Wind Symphony: A Mission in Miniature

Being in Wind Symphony is one of my greatest blessings and joys. Not only do I get to experience awesome music, but I get to interact with incredible people. This past year, I've really worked on paying attention to the other instruments in the band, and I tell you what . ..something about listening as a whole really makes me feel even more involved in the group.
Perhaps something that you don't know is how I prepared for the opportunity of being in Wind Symphony this year. Knowing that this would be another touring year, I was excited for the prospect of having another wonderful tour experience of literally sharing our joy of music through the Gospel.
But, I did have my doubts. Although I was playing my instrument all summer long, during late summer when I received the music for the auditions for ensembles, I wondered if I would be placed in the Wind Symphony for the third year in a row. Because of our rigorous schedule in Nauvoo, I knew I wouldn't have much time to practice the audition music, and I knew there were several better players than me who were also auditioning. But this being my last year in a band (most likely), I wanted to end with a bang, I guess. I didn't pray so hard to be in the Wind Symphony just because I wanted to visit Korea and Japan. I prayed so hard because I wanted to be a part of Wind Symphony to experience friendships with my peers in such a way that can only be experienced through three weeks of traveling together. I wanted to meet and experience other cultures; I wanted to meet and influence other children of God that I had yet to meet. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself--something that has the power to express our joy and love of the Gospel without using any words at all. I prayed so hard because I wanted to be a missionary again. Maybe I wanted a way to have a part of Nauvoo again, only with a significantly larger missionary band. Perhaps my spiritual preparation is what allowed me to be a part of Wind Symphony this year, despite my limited physical preparation as a practiced in our furnace of a basement in our Nauvoo house wearing a T-shirt and bloomers. With that thought in mind, I have a feeling that the greatest joys of this Wind Symphony tour will not be tangible souvineirs, pictures, or memory books from Asia. I can only imagine that the greatest joys from this tour will be the moments when I get chillbumps from playing the music, the moments of accomplishment when I nail that difficult passage of music. The greatest joys will be the time spent in the Seoul Temple and the moments when audience members come up to us with tears in their eyes because they loved our music so much.
How beautiful is it then to realize that for me, this year of Wind Symphony began and will end as I serve as a missionary. Regardless of my limited practice time last summer, the Lord blessed me because of my service in Nauvoo. And I'm hoping that the people and opportunities I come in contact with in Asia are only just a foreshadowing of the greater joys and blessings I will experience in Peru. Perhaps it's not coincidental that I received my mission call on the day of our last concert, or that Dr. Peterson announced my mission call to the entire audience that night.
So, as I'm beginning to pack my bags to leave the States for a few weeks, know that I am more blessed than you can ever imagine. The Lord does answer prayers in such amazing ways like only He can.

What I Do When I'm Bored

I have been so lazy today. I decided that it's been so long since I've been lazy by myself that . . . .well, I haven't mastered the art of being lazy by myself yet. Today, I went to the temple, and then I practiced my band music for an hour and a half, bought a couple new shirts at the bookstore and ate lunch on campus. Then I went home and took inventory of my mission clothes.

Then I watched TV for about 3 hours, took a 1.5 hr nap on the couch (I drooled a lot), and then watched another hour of TV. And it's only 9:00, and I'm still bored . . . ..I still have a couple things on my "before tour" list to do, but I can do most of them later in the week. And I'm going to the temple again tomorrow, too. And I need to practice some more tomorrow, too. Then Thursday, we have 9-5 rehearsals. Yay! I get to see people again! I'm excited.

Meanwhile . .. I don't know what to do when I'm bored .. . ..

The Good Things in Life . . ..

My roommate made me a whole display of 21 cupcakes for my birthday. And it was complete with a foil "Happy Birthday" sign hanging down from our light above the table.

I went to the Draper temple.

I absolutely loved every part of it. Check out the girls on the front row. Do we look alike or anything?

Here's the latest edition of SibDin, celebrating the April birthdays. Oh, and Mom was here, too. =) Remember the giant birthday cup? Well, it broke, but if you look rill close at Natalie's place, you can see the new replacement. When did we start doing SibDin anyway? We should keep edition numbers like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does for Music and the Spoken Word.

And here's what you probably know already. Except now I know how to actually pronounce "Trujillo" when I'm not rill nervous. =)

Of course, there's other good things, too. I just don't have pictures of them. General Conference. Our last Nauvoo party. Our Easter program. The end of finals that is finally approaching. Basically, life is just rill rill good. =)

