A Month, A Melody, A Moment

Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, University of Georgia, Athens

January 20, 2007

Well, we were worn out!

After spending the entire weekend at UGA for Janfest (January Music Festival), I am more than happy to finally be home. It was quite the experience though.

Thursday: Driving and an audition to be placed in one of the 6 bands.

Friday: Crack of dawn Master Class (i.e. in my case, all of the French horns in one room learning how to play more effectively), chaos of finding out band and chair placement (second chair in Dr. Wayne Dorothy's band), rehearsal, concert, rehearsal...and somewhere in between eating.
Saturday: 3 1/2 hour rehearsal (kill me, please) and more of the same as Friday including an extremely entertaining Steel Drum Band concert and Percussion Ensemble.

Today: Rehearsal yet again, and then I was surprised to see Dad at the hotel after Mom had told me he was way too tired to make the trip, ate lunch at Applebee's, and finally played our concert at 1:00 in the concert hall. We're ordering a CD, so if anyone wants a copy, let me know. :)

I should probably explain the picture. From top to bottom is me, Doug, Jacob, and Chris. By Friday, we were exhausted, so we decided to take a brief nap on the far side of the lobby in the concert hall. Yes, lots of people looked at us. No, we didn't care. And no, we really didn't get very much nap time.

All in all, the weekend was...well, interesting. A few of the people in my band were nice to be around, but unfortunately I was in a completely different building than the other guys from Etowah (only the seniors got to go on the trip, and I was the only girl out of the 5 of us). Our music was well-chosen and well-played, and our director was definitely unique.

While I didn't learn much about music and how to express it, I enjoyed the trip for the most part.

I only wish the temperature would drop just a bit more, so the rain could freeze and school would be cancelled. :)