Thoughts of Spring - The Last Couple of Weeks

The last time I wrote in this blog we were experiencing a period of unseasonable warmth in the greater Champaign-Urbana "metropolitan" area that awoke within me memories of Springtime past and I began to get nostalgic for the old days. Thoughts of baseball and European travels came to mind. Since then things have been somewhat busy. You know, grad school and all.

Two weeks ago I took my first trip to Chicago of the semester to observe student teachers. This is part of my graduate assistant position at the U of I. Three times a semester I go to schools to observe student teachers in their professional semester. It's nice getting back into the classroom and to see different band, orchestra, and general music programs in Chicago suburbs and the Champaign area. When I got back from Chicago it was almost 60 degrees outside so I decided to go for a run (we live about 2 hours south of Chicago) to help get the blood flowing back in my legs after the long car ride. So on February 17th I ran 2 miles outside in shorts and a t-shirt. Here is a picture:


That's me after the run pointing to the calendar that says "February." Yes, shorts and a t-shirt. It reminded me a bit of a trip to Bayfield, WI one year with our dear friends Nicole and Dan when we went cross-country skiing in temperatures that approached 50 degrees.

For the last several weeks I've also been busy with rehearsals. I got a great opportunity this semester to conduct a brand new piece, just written by a U of I composition student. The piece is called against COLORADO and we premiered it on Friday night with our chamber orchestra. It was a great challenge for me (I've never conducted a contemporary piece like this for orchestra) and it was fun to bring a new work to performance and work with a composer - especially one who is still alive (no offense, Beethoven). Additionally I've been rehearsing the Philharmonia orchestra a lot this semester and I'm conducting two pieces on their upcoming concert in one week: Pelleas et Melisande by Faure and the Nabucco Overture by Verdi.

Throughout all of this I've managed to keep my New Year's resolution (start a running/exercise program) alive. Today I ran five miles through town bringing my total mileage for the week to 12.5. I'm pretty amazed that I've managed to maintain my discipline throughout the semester so far. Perhaps it was lack of cross-country skiing this year but somehow I've kept up with it. I'm in the middle of a 12 week program, currently on week 8, that I found at this website in January. Between running indoors at the Activities and Recreation center on campus and the recent warm weather, it's been remarkably easy to keep it up. Maybe I'm becoming more responsible?