Something new

And so it began.
Monday 28 February. The 2011 students of the Professional Performance Programme at the Australian National Academy of Music descended on the South Melbourne Town Hall to be officially welcomed and to begin Reading Week full of rehearsals, seminars and information overload.
I didn't sleep so well on Sunday night - nerves got the better of me! What if I really don't belong there? What if I don't make any friends? What if I haven't prepared enough? What if my tram runs late? What if they've made a mistake of actually ADMITTING me?!?! So many things could go wrong.

And so much didn't go wrong!
I walked through the door and the lovely ladies were at the front, ready with a nametag as well as my locker key and electronic tag ready for me. So efficient! And they are so good - in the few weeks leading up to the start when I've been going in to practice, they've been helpful in finding me a room to practice, buzzing me through and answering all sorts of questions. All with a smile. And they already knew my name before I got there. So many people did. And if they didn't, they made a point of asking and introducing themselves. Seriously, that made me feel so welcome. It made me feel like I belong already; like I'm meant to be there.

I had been given seven pieces to look at for Reading Week. I came to realise that this is actually quite a lot, considering that one of my violinist friends had two. There are three pianists at ANAM this year and we'll have guests come in to for various projects. That probably explains why we have so much on our plate! All my music is actually really cool, as I'm learning (at various rates!).
In no particular order, this week I had:
Malcolm Williamson's Concerto for Wind Instruments and Two Pianos (Eight Hands)
Paul Stanhope's Songs for the Shadowland (for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano & soprano)
Beethoven: Trio Op. 70 No. 1 ('Ghost') [relearning with different people]; Violin Sonata No. 7 in c minor & Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major [relearning after several years]
Richard Meale's Incredible Floridas - for concert in the MRC Salon NEXT WEEK! This is a pretty complex piece, with violin (doubling on viola), cello, flute (picc/alto flute. Amazing AFlute solo in the final movt), clarinet (E flat/b.cl), percussion (lots of it!) and piano.
Britten's Jamaican Rumba, which I get to play with my teacher!

So the point of Reading Week was just that - read through stuff and get used to playing with different people. It was exciting to meet so many people also this week - 50 and a bit of us, of whom I only really knew a handful. Some readings were far more successful than others. Because the Meale is for performance next week, we had two sessions of rehearsals. The incredible Paul Dean is conducting us; I feel so privileged to be taught and to work with so many amazing musicians  - teachers and students alike. We have several more hours of Meale next week to pull it all together, which will be a difficult task but rewarding. The piece is complex; it doesn't sound tonal at all - I'm struggling to find a tonal centre, really. The rhythms are complex (much subdivision into 3, 5, 7, triplets within triplets. Other things like that) and the time changes into many obscure things so often! However, it is so satisfying to feel parts of it coming together already. It's a colourful work and so we aren't allowed to wear all black next week!

We also had some information sessions and met all the staff and most of the teaching faculty. They all were very helpful and it's so evident to me that ANAM is a tightly run organisation with really clear ideas of how it works and how each department manages things and works with the others. The vision of so many things is across a long period of time (for example, working on programming for six months!) and it's otherwise not clear to us just how hard these people work and how we're involved in the whole scheme of things. This year centres around us being "Fearless ambassadors. Australian Voices. Our place." There are so many exciting projects this year! I'm looking forward to them all. There was also a seminar on 'Effective Practice'. It was amazing to listen to four members of faculty (including the Artistic Director), who are all amazing established and wonderful musicians in their own right in addition to being fantastic teachers, talk about their own experiences about learning how to practice. And let me say, they weren't always perfect. They're human, they learnt many things in their time. And they were adamant that they wanted to teach us how to do it effectively, without hurting ourselves and for it to be productive and helpful. One of the things that my teacher said that really struck me was that they, as teachers, were there to teach us, the students, how to teach ourselves. That is practice. And they also admitted some things that seem like big taboo subjects to talk about. One was that some days of practice will just be bad, and one cannot expect that yesterday's experience will be the same as today's, nor tomorrow's. It was really comforting to know that these amazing people have had that experience and are realistic about expectations of themselves, and of their students.

I had my first lesson with my new teacher yesterday. I was (am) having a bit of trouble with the Meale, as it is quite complex; the rhythms are all over (my rhythm actually sucks) and the notes are all a bit messy. I admitted that I think I have maybe a 35% hit rate and my teacher said that we could just work on it for half an hour and he could give me ways to think about it and practice it. Even if it would make it a little better to 36%, that would be better. I admitted that I was nervous about having a lesson, because I haven't really had a piano lesson in two years, but he said that was ok. And he was so kind and gentle; there was nothing scary. He was helpful  and forgiving. We spent about half an hour looking at about three bars. We set the metronome, we clapped, counted out loud, and tried it out multiple times. And it was really good. I was so encouraged and reassured!

I thankfully had most of Friday to myself. It had been a hectic week for me - almost all the reading sessions in the week (which were an hour and a half long) were full for me, all but one repeat had new works! It was nice to have a little bit of time to practice for myself and to take it a little easier. They were kind - they specifically didn't schedule much for me!

And so ends the first week at ANAM. I've had to pinch myself several times a day to prove that I'm awake and that it's all happening. I still can't quite believe it. I look down at my keys and see my 2011 ANAM keyring (which gets me discounts woohoo!) and the electronic tag. I think that's when you know you belong - you're given access to the buildling! I see so many talented people around me and still ask what I'm doing here, but then remember that I'm one of them too. I've been struck by how genuine everybody is and their generosity. I've been given this amazing opportunity to learn and I'm going to grab it with both hands, embrace if and run.

And I think we're going to be well-fed with lots of sugary goodness this year!