Applying to Grad School
After encountering every possible deterrent, I have finally submitted the first of three packets of my composition portfolio to various graduate schools. You would think that the part about just obtaining your own work and putting it in the mail would be the easy part. The hard parts are supposed to be things like the Personal Statement. The standardized tests. The entrance exams. Interviews, etc. Not so. Just rounding up my own stuff was the most arduous and aggravating process of all.
In applications for music composition, you have to submit scores and recordings. Okay, no big deal, right? At the onset of all of this, say six months ago, I had two respectable recordings.
Fine, but I wanted the put my best foot forward--I wanted more, live recordings. Which worked out well because I had just been commissioned by Calliope Women's Chorus to arrange a song for them. I also had just finished updating this Woodwind Quartet and thought, hey, it'll be easy to find four woodwind players from various parts of the city and to coordinate their schedules in the middle of an early Minnesota winter with my friend who knows how to record stuff.
On the Woodwind Quartet: I planned to make a quick process of it. I had a friend who is a bassoonist and she said she could hook me up with a quartet. Well, that fell through. That was rather disappointing, but I took a deep breath, looked at the calendar (November 1st) and realized that I still had two months to pull it together. So I started emailing every college in Minnesota, every community band and orchestra I could think of, and every person in my address book, asking for referrals to woodwind players. Very quickly I had myself a trio of flute, clarinet, and bassoon. Missing an oboist, I continued the email chain, posted on Craigslist, and kept watching the calendar. November 8, November 15.....yikes!
I finally heard from an oboe player. Immediately, I sent out a Meeting Wizard request (if you don't know what that is, look it up, it is a life-changing schedule coordination tool) and attempted to get this thing done. Originally, my plan was to have us meet twice, the first time for a read-through rehearsal, and the second time for a recording session. I quickly discovered that I wouldn't be able to coordinate so many people's schedules for two sessions within the time allotted. So we planned to meet just once, on a Saturday at noon, at St. Kate's, who generously offered me the recital hall for excellent sound quality.
Saturday, December 1st came. And so did the first snowstorm of the season, with between 6-10 inches of snow falling in the metro and over a foot in other parts of the state. Driving conditions were not so great. My small ensemble was traveling from various locations, so I was a wreck that morning, making confirmation phone calls and hoping for the best.
I arrived at St. Kate's to find my recording friend, the oboist and the clarinetist ready to go. Nothing like instrumentalists--they are so....prompt! The bassoonist appeared shortly after noon, and we started warming up while waiting for the flute player. We waited. And waited.
Finally, 45 minutes later, after a few frantic phone calls, I gave up on her. We recorded the piece without a flute player. It sounded strange, but we did it.
We ended up finding a different flute player who was able to come in a few weeks later and play her part over the track of the other instruments. It was challenging, but she was awesome and professional and an amazing musician, and my recording friend is brilliant and blended the tracks very nicely. So it finally worked out.
On the Calliope piece: After going through all the stress of the Woodwind Quartet, I thought this would be relatively easy. All I needed was a recording of the choir performing my piece, and I was clear about that from the very beginning. "That is no problem, Liz, I will take care of it," a Calliope representative said. Indeed.
December 7-8 came, and so did another snow storm during our dress rehearsals. This meant that I didn't get a chance to confirm with the a/v people that we would be recording. Alas, after many phone calls to the Calliope representative, I felt assured that she was taking care of things on that end. Saturday night, when I arrived for warm-ups before our performance, I saw a disgruntled looking woman with an I-pod sitting in the front row. I approached her and asked
her if she was recording the concert. "Yes," she said, "But I have to do it from my I-pod because there was a misunderstanding about where the recording equipment was supposed to come from."
Oh dear. Well, okay, whatever, it's still getting recorded. Plus, we had another performance the next day. So Sunday came, and the first thing I did was ask the sound guy if all was well in the recording department.
"Recording? This is the first I have heard of that," he said. He also seemed irritated.
"You mean no one has talked to you about recording this concert?" I asked, slightly appalled.
"No one. And if you need me to do that, all I have is a tape, and I can't do it because you ask me to. You have to have your director talk to me."
Argh. So I passed on the word, and she got it sorted out.
In theory, after both of concerts were complete, there were two different recordings floating around out there. All that was left was me getting my hands on one of them, a.s.a.p.
Briefly, here is a list of problems I had while trying to obtain those recordings during the following week:
*Waiting for the tape to be transferred to CD and then having that completely fall through
*Someone dubbing a blank tape onto the original copy of the tape from Sunday after meaning to do it the other way around to make me a copy. Whoops.
* Trying to find a phone number for the woman who had the other recording--I had to call about four people just to get her phone number.
*Hearing that this woman would be able to email me the file from her I-pod. And then getting the phone call the following day saying the file is too big.
*Driving in ANOTHER snow storm to physically pick up the CD in Edina (which I never, never do--if I can avoid driving in the snow, I do. If I can avoid driving, for that matter, I do. And if I can avoid driving to Edina, well, clearly, that is also to be avoided at all costs. But this was urgent and very, very, important!)
*My car spinning out on 494 across four lanes of traffic on an overpass and crashing into the cement wall while driving on the ice in the fog and snow to pick up the recording. (I am okay and so is the car save for a new dent and a few big scratches and a tail light that sticks out--luckily I was driving about 30 mph because of the dangerous conditions). And, needless to say, I did not get the recording that day. Instead I spent an hour in the parking lot of the Mall of America, which was the closest place I could think of to pull over, crying and shaking and cursing higher education, Calliope Women's Chorus, and the idiot who angrily signaled for me to drive faster for causing this chain of events.
*Finally, after returning from Iowa on December 26th, driving to this woman's house and picking up the goddamn CD. Getting home and putting it in my computer and hearing the WRONG BLASTED PIECE OF MUSIC.
............
I finally have a copy of the piece. After having a break-down and screaming at the top of my lungs--and frightening my cats and possibly the neighbors--and possibly the neighbors' neighbors--I settled down and called the woman back and told her what had happened. She was great. She was very apologetic and professional and said she would get the CD of the right piece to me tomorrow. She put aside whatever it is was that she had going on to make the right copy for me and, yes, we met halfway the next day and I finally, finally, finally had the right piece of music.
So, after all is said and done (which is an expression I hate but feel compelled to use anyway), it turned out that I ran out of time to put the application materials in the mail. I had my girlfriend, who happens to work at the University of Minnesota, hand deliver the packet to the School of Music. And the other schools leave me plenty of time for mailing--the next one is due Jan 15 and then Jan 31. And now that I have all of my scores and recordings, it should be no problem. I hope.
I also realize that a lot of people came through for me during this process. Stacia, thank you for delivering that packet and thank you for listening to me vent about the entire process. My recording friend was awesome and he also had to listen to me vent and cry and stress. The woman who came through with the Calliope recording was great--she totally hung in there and kept working until we had the right copy. All of the performers were excellent and willing to work hard.
I have learned a few very important lessons during this process.
1. Always persevere and keep asking for what you need, even when it seems impossible!
2. Never trust anyone else to take care of the details around recording a live concert.
3. Never, never, never drive on icy roads. Not even when your career is on the line. I'd rather have my career on the line than my life. (P.S. I actually thought I was going to die when I saw the cement median rushing toward my face. This is what I thought: "After all I have been through, this is how I am going to go?!")
Did I want to give up during this process? Yes, of course.
And then Stacia and I ordered take-out from Taste of Thailand the night that she delivered the complete package (pun intended?), and my fortune said this:
Don't stress. You will soon be rewarded for all your hard work.
