An interesting week

Due Corde just won the Trinity College of Music Early Music Competition.
For the first time the competition had a prelim and final round and with exam times coming up the timing was not the best. But even so we had fun and were able to bring across the passion, fun and madness of Corelli and Castrucci. Next up are finals, an audition and another competition... and of course the rest of life ;)
The last week has been really exiting and varied. In total I had the opportunity to play in two competitions this week.
The most important aspect of a competition is really the preparations which creates progress - winning can then be seen as approval of the work that has gone that has been done in the practise room.

Towards an IPS

Two years - it seems like a long time but suddenly they have almost passed by. In less than two month I have to submit my IPS towards an upgrade to 'full registration' on the DMus course. Between now and then I also have to play in 3 competitions, an audition and a friends final exam. But I have also had time for other pursuits. I recently invested in a new camera and took the opportunity to document the spring around the city. It is fantastic to have the means to do this kind of thing again. The IPS (Initial Period of Study) report is coming together well. I have had very positive comments from my tutors so now it is down to polishing the writing and adding graphics, musical examples so so on.

After a very quite April the performing side of my life is picking up again. Little by little I learn to set boundaries and manage the opportunities which come my way. I am still working on a way of managing the huge repertoire required for my final dissertation (some 36 sonatas) but I am sure that I will find a way to manage this challenge. I just need to start at one end...