music update

Ok, so once again I haven't written in a while. I'll just give a brush through update.

My recital is DONE! Which is a huge relief! It went pretty well, considering that I didn't get as much work done on it as I would have liked. My teacher said that she thought it could not have gone any better. As far as the music department is concerned, I got a 90%... though it's difficult to think of it in terms of a grade. But a lot of my friends and the Taggart side of my family got to come, which was cool. Shaina and Douglas even brought their baby Amos! Though Amos spent most of the time back-stage playing with Mama, it was great to see a baby come to one of those things and not be a little grouch. It can get pretty boring for a little one. And better yet, my friends made me feel better about my playing too, though it doesn't mean I'm going to work any less for my next performance.

So, I'm done with my senior recital. This means that I won't be taking lessons anymore at Miami for credit. I'm not even sure that I'll get to be in an ensemble. Though it takes some stress off my shoulders, it's kind of a bummer. I'm not sure I know how to work without that stress to drive me--having somebody tell me what I need to do. But that's part of growing up as a musician. BUT! The following semester hasn't even started yet, and I have performances already planned! I'm going to be playing a bit with Kim at Koffenya on Feb. 24th and I'll be partnering up with Julie, a new CSF member... speech pathology grad-student who also plays the piano! I'm so excited to get to play music with people outside of the music department! It's been a long time since I've done that. Way too long. Maybe I can get together with Glenn too and figure out some Nickel Creek.

Some more good news... My husband and parents went together and bought me a mandolin for Christmas!!! WOOHOO!!! Ben and Eric helped me pick it out... and though that was a long day, it was well worth it. Thank You!!! I want to learn this instrument to help me lead worship in the future. The mandolin is more like a violin than a guitar, even though it looks like a miniature guitar. With it being more chord based, I can transfer that knowledge to the cello better than I would from a piano or guitar. I'm used to playing a melody or harmony with a couple of chords here and there, but mostly a linear process. Also, since a mandolin has frets, I may be able to learn to sing and play at the same time. Attempt at this while playing the cello has always been disaster.

So I'm now on my own until grad-school, musically. But I've still got a lot of work to do. (^_^)