HOLY SHIT.

I graduated with my Master’s on Saturday morning from the University of Hartford, and this was my dad’s present to me: another bottle of 21 year old Balvenie.

The other bottle I bought for myself after graduating from Rutgers.

Now I have the summer to prepare for my three final years of school.

Here we go!

RIP Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

It seems like many great and influential musical figures are passing away in recent days. It’s sad to see so many of them go, but it’s comforting to know that their musical influence and prowess will not soon be forgotten. I was pointed to Fischer-Dieskau when I began to study Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” which is where I initially learned of his voice and I was blown away. It was a shame that I couldn’t find the rest of the song cycle sung by him, but “Ging heut Morgen übers Feld” was all I needed to hear.

I told Ling that if Yuri ever walked up to me and said “Let’s date.” that I would take that offer instantly.

She’d do the same for Richard Gere. I’d prefer George Clooney myself, but hey. We all have different tastes.

Final grades have been posted, and I got a B (passing for Master’s level) in the class I was worried about. I got a somewhat ominous e-mail from the professor after our in class final saying that I got a 78 on it, and that I need to do a great job on my paper to pass the course.

So, I’ll be walking on Saturday - getting my degree, and on Sunday I’ll see what I got on my paper, which by the way I did in two days…

Goodbye, life.

bestyoutubevideos:

German Nazi Sniper Tamed with a Trumpet

We’re all human.

New project for the lady.

…even though I have a 10 page paper and a final to worry about.

When I was younger, I used to think that if there were two streets that were named the same but in different places, then they were connected. So if I went on a Main St. in Florida, and saw a Main St. in New Jersey, I would have thought they were connected.

More pictures from the Corigliano rehearsals. These are the views I have of the auditorium during Circus Maximus. There are multiple components to the work.

• Stage band
• Surround trumpets
• Offstage Saxophone Quartet
• Offstage percussion
• Offstage horns
• Offstage double bassi
• Marching band

The large red structures you see in the second picture are 8 foot tall platforms which the surround trumpets get to stand on. Mine is positioned at the front right part of the hall, about 3 rows of seats in from the front. Above me in the rafters of the auditorium are the offstage saxes, horns, and bassi. The marching band comes in from the back of the hall, marches around the hall while playing and eventually they exit. The work really is quite the spectacle and is very entertaining once it all comes together.

Did I mention there’s a shotgun blast at the very end?