Week 2

From my hotel room in Augusta, Georgia to the comforts of your home, welcome to week 2 of my blog! 

My husband (F) and I flew into Atlanta yesterday and drove about 2 hours to Augusta. When we first started travelling we would frequently just go to chain restaurants that were familiar to us, but after a year, we set a rule that we only go to places that we don't have in Minnesota. Last night did not disappoint. We went to TBonz Steakhouse (www.tbonzofaugusta.com/) F got rainbow trout and shrimp and I got steak and shrimp. When they first brought out the meals, I thought there was no way it would fill me up. Plates looked stingy on the food. Boy was I wrong! F and I were both so full after the meal we barely made it back to the rental car! Haha

Tonight for dinner, we're going to do a short drive to South Carolina. We've never been to South Carolina before, so that will be state #27 F and I have visited together. 

Musically I'm on a big music listening kick. One of the pieces I'm working on is in the waiting-for-the-read-through phase and I'm in the pre-composing stages of my next piece, so I've had some down time. I've been listening to a wide variety of vocal chamber music to collect colors. One of the most interesting pieces I've come across is a piece by the (now deceased) Minnesota composer Eric Stokes recorded in 2017 by two of my favorite people: Maria Jette (soprano) and Merilee Klemp (oboe). I like this piece because I never would have thought of putting that instrumentation together. 

Another piece I've come across that I really like is Requiescat by George Butterworth.

The next piece I'm writing involves writing for piano. As a violist whose piano skills peaked at class piano 4, the piano intimidates me. I've been doing a lot of listening to piano chamber music and the complexity of the piano parts are beyond what I can grasp. Then I came across this piece. I love the simplicity and beauty of the writing.