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College Begins!📚

Writer's picture: Chloë DickensChloë Dickens

Wow. What a few weeks it's been! I've had a flying start at college. Even though I was very, very nervous for my audition (we had them on the main concert hall stage 😳) The conductor told me I make a good sound, so that gave me hope!


My first class:'String Repertory'🎻

A weekly performance class. Luckily, as it was the first one, nobody was expected to perform today (though I did panic-practice my Bach that morning just in case...😅). Because of covid, the string department lost its sense of community a little in my undergrad, simply because we couldn't be in a room together for so long. It's really nice to have this weekly class where all the string students come together to play to each other and provide feedback. Sure it'll be nerve-wracking, but it's better than zoom that's for sure! 💻


My first theory class.

There's a lot of disparity between UK and US music theory,🎹 so this one is definitely my hardest class.🤓 I'm determined to give this one my best shot though. It's three hours long, and we usually get a break, but even so it can be exhausting when it feels like US theory terminology is virtually a different language......🤔I won't get into it now in case I accidentally confuse myself even more. But did I get confused between the Eastern Australian Current (EAC) and a Perfect Authentic Cadence(PAC)? Yes. Yes I did. 😬


Luckily for me, the Professor 🎓is extremely nice, and clearly very very very very knowledgeable. Which is awesome and makes me feel like I'm totally going to get this. One day🙃


My first orchestra rehearsal

In a classic Chloë Dickens move, the orchestral seating list which I'd been patiently and excitedly waiting for all weekend, had been released that morning. Yep, it had been available all day. I found this out about ten minutes before the rehearsal started. So the excuse I was hoping to use: "Well I didn't know if I was a second violin or a first violin so I couldn't practice my part yet" was at least 8 hours out of date.🤦‍♀️So I open my phone to have a look, with minutes to get my violin unpacked and tuned and ready. And the list says I'm sitting Co-Principal.🙂Co-Principal.🤨WHAT!?😱 How though? I honestly couldn't believe it. But there actually wasn't time to not believe it, because I have to go and sit in that seat now.


The rehearsal was awesome, I love how much detail we can go into because we rehearse twice a week all semester. The conductor is really specific, and I get the impression he's an extremely good teacher. I like the way he treats the orchestra, and basically this is going to be my favourite class. I. Love. Orchestra. And turns out, I'm really good at it!!!


Later when I got home, I went to check out the seating for our second concert this semester. It's got to be fate, because not only do I get to lead this project, but we're performing "Bird with Strings', one of the first Jazz Albums I ever sunk my teeth into. 🎧My first Jazz teacher at Wells Cathedral School recommended me this album. I told him "I want to learn saxophone 🎷because I want to be able to play Jazz". He replied "Go home and listen to this album, Jazz isn't just for saxophone players!". So I listened to it. Again and again and again and totally fell in love with that old Hollywood string sound. 🎥 Not only this, but the soloist is going to be ACSM's very own head of jazz and actual jazz LEGEND, Antonio Hart. This whole paragraph is ridonkulous and I need to move on before I actually lose it over all this amazingness. 🤩


My first baroque class

My Baroque performance practice teacher is very nice, and promises to bring sweets🍬 to these classes as they are three hours long and finish at 9.30pm......😴I haven't decided how I feel about this trade-off, but I'll let you know. Seriously though, she knows a heck of a lot about the subject, and I think these classes are going to be really interesting. We have to perform a fair bit, so I'm a little bit pre-worrying about being on top of all that repertoire, but I think I'm just not used to this much performance! (Performance class, Chamber music coaching, and Baroque class combined). I'm sure I'll get used to it once we're in the full swing of things. 🗓


In other news I went to see a concert at the Marcus Garvey park as a part of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival that happen late Summer across New York. I was going to see the Turtle Island String Quartet, a group I discovered a few years ago and have been curious to see live ever since. When I got there, it was a double whammy, because they were actually collaborating with legend Terence Blanchard and his band. If you don't know him, you may have heard the merry sounds of his trumpet in Disney's 'The Princess and the Frog'. But seriously go and check out his IMDB, he's done it all.


Now that it's September, the leaves are starting to turn here in NY🍁. Over the past few weeks we've managed to get our place looking more like a home. We have a coffee table, another sofa, 🛋 a cabinet which will eventually have a TV on it (see below for photo evidence of this taxi journey....)actual pots and pans to cook with 🥣and I have a desk to work at, from which I'm currently writing💻. The hunt for a nice second-hand dining table from which the legs easily detach (necessary for squeezing up our three flights of stairs) continues, so stay tuned!















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