Pallet Town Ping Pont Festival! With music sometimes.

So the music festival finished yesterday, with our big concert being that one piece by that one guy. You know, that one.

This piece was actually ridiculously fun.  Some folks were terrified of the counting, especially in the last dance, but I'm pretty tank at odd meter, so it worked out.  As much as I didn't want to believe it at first, you can totally just get in the zone after a while, and not worry about screaming beats in your head... the piece has kind of a groove that's pretty easy to lock in to.  Anyways, the point is, I can say I've played this in front of people who paid to hear it now, and that is amazing.

So, a few of the observations about Festival this year: one, our trio is awesome.  McBoss, Firebird, and I were really making excellent efforts, connecting, and just having fun by the end of it.  I kind of want to see if they'd be willing to do a recording at some point over the summer, not to sell or anything, but as just kind of a demo to have on hand.  If nothing else, it could be the best YouTube recording, since I haven't found a professional one there, but I'm not a huge fan of putting my stuff online.

Quintet was pretty fun, though I did at times feel like we were rushing to get some things together near the end.  I don't remember the piece taking as long for the University quintet to get together, but that's probably just because that group only changes by maybe one member a year, and the Festival quintet had mostly just not played with each other before.  Still, it was a blast.  I feel like we got along better in this quintet than in the one in last year's festival.

Of course, I didn't play as well as I wanted to in the masterclass, but I wasn't expecting to blow people away.  I had been working on the piece for... probably just under a month, and I was playing it without piano, so I was rather nervous off the top, not taking a cue to come in.  Oh, and it was this.  On trumpet.

I had another lesson with Big Boss, and although he had a lot of great points that I'm going to try to focus on all summer to make them second nature, I'm glad to hear that it sounds like I'm improving.  I sometimes worry that I go long amounts of time without making a difference, but considering the things he suggested last year and the things he suggested this year, it sounds like he has a lot more confidence in me now, and I'm getting more confidence in myself, too.  Although I still worry about whether I'll be on par when I get to Viridian City, I'm feeling a little better about myself after this festival, which is much more than I can say about last year.

Hey, speaking of last year... this blog has been around for a year, hasn't it? *checks calendar* A year and a week, actually!  So, I totally missed the birthday, but I think I will end up celebrating it by kicking off a new mini-series, starting as soon as I have a free two hours some evening.

So, I noticed something after 'Vinsky last night... I miss having a musicology friend.  Empress went to the concert, and we chatted for well over half an hour in the lobby afterwards about random things... Beethoven and living in conservatories and Schoenberg yelling at Shirley Temple fans and playing things to make them sound like you're trying really really hard when you might not be... just, stuff.  And because of a certain someone having moved away, I don't get my musicology fix nearly as much as I used to, so that was... just nice, I guess.

Anyways, next time, the birthday kickoff, which will launch a nine-part series (they won't be back to back, they'll probably be between regular updates) that you REALLY don't want to miss.  Because it might involve Star Wars somehow.  I'm not entirely sure how, yet, but it will.