I’ve often heard musicians talk about how great the master’s degree is. Supposedly it’s the time in a musician’s life when they’re able to practice the most due to limited class hours, no gen eds, and minimal life responsibilities (job, bills, kids, etc.). It’s two years when we’re able be super focused and work diligently to improve our skills.
It’s safe to say that I’ve already been noticing this to be true in the first month of my degree. I don’t want you to get the impression that I’m just sitting around playing music by myself all day, though! I still have classes, rehearsals, and a language to learn, but compared to my time in undergrad (where my average day had numerous class and rehearsal commitments) I’ve got much time now.
I recognize how unique of a time this is in a my life, so I’ve been sure to be grateful for it, use the time well, and remember that it won’t always be like this. I also recognize that I’m pretty fortunate to be spending my time in Europe surrounded by great art and music (see last post). I appreciate the focused time I have right now to study music, refine my skills on the trumpet, read, listen to music, and experience life in a different country.
That being said, you may be interested in what a typical day’s like for me. After a few weeks of classes, I’ve already got a pretty decent routine down.
7:00- wake up (well, try my best to get out of bed. You know how it goes), eat breakfast, spend a bit of time reading and getting ready for the day.
8:30- catch the bus to the music building. I’ve got about a 10 minute ride and a 5 minute walk. Not bad at all.
9:00- the daily trumpet warmup.
9:30- do most of my school/academic listening for the day. I try to listen to every piece I’m working on at least once a day while following along with the music. This helps me learn the pieces better and work on memorizing them. Right now most of my daily listening is for the 6 pieces (about 1 hour of music) I’m learning for a competition in a few weeks.
10:30- back to the practice room. If I can get a good chunk of practice done in the morning, then I feel like I’m on top of the day.
11:30- head back to my apartment, eat lunch, read a little bit more, and usually watch something short on netflix (no shame, here).
1:30- the early afternoon is when I do most of my schoolwork (studying for German class) and doing other admin stuff (right now it’s booking travel for the competition, sending emails, setting up rehearsals, etc.)
3:30- another hour of practice. Ideally after this session I’ll have 2.5 hours of practice done for the day, all in a healthy way, and that’ll be about the stopping point for my personal work.
5:00- this is usually when I have classes/rehearsals. Some days it’s German class, some days it’s a Big Band rehearsal, or attending a concert.
7:00 or 8:00ish- head back to my apartment to have dinner and wind down. Maybe finish up whatever I didn’t get done on that day’s to-do list, but the goal is that by 7 or 8 my work’s done.
10:00 or 11:00- head to bed.
Obviously I’ve left out events such as trumpet lessons (which I usually have 1-2 per week) and trumpet classes (which are usually every other Friday for most of the day).
Plus, there are random things that I’ll do to hangout with friends and spend time with people (such as spending this whole past Sunday in the mountains with some friends from church). This is the framework though that I usually plan my days around. 3-4 days a week actually look like this, while others will have slight differences.
Overall, I’m really grateful to be able to have this much flexibility in my schedule, and I recognize that it won't always be like this. While I have this luxury now I want to use my time wisely so that I can work well and rest well.
The exterior of the main music building (for classical students). Right now we have 5 music buildings spread throughout the city, two of which are beautiful buildings owned by the city. Everything should be logistically easier next year when a brand new music building opens up and everything happens there.
There’s a city fair happening the next two weeks on the waterfront. I wouldn’t actually mind if this ferris wheel was here all the time, though. Hopefully I’ll get to go up in it before it’s over.
Any guesses as to why I took the front row end seat next to the window for German class?
Other Random Thoughts:
-I learned how to use a radiator this week, thanks to Google. It was finally time to turn on the heat in my room and I’m still amazed at how radiators work. It doesn’t make sense that the radiator’s not hot at all, yet my room gets noticeably warmer.
-College football is so much tougher to watch here. Saturdays just aren’t the same without it. The 11am games (which we were never really super excited to attend) are now my favorite because they start at 6pm here. Most of the good games happen while I’m asleep, and some of the west coast games even bleed into my Sunday mornings until 8 or 9am.
That’s about it for this week’s post. If there’s anything specific you’d like to learn or hear about, then let me know. We start orchestra rehearsals this week for the upcoming concert, so maybe that’ll give me some cool stories to share with you.
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Until next time.