End of module 1 and Deaf composers

Today we finished our first class or module. In this program we complete a class per month rather than take 4 classes at once for the whole semester. It's very nice. Theoretically we finished yesterday, as thats when we had our finals but were still required to come in today to present our final group project to the entire program (we split up into four classes based on language comprehension level). Our final group project was to tell a childhood story, like goldilocks and the three bears, and adapt it Costa Rican style. Of course we chose the three bears, and we had two 'foreign exchange' girls staying at our house. We had to explain to them the shower, as showers here are backwards, the less you turn it on the hotter it is but less water pressure, and the further you turn it on the colder it gets with higher water pressure. As well as throwing used toilet paper into the garbage by the toilet, not down the sewage system. Then the bedrooms, those are exactly the same in the states except everything is tiled instead of carpet because its easier to clean and my host family cleans the floors every day to keep the bugs out. And finally goldy chose food. First were platanos dulces, fried sweet plantain, then sopa negra, a soup made out of black beans, water, cilantro and eggs, sometimes with veggies. And finally but the most important staple of Costa Rican food, Gallo Pinto. This is black beans and rice cooked together with 'flavors' also known as onion, garlic, celery, sweet chilies, a special sauce and some 'complete seasoning' this is also typically served with a salsa of tomatoes, onion and cilantro.

Overall the production went really well and we won best comedic play.

We got out of class a little early and I went to go talk to Janiva, the SOL program director, about adding tutoring onto my class-load. I want to be tutored in both medical and musical terminology and tutoring 1-1 with a professor only costs $12/hour here! Waiting to hear back, will keep you updated.

I also had another lesson with Isabel on Wednesday (of which I had to leave my bassoon at her house overnight because I was going to get my allergy shots at the hospital in downtown San Jose, not the best place). On Wednesday we talked a lot about musicality. I'm preparing a Bach cello suite Courante and leave it to me to play everything exactly like a robotic etude. We are continuing to work on scales and she told me to move onto Milde 2  and bump up Milde 1 to 90bpm.... thats a fast boi.

I've been struggling lately with the want to practice. When I get home from school for the past few day's I haven't wanted to do anything other than nap or watch Netflix. Which is okay but I have another lesson next week that I already feel super unprepared for and I'm trying to revamp the Marriage of Figaro bassoon audition excerpt to apply to the National Music Festival by February 10 and oh lord thats super rusty.... but the other option is the Beethoven 4 mvmt IV fast solo which in my opinion is also terrible to play.... I have a theory that he wrote such difficult things for bassoon and contrabassoon because he didn't know how terrible it sounded.


Anyway I practiced for a bit today (probably only an hour), maybe we can try again tomorrow,
EM

I also wrote this without my glasses, good luck!

I'm in Costa Rica for half a year?

Long time no see? I know I'm terrible at keeping up with this but I'm currently studying abroad for a semester in Heredia Costa Rica. My 'scholarly focus' here is Spanish, I'll be taking advanced Spanish 1 and 2, a class on culture and a class on Spanish literature. They do things a bit differently here, with this program I'll be taking a class per month from 8a-11a every day and a different class in 4 weeks. But normally in Costa Rica kids are still on 'summer' break. They take their long break from school in the winter because it's cooler and during the dry season. Their school starts up in March.

While I'm down here I have the amazing opportunity to study bassoon with Isabel Jerimas. She has German training from Karlsruhe Musikhochschule and received another degree from the University of Kansas and a speciality in baroque bassoon from the ESMUS in Cataluña Spain. I basically stalked her last year at IDRS as she was one of the judges for the Fox Gillet and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi competition previously. I tracked her down and asked if I could study with her in the winter and she said yes, so we came into contact on facebook and later Whatsapp as that is the best way to communicate here. I messaged her when I arrived in Costa Rica and we immediately set up our first lesson.

Keep in mind I'm coming from not playing all of winter break, as I take it off to remain a sane human, and the first day she assigns me Milde etude 1 with her correct fingerings and venting on all tenor A,B and C's, the Courante of the third Bach cello suite and all of the first movement of Mozart bassoon concerto AS WELL AS all of my major and minor scales.

Now thats where this gets tricky(Kathy if you're reading this I totally feel for you learning moveable Do).  In the US we use this crazy thing called moveable Do, as in solfege. This is where if you play a Bb major scale (or minor) Bb is Do. But here in Costa Rica and almost everywhere else around the world (like the metric system) they use fixed Do. Meaning that Do is always and forever the note 'C' no exceptions at all. Seems cool right? Try learning it not in your native language. PLUS they don't really say Bb major scale they will say Si bemol or si sostinido bemol and so on, its a bit much to get... BUT I REALLY WANT TO!


More to come because every day is an adventure!
EM