"Adagio, Adagio"

I keep waiting to blog until I've filled ya'll in on the local duomos and the Roma trip, but I just haven't had a chance to compose those posts yet! Hang with me for a little longer, and we'll see if I can post them soon! My music engagements are picking up a bit since we're starting to have chamber group rehearsals for our many chamber concerts. Also, masterclasses, individual lessons, and group scale lessons are starting this week, giving the instrumentalists some more music to prepare. We've starting rehearsing on the stage in the Teatro Nuovo, our main performance venue here in Spoleto. It was on stage that I realized upstage and downstage really used to have literal meanings. I'm terrified that with any particularly energetic upbow, I just might send myself flying into the orchestra pit! Our first orchestra concert is scheduled for Saturday, and rumor has it that Mahler's granddaughter is going to attend our performance. The Mahlers own a house in Spoleto, and I think they might be visiting for the weekend. This has definitely increased the amount of pressure for a stellar performance, and I'm hoping that the next few days will bring even more inspiration to pay attention to the symphony's finer details.

Today, I had a lesson with a cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra! I played some Bach from the cello suites and learned some really interested things about Bach interpretation from him. I'm excited to let what he spoke about ferment in my brain. Yesterday, I had an Alexander Technique class with a certified woman on staff. There were 8 musicians in the class, but she had time to look at my set up, and help me learn to work with my muscles to make my playing more efficient and ergonomic. She had a lot to say about bodymapping...meaning your mental concept of how your body is put together. Everyone has an idea of how their body works and how it's all connected, and your movements all happen based on that frame of reference. However, sometimes our concept of our body's makeup is inaccurate. This led me to lots of new thoughts and questions, so I'll have to let that simmer too.

I've been trying my best to learn as much Italiano as I can while I'm here. I've made two friends at my favorite sandwich shop(Lo Sfizioso) in the piazza del mercato. Their names are Sabrina and Clara, and they both are helping learn a little bit of Italian everyday in exchange for a few lessons in English grammar/vocabulary. Sabrina has a gigantic Dizionare of English-Italian Italiano-Inglese words, so I find myself flipping through the book everyday, memorizing some vocab that I can try out at dinner time. My goal is to learn three new phrases everyday and use them in conversation with a local person. So far, I've been pretty successful, and the Italians have been very gracious in correcting my horrible grammar/accent. Clara doesn't know any English, and Sabrina knows a little from when she attended school. Sabrina has lived in Spoleto her whole life, and she's exactly what I imagined a European shop lady would be like. She sits outside her store in the afternoons, chatting with her friends until a customer drops by. Her store has seen A LOT of action since the American students have come to town. It's literally a sandwich buffet, and all of the ingredients are SO fresh. The only problem is, you have to learn what they're called so that you can ask for them. Usually, if I don't know what something is called, I just point and say "questo, per favore," which means, "this, please." They always teach me afterwards how to order my ingredients, and I find that they are very patient as I slowly try to talk to them and tell them about myself. Today at dinnertime, I ordered my sandwich and I sat outside on the sidewalk, flipping through the Dizionare. I chatted with Clara about how Italian music words have helped me a lot...in fact, I didn't realize just how many Italian words I did know, thanks to reading music! I told her that I'm sad that my Italian is so bad, and she looked at me with a smile as she said, "poco, poco, adagio, adagio" (little by little, slowly slowly).