LRSM Result

Michigan Autumn - There are days when I miss the seasons ...

Last week on Friday I received a text from the Conservatoire saying that my exam results were in. After getting through traffic after school, I was excited to receive my white envelope with attached results and certificate! I was convinced that I hadn't passed and was feeling very down about the exam all summer, especially after the Viva Voce ... and the fact that one of the examiners was a bit grumpy and had some problems with various schools around Kenya when examining. It also didn't help that I was quite ill the week before the exam and hadn't much time to practice with my accompanist. I guess after not as much work as I would have liked it was a really good feeling to get that white envelope! I didn't get a distinction this time, but I wasn't far off ... only a few more points for the distinction which meant that I passed convincingly and didn't just squeak by. That made me feel even better! The examiners didn't like my interpretation of the Siciliano by Bach, but they liked the Presto movement and absolutely loved my Mozart sonata and the Suk pieces. Funny ... I hated those ones the most!

Now comes the real work ... I need to buckle down and practice for my auditions. I mainly need to polish the Bruch and work on the 3rd movement which is the most unfamiliar, polish the Paganini caprices, polish the Bach sonata, and make a decision between learning a new sonata or polishing the Mozart. I've fallen in love with Prokofiev's Solo Violin Sonata in D and will definitely start working on it even if I don't use it for auditions. I need something new to learn!

The new job is great but I'm starting to get bored. It isn't as much work as Turi because it's a day school. Basically, my day finishes at 4:30pm and I'm free! I also have my weekends free! It's absolutely amazing and I have to say that resting and not working on the weekends can do wonders for a person. God really meant it when he said that we should rest every seven days! At this point in time, I feel refreshed on Mondays because I've been able to do what I want over the weekend and don't have to work. I've been trying to do all my work during the week because I have to relearn how to use weekends ...

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

- Psalm 62:1-2

Summer Music

Orchestra rehearsal at the Exmoor & Minehead Music Festival

This summer I had two very different music experiences. The first was participating in the Exmoor & Minehead Music Festival. I played violin in the orchestra and we had four concerts in six days with different repertoire for each concert. It was grueling and difficult work and I was stretched musically in many different ways. I was honored to be able to play alongside professional musicians from all over Great Britain, including musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

The second musical experience was attending a string orchestra course in Sherborne, England. I played under the baton of Robert Max, a professional cellist and conductor with the Royal Academy of Music and Oxford Symphony Orchestra. I made some very good musical contacts in Sherborne, including meeting Rodolfo Saglimbeni, one of the founding members of El Sistema in Venezuela and current conductor for La Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas. He invited me to come to Venezuela and observe the teaching with El Sistema there after I told him about the Kenya National Youth Orchestra and Ghetto Classics in Nairobi.

Performing at the Canford School of Music in Sherborne

Of these two experiences, I definitely would go back and attend the Exmoor & Minehead Music Festival again. It was far more stretching and I learned far more in one week there than I did in Sherborne, despite meeting some very famous people at the music course! I have come to realize that doing a music course in orchestral works doesn't stretch me. It's easy to sit back and not work hard in an orchestra if not everyone is up to a standard that makes you work! I believe that I am at the point where I need to do chamber music or individual master classes in order to grow musically in attending music courses. Hopefully this year I can continue working on my repertoire for a Master's degree and attend a different music course in the summer.

In other news, I start teaching at my new job next week! I am a bit apprehensive to be teaching more classroom music than I am used to, so prayers that everything would go smoothly and I would get to know the kids quickly would help!

I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself ... O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

- Psalm 89:2,8

Dress Code

A friend of mine recently posted this video on my Facebook page, saying that I was in it. This is a video from a Conservatoire of Kenya orchestra concert about a year ago and this piece was put together after the orchestra's tour to the coast. Overeager string players started jamming together in the evenings during the tour when someone passed out copies of Bach's famous Concerto for Two Violins in D minor. It eventually escalated to the point where it was good enough to go in the annual student's concert in August. I am not one of the soloists in this video, but I was leading the orchestra for this concert and was ashamed to be the only member of the orchestra that seemed to not follow the dress code. We were told to wear white and black in any combination, so I wore white on bottom and black on top. Nobody else did.

Bach Solo Sonata in G minor, I. Adagio

I finally uploaded my re-recording of the Bach Solo Sonata in G minor, first movement (Adagio). This was recorded using a Zoom Q3 which I would highly recommend! Hopefully I will be able to use this to help with auditions for a Master's degree.

