On Thursday, I returned from a 4-day trip to Oklahoma City. This was indeed quite a whirlwind of a trip in which I played a full solo concert, gave a master class, and taught private lessons for a full day. It was also pretty fascinating to be in a part of the country that I am completely unfamiliar with, meeting new people, and having guitar be the bond that connected myself to everyone that I met.
A few realizations- first of all, there are parts of the country where the arts is still funded in the way that I believe it should be. Take for example, the high school/middle school that my host Matt is a full-time teacher at. The Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City boasts a six-level program of classical guitar with over 240 students enrolled. Yes, we're talking 240 teenagers all filing their fingernails, obsessing over Segovia, and having arguments about which contemporary players have the best fingerings for a Bach Prelude based on the incontrovertible evidence of YouTube videos. It was pretty amazing to meet so many young people all getting such quality instruction on the instrument and so eager to meet a guitarist like myself. I was practically getting celebrity treatment, since I think their teacher had blown me up to be some sort of star and not a whole lot of performers come through Oklahoma.
On my first day, I watched the Advanced Guitar Ensemble practice for an upcoming youth guitar competition in Texas. They were sounding really amazing. I really think there is no other guitar program (especially at a public school) in the country quite at its caliber.
The next day I had my concert at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. It was a nice hall with great acoustics. We had a good turnout with most of the advanced students from Classen in attendance with their families. Since the concert was hosted at a Christian college, they welcomed anything I had to say about my faith and encouraged me to do so. In general, I've decided to try to make a statement of faith in as many performance opportunities as I can. This concert turned out to be a great platform to make share a brief testimony about my faith in front of all of these public high school kids and their families, along with people from the community. Before I played my hymn arrangements (Were You There?/What a Friend We Have in Jesus/Be Thou My Vision), I shared a little bit about the way I grew up being surrounded by my mother's beautiful piano playing and the way hymns have seeped their way into my heart and mind, and that worship is the reason I pick up my guitar every day. I really felt something special happen during that time and I know that God answered prayers of simply being present during the concert. Though the first half had its ups and downs, the second half of the concert I was able to feel completely in my element and really just enjoyed playing. And I knew that I was doing it out of a strength that was completely beyond me. Playing a 2 hour concert is physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining, but by the end I was so energized that I could barely sleep that night. And after a post-concert meal at T.G.I. Friday's (the food selection in OK wasn't all that vast), it was probably better that I stayed up for awhile to digest! Although I did have really good BBQ and fried okra on my last day. Unfortunately, no photo from this concert- I was too preoccupied to even think about it that day.
The next day I was booked up with private lessons at Classen from 9-5, with a 2 hour master class in the middle. A master class is when you give a lesson to someone, but it's open to the public, which ups the anti on both the performer and the teacher's side. Having gone through many master classes during my time as a student, I know how grueling it can be to be up there. Every student was pretty nervous and I tried to be undestanding and engaging since the room was packed with guitar students and guitar teachers from the community. It was actually a lot of fun, and the thrill of teaching is probably equal to the thrill of performing for me. I love presenting a new idea to a student and seeing how change can come across in their playing immediately, or making them think about a piece in a completely different way. It was really a privilege to be there, and I met some really talented students that day.
And my final full day, I got to do some sightseeing around town. Oklahoma to me looked like a combination of New Jersey and the suburbs of Atlanta. I guess I don't have that many places to compare it to. The trees were pretty bare since it is still the end of winter. I thought this one was cool.
And I got to see the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing. It was really beautiful. I caught one good shot of the sun setting over the part of the memorial where a bronze chair was sculpted for every victim of the bombing.
A great trip, but I'm so glad to be home with Paul and Aiko. Home never feels quite so much like home until you go somewhere that is completely unfamiliar. I have been looking forward to this time so much because I am done with deadlines for awhile and now have a few months in which I can ease up on the practicing and learn some new music. So I did stuff that I haven't had time to do in months. I went outlet shopping. I ran lots of errands. I did some spring cleaning. I slept a lot. But in the end, I am somewhat of a workaholic. I feel purposeless unless I have goals.
So I started playing again tonight. Somewhere in the time and place where music became work, I forgot how much I really enjoy playing. Just playing.
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