Basic Schedule

The next day we had to go to our first day of classes. This was interesting. First I had practice so I went to the nearest practice hut to practice since the hut on my schedule was To Be Announced. As the supervisor came along she knocked on the door and asked me, “Did I sign you up?” Oops. “Uh, no,” I said, “I didn’t know I had to sign up.” “What is your practice hut number?” she asked. I showed her my schedule and she told me which practice building to go to. I thanked her and went where she told me to go. A couple times when I was here this happened and I tried not to feel like a juggler’s ball. I walked to the practice hut that was open, and started practicing. Soon a junior girl knocked on the door and told me she was supposed to be in here. I asked her the time and she told me it was 10:00. I thanked her and tried not to panic. I was supposed to have had my next class five minutes ago! I didn’t know where to go so I was just wandering asking people where the chapel was. Soon I met some people who know where it was I needed to go to. They also had to go there so they walked with me. When we got there, it was 9:55. The girl’s watch had been off. Whew. So I went in with the people and had my next class. This was master class for piano. I think it was a very important class because not only is it required for my major, but it is also a good time to play in front of others without performing in a recital. You also get constructive criticism about your pieces.

My next class was 11:00 organ. The organs we played in this class were electric but we did get a tour of the United States second largest pipe organ which I will tell you about later. I had no idea where this class was supposed to be so I ran all the way back to my cabin to look at my schedule and map. After locating the organ building on the map I ran and found it. There were two organs and a piano in the small front room. There were about twelve chairs and thirteen people. Apparently, there were too many people there so the teacher dismissed two people. We had a really fun class, but that first day we didn’t get to play the organ. Instead we learned foot exercises and looked at a book that had pictures of all the different types of pipes that were in the organ. We played the next day.

After organ I went to lunch. Then we had rest hour. This was when we had to be quiet and we got to rest or we could write letters. It was basically private quiet time. I have to say that was probably my favorite time of day! I wrote a lot of letters to my friends and family. But when I didn’t sleep, I was really tired in my next class.

After rest hour I went to 2:00 piano skills class at Frohlich. Here we did sight reading, scales, and musical dictation. After the first class we went to the scholarshop to get books. I still didn’t have my ID card that let me access my account, so my teacher paid for my book. As we were walking back, she told me that she was bumping me up to the next class. I felt really happy! 3:00. After I got my books, I went to Intro to Acting. In this class we practiced stretches and various improvisational skills, such as the game “Freeze”. In this game we just chose a scene and picked two people to act it out. Then someone said, “freeze!” and when they froze the “freezer” chose a place to take and started another scene etc. We didn’t do much the first day, but we did play games like “Kitty wants a corner” and stuff like that and do exercises. I knew I was going to like it here.

After acting I had another practice session, but again I was in someone else’s room. So I just went back to the cabin and cleaned my area and waited for an hour. After that hour, E got back from teaching archery and waited for every one else to get back before we all went to dinner. After a few days I figured out my practices, and memorized where my classes were. This made life way easier. On Mondays we went to breakfast in our pajamas and later in the day we went to mixers. Mixers were where the Intermediate boys and girls got together and danced and talked etc. Our week of classes started on Tuesday, and ended on Saturday. On the school days and Mondays, we had to wake up at 6:50 am to go to the flagpole that didn’t have a flag and hear any announcements. Sometimes there were no announcements and the cafeteria wasn’t ready yet! This was rare though. This was my basic schedule for the next three weeks.

Much delayed Interlochen Report Pt. 1

Hi Readers,

Here it is, sorry it was late. November will be update month for me. This is still a rough draft, but we don't want to keep you waiting any longer.

Piano Girl

In this report I will tell how I went to Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. First I recorded some of my pieces and sent them in as my audition tape. I registered online and chose my classes. After a few months I got a letter saying that I had been accepted to Interlochen and had qualified for financial help. Reading this I wondered how I would get the rest of the money to pay tuition. Mom said we could sell eggs and I said I would teach piano. One time we were at the church and the wonderful coordinator suggested that we hold some kind of fundraiser and we asked her if we could use the church for a benefit recital. She said yes and we held the recital in the sanctuary. I played some pieces and the people came and most donated. Luckily I raised enough money to go to Interlochen. I started to pack and shop ASAP and found out even more why I didn’t like the mall. The cool thing that happened was that Dad said that he was going to just go and do some grocery shopping at Fred Meyers, going home and picking us up when he was done. Instead about half way through shopping at JC Penney (you wouldn’t believe how hard it was to find 2 modest swimsuits there!), he called us and asked us where we were. We told him and he said he would meet us there. He carried all of our bags and then when we were done, he drove us home. After a few days Mom helped me pack and wash all things that were going with me. It took us about three days to finish! Once we were ready, I got a haircut and was ready to go!

On June 23^rd I woke up at 6:00 am and got dressed. Then mom helped me get ready to go. When I was ready to go I went in to Boy’s room and said goodbye. Dad started up the car and helped me get my stuff in. We rode to SeaTac and went to the ticket booth to check my baggage and get my boarding pass. Once we had done that we went to the gate and said goodbye to each other. Soon after that I got on the plane and got in my seat. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, Mom and Dad stayed until my plane took off. During take off, we saw Mount Rainier on a cloudbank. Awhile after that I looked down and saw how flat the land was. It looked like a quilt. After about 4 more hours, we landed in O’Hare. When everyone else was off, a flight attendant took all the unattended minors to a room in the airport.

