Community Carols Night

This year I've been asked again to help organize the annual Community Carols Night at our church. The Snowy Mountains Ensemble (which our family plays in) will be playing the music for the evening and our church is doing everything else (including the supper... our congregation is very good at making loads of delicious morsels of delight), so if you live within driving distance of Cooma, you should definitely try and come! It would make me happy beyond imaginability to see a good number of people turn up and make the event a success. So - don't miss this opportunity to enjoy quality worship, fellowship, good food, and singing carols with an orchestra!

Rabbit photos

So I finally got around to posting those photos I mentioned a while ago. Unfortunately not many turned out well, so I only have 3 to show you. Anyway, 3 is better than nothing, and nothing is what I've done on here over the past 2 weeks.

The first 2 photos are from Coffee's litter. Last time I posted photos of rabbits they were from Toffee's litter. As you might imagine, Toffee & Coffee are twin sisters, so you'll find these kittens look very similar to Toffee's kittens. Of the Coffee's 4 kittens, only 2 behaved for the camera, so as well as the ones you see there is also a nice Blue kitten as well as an amazing Lynx. As rabbits tend to do, the nicest ones wouldn't behave for the camera. Anyway, these 2 don't have names yet, so if you can come up with anything that you think suits them, let me know! ;)

This one is from Toffee's litter. If I remember correctly, her name was Patricia (?) - I get so confused when I'm not always the one naming them... As you can see, the coat has grown very long, almost like an angora at the same age. All of Toffee's and Coffee's kittens have the exact same coat, because both parents had a long coat. At this age there is more hair than rabbit and you wouldn't believe how small the rabbit actually is under all that fluff. Fortunately for her, she lost most of this hair in her first moult, otherwise she would be a tad uncomfortable in this heat!

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Happy weekend!

My story for the day

So today I was getting out of the bus in Canberra for my 3'rd last MuST class ever (so sad!!!), and I saw something that made me smile. In fact, it cheered my up so much that I thought it might just be worth sharing with the readers of my blog.

The first character of the story was a frail-looking old man who I shall refer to as Mr. Hendrickson, since I don't know his real name. He was, like 99% of the old people who travel on the bus, the sort of person that comes across as a very slow, serious person - the type that still lives back in the time that they were born. Or so it seemed momentarily, anyway.

Enter Ms. Cartell (again, I don't know her real name), a complete stranger to myself, Mr. Hendrickson, and anyone else around at the time. At the time of the bus's arrival, Ms. Cartell was emerging from the shopping block carrying a small white rectangular box - you know, the sort of box people carry pies, cakes and other stuff in. Ms. Cartell was just the average working woman in her 40's, minding her own business and enjoying the sunshine while walking across the park.

Upon exiting the bus in the deliberate, steady manner so characteristic of the aged population, Mr. Hendrickson lifted up his head to see Ms. Cartell walking across the park with the aforementioned box in her hands. Suddenly something about Mr. Hendrickson changed when he caught sight of the box and utilising a sudden burst of energy, he ran - or should I say hobbled rather quickly - across the park to Ms. Cartell, and confronted her with a certain degree of abruptness. Mr. Hendrickson's new attitude was comparable to that of the excitement of a young child when they catch sight of the lollipop stand in a supermarket when he lifted up his radiant, beaming face in anticipation to ask Ms. Cartell in a voice quaveringly high with excitement, "Are *excited panting* - are those (pointing to box) - Krispy Kremes?"

With commendable presence of mind for somebody who had just been confronted in a rather surprising manner by an excitedly energetic 80-year-old, Ms. Cartell replied sympathetically, "No, I'm sorry. I'm afraid they aren't." 

The look of disappointment on Mr. Hendrickson's face was rather disheartening, so much so that I wished I could by him a Krispy Kreme donut and see his happy, childlike eagerness return. As everyone returned to their business and went their separate ways I thought to myself - no, I didn't think of some life lesson to be learned from it - actually, I thought, "Well that was a rather funny happening! Pity about the anticlimax, though."

Looking back on it, though, I do have one thing to share from the story: I want to be as cool as Mr. Hendrickson when I get old. 

And that was my story for today. Yes, feel free to tell me how much I fail at telling stories; I know it's all true.

P.S. My new favourite word is rather.

