(my mom, Kathy Kaiser, took the photo and I made the poster)
We'll start the weekend with my dress rehearsal. Because of scheduling difficulties, we had to hold our dress rehearsal the Thursday before the concert--October 20th. We rehearsed for over two hours. It was a good, slightly frustrating rehearsal. It gave Liz and I the chance to run all of our pieces in the recital hall while receiving coaching from Alison. It also gave us two hours to hang out and chat. It was fun!
Friday flew by. I practiced quite a bit, since I don't practice the day before or of the recital. I play my Telemann Fantasia in excerpts class, and it could have gone a lot better. It just didn't flow. After that class I was nervous about the Telemann, and spent another hour (at least) practicing it Friday evening. It made me feel better but I knew that would be my toughest piece on the recital. I ran all of my recital pieces that night and left the school of music. That night I went out with my friends and had a good time.
The next day, I woke up around 11am (I got at least 9 hours of sleep!) and got ready to go meet my parents and grandparents. They had driven in from Toledo that morning. They got there around 1:30, and we wandered around Athens for a while. We got dinner at Kiser's (the BEST BBQ in Athens!) and then drove around the city a little and got ice cream at Ashby's. After our ice cream we took my dad and grandparents back to the hotel. Then I took my mom through the back roads of Athens (hills in the dark are always interesting!) She took me back to my dorm and I went to bed.
The next morning I woke up at 9:30 and took a shower. I met my family (plus my cousins Sharon and George, who drove in that morning from Pittsburgh) at Bob Evans. I ate a HUGE breakfast. Normally I don't eat much (if anything) before a performance, but I just couldn't help myself. I was SOOO hungry. It turned out to be a good decision! I left at noon to get ready, and met my family at the School of Music at 1pm. I got warmed up, set the stage, made sure the video cameras worked (yes, we had two just in case!), and made sure Liz's and my parents were alright setting up the reception room (they were, I didn't do anything to help). Before I knew it it was 2 and time to start the recital!
Liz played first. She played the Reinecke Sonata, and it was great! The piece is quite long (about 20 minutes) so I had time to relax and get my head in the game. I listened to my piece on my iPod, took some deep breaths, and relaxed. It was a very calm 20 minutes.
My first piece on the recital was Rhonda Larson's The Boatman. 10 days before my recital (at my hearing) I decided to play this piece on the baroque flute instead on the crystal flute. The crystal flute is very hard to play, and just not predictable. Some days it sounded great--and sometimes it sounded like I had never played it before. The decision to play the piece on the baroque flute turned out to be a good one. I really love the sound it gave me, and was glad that the performance went so well. I really have no regrets on this one. After it finished I was elated. The recital was underway.
Next Liz played her Telemann Fantasia in G Minor, and I played my Telemann Fantasia in G Major. We played them back to back, with Liz going first. For me, this was my most nervewracking piece. I was so nervous that it was going to crash and burn. It didn't. It actually sounded great, definitely the best I've played it. Once that was over I was RELIEVED. Following the Telemann we had a short intermission.
Following the intermission, Liz played a movement from Mike Mower's Opus di Jazz. It sounded great!
I finished off our solo section of the recital with Mucynski's Sonata for Flute and Piano. Walking on stage I felt great. I knew that this piece was well prepared and felt confidant. I just let myself have fun!
(There is an audio/video sync error caused by a YouTube uploading error...)
We finished off the piece with Maya by Ian Clarke. What a great ending! It was flexible but felt good. I couldn't believe we were finished already!
After the recital we made our way down to the reception room and were welcomed by our guests. We ate some delicious cupcakes and cookies and drank apple cider. Here are some of my favorite photos from the reception:
Liz and I!
Liz and one of our accompanists, Yoonsook
Me with my grandparents
My parents and I
Yoonsook and I
Liz, Alison, and I
Alison and I
Liz and Alison
All and all, it was a great time! I seriously had a blast. I'm already thinking about next year for my junior recital. I've got so many ideas and I can't wait to throw them at you! Thanks for reading this REALLY LONG post, and hopefully my posts can become a little more frequent now that I've finished off my recital. Next up: Hallopalooza!
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