Score !

Here is a mailbox, Aspen-style, that we ambulate past on a regular basis.  That's the Sears Catalog that he's reading.

For the record, we did go to the ARC yesterday and as usual the kids all ice skated.  They are now equipped with wrist guards in the unlikely event they slip and fall.  I am up to 20 laps in the pool.

As one would expect, we have had many wonderful musical experiences here.  For me, last evening was especially noteworthy for two reasons.  We walked down to the tent as planned and heard the schedule of music.  Mr. Kantor's trio played a piece composed by a still-alive composer named Krzysztof Penderecki.  At first I didn't like it very much but as it progressed I could appreciate the complexity of the music and how difficult it was to play.  I suppose you had to be there.  We did go backstage to congratulate Mr. K. and so Maya could get him to autograph her program. He was happy to see her and gladly signed it with his special fountain pen which he explained was made from pernamubco (actually just the barrel was made from the wood), which is the wood from which the best violin bows are made.

Then the really fun part started.  We occupied ourselves outside for about 20 minutes before entering the depths of Harris Concert Hall to experience the Film Scoring Showcase.  It was what we expected which is to say that composition students wrote music for film clips.  It was incredible, however, to learn that after a short crash-course about several highly technical and sophisticated music and video software applications these students were given the a video clip they had never seen before.  Then they spent about two weeks conceiving and producing their music to run with the clip.  The end results were fantastic.  We saw the video with nothing but dialog and sound effects first then watched it again and again with each of the students music. I think the talent on display was remarkable.

One side story, for the record.  One of the students in the showcase (actually our favorite) was Gabriel Lefkowitz.  When Prema first flew to Aspen a few weeks ago her flight had to turn back to Denver due to bad weather.  On the plane was a young man who had commented that he was going to AMFS so Prema started to talk with him.  The young man was Gabe, who we all later met at a bus stop a few days later.  Anyway, it's a small world up here.  Remember Gabe, I think we'll be hearing about him in the future.

Enough rambling for this morning.  Ice skating lessons later today otherwise no big plans. I see that there is an opera aria master class at Wheeler tonight so maybe we'll drop in to see what that is like (and then check to see if Paradise Bakery (ice cream shop) is still in business).