Hey guys, I’m finally back. After a busy and extremely eventful summer, it’s so great to be able to blog again. I hope everyone had a great vacation (met cute guys, got tanned etc). Anyways, since this is a blog about music, I want to share with you guys some ideas I had in mind for the coming 2011 year.

As you guys can probably tell from my entries back in 2009, I had tried out for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and failed miserably. So when they called out for another audition on October 12, I knew I had to try again. This year’s requirements are almost the same as last year’s except this time it’s one video on solo improvisation and a classical audition video. The classical audition video is pretty simple. You just go on the competition website, find your instruments, and play the repertoire of classical music specifically listed for your instruments.  I already downloaded the music sheets and it’s not that difficult to play (I practiced a lot over the summer!). The second part of the audition is the solo improvisation. I’m not sure what it is so I looked it up. Apparently it’s something like a new music statement over the harmony of the original piece, almost like a variation except you’re playing while the original music is in the background. The competition requires you to do a solo improvisation on a piece called Mothership by Mason Bates. He’s an American composer who likes to include electronics in a symphony orchestra, which I think is pretty creative. He got a PhD from UC Berkeley in composition and is always commissioned by big-shot symphonies like the London Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has worked closely with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and composer/conductor John Adams. He was hired by Google in 2010 for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and did the Mothership piece. I listened to Mothership and from what I can tell, it’s like a sci-fi kind of thing but with techno and classical music all jumbled together. Strange, but pretty cool. The improvisation video will be quite challenging for me to do but I also think it will be a whole lot of fun.

The prize for this year will be an all-expenses paid trip to Sydney, Australia to perform at the Sydney Opera House! Considering I’ve never been anywhere outside of Ontario, it’s a pretty big thing for me!

Anyways, I think I’m going to go practice violin now. The audition ends on November 28 so that doesn’t really leave me with much time. Be sure to come support my videos when I post them!