December 27, 2007
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it’s been a rather turbulent month, after receiving news of being declined entry into masters of music.
it was rather difficult, being forced to retreat from my comfort zone and reconsolidate my worldview on conducting.. rewatched the videos of the great conductors and masterclasses that inspired me, reread the books that molded my understanding of conducting, and considered applying for the conservertoires in which these great conductors were trained (sydney, russia, uk.. i was quite close to sending an application to st petersburg) all i originally planned for was just to spend the next 3-5 years enjoying the straight forward path of being the regular conducting student in melbourne!
st petersburg’s conducting department has ten conducting professors and tutors of obviously differing conducting and teaching methodologies. melbourne has one.
at the end, i did manage to secure an offer from melbourne for mmusstuds, which is basically the same program as the one i was looking for except it’s 2 semesters instead of 3. perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise.. shorter term of study. quicker to be tossed into the real world of dealing with unforgiving orchestras, other conductors, musicians and audiences. (: how delightful!
it seems that there will be no comfort zone in pursuing this career of conducting, not until you reach the highest level. the difference in styles and philosophies in conducting are really unaccomodating, especially in the area of training. it’s so hard to find any security in knowing that you’re on the right path, cause it really depends on who you choose to listen to.
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flying back on the stroke of midnight, that’s the earliest i could get a flight home! will be counting down in tullamarine’s boarding room. see you soon!
