Overall, it was a really fun trip, and now I get to see friends in CA!
Drove 11 hours to Atlanta, stayed for two days, then 30 hours or so to Grand Canyon (see new pictures here, which was very enjoyable!), stayed for couples hours, then LV, then 10 hours to SF/Concord... that was the craziest driving schedule I have ever done in my life. Somehow, I managed to arrive at CA in one piece... I did the road trip last year, was so snowy, got stuck twice, once in Ashenville, once near Flagstaff... almost no snow at all this year--isn't that great! Overall, it was a really fun trip, and now I get to see friends in CA!
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We five adventurists get up at 4:00 in the morning on this cold Saturday morning, headed off to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Cleveland! The morning was crudely cold. As usual, I brought my huge camera bag and my tripod. Photos will be updated to my Gallery soon. After hiking a few trails, we took the best nap lying on some blankets in a random shaded ground. Yes, I didn't sleep last night... It was a great trip, except that we missed the sunrise ---- not that I need to photograph that, because the moment of sunrise usually creates too much contrast; it's the even lighting situation that the sunrise creates that is interesting.
8:00p.m was a concert in Severance Hall, Cleveland with the Cleveland Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov conducting Brahms Symphony No. 3, Ravel's La Valse and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with Kirill Gerstein. The conductor was amazing in that his gestures were so natural and convincing, and they reflected exactly how the sound was shaped. It almost felt like the gestures were over-rehearsed though... It sort of lacked spontaneity. The capability of he orchestra's technique and force were no doubt stunning. The performances were almost too perfect... the conductor did tend to over-phase, and this resulted in that the phrases were fragmented and shortened at times. Let me add that the pianist's performance was so clean that powerful. In short, I enjoyed every single moment in the Severance Hall tonight. I came back from Zhangjiajie (張家界) yesterday. It was quite impossible to try and make it a good photography trip... First, I didn't like that almost everyone was complaining about the food, the motel environment, the people... all the time. I thought that going to a trip is about going to a trip, sight-seeing, learning about the culture ---- why care so much about everything else? Over 90% of the conversation I heard was complaint, and only I was talking about beautiful scenery to myself... okay, now I am complaining... oh well. Just one more thing, I think it is foolish that many people spend 90% of their time looking at the camera screen while the REAL thing is right in front of them... A photographer must learn to see with his/her eyes! He/she, just like a composer, should spend 90% of the time thinking about texture, color, composition, form, structure... than actually messing with the equipments. I take a picture; I don't even bother playing back (except when I have to check exposure, dynamic contrast, etc); I look at the scenery and enjoy!
Second, the weather is too good. I heard it had rained for over 10 days before we came, but not when we arrived. Unfortunately, the sky was awfully bright the day we went up the mountains. Good weather is bad weather when you try to photograph. The bright sky looks so white and dead, and it creates too much shadow and thus too much contrast. Even worse is the white fog that just looks like a mask that de-colors the scenery. I wished there were clouds and partial mist. I wished it rained. Other than the complaints... It was a great trip. If you think that the scenery in "Avatar" is good. Go see the real thing! Check out my gallery for some of my new pictures. As I look back on this previous semester (my last semester) in San José State University, it was a rather intense one. I did not compose much music, but I “composed” a huge recital with 1 hour and 30 minutes worth of music. I think that it consisted all the “business” aspect of being a composer, which included looking for performers, printing and sending them music, constantly annoying them by e-mailing twice a day, setting up rehearsal times that had to match simultaneously up to five performers, remembering rehearsal times, be nice and not nice, keeping track on the progress of my pieces, printing posters, asking people to come (promoting), etc. These things all come down to a word – composing. Inevitably, they take that much more time than actually writing notes; so, I realize we composers rarely have time to write notes. My only advices for those of you who are doing a recital is that make sure you start early or even start rehearsing before a piece is finished! We composers or performers never have enough time, and in reality, we get even less time than expected. I think it is such a giving while we are all in college and can ask performers to do us “favors.”
After being very busy with graduation, taking my mum, sister (they came from Hong Kong for two weeks) and girlfriend to many places, I could finally find some time for myself. I have decided to compose, not with musical notes though, but with my camera. In August, I will start pursuing my master degree in composition at Bowling Green State University, and meanwhile, teach in either ear training or music theory. |
Patrick Chan
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