It's been a weird few days with a surprisingly low level of music in my life. Yes, I've still been practicing; Yes, I fooled around with the garage band program; and Yes, I am excited (so far anyway!) with the Popper etude that I got started on (because it's... Popper. and my first one ever.)! So perhaps it's more appropriate to say that I haven't been as available for or excited about music emotionally. I'm not sure why. :-/

I'm definitely living on the edge... financially anyway. It's gonna take me some time to recuperate from the Mac purchase (!@#$%). Ok, so that's it, I wanna play gigs! I've put this on the back burner before because I figured there are so many professionals and conservatory students in this town. However, as part of my "think positive" plan, now I am thinking: so what? what if I didn't graduate from NEC, CIM, or Curtis? It doesn't take a prodigy to play Ave Maria, really :)

Back to the Popper etude - ... #2 and it's already hard o.O.
The biggest problem is that there are just so many accidentals that I have a hard time knowing where I am tonally. There are too many instances of the hard-to-hear notes like G-flat, D-flat, and C-flat at the top of a large shift, and this is all the while trying to maintain smooth grace with the bow arm. :) But the occasional thumb position is cool. Oh Mr. Popper.

Personally, I don't know how many of the Poppers I can go through, given its reputation:

Popper's intention in composing the etudes in the Hohe Schule was to meet the needs of the virtuoso and to help his students deal with "…the technical problems which Popper had met in the music of…Wagner, Liszt, Berlioz, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, and Volkmann…"... Whether or not Popper intended it, the study of his Hohe Schule has now become a rite of passage for all cellists.

That's right. I glanced at some of the latter etudes; they are devilish.

On a random note, I bought a peach pie a few days ago. I keep eating just the crust though :D The peach and the syrup-y stuff inside is too sweet.