The room had a desk where you check in; to the left of the door that you come in through there was a bathroom. Past the bathroom there was a room that I think was a rest room for the little kids who were tired. After that there was a place with vending machines, and there was a small office tucked away next to the desk. The main room was filled with chairs occupied by kids. There was also a TV and some blocks for the little kids. After an hour and a half, we all went to the food court and got lunch (or in my case, brunch). The cheapest food was a Mc Donald’s. Yuk. I just got a chicken fingers and fries. The healthiest choice, I thought. Wrong! I had a stomach ache for the next half hour from it! Then we went back to the UM room. In a half hour we went to the next flight.

This flight was very short: 45 minutes! When we landed, an Interlochen staff member met us at the jet bridge and escorted us to the baggage claim to pick up our bags to find that my duffel bag was missing. There was a table where all of the staff people were so I let know what it looked like. There was a truck outside for baggage and a bus for the kids so put my suit case on the truck and got on the bus. After waiting for 45 minutes for everyone to get on that we could fit, we left for the ten minute drive it took to get to Interlochen. When we did, all the Intermediate and Junior girls got off and went to their divisions’ headquarters to sign in. I waited in line to get the sign in sheet, and when it was my turn to get my name tag, they said it wasn’t printed out yet. Then I went to the infirmary to get signed in there. When I was done at the infirmary I went back to HQ and finished by finding out which cabin I was in. I went to go find my cabin and when I did, the counselors in charge of the cabin met me at the door. I will just put first initials for anonymity. They were E and A. When I found out that my luggage wasn’t there, I started to panic. All that I had was the church dress that I was wearing, and the stuff that I had in my backpack. When my cabin mates got back from the campus tour, they loaned me some things so I could make my bed and have pajamas to sleep in.

Another Update

Well, monies have been trickling in from folks who were unable to attend the recital, and Piano GIrl has her first piano student! She has been trying to find pupils for the last year, and finally did! The good news is that the mama of this new student was willing to pay for 2 months of lessons in advance in order to help bring in some more funds for project Interlochen. Yay!

We still need at least $800. to cover the admission fees, and I haven't even begun to think about ordering all the camp clothing and other necessaries. First things first. So again, if any of you haven't yet donated to this cause, or if you have one of those rich patron of the arts uncles, you still have time!

Proud Mama

Recital update

We had beautiful weather, lots of good food, and many wonderful supporters show up yesterday. Piano Girl played well, and fun was had by all.

Many of the folks who came yesterday had already pledged or purchased a key, so it was wonderful that they came to support Piano Girl. We collected almost $600. yesterday. Amy finished her raffle yesterday, and drew names for prizes. She raised $350. We totalled up all the checks and cash, and with egg money, raffle money (Thanks Amy, and thanks to all of you who bought raffle tickets!), and all, so far we have raised a grand total of $1900. How cool is that? I will be sending this to Interlochen by Tuesday.

Special thanks to Mattanata Studios, Puget Sound Digital and the Banner Team, The Foil Hat, and the Food Team (You know who you are, I didn't want to post names). Thanks to all who came and supported Piano Girl.

There are 3 more weeks till the Piano Girl is scheduled to leave for Interlochen. We still have over 50 blank keys on her banner. There is still time to donate to her Music Fund. I am still determined that she will be attending. If anyone has any quick fundraising ideas, or a rich aunt or uncle who would love to be a benefactor to a talented young musician, let me know!
Proud Mama

Banner, location, eggs, food

Hey all,
I have contacted Interlochen, and the admissions officer I spoke to gave formal permission for us to hold off payment until we have this event. Yay! She was impressed with our project, and the support of Piano Girl's community. She told me it is kids and families like this that they want at Interlochen. It helped to hear that.

Your responses to this project have been amazing! Thanks for coming to check this out, and thanks to those who have already pledged to sponsor Piano Girl. I am wondering if I should post a list of names, or keep those private for now. If we don't do names, maybe I can at least put a number of pledges there, so we have a way to document the progress of filling in keys. Hmm. What do you think? Keep in mind I have never done this before!

I will put a link to both Paypal and an email addy in the sidebar before Sat. so we can start accepting payments by check or paypal.

I am meeting today with my friend (Thanks, D.) who has taken on designing the banner, and I have friends who own a huge printer, and will let us print them on it.

I have also firmed up the location of the recital. It will be held at the Unity Church of Bellevue**, where the Piano Girl's Fairy Godfather works. It is a beautiful location with a beautiful piano. Whenever we are in the area, or are going out to lunch with the FGF, Piano Girl always stops in to say "Hi" to the piano, and stroke its keys a bit. She is a sucker for a good piano. ;-)

The other thing I need to work on this week is food to serve at the reception following the recital. I did all the work for the last solo recital, and though it was fun (I know, I am crazy in that I actually love to cater events.), I think I would like to have help in that area this time around. Let me know if you want to help on that front.

Oh- one more thing- if you live locally, could you save Piano Girl egg cartons? In addition to the benefit concert, she is selling eggs, and is very short on cartons.

So as you see, we are moving and shaking on this project, and it is going well so far. Thanks again to those in my community who are helping out to make it happen, and to our pledges so far.
Proud Mama

**I will do this again, I am sure, but I want to acknowledge the good folks at B.U. for their gracious and generous support of our Piano Girl. We love and thank the whole staff for being some of PG's biggest fans.