Enjoy and please leave comments, suggestions, helpful tips, etc.!

Click here to watch it on YouTube.

Opportunity

Teaching in St. Andrew's

This summer has the potential to be packed with music making. I say "potential" because none of this is confirmed yet, but I am hoping to head off to the UK in mid-July to attend the Minehead and Exmoor Festival. I contacted the director, Richard Dickins (whom I have played under before) and he is putting me in touch with someone who can tell me whether or not they need violinists. You can check out more about the festival here.

I am also hoping to attend the Dartington Summer School for a chamber music course, as well as the Canford Summer School for a string orchestra course, both for one week each. Unfortunately, I found out about these slightly late, so my attendance depends on whether or not the schools will accept a late application and fee! It will be very exciting if I do get to attend!

On another note, my LRSM exam is this Saturday. I haven't been feeling very well for the past few days and am hoping that my performance doesn't suffer because of it. I did find an accompanist, thank goodness! We had a practice Sunday evening, but because I wasn't feeling well, I really am not sure how it went! I was lightheaded and really stuffy the whole time and it wasn't a pleasant experience for both of us! I do think the main thing to sort out is tempi and dynamics. Hopefully we will get two more afternoons of practice before the exam and we can work on that a little more! Please do remember me in your prayers on Saturday as I am sure I will be nervous! I feel as though I haven't prepared well for this exam. I had a good two months where I was practicing for three hours a day and doing well, and then work and other life caught up with me and I haven't practiced as hard since. I have finished my program notes but need to do a complete analysis of the pieces to make sure nothing is going to catch me out on the viva voce. Prayers and thoughts are much appreciated!

Please can you also remember my students at St. Andrew's as they will be doing their academic exams next week. Two weeks from then they will be taking their ABRSM exams and some of them are under a lot of pressure!

Funny thing, my devotional yesterday was all about music. I'll post some of it here:

Certain songs can only be learned in the valley. No music school can teach them, for no theory can cause them to be perfectly sung. Their music is found in the heart. They are songs remembered through personal experience, revealing their burdens through the shadows of the past, and soaring on the wings of yesterday ... Your Father is training you for a part the angels cannot sing, and His conservatory is the school of sorrows. Others have said that He sends sorrow to test you, yet this is not the case. He sends sorrow to educate you, thereby providing you with the proper training for His heavenly choir. In the darkest night He is composing your song. In the valley He is tuning your voice. In the storm clouds He is deepening your range. In the rain showers He is sweetening your melody. In the cold He is giving your notes expression. And as you pass at times from hope to fear, He is perfecting the message of your lyrics. O dear soul, do not despise your school of sorrow. It is bestowing on you a unique part in the heavenly song.

Lamb of Sorrows, what a Savior! Let us trust in Him when all seems full of despair and He will raise us up on eagle's wings to sing our song to the Father!

Changes

In January, I sent in my letter to the headmaster declining his offer to stay at Turi another year. I had various leads after deciding to leave Turi, but I had no idea where I was going to end up! I had an offer from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Nairobi Academy. Two weeks ago Friday, I had an interview with the head of Kenton College who immediately sent me an offer. This is for a two year contract at Kenton. This is very thrilling because A) Kenton is in Nairobi, B) Kenton is where Nairobi Orchestra meets, C) Kenton is a day school heavily involved in music and D) I can finally get involved in musical things that I couldn't get involved in while living upcountry. Very exciting times! The downside is that I have to find a flat in Kileleshwa ...

In other news, my LRSM exam is on June 4th, and I don't have an accompanist. :-( I'm waiting on one more person and if they can't do it either, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do! There is a shortage of piano accompanists in Kenya! Ay yi yi ...

My devotional had some wise words about waiting on the Lord the other day. "I once believed that after I prayed, it was my responsibility to do everything in my power to bring about the answer. Yet God taught me a better way and showed me that self-effort always hinders His work. He also revealed that when I prayed and had confident trust in Him for something, He simply wanted me to wait in an attitude of praise and do only what He told me. Sitting still, doing nothing except trusting in the Lord, causes a feeling on uncertainty, and there is often a tremendous temptation to take the battle into our own hands ... Spiritual forces cannot work while we are trusting earthly forces."