"Life is like a piano...what you get out of it depends on how you play it."

These past few weeks have been great. I have really been put to the test with music this semester and the level of my artistry. I have been very satisfied with my ability to adapt quickly when a professor has an idea of how to change the music. This semester, I have already been given 2 extremely difficult chamber works; a Faure Piano Quartet and a Franck Piano Quintet. These piece really explore harmonic realms, making them very difficult to predict and play due to the frequent tonality changes. In addition, I am furiously trying to work on the first movement of the Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 5 (The Egyptian) because I entered the UF Concerto Competition, which happens to be next week. As of now, I still do not have a for sure accompanist and do not have the piece fully memorized, boy do I have my work cut out for me...On top of all of this, I am preparing for my junior solo recital, which is the pinnacle of my undergraduate studies as a music major in the Spring. I hope all of those reading this blog will be able to make it! It should be around an hour of music that I have been working on since being at the University of Florida.

While still on the music theme, I finally caved in and bought a violin online. I have always wanted to learn how to play my entire life and now I have the opportunity to. That being said, I spent a ridiculously low amount of the set of 2 bows, rosin, violin, case, and extra strings and have not had the best of luck in terms of instrument and sound quality. Either way, it works well for a beginner. Unfortunately, violin is not really an instrument you can "teach yourself", so I have been slowly asking some peers in the music college for advice because as of now, I can only play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Hopefully I will be able to get the hang of it sooner or later.

Last bit of information: I have finally found the perfect church for me after searching since my freshman year at UF. During my first year, I attended Gator Christian Life, then later tried Wesley, First Assembly, and now Anthem. Anthem is a great church that seeks to welcome everybody from all walks of life, no matter where they are in their spiritual journey (that sounded a bit like the Community Group plug at Cru). I'm very happy to have found a place I can attend regularly and would love to introduce anyone who is interested.

I might save more about this for another post, but I wanted to say I am relieved all the drama with the Dove World Outreach is over and Gainesville can be cleared of its title as the "Qu'ran Burning City". This whole event was a poor decision made by the church and was only escalated by the excessive media attention.

Here's some music I have been listening to lately:

Jonsi- Go
Brightwood
Brendan James
Philip Selway