Making a difference

This is not the usual blog post, but more of an alert to bring something to the reader's attention:

The below article is copied from a news website which you can view by clicking on the title of this post:

Blood bank desperately short of supplies

The nation's blood bank says it's desperately short of blood - especially O-negative blood - with stocks plunging to just two days supply.

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service says it's particularly concerned about reserves in NSW and ACT, where there are less than one day's supply of O-negative.

It's appealing for people come forward, particularly anyone who has not donated for a while, or has not yet to become a donor.

O-negative is the universal blood type, which can be given to anyone in an emergency.

Across the country, stocks of all blood types have dropped 18 per cent in the past month, Kathy Bowlen from the Red Cross Blood Service told AAP.

"Patient demand has stayed the same, but the number of donors coming through our doors has been dropping," she explained.

"In many states, stocks of other blood groups are also lower than two days.

"This is particularly worrying in the lead up to the Melbourne Cup, which is always a difficult time for us," Ms Bowlen said.

"Last year, our blood collections dropped across the country by 1000 in Cup week."

The service says it's not clear why donations always drop in this week.

Donors can visit donateblood.com.au to locate the nearest centre or simply call 13 14 95 to make an appointment.

Anyway, I just thought that in a time of such need, the right thing to do would be to spread the word about it. Unfortunately you must be 16 or older to donate blood, but if you happen to be in such an unfortunate position like I am, you can always just pass the word on in the hopes that your voice will make a difference. If everyone does a little bit, big things will happen.

And that is all I have to say for today. Happy November!

In His hands

*This post is more for my own benefit to help remind me of something I've been struggling with, but if you happen to find it interesting, even better.

Lately I have been getting so stressed out over 'planning' my future. So many things are starting to happen that could have a significant effect on the rest of my life:

Type 1 is a music scholarship course at the School of Music for Year 11 & 12 students. Participants receive free lessons from top teachers, the opportunity to gain experience in ensembles/orchestras under well-educated tutors, as well as 2 hours of composition & music theory lessons a week. Needless to say, I really want to do the course (if only for the free lessons, which I really 'need') and I've been stressing myself out about it constantly. See, at the moment there is no way I would be able to, because even if I passed the audition (and only 10 people will...) I would be left without a means of being transported back to Cooma. No matter how much I worry about it and try to think of a solution, though, nothing changes.

Then there's the Canberra Concerto Orchestra. On Wednesday a local music teacher who used to teach our family rang me up and told me about this orchestra which was having auditions this week. He spoke very highly of it and said he thought I had a fairly good chance of passing the audition (?!?!), so I booked in an audition, thinking, "Well isn't this a good opportunity! If I don't get to do Type 1 next year, at least I might be able to do this instead." 4 days later, and I still hadn't heard back from the audition manager, and consequently still didn't have copies of the pieces I was required to learn for the audition! These pieces got sent out to everybody else some time last week, giving them all a whole week's practice more than me!! I rang the manager several times during those 4 days, only to be informed that the music was still 'on its way'. It finally arrived on Monday, giving me only 6 days to learn it, as opposed to the 2 weeks everyone else had. Again, I only fretted more as time progressed, and the fretting didn't stop when the music arrived. I now had to worry about how I would get to Canberra for the audition and get back home again. And even if I DID manage to work out all that, how would I be able get there and back every week next year for rehearsals?

As most of you should know, MuST (the music program I'm doing at ANU at the moment) is the highlight of my week. This year has been the highlight of my life for the same reason. I know I must sound obsessed with music (and maybe I am...), but I can't even describe how much this course has meant to me. Anyway, we only have 3 weeks to go, and that will be the last I will ever see of MuST. I know I should be thankful that I actually got to do the course - if I wasn't homeschooled, there wouldn't have been a chance of being able to go to Canberra every Tuesday, and if we'd found out about it one day later the applications would have closed and I would never have even made it to the audition. I also know that I should be treasuring these last few weeks and being glad to have had the opportunity to complete the course, but something inside me just keeps flinging my mind towards that fact that in 3 weeks I will never EVER have another MuST lesson to look forward to. This may sound crazy, but just the thought of no more MuST makes me feel... well, don't worry about that. This must have sounded sickeningly ungratefully pessimistic - and perhaps it is - but I assure you that, while I'm tempted to feel that way, I know I shouldn't and I am trying to get to grips with it. Right now I am really struggling to deal with this battle going on inside me.

