(2nd) First Day Of Class

Today was the first day of classes here at UW-Madison--or rather, my second first day, if you count last year. It was a lot less stressful than that first day a year ago; I didn't have to wander around Humanities looking for my professor's studio, I knew exactly how long it would take to walk up Bascom Hill, and I had friends in every one of my classes.

I have music theory--still known officially as Musica Practica--at 8:50 every day, and while I dearly miss our professor from last year, I think our new professor (Herr Professor Doktor, as he introduced himself) will be quite fun. The advantages of Musica Practica 2: no homework, no quizzes, no midterm, no textbook. Just two papers and an open-book final (which means bring your notes, because there's no book). Aural Skills is the same drill as last year, with discussion and singing/transcription tests. Something tells me this is going to be a tricky course, but I love theory and I expect lecture to be the highlight of my week again this year. (We'll be singing in class tomorrow, probably solo, so I practiced this evening. I have a dreadful cold, and I think I'm a tenor right now...)

We all felt a bit like Hogwarts students, and the subject matter is as close to magic as it gets (though what goes on in the fusion reactor down in Chamberlain is pretty magical too). I have two more new classes tomorrow, Music History and Music Technology. Music Tech is taught by my piano teacher, who I'm always happy to see, and it will be fun to do something a little different. Apparently at the end of the semester we'll be scoring music for an animated film, working in Logic Pro.

I had a nice visit with my piano professor this morning as well. It was great to connect with him again; he's very excited about Taubman technique, which he's absorbed a little but never studied formally. He agrees that it's probably the most promising for not only recovering from tendonitis but expanding and improving my technique over the next year. It will be interesting to see what barriers I can overcome. I had expressed my doubts about pursuing the performance major at all, but I feel very much reassured that there are people here who care and understand. I don't know how common it is to have a professor who is willing and (apparently) excited to work through this process with me, to learn with me.

This is not to say that I'm totally healed and guaranteed to succeed this year--I expect my academics and my music to be just as demanding as ever, but also just as exhilarating and rewarding. I'm getting smarter about how to be a student, how to practice, how to learn. My work will have a different flavor this year--I plan to use my brain more this time, rather than expecting hours of practice to do the work for me. In a way, six or seven hours of practicing a day was lazy. I'm starting to get a glimmer of a different approach, a successful approach to studying music. It's a mental breakthrough almost akin to my first discovery of Buddhism, a glimpse of a method of doing things that actually seems right. Of course I am bound to make many more mistakes and come up against all sorts of new obstacles. But I feel stronger, both spiritually and psychologically, ready to work and explore and meet whatever challenges come my way.

And if you've actually read all of that, you'll be as tired as I am. I'm off to bed, pretty sure I'm going to be a hoarse tenor at best tomorrow morning, but that's okay. I like tenors.