A Day in My Life: Musical Utah Version

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Check out Mikaela's post here if you haven't already!

6:00 The alarm sounds and Mikaela, Sarah, and I lie in bed soaking up a few more moments of sleep.

6:03 But our day must commence, so we blearily get up and begin getting ready. Today is “T-shirt Day”, so Sarah and I don our new Stradivarius Suzuki Institute t-shirts , dressing them up as much as possible with skirts, necklaces,and cardigans.

7:00 We head downstairs and over to the next wing of the hotel for our breakfast. Eggs, potatoes, sausage, waffles, cereal, bagels, yogurt, fruit, and donuts means that none of us will starve, and we certainly aren’t bored by the breakfast options! We have a traditional breakfast table, the one we sat at every morning two years ago in Utah, and the one we’ve sat at for nearly every meal this time. No—we are not creatures of habit!

7:30 We are back in our hotel room and already thinking about our next meal—lunch must be packed and necessary bags gathered! A friend we saw at Suzuki Institute aptly described how I feel about lugging all my paraphernalia each day when she said of her load, “I feel like I’m going out of the country!”

7:45 We continue our Bible study on the Holy Spirit. This morning, we are finishing up going through all of the people in the Old Testament upon whom the Holy Spirit came. The Lord has really blessed our time in His Word this week, and I am learning so much!

8:17 It was so difficult to tear ourselves from our study that we find ourselves dashing downstairs to catch our 8:20 shuttle to the high school where our Suzuki classes are being held. As we run outside, we catch sight of one shuttle pulling away from the curb, and when we finally sprinted up to the other shuttle, we are told that it is full. We were later told that we at this point looked somewhat forlorn, but we quickly recovered when we realized we had plenty of time. Finishing some writing from the day before, we sit and wait.

8:30 …and wait.

8:40 …and finally load up onto the shuttle! Adults with cellos, violas, and violins, not to mention briefcases and coffees climbing into the back seat of a 15 passenger van make for very entertaining mornings normally!

9:00 Pencils poised, paper ready, we are prepared for our first observation of the day, a group class led by one of our favorite teachers, Fernando Pinero, from Argentina. Last night he informed us that we looked tired, but this morning he reassured us that we look better. (-:

10:00-12:00 We troop upstairs for our class time with our fabulous teacher trainer. We made it through half a song today (yay!), going measure by measure, bowing by bowing, note by note, and then learned more about vibrato technique. Today we had a fabulous mentorship session in which we went around the room, each of us playing an intimidating two notes. Impeccable tone was never so desirable and never so achievable, yet somehow the standard for tone has never been higher nor more demanding.

12:00 We head outside for lunch on the grass, and over sandwiches and grapes discussed with our classmates whether or not vibrating backwards or forwards was the most pedagogically sound. What do you think?

1:00-5:00 A lecture on music reading and three hours of observation round out our afternoon. We’ve filled out pages of notes, watched numerous students, and ran up and down flights of stairs: we are quite ready for the next item on our schedule.

5:00 We are geeks. I might as well just admit it before you discover for yourselves what our free half hour was spent doing, and what in fact all our free moments have been spent doing: trying out shoulder rests. We test out feel and fit, sound and durability. And, lest you concern yourself unnecessarily, we are not conspicuous in the least as we swarm the table and monopolize all the shoulder rests, our open cases strewn everywhere, our round notes filling the big hall, analyzing every detail.  And I for one have found a new love for a shoulder rest!

5:30-6:30 We enjoy a concert performed by the phenomenal fiddler Aaron Ashton. With bow flashing, fingers flying, and keys changing every measure, he got wild applause and shouts after each unbelievable sequence. A few pieces were less than enjoyable, but the majority were mind-bogglingly amazing!

6:30 And we find ourselves waiting for the shuttle once more, since it somehow seems impossible for it to be on time. Our fellow passengers on the ride back to the hotel, however, were a mother and her children originally from New Zealand and Australia, which meant she had a delightful accent, and we simply listened to her talking!

6:53 We enjoy a delicious barbecue downstairs in the hotel, and, as always, manage our fair share of laughs.

7:17 We begin our evening rituals. Sarah, Mikaela, and I call home to talk to our families. I miss them, so it is so good to hear their voices each evening! Showers, cookies and milk, foot massages, and an episode of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House round out a very good evening.

10:45 The morning will come all too early, so lights out! Good night, Utah!