I could go on, but you get the idea. I've been trying to work everything by my own power (or lack thereof) and fretting when it doesn't work. Why? To tell the truth, I really don't know. Like most people, deep down I know that the only right way is to let God pull the strings and just be the 'puppet' that he uses to work his plan. What ever He wants to happen WILL HAPPEN!! If He's planned for me to play in an orchestra next year, He will make a way for it to happen without my worrying about it! If he wants me to forget music and do something completely different next year, then none of my 'plans' will work, no matter how hard I try. I should stop and wonder - what is even the point in making my own plans? If they're not His plans, they won't happen.

I heard a quote only this week, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." So how do we find His plans for us?

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." - Jeremiah 33:3

One of my all-time favourite songs...

... is a new piece of music we have called "Bow The Knee." It's a Christian worship song that we are learning to sing in 4-part harmony. At the moment I love it so much I just thought I'd share it with the world. Hopefully when you hear it you'll understand why. (To gain maximum appreciation of it, try to close your eyes, block out distractions, and just focus on the message of the music. Like a lot of songs, this one won't sound amazing unless you allow it to; e.g. don't just have it playing in the background while you do something else, or it won't sound that good.)

Below is an audio track of a professional choir performing it with an orchestra as well as the lyrics, in case you don't catch all the words the first time.

Bow The Knee


There are moments on our journey following the Lord
Where God illumines every step we take.
There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us,
As we try to understand each move He makes.
When the path grow dim
And our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

Bow the knee; trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee; lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the knee.

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall,
The cold and lonely winds won't cease to blow.
And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel;
We are tempted to believe God does not know.
When the storms arise,
Don't forget we live by faith and not by sight.

Bow the knee; trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.

Bow the knee; lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King,

Bow the knee; trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee; lift your eyes toward heaven and blieve the One who holds eternity.
And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King,
Bow the knee.

Music

So I thought I'd do a post about the thing that takes up so much of my time these days - music. This is the time of year when everything starts happening in Cooma, and the music-scene is no exception. In 3 weeks is the annual Cooma Music Competition which is the highlight of my year. We're not doing much this year, except a piece in the small vocal ensemble section. Our family (namely Mum, Bradley, Emma, Caitlyn, Sarah, and myself) has been getting into singing in 4-part harmony lately, so we thought it might be fun to do a piece in the competition.

The Snowy Mountains Ensemble is also expected to perform in the final concert as guests, so we have been polishing our best piece in preparation. On top of that, the Ensemble has been asked to put on a concert for some U3A Music Appreciation program thing the day before, which has kept us busy. Being a new ensemble with new music, there are only a couple of pieces we can play well, so our family ensemble will be playing some pieces to supplement. Unfortunately Joshua won't be back from Newcastle then, so Emma will be doing her first performance in this ensemble on viola (her main instrument is the violin, but she has taught herself how to play viola so that she can play the much-needed parts in ensemble pieces).

Speaking of ensembles, at MuST last week we had a masterclass with a touring ensemble from Chicago. It was really great to be able to talk to them about life as an ensemble musician and hear them play. They were doing a concert at the Wesley Music Centre that evening, but they played most of the program for us, so we essentially got a free concert!

Finally - and before you get too bored to read the rest of this post - I will announce the Snowy Mountains Ensemble's Christmas Carols. This coming Thursday and every Thursday from November 11 to the end of this school term we will be rehearsing simple, fun arrangements of Christmas carols - the idea is that we will invite as many people to join us for those rehearsals as possible, giving local musicians the opportunity to experience ensemble playing in a relaxed atmosphere, and hopefully, if they enjoy the experience, some of them will stay on as permanent members. Easy arrangements and an open strings violin part mean that musicians of any skill level are welcome, and we now have clarinet parts. After all the work we've put into organizing all this (and trust me, it has been hours upon hours of hard work), it would be very nice to see some people participating in and benefiting from this opportunity. So if you know of anyone around that plays an orchestral string or woodwind instrument, tell them to come! :-)

Apart from that there is not much to report, except that I am preparing for an audition next month and I've started learning the coolest piece ever written for flute (well... maybe not quite) - The Great Train Race by Ian Clarke, which is subtitled "The Flute as you don't usually hear it." Quite aptly so, too, as it employs several extended techniques such as residual fast tonguing, singing while playing (!!), lip bending, explosive harmonics, use of quarter-tones, multiphonics and optional circular breathing! It's very fascinating, but the bit that interests me most is the multiphonic section. Until last week I never knew that it was possible for a flute to play more than 1 note at a time - it turns out that flutes can play 2, or even 3 notes at once (multiphonics). Obviously I am very excited to learn this fascinating new piece...

