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I spent the last week battling the cold from hell, along with everyone else in this city, apparently. I pretty much spent the entire week sleeping, which didn't leave much time for homework or practicing. I'm finally starting to get caught up.

I practiced today for the first time in probably two weeks. I thought I would be way behind on "Tribeca Sunflower" (marimba solo) since I haven't had the energy to even think about it for a while. It's a physically demanding piece, and I was worried that after taking such a long break, I'd be too out of shape to play it. Fortunately I made some pretty good progress on it today, and I'm excited about it again. I tend to forget that sometimes the best thing you can do while learning a piece is to walk away from it for a while.

In addition to falling behind in percussion, I'm a little behind in preparation for one of the seminars I'm taking. The class topic is hypermeter (broad topic, I know) and I have to present something in a couple of weeks. Since my presentation comes so close to the end of the quarter, I basically have to present on the same topic on which I'll write my final paper. That means I have to figure out a paper topic soon, but I guess that's okay. This way, I'll have more time to work on it than I would if I took more time deciding on a topic. Right now I'm reading this book about rhythm & meter in electronic dance music. I'm hoping to base my paper on some topic concerning hypermeter in electronic dance music, hip hop, and/or electronic percussive pop music (like Postal Service and Bjork). I still have pretty vague ideas about what to do. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way :)

I caught a couple of good concerts over the past few days - last week, I saw jazz trumpeter Cuong Vu, who just joined the jazz faculty here at U-Dub. He played a faculty recital, for which he was joined by his NY-based trio and guitarist Bill Fresell. The concert was absolutely amazing. I'm not even sure whether to classify Vu's music as jazz, rock, or trance. There was definitely some Radiohead influence in there too. In contrast to that concert, yesterday I saw a performance of Britten's War Requiem. I hadn't listened to the whole piece before - it was beautiful, especially the Libera Me. I'm hoping to see a few concerts coming up: next weekend, Arturo Sandoval is playing at a jazz club downtown. Also, I just found out that Bela Fleck & the Flecktones are playing with the Seattle Symphony later this month, and HERBIE HANCOCK is playing with the symphony in April! I love living in a big city.

I just re-read this post and realized I'm such a music geek.

In non-music-related news, my ankle has been feeling pretty ache-y lately. I guess that's not really news. I'm starting to try and plan out my summer, and I think I'll try and shoot for surgery in late June or early July. I'm dreading the surgery, but I think it will help.

I guess that's about it for now...