Barlow Endowment Day 1

These past few days, I have had the amazing opportunity to hang out with several modern composers of our day at the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. Everything that went on was so interesting to me and quite inspiring. I had so much fun doing this.

First off, I got this opportunity from BYU to be an intern for this competition. The Barlow Endowment is specific towards music composition and gives composers a chance to get their names out there as well as compete for a hefty prize (this year was $12,000 to write a piece for Piano Trio). So cool.

My job as an intern was to file all of the applications. As boring as filing and data entry is, this was really neat. I got to know composers better. I got so see where all of the applications were coming from and to see, in person, all of the music that was coming in. All of the applications were due by June 1, and we had everything filed away by the end of that first week in June.

After all the filing was done, I had to wait until the beginning of August where I was to be present at the judging of all of these applications. The judging took place at a beautiful resort at Snowbird. I thought it was really cool to take all the applications and to go far away into the mountains to judge everything. It was really nice and relaxing to be there, and it was absolutely beautiful (smack forehead because I forgot my camera!).

I will chronicle everything a day at a time because there was so much that happened in each day. This post would be forever long if I didn't.

I arrived in Snowbird on Sunday evening, August 1. The main thing we did was get a quick run-through of what we were supposed to do and then we set up the rooms with a sound system and the applications for the judging the next morning.

The morning came, and after a huge all-you-can-eat breakfast, all the interns and judges gathered in a room for a quick meeting. We were given a time frame for judging, some guidelines and then we headed to the rooms to get started.

This is where it gets interesting. Our first task was to go through the applications for the Prize, which is a $12,000 commission for a Piano Trio. There were four judging rooms, 8 judges, and about 82 prize applications per room. We had to get through them all and choose our top 4-6 before dinner time. That came to about

7 hours of judging! If you do the math, that gave us roughly 5 minutes per application. Some of the pieces that people would send in were anywhere from 5-60 minutes long, and they each sent in two pieces. That is quite a task to make a judgment call after hearing a piece for only a few minutes.

I learned so many things just being the intern that was helping out and basically staying out of the way of the judges. Here are some of them.

1. Direction - where is the piece going? What are you trying to do with the material? There were so many pieces that started, but never really went anywhere, whether that was staying with the same ideas as the beginning, or being stuck on the same chord in the end as in the beginning. Everything needed to serve a purpose and to lead the listen to something else.
2. Don't be afraid to enter - there were a lot of applications that were submitted. In turn, there were a lot that were really good, but in the end, only one winner could be picked. However, one of the judges I was with was a performer. He was writing down all sorts of names and contact information because he himself wanted to play the piece or he had some students that would like to play one of the pieces. Just because there is only one winner, that doesn't mean that the remaining 325 applications go unnoticed.
3. Cleanliness really is next to Godliness - the applications that came in that were neatly bound, printed on nice paper and were very clear and clean always got a little more time with the judges. If they took the time to mark where all the tracks were and pointed the judges to places that they should look at fared a lot better than those who didn't. Though it all comes down to the music and your compositional skills, presentation was a huge part that would catch the attention of the judges in the first place.

These are just a few things that I learned. The list goes on and this post would get longer and longer, and you would be inclined to read less and less. I know that happens to me when I don't have a nice picture to take a break on.

Well, this is basically all we did for the entire day. Saying that makes it sound so boring, but it was so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I've never been so exciting about composition before in my life. I heard so many great things in one day and it sparked my imagination in so many different ways. I just hope I can produce some things that can compare to what I heard.

Being Healthy is FUN!

So, my newest thing as of late has been my desire to make homemade meals and to make them look good and appetizing so that I don't dip into the foods that are going to make me feel icky. So, tonight, I got off of work about an hour early, was bored out of my mind, was really hungry, so I decided to make something. Here it is!

It didn't take very long to prepare and it was incredibly delicious (Lucky Charms theme, "they're magically delicious!" just went through my head. This meal, not "magically" but "incredibly." Could be "magically"...maybe...we'll see). There was a piece of halibut, my favorite fish, in the freezer so I cooked that up. Then some spinach with a delicious italian dressing (not too much!) and parmesan with a slice of watermelon on the side. YUM!

I love preparing my own food, especially when it turns out like this. Bon appetit!

My Newest Possession

While I was on my trip with my family to Denver, I acquired something unique and very interesting. It is a musical instrument that has seemed to have lost a lot of respect over the years, though it is making a huge comeback in European music, especially that of the Russian variety. I acquired a beautiful Scandalli accordion, made sometime in the 1930's, that has had very limited use and is practically perfect in physical structure and appearance. Check it out!

(oooOOOoooh! Italy. Nice.)

This baby can really produce a lot of sound and it sounds amazing. This accordion was sitting in my grandparents house for decades. It has been untouched and unplayed for about quite some time now. When we went over to visit them, this is how the first moments went with my grandpa...

"Hi grandma! Hi grandpa!"

"Well, it looks like you made it all right."

[firm grandpa handshake]

"Yes we did."

"Come with me."

"Ok."

"I want you to take this. It has been sitting here in the closet

and hasn't done anything. I thought that you might like it

and maybe would do something with it."

"AWESOME! Thanks grandpa! This is so cool!"

: : :

There you have it. That is how fast I acquired it and how fast grandpa was ready to give it away. He must have been thinking about it for weeks before we even came over (he told me he wanted to give it to me over the phone, but I had no idea that this would be the first thing that would happen when I got there). But, nonetheless, I am really grateful that he did give it to me. I am fascinated by it. I've tried playing a couple of times, but have no idea in this world how it is done. I'll have to look up some things and get working on my favorite Russian pop song. Why is it my favorite? Easy. It uses accordion with a white Russian guy rapping about his black BMW, and how it gets him all the ladies, and the dancing is quite stellar in the video. Just saying. It's pretty awesome.