 

Wonderfully Orchestrated

What follows this brief introduction is not written by me. It is copied with permission from a blog post by Terry Ferguson from Head-lines. While I prefer to only publish my own work on this blog, I found an exception in this post. The content is something which I can really relate to, and I hope you find you will all enjoy it as much as I did. So here we go; Wonderfully Orchestrated:

Tuesday at work I attended a performance by two of the members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra during lunchtime.  The music was quite beautiful, a duet between a violin and a bassoon. 


What I found most interesting was the demonstration given by the bassoonist.  He took apart his instrument, and showed how each piece was an individual, integral part of the whole.  If one piece were broken or omitted, the instrument would not function properly...or at all. The science behind the creation of that instrument was fascinating.

That started me thinking... Think of a symphony producing the works of Mozart or Beethoven. It all begins with the individual playing his part. This is much like how our body operates with its 11 systems working in concert. Each part carefully "orchestrated" to work with the other, each having its own unique and integral purpose. If just one part is injured or missing, then the body does not function properly, or at all (death). Example: Hypothalamus gland



It is only the size of the tip of your thumb and weights 4 grams, yet it regulates equilibrium as well as thirst, body temperature, water balance, hunger, and blood pressure. It links the endocrine system with the nervous system. One little part, so vital to the body as a whole.

King David also thought about the intricacies of the human body, and how each part of us is precisely created...he wrote about this in Psalm 139:


"13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Another fascinating aspect of our created being are "laminins." They are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue. Laminins are what hold us together...LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart.

Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see... (or Google images). Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!

The glue that holds us together....ALL of us.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER.'

Colossians 1:15-17

Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together ...one cell to another....by the cross.
And that's my thought for the day!

Now You think about it...

Spring has come...

 ...and brought with it the new life and fresh energy that makes it my favourite season. Here are a couple of photos I took today. 

These first 4 are photos of an ornamental cherry tree we have that has just begun to blossom. As usual, my photography is, at best, poor, but these photos were the best that I could do in a strong wind with a camera that had no manual focus (not that I would have been capable of using a camera that had). Ever tried photographing closeups of blossoms in the wind? Take my word for it when I tell you it's not easy...

Melinda, who is nearly 4 weeks old, with her littermate Buster in the background. 

 

Tristan, also known as Eloise. (Sorry, Bethany, I've forgotten what you named the other two.)

Buster.

Tristan aka Eloise again. This is my favourite of the litter. I know it doesn't seem right, but I just can't help having favourites!

 Tristan again. He's THAT special.  

I'm a fail blogger...

Yes, I realize how slack I've been. It seems like I haven't blogged for months. Life, as usual, has been moving too quickly to let me spend time blogging. As a matter of fact, I have hardly gotten any schoolwork done the last couple of weeks. About the only thing I HAVE done in the past week is music. And spending long hours sitting on the bus. In the past 8 days (last Tuesday to this Tuesday) I have spent over 22 hours travelling between here and Canberra. We had our 2'nd MuST workshop this week, as well as a separate Aboriginal music culture workshop (which was very interesting to say the least...).

As well as that I'm still adjusting to having to practice 2 instruments, getting used to the responsibility of leading Ensemble, and trying to get schoolwork done somewhere in between all of that! The good news is that the holidays are coming up, and with no music-related events for 2 whole weeks, I just might get time to blog again and show you photos of the latest litter of kittens.

Having said that - I must apologize for not doing a 'proper' post. Like I said, hopefully I'll find some time to do one next week. Thank you to all those who still read this.

Kitchen Capers

This is what happens when Mum leaves the house and leaves me in the kitchen with 2 hyper-active toddlers...

Joseph: just being his usual self. Caleb is becoming frustrated.

 

Joseph again being 'normal'. Well, normal for him.

 Joseph: "I have a brilliant idea!" Caleb shares his enthusiasm.

Back to work while I start working on Joseph's masterplan.

And here it is - a mega cookie! Yes, he is the coolest 4-year-old alive! Why didn't I think of that years ago? His hand shows a size comparison here.

After being cooked...

Smelling very tempting...

