6:00 am-  Alarm goes off.  Hit snooze.  Actually wake up at 7:00 am.  Have quiet time and do a little Bible study.

7:30 am- Force myself to go running to train for the upcoming Nashville Color Run in October.  Die a little because my throat keeps burning…  I blame it on the altitude.

8:30 am- Head over to the music building for chamber rehearsal.  My group, which is composed of two violins, a viola, a cello, and a piano, is playing the Arensky Piano Quintet.  Arensky is much like the lesser known Tchaikovsky… except better.

10:30 am- Solo cello practice time.  Things I need to work on: intonation, shifting, relaxed bow arm, finger flexibility… basically everything.  Currently learning Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo Capriccioso, and Bach Suite V.

11:45 am- Lunch.  I usually get a salad with spinach, cucumbers, olives, chickpeas, cranberries, and nuts.  Also fries to balance out the aforementioned healthiness.  The cafeteria setup here is much like Commons: a salad bar, a grill, sandwich bar (though this college has a panini maker!), pasta area, pizza section, soup spot, Chinese chow, and a specialty table with a unique daily dish.

12:15 pm- Music at Midday.  A performance of student chamber groups!  It’s amazing how great these performances can be after only one week of playing together.

1:15 pm- Second practice time.  Work on fine-tuning chamber and orchestral music.

3:00 pm- Bathroom/water/socialization break as to not go insane.

3:20 pm- Practice some more.

5:00 pm- Dinner!  Yum.  Hang out with the kids of the faculty members.  A pair of five-year-old twins who have started to eat ice cream with us during dessert.

6:15 pm- Head over to Cornerstone Arts Center to warm-up before orchestra.

7:00 pm- Orchestra rehearsal.  We usually wait to see what clever analogy our conductor will use to help explain a musical idea; for instance, he’ll say something like, “Connect the phrases together, like sausage links.”  If we do something right, we’ll probably receive a compliment like, “You made my dreams come true.”

9:30 pm- Second chamber rehearsal of the day.  I love our group, with all its sass and laughs and Veggie Straws munching.

11:00 pm- Hang out in Lennox House for the daily party.  Play Taboo, Jenga, Apples to Apples, pool, go to a bonfire, socialize and get to know the other festival participants!  It’s so important to make connections in the music world these days!  That’s the advice of both faculty members, other musicians who have gotten gigs because they were called up one day by a referral by a friend, and the Vanderbilt Career Center.

This is only an example of a very normal day.  Most days, we will also have masterclasses, hikes, meditation classes, guest lecturers, extra concert, or some other fun activity, like hiking or a pool party at the director’s house.

Stay tuned for the next post… on things we do when not music-making!