Program Notes

Life: A Brief Compositional Sketch
by Rebecca Blake

This composition is a continual work based on the experiences, ambitions and dreams of my life. It is fully integrated with influences from family, friends, mentors and teachers of the past 21 years, although the duration of the entire piece neither begins nor ends. The musical score is not written down, yet the lyrics can be found in journals and blog entries. The unique elements of this piece are intended for the composer as the performer; in essence, it cannot be performed by anyone else.
The instrumentation varies depending on the emotion of the moment. Friends are orchestrated for wind band, while humility and emotional fervor are expressed in a full orchestra. Occasional chamber instrumentation depicts laughter, and solo instruments usually denote a sense of accomplishment. Other instrumentations (stake or ward choirs) are plugged in for unique adventure. Whatever the instrumentation, the timbre is always vibrant and full of a wide variety of color.
Performer must be tuned in with the Spirit. Tempo changes should be continuous from one element to the next without ceasing. Meter should be followed with a strict schedule and punctuality, although an occasional late entrance is permitted. Articulation, form, and texture vary as determined by the performer, but they are never stagnant. Dynamics are determined as occasion permits, although piano is usually reserved for moments of prayer and reflection. Accompaniment and harmony are busy, yet understandable and enjoyable. The melody is constantly on a search for beauty and fulfillment; let it soar above the busyness of the secondary parts. There is no double bar line to this work; it continues to live and develop with the goal of perfection and approval of the Master Composer.

Japanese Cuisine

I may just be very hungry for three weeks in May. Here's why.

Em, Hilda, and Gin and I went out to eat during the Priesthood Session of Conference. We went to Hibachi House to eat, and although Emily had eaten there before, she thought it was a Chinese place. I was excited to find out that it was Japanese food. Yes, a chance to get my first real taste of what I'll be eating in Asia! In my language study groups, we've been learning how to order foods at a restaurant, so once I found something on the menu that we had learned in class, I wanted to order it .. .even if I didn't quite know what it was.

So, I ordered Miso soup, and I even tried ordering it in Japanese (Miso shiru onegai ishimasu), and cucumber rolls. The lady said, "Miso soup, you mean?" Well, yeah. Then, I tried asking how much it cost, "Ikura desu ka?" and the guy responded in English. And I got weird looks when I said "Arigatoo gozaimas" (thank you). So much for speaking Japanese! They must've thought it was a little weird that I was trying to speak Japanese in an Americanized Japanese restaurant.

The soup was basically broth with tofu, seaweed and onions, and it wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't great either. It was my first taste of tofu, which is weird stuff if you ask me. I remember learning about it on the Food Network; it takes on the texture and taste of what it's cooked with. I guess the rest of the soup wasn't very good because the tofu tasted funny.

The cucumber rolls were basically sushi without the fish. I hate cooked fish; really, you think I'd like raw fish? I don't think so. The rolls weren't bad, although the seaweed texture is a little weird. Obviously I still have a lot more practice with chopsticks to do. After several tries, I finally picked up one roll with the sticks, but then it plopped big time in my soy sauce/wasabi mixture, which added to the weirdness of the taste. So, I wasn't eating much of what I ordered, so I went back to order some beef kabobs; those can't be harmless, right? Well, the first two beef chunks were alright, but then I realized that the beef wasn't cooked all the way through .. .like at all. So, I ate the peppers and the pineapple.

So, I was the most adventurous of the group, but I ended up eating the least. Go figure. Good thing I'm going to Peru on my mission-Peruvian food is rill good! And rill substantial, too. =)

Peruvian Night Out

Tonight my friends Ali and Cheryl and I went to eat at a Peruvian restaurant called Se llama Peru. Ali was born in Peru, and even though she was adopted and grew up in the States, she's been back to Peru a couple times. In fact, she's even going to Lima this summer while I'll be in the MTC there. She told me all about Peru . .the weather, the people, the shops. She even had pictures to show me. I'm rill rill excited!=)
I had a great time at the restaurant. I laughed that the menu had pictures of everything, just so there are no surprises when you order. We ordered Inca Kola, which is basically the golden cola in Peru. I think it tasted like bubble gum. Ali and I ordered lomo saltado; she got steak, I got chicken. It was a chicken dish with grilled onions and tomatoes. The biggest kick I got out of the food is that rice and french fries are served with everything! And the french fries aren't on the side like they are in America; they're part of the dish. Seems like a weird combo, huh? By the end of my meal, I learned to like the taste of french fries drenched in meat and onion grease. Mmmm, yummy! It was rill rill good. And very filling, too. The three of us only know limited Spanish, so paying for our food was a little challenge for us because the guy hardly knew how to speak English. Oh, and there was a telenovela playing on the TV in the background. And we listened to latino music in the car on the way there. And I grabbed a Spanish newspaper on my way out to freshen up my reading skillz. When we got home, we watched The Emperor's New Grove to celebrate Cuzco and Peru. We really wanted to watch it in Spanish, but it only had options in English and French of all languages. Oh well . . .we still liked it.
One of my friends called me a Peruvian princess today; I guess with all this celebration tonight, I really felt like one! =)

Once a Day

I've been out of control with the mailbox lately. Just today, I checked it four times: once when I got home for lunch, and then when I was leaving back to school. I got out of band early today, so I had just enough time to go home, check the mail, and promptly turn around to go to work. I got off of work early, so I had just enough time to go home, check the mail, and promptly turn around to go back to campus to take a test. Okay, so we got no big fat pieces of mail at all today (not even junk mail or newspaper ads), so the first couple times I checked was just to make sure that the mail had even come that day. Most likely, my mission call won't come until next week, but in the meantime, I am only allowing myself one visit to the mailbox a day. This is out of control.