More School! 02/21/2011
 
Hey everyone!

I don't know about you all, but this is the most stressful I have ever been in my life!  Balancing four jobs, 18.5 credit hours of school, and 4-5 hours of practice a day isn't good for a person's health. 

On a lighter note!
Bethany and I performed for four hours at Chickfila in Greenwood for their Valentine's Day dinner!  It was quite a success!  The entire place was decked out in red, black, and white, and the employees were dressed in professional black and white.  There were yummy dessert plates with chocolate covered strawberries, cheesecake, and brownies.  The only downside: playing for four hours straight!  While it was fun to play together and to see people enjoying our music, we got tired very quickly.  Quick breaks were definitely in order.  However, we got through it all with flying colors and was able to let more people see what amazing, professional music we offer here at Fine Arts Connection!

In closing, here's some advice from an experienced college kid:  ALWAYS TAKE TIME TO EAT! 

Seriously.  It's not healthy not to.  If you have classes from 10-8 every day, take snacks.  Drink from a bottle of water.  But always have something in your tummy!  (Trust me...you may lose some weight by not eating, but you'll feel very sick and tired. Which isn't a good feeling to have 24/7).

So
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Good morning, afternoon, and evening to everyone!

Yesterday, November 6, 2010, was perhaps the most moving experience of my life (that I can remember--singing in Beethoven's ninth symphony was pretty fantastic, too).  The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performed Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony, and I felt like I could conquer the world as the conductor, the amazing Juraj Valcuha, led the orchestra to a very powerful climactic ending.  I wish I could relive that hour over and over again.  I suppose I'll have to settle for the compact disc version.

In other news, Bethany and I performed today at the University of Indianapolis as part of the Young Musicians and Dancers Concert.  Our repertoire was Ravel's Second Sonate for Violin and Piano (the same piece we performed in Kansas City, MO) and Dvorak's Second Romatic piece for Violin and Piano.  Videos will be posted on the site soon.

I will be performing Beethoven's Sonate Op. 14, No. 1, III Rondo, Allegro comodo this week, and after this week, many college students will be spending all their free time studying and cramming and hurriedly writing all those final assignments as this semester comes to a close soon.  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm already wanting to decorate the house with Christmas items and listen to Christmas music (oh wait...I'm already doing that).  And it's not even Thanksgiving yet! 

In closing, the only quirky yet helpful piece of advice or statement to amuse you all is what my fortune cookie told me last night: "Excitement and opportunities follow you wherever you go."
Whatever that means.  I suppose now I have to hire some brass players to follow me around all day playing Sousa.

Catch you all later!

Karen
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Hello there!
I'm Bethany, and this is my first (rather belated) post here on the Fine Arts Connection website.
Karen and I traveled to Kansas City, Missouri for the National Collegiate Honors Conference last week, and it was a great trip. We ate some great food, met some awesome people and generally had an awesome experience.
Our masterclass went well (video will follow soon), as did the masterclass showcase.
My favorite experience there was the Arts and Improvisation workshop that I participated in. The professor gave us abstract directions like "draw five lines. Now erase one. Now move one to a different part of the page." all while listening to music (mostly jazz). We were supposed to interpret the music through what we were drawing. I am not an artist, but it was so fun to be able to have the freedom to smash oil pastels and make a mess with watercolors and draw whatever I felt like without worrying about what was "right". The professor had us listen to John Cage's piece "4'33", which is basically a piece where there is no instruments playing. Here's a video of one performance of this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY&feature=related
I was talking to my composition teacher about this, and it was very interesting to think about this piece. My first instinct is to say "that is completely and utterly ridiculous", but in that room, listening to the sounds of pencils scratching and paper rustling, I really appreciated the sounds that I was hearing. I concluded that this piece is not about music, it is about appreciating the sounds that exist in this world, and that it draws attention to these sounds and allowed me to truly listen to my surroundings. It was quite moving to me. The picture I ended up painting for this piece was taking a white oil pastel crayon and smashing it to create a textured paper, and then putting brief flashes of color at various points on the paper. It was very inspiring to me to listen in a new way.
I found this very interesting as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y&feature=related
Anyway, we went, and now we are back, and it was a great trip!
Have a good week,
Bethany
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First Post! 10/13/2010
 
Hello to everyone!  This is the first of what we hope to be our weekly blogs, to keep you informed about what's going on and let you all get to know us a little more.

I am Karen, and I am the pianist of the Fine Arts Connection studio.  If you have yet to read my biography, then you should know that I am currently a piano student at the University of Indianapolis, one of my favorite composers is Beethoven (among many), and, most importantly, my favorite color is orange--only because it's bright and fun and gets people's attention!
Enough about me.  I'm not the only person who is a part of the Fine Arts Connection.  My good friend Bethany is the creator of this studio, and she will also be posting blogs about every other week.  We will be giving updates about any news going on that we think is interesting, as well as any advice we can think of to help young, aspiring musicians like ourselves, and to give seasoned musicians some refreshing (maybe even a bit funny) new ways to look at things.

One thing that is coming up soon--Bethany and I are traveling to Kansas City, MO to perform at the National Collegiate Honors Council!  We are performing Ravel's Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, second movement simply titled "Blues."  It's a very challenging piece--the chords require my hands to stretch beyond what I thought was possible and the pizzicato has caused Bethany's finger to bleed on some occasions.  But we like this piece very much and are very excited to have the opportunity to perform!  We will also be performing it at least two other times, both times at the University of Indianapolis.

I think this is it for the first-ever FAC blog!  We'll catch you all later!

KE

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