What happened to Part II?

Well, I got busy and by the time I wanted to finish writing about my trip to California, I wasn't up for it. It was in the past. Basically, I did my best conducting to date at this workshop. The three teachers there, all of whom have a strong influence on the hiring of new conductors in the country, felt that I had great knowledge of the score, strong musical instincts, great potential.....and horrible technique. They had me work on technique the whole time. A lot of what I heard was different than what I'm used to. I've had three conducting teachers in my life. Two of them are disciples of the other one - I've pretty much have had one perspective. This gave me a lot to think about.

I made some great friends there. They were a lot more like the friends I have back at home rather than the ones I made in Illinois. We felt more comfortable about talking about anything - there were little or no worries about offending others or crossing lines and also, people were well versed culturally and could talk about anything we wanted especially when we got sick of talking about music.

In the end, I got invited back to the workshop for next year and I got a new reference that I can use. After doing some research, I've realized that this new reference can open some doors for me. I'm looking forward to the possibilities this may open up for me. So right now, it's all about finding a job.