CONGRATS!

What an year! 

I just wanted to congratulate every single one of you (both in CYO and Chamber) for such an amazing performance last week, and also for being such great musicians/students throughout this year! 

I'd like to thank the parents for supporting me in so many ways as well!

Thank you so much for such a wonderful year. 

I hope you all will have a creative, inspiring, and most importantly, FUN summer!

(If I don't see you before), I'll see you in September!

P.S. I plan on keeping this blog up during the summer, so please keep checking! Thanks again!

summer music opportunities

I'm sure you all received the email about this, but just to reiterate, I wanted post the information here on this blog too.

4strings Music Festival (for strings and piano students)

from Aug. 3rd thru Aug. 17th, 2013

The faculty includes professors of the Juilliard School and the like! I personally know some of them. They are EXCELLENT musicians (some of the best that I know) and really wonderful people. And I MAY be teaching there too!

It is open to piano and string students from age 9 - college. They are especially looking for cello and viola students. 

You'll get to work closely with excellent musicians and teachers in a beautiful location. I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for many of you!

4strings Music Festival

http://www.4smf.com/

Audition deadline is May 18th, so apply soon!

Please include my name under "your teachers" in your application, so they can keep track of who they were referred by. Thanks!


ALSO,
for winds and brass and percussionists (as well as strings), there is going to be a wonderful international summer orchestra opportunity with a performance at Avery Fisher Hall coming up in the end of August. Once I get more information, I will send you an email and also post it here. So stay tuned!

everyone is on the same boat

Date: 04/27/13
Orchestra: Chamber
Attendance: good
Repertoire rehearsed: everything!
Little things I noticed: what I beautiful day it was. If only our instruments weren't so sensitive to sunlight, I would've loved to rehearsed outside. Maybe next time we can find a shade to rehearse under...

Notes:
Coming along, coming along. But I would like to see more communication among yourselves while playing. Obviously not verbal communication, but non-verbal communications - through your sounds, moving of your instruments and bow, eye contacts, bobbing of heads, and even a simple smile. Try not to rely on me but yourselves. Remember, I won't be there (on stage) to scream at you during the concert :)

Please know the music enough to know if you've fallen off from the horse. It pains me to see you go on while some of you are one or two measures off. And even if you were playing right, I would've appreciated if someone helped them get back on, or stop yourselves to address the issue. I need more incentives from all of you. I need YOU to want to have a tighter group. YOU are the conductors in this particular group. I'm sure you are aware of that much, but it also means that you must have the knowledge of a conductor.

But honestly, it's not that difficult. You just have to know what the piece is supposed to sound like, and the rest is comparing yourselves to what you know, and think about how you can make yourselves sound like what you have in mind. Simple as that :)

The greatest part is, every single one of you have the same exact mission, so the more you help each other, the easier it gets!

And I know that all of you know the music well. So just don't be shy about being a good musician!

two more left!

Argh! I fell behind again..

Date: 04/25/13
Orchestra: CYO
Attendance: good
Coaches Present: Mr. Lin
Repertoire Rehearsed: Swan Lake
Little things I noticed:

I took these pictures 10 minutes before the rehearsal, just outside the building.
They are neither swans, nor is it a lake, but close enough...

Notes:
While the pictures I took maybe of "Geese Pond", you are truly playing the "Swan Lake"! I'm very happy with how much we got done in the Tchaikovsky in just two rehearsals! Of course there are things we can improve still, but I have to say, sounding the way we do with just four hours of rehearsal is quite impressive. Good job, guys!

Next rehearsal (tomorrow...), we will go through all the pieces. So bring your music for Mozart, J. Williams, and Sibelius, in addition to the Tchaikovsky!
By the way, bringing Sibelius back up is a great idea. Thanks Anna for your suggestion!

As I said in this rehearsal, tomorrow's rehearsal be our VERY last FULL rehearsal of the year (for the one after that will be a half rehearsal, and half party)! So lets keep our minds sharp, and really concentrate. I'll see you guys tomorrow.