My Newest Obsession

Yes, I have a new obsession. It used to be an interest a few years back, but quickly died because the price of this obsession was far more than I could ever afford. It all started when I saw my first racing bucket seat. Not just any bucket seat, but one that was made out of carbon fiber. There started my interest in it.

What is carbon fiber? Let me tell you as far as I know. Carbon fiber is a fabric that is woven from extremely thin strands of carbon atoms. These carbon atoms bond together and form these strands. I don't know how, but because of the way that they bond together, it gives the strands a high strength. When many are woven together, this creates a fabric or a sheet that is both very strong and extremely light weight. Random fact, a single strand of carbon fiber is about 5-8 micrometers in diameter. The average diameter of a human hair is about 80 micrometers. That's significantly smaller, yet it is much, much stronger. Pretty cool.

Of course, I don't have the money to purchase carbon fiber pieces and parts for my car, as the prices run high. Nor would I put anything carbon fiber in my car because it would seem out of place and would serve no real purpose. This all happened about 2 or 3 years ago. I quickly brushed away this thought because of the depression that occurred, knowing I had no money and my car was not up to carbon fiber standards.

Until...

I discovered carbon fiber film. This is vinyl that has the appearance of carbon without the cost of it. The best part about it, is that it is not just a print that looks like carbon fiber. It has an actual three-dimensional texture that reflects light the same way real carbon fiber does. So cool!

I quickly discovered that there were so many uses for this other than in a vehicle. Check it out.

That's right. My light switches in my room! Isn't that just so cool? I love it. What says manly more than a light switch that looks like it's made of carbon fiber? I'm still trying to think of other things that I can "carbon fiber," so if you have any ideas, let me know.

In addition to finding this awesome vinyl, I also found other household and common products that are made out of real carbon fiber. Check it out. There's some very fun and practical stuff there.

Time to Get Fit!

The week before graduation happened, I decided that my goal for the summer was to get in the best shape of my life. I know that this is the goal of half the people on the planet for their summer plans or New Years' resolution, however, this is a real one and it is going to happen. I'm sick and tired of being so insulated, though it is nice for the winter season. I have decided to trade it in for something a little harder, stronger, better sculpted, and far more attractive.

I have decided to give my try at P90X. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Wow. You got sucked right into that infomercial. Sucker." Although that may be partially true, it is not entirely true and therefore false. I did extensive research on the topic and read hundreds of reviews and what not before I took the plunge. So, unless everything I read is wrong and misleading, yes, I am a sucker. But I don't think so.

I started off the program by taking the embarrassing pictures of me with my shirt off in several poses. I will not post those until I have the final results at the end of the ninety days just to leave you all in suspense. One thing you can rest assured about is that I will complete all ninety days of it and I'm not going to skip a single one. If not, you all have permission to come and smack me and laugh hysterically in my face to your heart's content.

Right now, I am on day 25, and things are looking good. That's all I'm going to say. You'll hear back from me in 65 more days with my results. You can count on this one. This is going to be the best summer yet...

Graduation

April 22 and 23 marked two of the biggest days of my life. I graduated from college! For me, this is a huge accomplishment. While in school, I always had the feeling that there was no end in sight and I would be in school forever. Well, after 5 years of Brigham Young University, I received my Bachelors Degree in Music Composition. This finally marked the end of my undergraduate career.

What are the pros of being a graduate? Let me tell you.

First off, if you are a music major at BYU, you get a fancy pink tassel! Check it out! The majority of people get either a white one or a yellow one. That's a music major perk.


Secondly, I am now a member of the BYU Alumni and get to reap the benefits of that, whatever they are. Maybe I should check it out and learn what it is all about.

Thirdly, I get to say the I am graduated. How much more snooty can I get than when someone asks, "are you in school?" Ha! I'm graduated. Didn't see that coming, did you! I guess there are more snooty things such as "I have a Masters" or "I'm a Doctor." I'm working on that.

The cons...

Well, I either have to do more school or grow up and find a real job. I've opted for more school. I have been accepted into the Masters program at BYU in Music Composition. Right now, I have in mind going the whole nine yards to get my doctorate. Well, I guess that all really isn't a con because I enjoy being in school. So, I guess there are only pros right now. Win!

It Happened...a while ago...

You can tell how excited I am to tell all of you about one of my first big achievements, which happened about a month ago. The reason I waited so long was to keep you all in suspense of when I was going to post about it. Well, wait no longer because here it is!

My car did make it to 200,000 miles! It didn't croak a few miles before it was supposed to happen. It happened right after the afternoon session of LDS General Conference (check it out if you missed it. Amazing!). It happened at the perfect time as well.

I knew that it was going to roll over soon, so after conference, Kristin, Josh and I all got in my car and drove around for a few minutes until it finally ticked over. As soon as it hit 199,999, we all got really excited because we knew that it would soon tick over. But when was it going to do that? The suspense was killing us.

When's it going to change?

We were driving along 500 West, turned right on to Bulldog Boulevard and waited until it ticked over. As I was driving, the light ahead of me turned red and I thought, "wouldn't it be awesome if it ticked over as soon as I stopped?" As soon as I thought this, we came to a stop and sure enough, when I crept to a stop, it ticked over. 200,000 miles! [insert celebration here. See celebratory pictures below] This was also perfect timing because I could easily pull out the camera and snap a couple of shots of the odometer.

200,000! Woot!

                                                (excited!)                                       (excited!)

(mission accomplished! yes!)

Way to go Corolla. Keep going strong. I'll see you at 300,000.