Well, finals are over, classes are done, and tomorrow I am getting on a plane back to Colorado. It certainly has been an interesting few months – I’ve learned so much more than just music. I will try to finally get that series on classes wrapped up, perhaps on the plane ride tomorrow.

For those of you who always wonder if I have perfect pitch, the answer is still no. But now there is a caveat: I probably will soon. The ability to name notes at will is certainly very satisfying, but it has major downsides. For example, I hoped to practice the piano over Thanksgiving, but on arrival I discovered the instrument was almost exactly one note flat. In tune with itself, but A was equal to Bb instead. Interestingly, this made it very nearly impossible for me to play anything at all. I was literally incapable of stringing notes together, both my pieces and any attempt at improvisation. Hopefully, once my transposition improves (thanks to Ms. Aaron) I should be able to compensate for this, but at the moment it’s rather a nuisance.

Chorus - Mr. Nemhauser

I realized, to my chagrin, that I have two weeks left in this semester and there are still four classes about which I must write, including two that don’t continue into the spring. Oops. Anyway, on with the show:

This is both a fabulous and an annoying class. It is, literally, a choir. We spend an hour and a half, twice a week, rehearsing choral music and will be giving a concert in April. It is required for two years for all piano, composition, and voice majors, so – thanks primarily to the last of these – we have the potential to sound quite incredible. Certainly superior to any choir I’ve ever experienced previously. However, in practice many people don’t treat it seriously. The only saving grace is that we have a phenomenal director. In fact, during the beginning of term when he was absent for two weeks, the entire thing almost crashed down in flames.
Mr. Nemhauser is doubtless one of the pillars of this school. He has been here forever, and teaches all of the non-academic voice-major classes. His conducting itself is perhaps not quite on the level of a professional choir director, but his command of the rehearsal is incredible. He tolerates no ‘monkey business,’ knows languages, choir vocal technique, and practice methods inside out. Though the point of the class is probably primarily to have players of non-orchestral instruments still involved in some sort of large ensemble, I’m sure we are also expected to pick up rudiments of conducting, so I am effectively learning how to direct a choir in every way short of majoring in it. I also get to play the piano accompaniment on several pieces.

First of all, I must apologize for the extended lack of blog updates – this has been a rather crazy week. My Thanksgiving was quite wonderful, and almost completely (though unintentionally) devoid of piano. My life since returning last Monday has consisted of maniacal catch-up practice and other work necessary to be fully prepared for final exams, which start a week from now.

Yesterday I had a fleeting moment of self-doubt; my lesson last week did not go so well (I’ve been struggling with the same memorization issues that have been plaguing me for as long as I can remember) and all the assignments due were beginning to weigh on my mind.
However, the last 24 hours have been a sort of ‘perfect storm’ of all possible morale boosts: yesterday night I was invited to what turned out to be – though I did not realize it beforehand – a fancy, invitation-only (read: for wealthy donors) Mannes festival concert at Carnegie Hall (one major benefit to being part of the social group anchored by graduate students who get to play in such prestigious events); today I had an absolutely fabulous last piano lesson of the semester (I believe I finally understand the concept of proper memorization, which pleases me more than I can put in words); and the last English essay of the term, which is a research paper and something I fully expected to almost completely ruin my week, has turned out to be enormously satisfying, not least because it gives me an excuse to spend time in the big NYPL Research Library near Times Square.
Expending my life in practice rooms, I sometimes forget that I am in NYC. Being able to visit a place such as this library, which is like walking into a cathedral or something from Classic Rome, reminds me that there is still culture in the world. Then walking through Grand Central Station on the way home, in all its holiday regalia, was just the icing on my cake. The fairy-tale version of New York City does still exist, at least in my own mind.