#baritubas

So the first week of classes is officially over, and it's been pretty fantastic thus far.

Class strings is going to be a pain, but I can't wait to learn. It also helps that I know everyone in the class and I sit by two of my studio friends. I don't think my hands were meant to play violin, and my giant giraffe neck definitely wasn't made for it either (we have sponges on the bottom of the instrument to bring it to the right spot between your chin and collarbone; most people used one or two sponges, but there were like four of us with three sponges).

Theory is gonna be a blast, just cause I have it with a bunch of my friends and the professor is so awesome. Plus it's later in the day this semester, so everyone is actually awake and alert. And I just love theory, oddly enough, so yay.

Conducting kind of scares the crap out of me, because the professor is so good he's intimidating. He's really helping me learn a lot already, so that's good. Pretty much half of the clarinet studio is in that class, so it's pretty great. We get to buy our batons next week, and I'm super excited for that.

I'm going to be playing bassoon for concert band this semester, mainly because I'm also going to be taking bassoon lessons. I'm nervous, but I'm totally ready. For symph band, I'm back on third clarinet, but we're playing Second Suite, so that makes up for it.

Marching band is super-intense and I absolutely love it. I'm the only girl baritone, and there are four girls in the baritubas as a whole. Band camp was crazy busy and I feel so powerful. Even though my arms are still like wimpy jello, they're way better than they were at the start of band camp. I love my section so much; they make me feel like part of an awesome family, and my section leader is the greatest. We all have necklaces and I've seriously worn mine like every day since I got it.

Creative writing seems like it's gonna be okay, but some of my class is way dumber than I anticipated. Like they keep asking a million questions about stuff that doesn't matter, and it's super annoying.

Music and Lit Survey is crazy, there's like 40 people in the one classroom and we've all agreed it's the biggest non-ensemble music class any of us will ever take. It's so crowded and hot, but the professors are super-awesome, so that makes up for it. Plus I have it with a bunch of my friends.

The new clarinet professor is so awesome, she's so sweet and funny and fantastic. She keeps asking us all for our input on everything, and we're all getting to try new things. I'm playing contra for clarinet choir pieces, we're playing in quartets, and the first piece of rep. she assigned me was written in 1975. That was only like 40 years ago!! It's fantastic.

I'm also working 10-11 hours a week at one of my jobs, plus about 7 hours a week at the museum. So this semester is going to be crazy busy, but awesome.

That's all for now!