Audition Day!

I've got half an hour until my warm up time. I was looking for a restroom, but instead found the computer lab, and I'm not one to pass up free internet.

The end of the workshop went very well. We were supposed to add a couple of things and finish up our group composition by noon, in time to break for lunch. Instead we ended up working on it until the very end of the workshop at 4:30. So whatever we were going to do after lunch, never got done. It was interesting though, how they put the whole composition together. We had a large beginning groove that the leaders had written and arranged for our instrumentation, then we had broken up into groups, written two more melodies and a B and C section. By the end of the morning session each individual group had written a third part. For instance: I was in the B section group. On Saturday we had written a repeating bass ostinato figure, chord progression, and solo over the top. On Sunday we added a theme for the winds and strings to play while the rest of our section went on the same. It added so much, I got to listen to that part of the recording and it was amazing sounding. The whole composition ended up being about 20 minutes long, and I played nearly the whole time. My left arm is in quite a bit of pain now, because I am stupid. Oh well.

After our workshop ended a bunch of folks went out to a local pub, but the conversation was rather stilted and we all suddenly realized that we were each other's competition, which was no fun. I don't envy the leaders who will be making the admissions decisions, there are about 23 people auditioning and *maybe* 8 spots. So just about 1 out of 3 will get in. Oi. But no, not thinking about that yet, I still have 15 minutes before my warm up...

After the ill-fated pub gathering I started to walk back to the pub station, but A: got distracted by the Roman wall sitting randomly next to a metal gate, and B: got distracted by a small garden. So I took some pictures of the wall (amazed by the fact that it has just been worked around. It is old! Save it! Though, I guess there are so many old things in London...) and then went into the garden.

The garden turned out to be the communal graveyard of three churches- but it is smack dab in the middle of London, so of course it was bombed to pieces during World War II. Anyhow, they have turned the old headstones into flower bed edgers...I was amazed, and then love the idea. There was also a wall of glazed ceramic tiles that read like virtuous Darwin Awards: " so-and-s0; aged 11 years, drowned saving two unknown boys while skating at the park." That isn't a good example...some were really quite funny. In a sweet sort of heartbreaking sort of way.

At that point I realized that I was right next to St. Pauls and therefore right next to the millennium bridge, so I went for a walk. Unfortunately for me I remembered the bridge and the eye as being much closer to each other, so it ended up being an unexpectedly long walk. To pass the time, I played: "spot the American"

Here are some things I noticed:
Cowboy boots: definitely not American, probably Japanese.
Skinny jeans on boys older than 14: definitely not American, anything but American
Northface jackets: American
twirling hair: American
Men wearing scarves as an accessory: not American
Sorority girl makeup: American. Americans are apparently the only ones who try to make the entire face the same shade, everyone else allows for gradation in color. Notice, I didn't say "bottle blond hair" or "heavy makeup" but specifically sorority girl makeup.

off to go warm up, I'll let you know how today went later.