency test is before or after the background check, or even concurrent. Essentially, if one speaks another language to a particular standard or beyond, points will be added, especially if the language in question is considered to be needed. For example, I think Korean is in high demand at the moment. No matter what, if one makes it through the hiring process, Foreign Service Officers receive intensive language training for their assignments, which last around 3 years per posting. If I pass all that (again if) only then will I be ranked and admitted into the hiring pool. If I am not hired within a year and a half of admittance, I will then have to start the process over again. I'm optimistic, but I am still relatively young and the process is very byzantine and cryptic (as in, no one is really sure what the evaluators are looking for other than 13 qualities, which they refer to as "dimensions") and many do not pass the first time. So far, I've spoken to two very high level diplomats who both said that they didn't pass their first time around. That's encouraging, especially as one of the diplomats I spoke to was very involved in a few African countries where things got really, really hairy. Apparently he was one of two FSOs left in Zanzibar during the coup. Anyway, it's a long shot job that I plan to apply for again if it doesn't work out this time.
Woah. That's exciting. But enjoy the excitement now! You're all caught up in the expectancy of not passing the first time, what will happen if you don't get hired, how everyone else didn't make it and where they are now.. You're in a crazy intense process and as tough as it might be, you should enjoy it! Know what to do when you dont make it, but anticipate passing! Maybe i'm being naive, but it can't hurt to let yourself have some fun with it, especially since it'll be a career that will more or less be the predominant dynamic in your life.
I'm looking forward to playing my concerto with a string ensemble in the city I did my undergrad in. I'm looking forward to seeing my family at christmas I'm looking forward to getting my new bass! I'm looking forward to having all of these excerpts under my fingers. ugh!
Finally getting my life into some sort of shape. Lost 30kgs in order to trial for army. Will hopefully head to basic early next year. Being 24 and not having a house/family/steady gf etc isn't much fun especially when all your friends are developing all these aspects of life. So yes finally starting to feel on track!
Going for an exchange program in Poland this winter and then travel Europe all summer with my boyfriend! I can't wait. Plus I'll meet his dad which i'm pretty confident none of his previous girlfriends ever did. I'm looking forward to learning how to drive. More long term, work. I'm a bit tired of the uncertainty, I'm looking forward to getting a job and possibly changing jobs until I find what I really like to do. On a more superficial note, the new season of Sherlock. I've been a fan since season 1. The 2 year wait between each season is torture.
Thanksgiving break and Thanksgiving itself. My Mom makes the best stuffing ever and my Dad cooks a mean turkey!
Haha sweet :D I wish my family had a traditional Thanksgiving but they make all this weird Armenian stuff. What's a guy gotta do to get some sweet potato around here :(
Short term: visiting my American girlfriend, because the flight is scheduled for tomorrow. Going hand in hand with this is the first Thanksgiving in my life ever and meeting her whole family for the first time. Super excited for the whole week! Also she currently has my pre-ordered PS4, gonna take that one with me back to Europe :D Long term: My gf moving to me in Europe at the end of the upcoming spring! One year of long distance is more than enough, I can't wait for the day we will board our first flight together for the first time, when it'll be time for her one-way ticket to Europe. To add something less cheesy to my long term goals: Got a new job a couple of months ago and I'm curious how it'll turn out, and I guess in half a year I'm a lot smarter regarding that. Also I'm planning to buy a flat around that time, so that's something I'm looking eagerly forward, too! Oh, and my inner nerd won't let slip those: WoW addon, Diablo 3 addon, season 4 in League of Legends, Titanfall, Super Smash Brothers for the Wii and its Zelda!