Professional isn't good enough

Seeing a clock on a stand for the Maestro's reference brought up a memory from rehearsals past. In 2004 I was a part of the All Virginia Orchestra conducted by Charles Peltz of the New England Conservatory. This weekend has always been one of my most treasured memories, despite the fact that I spent the majority of it unconscious thanks to a particularly bad sinus infection (an issue that used to be even worse for me when I was younger and persists to some extent now). One of the many moments from that weekend that remains with me to this day was a comment he made about about professional orchestral musicians.

"I don't want you all to aspire to be professional musicians. I've seen professional musicians. They sit in rehearsal bad mouthing other sections to members of their section, staring at the clock waiting for break. Then they go on break and complain about the members of their section to other members of the orchestra and staring at the clock dreading returning to rehearsal. Then they sit there staring at the clock waiting for rehearsal to end so they can collect their check and go home. Don't aspire to be like that. Aspire to be artists."

¡Bienvenidos a Monterrey!

First day in Monterrey was pretty straightforward. I woke up early so I'd be sure to have time to eat and warm up for rehearsal. If I hadn't given myself that time, I'd probably be in the hospital trying to have my lips reattached, as I hadn't played since Friday and the first two pieces on the rehearsal were the Overture to Rienzi and Polovetsian Dances. The rest of the repertoire was more forgiving and I limped (figuratively) back to the hotel for lunch (I'll discuss the food in more depth at a later date). The rest of the day was spent practicing gently, exploring the hotel and resting. The city itself is a strange amalgamation of things that appear to me to be completely foreign and things that are familiar. There's a Domino's Pizza across the street from the hotel with a sign in English declaring themselves "The Delivery Experts." I think my favorite thing about the city so far might be the view of the mountain ranges on either side of the city. The drive to the rehearsals sees mountains from literally almost every angle. The houses remain as densely packed as in the center of town all the way up the foothills and in some cases up the base of the mountains themselves. So far, so good, more to come.

More information coming soon

I'll be using this blog to keep all my friends states-side in the know about Mexico. Also to let people know I haven't died. Which is a good thing. Yeah.

Ya don't weigh in, ya don't wrassle.

So just like any physically abusive sport, before any event can begin there are certain preparations that must be made. For an international journey, step one is obtaining a passport. Then for me steps numbers two through 713,239 are losing the passport (more accurately, trusting a parent not to lose it) and driving all over the country trying to locate it/obtain a new one. I returned home to VA Saturday night only to drive back to Cincinnati with my mother and grandmother for a desperate ransacking of my apartment. Upon conclusively proving that the document was indeed lost, we then drove to Philadelphia, the location of the nearest passport agency with emergency appointments available for obtaining an expedited passport. After a stay in a hotel downtown we arrived to our 9 am appointment a little before 8. The incredibly gracious staff there were able to print my passport individually, rather than waiting to noon to print it with the rest of the morning's applicants. We traveled to BWI airport outside of Baltimore, arriving around 11:30, moved to an earlier flight (to insure my checked luggage had enough time to make the connection in Atlanta) and had a tasty lunch (mmm crab soup). Slight delay on the runway, but the flight arrived on-time and as-advertised. A brief walk, a short snack and a 4 hour layover later I boarded the plane to make the trip down to Monterrey. No difficulty getting through customs, had a VERY friendly taxi ride to the hotel and checked into my pretty freakin sweet room. Now to settle in and get some rest before the first rehearsal tomorrow...