Trip to California - Part I

I've been busy graduating and stuff. Stuff being preparing for a conducting workshop in Bakersfield, CA. Here's what went down day by day.

5/23 - At the last minute, I got an early ride into Chicago. This meant that I had to find a place to stay at the last minute. I ended up staying with a conductor friend who just won a big job in Winnipeg. I got up early in the morning and decided to kill time at the Art Institute of Chicago, take advantage of the free Tuesday thing, before I had to make it to Midway. I was surprised at how much of the museum I got to see. I made to the airport with more than enough time to get some studying in.

I got a great deal on Frontier Air at the last minute. I've never even heard of them. I thought that they were some ghetto-ass airline just scraping by. Actually, they're kinda like the new Southwest - cool amenities, great service and such. Plus, it's been a good decade and a half since I've been on a flight with hot flight attendants. Each seat had a TV, we got drink service twice, and they gave Sunchips and Doritos instead of peanuts.

I had a connecting flight out of Denver. The second leg of this trip was the most memorable flight I've ever had. It was a clear day, not a cloud to be seen. Of course, we flew over the Rockies and I just glared out my window the whole time. I made to interrupt my studying when we were flying over the Grand Canyon. Wow! A bird's eye view of two of America's great natural wonders within the span of hours!

Now we get to the strange part. This guy in his 50's asks to sit next to me. I get weird vibes from him so I let him and I just bury my head into Mozart 41 with my cd player blaring into my ear. He starts bugging me. Apparently, he's a composer who studied with Leon Kirchner at Harvard (believable) and with Milhaud in Paris (not so believable since he completely mispronounced his name!). I get even more suspicious. Since Brandeis and Harvard share faculty and that Brandeis's music department was modeled after Harvard's, I decide to ask him very specific questions about Harvard's program. I get very vague answers from him and sometimes, he didn't know what I was talking about. Who the fuck is this guy? Is he trying to pick me up? After my five years in Baltimore, I've become much more sensitive to subtle attempts by gay men trying to pick me up. So anyways, the guy gives me his number and E-mail. I only give him my E-mail. I think I just gave him my school account which will expire soon anyways. He then goes back to his seat. Weird.

As we get close to LAX, I see first hand at how bad the LA suburban sprall is. It's appalling - more on that later.... Anyways, LAX is a dump. Before I've left my terminal, I've already seen a dearth of plastic surgery and fake breast jobs. I have a little less than an hour before my bus so I head over to the international terminal for dinner. What a fucking zoo! I've never been in a busier airport terminal! I grab a bite of some pretty fucking good Mexican food and wait for my bus. The bus arrives 20 minutes late. I was freaking out until then thinking I had missed the bus or something. Anyways, as I leave the airport, I start to see that LA is everything that I suspected it to be. First, out of the airport, all I see ismiles and miles of hotels. After that, strip malls. All the buildings have an extra level of glitz, whether it's a warehouse or a movie theatre. As if you didn't need any reminders that Hollywood's close by. I get a call from an old college friend and we make plans for the Tuesday after I'm done. I try to get more studying in but I'm too tired. I get to my hotel in Bakersfield and I watch ESPN until I fall asleep.

5/24 - I miraculously get up at eight in the morning. I get some studying in before I waste more time in front of the TV. For the first session, we get a choice to conducting either Brahms 4th Symphony or Mozart Jupiter Symphony. I can't decide! I know the Mozart better but it's harder to conduct. I decide to spend some quality time with the Mozart and it paid off. I start seeing all these things that I never saw before. The problem with Mozart is that his music is incredibly complex and subtle at the same time. Something is always changing in his music. In order to make Mozart sound interesting, one has to find all these subtle changes, figure out how to highlight them and not overdo it. I start finding all these suspensions and pedals to bring out, really cool voice leadings (gotta love Schenker!). Finally, the piece makes sense as an interpretive whole!

I decide to spend some time with the Brahms only to realize how much of the Brahms I don't know. After much frustration and Sportscenter, I decide to go downstairs and have an overpriced lunch in the hotel's "bistro". Only later, I discover that almost everything in Bakersfield is overpriced. After a nap and some more studying, I get dressed for the reception. I meet my friend downstairs. She has already met two of the other conductors so we proceed to walk over to the club where the reception's being held. Gradually, we run into more and more conductors.

Suddenly, I realize the one thing I hate the most about conducting - the corporate like culture it seems to steep itself in. One of the reasons I decided to go into music was because I wanted to avoid all that bullshit but here we are at a meet and greet that totally belongs in a sales conference. Puke! I get a huge blast of this form of BS from this very butch and self-confident conductor from Ohio. She's oozing so much fake persona out of her that she comes across as being soulless. Plus, she's wearing these disgusting cargo pants with every single pocket filled to the brim, which she proceeded to wear every single except the one day she actually resembled a conductor on the podium. She starts boasting about her career and how she's been to this workshop for four years now. So I meet a few more people like her, not quite as bad, and I feel despair about my career choice. Only after all the introductions, I meet people more my speed. Don't get me started on the introductions - again think sales conference. I meet the teacher that's running the workshop. He knows one of my music professors here at the U of I very well. Great ice breaker. After meeting some more interesting conductors, I feel a sense of relief that socially, I'll be just fine as long as I avoid certain people.

I look at the schedule and see that I always conduct on the second session. This means I have another day to decide on what to conduct. I didn't quite know what to expect from the other conductors at the first session. A close friend of mine told me that the level of conducting is really low and that the orchestra is not very responsive. Another friend told me that my other friend is full of shit. Then, I hear that the level this year is much higher. At the first session, the level of conducting seems promising but I was shocked at the lack of preparation on the part of these conductors. The teachers don't ease into it. Very soon into the workshop, they already start laying into people. I finally decide to do the first movement of the Mozart the next day after seeing how the first day went. After hanging out at the bar with some of my new friends, I head back to my room. I practice a little bit and become distraught at how it went. I try to get my mind off things by numbing the mind to what the TV has to offer....