As the JPL madness has settled down, I've started focusing on other areas of my academic life. I'm continuing to spend my late nights studying for Electricity & Magnetism, and practicing my bass. I just returned from the CODA Honor Orchestra, a statewide orchestra, held this year at UC Santa Cruz, at which I was honored to perform Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony.
There's something absolutely majestic and surreal about performing an artwork of this grandeur that can't be described in words or understood by anyone except the musicians. There's a passage in the second movement where the Tchaikovsky rediscovers the melody that he's been searching for throughout the movement. At one point, the entire orchestra goes from silence and then enters - the horns, basses, violins trumpets, everyone - and reintroduces this grand main theme. When we play it, and now even when I listen to it, there's this euphoria that I get every time, manifested as chills down my spine and an uncontrollable smile on my face.
Until this weekend, the most amazing thing I had experienced were two total solar eclipses - one in Chile and one in Idaho - but I think the feeling of playing this symphony can compare. Maybe it's merely because of the relief in knowing that our 11-hour rehearsals payed off, or in the case of the eclipse, days of backpacking, but I think it's more so the sensation of feeling so tiny in this world while playing a role that we know has significance and relevance.
When I'm not practicing my bass, I've been hammering away at my college applications. I have yet to complete them, but I'm anxiously awaiting the decision from my first choice this Thursday. I have to say, I've procrastinated much more than I thought I would, but regardless, I've been incredibly satisfied with and proud of the essays I've written thus far. I work well under deadlines, but I know most students struggle with this, and so I wish I could somehow convince future seniors to not procrastinate until a week before the deadline. However, I can't even count how many people gave me this exact same advice, and I didn't listen, so I know it'll be hard to get other to listen.
After having my musical epitome this weekend, I've been looking forward to the opportunities that I'll have in college to perform grand symphonies again with exceptional musicians from around the world. Though I plan to major in engineering, I think it will be extremely valuable to get a break from the problem sets and absurdly difficult exams through music.