A proud moment! I felt like one of my [very many] life goals had been accomplished with the completion of this mega cookie.

The finished work of art...

My first attempt...

At creating a piece of music from scratch using only electronic devices. Let me know what you think!

My first page-turning experience...

was, in a word, nerve-racking. As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last post, I had been asked to act as a page-turner for the pianist at a concert today. This wasn't just any concert, it was a concert put on by [apparently] one of Australia's best cellists, an extremely accomplished pianist, and a fantastic clarinettist - meaning that there was a huge amount of pressure on my shoulders to not stuff up anything. Unfortunately I had never done any amount of page-turning before - not even at home - so I was already feeling quite nervous. The rehearsal did absolutely nothing to help my nerves, especially with quite a large audience gathering 1 hour and 15 minutes before the concert! I hadn't felt so nervous since... well actually last time I performed, because I did this enormous stuff-up in which I totally forgot what to play and had to 'fudge it' (aka improvise) for about 15 bars... anyway, I was feeling extremely nervous. Enjoying the beautiful music only helped a little, because I had to pay such rigid attention to following the music so I wouldn't get lost. While it was a good experience and I was delighted to be able to help in some way, it wasn't exactly the sort of thing I would choose to do for fun. It is unbelievably easy to make a mistake that could ruin the performance, or even the whole concert.

On the bright side, I was given the privilege of meeting and getting to know David Pereira, which I'm very pleased about. I was also very happy to be able to do a favour for the pianist, who has done lots of things for me in the past.

The moral of the story is that I now have a proper appreciation for page-turners and what they have to go through. To anyone in the world who's ever done page-turning - thank you for making a difference by offering your services, and I can now empathise with you.

And now I shall go find a CD so I can hear what Beethoven's Clarinet Trio IV actually sounds like without the sound of a heart thumping 180 beats per minute...

My exam is OVER!

Yes, it's almost too good to be true! Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed preparing for it and I'm 100% glad I did it, but it's so good to have it behind me and know that I don't have to do anything now except wait for my results.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm going on about, I had an AMEB Theory of Music exam this morning. It started at 9:30 am, so we had to get up at 5:45 am to get ready and leave on time. We arrived at the Institute of Technology at 8:30, so I had plenty of time to sit around and get nervous. Finding a couple of people I knew quickly made me feel more at ease, though. A very musical homeschooling family we know from Yass had a daughter doing a theory exam, too, so I spent some time chatting with them.

As for the exam, it was significantly different to the practice tests I had done - but not really any harder. I was caught off guard for a couple of questions, but I think I got enough right to at least pass... Thanks to those who helped me out - you know who you are.

Anyway, the main thing is it's over now. No more exam pressure for 10 whole months!! Maybe now I can actually get some practice done. Which reminds me - on Saturday we're attending a concert which is being put on by David Pereira (apparently one of Australia's best cellists), and 2 local musicans (1 is my old music teacher and the other is my accompanist whenever I have to perform somewhere :-P) and I have been asked to be a page turner!! It's only for one piece for the pianist, but I'm 100% excited to be involved in a concert by David Pereira!

Introducing... Vella, Edgar & Alexander!

At last I have names AND photos of all my instruments! Okay, so the piano's not mine - much as I wish it was. But I still feel like I own a part of it... or it owns a part of me. Anyway, this first photo is Vella, my flute. She's got a rather interesting story behind her name. We (Caitlyn and I) were in search of a name - or rather were trying to discover which name belonged to her, because we believe that everything has its own name and you just have to discover it, or so we like to think. Anyway, we providentially ran out of rabbit pellets at the same time as our usual animal feed store, so we had to buy some from a different store. The different brand of rabbit pellets was called "Vella." It didn't take us long to realize it was perfect. It started with 'V' (the 2 flute teachers at the ANU School of Music both have names starting with V), it suited her character, and we later found out that the name meant "beautiful." So she is essentially named after a brand of rabbit pellets. 

This is Edgar. Edgar means "wealthy, magnificent, or royal spear," or something along those linges. Obviously the spear bit doesn't apply, but it was nice to have a name that described the magnificent royalty which is present in all pianos. Taking this photo brought into sharp realization the true difficulty of taking photos of shiny, reflective objects!! If only you could have seen me balancing on the stool trying not to be in the reflection when I was taking this photo...

Last, but not least, is Alexander, who has been introduced previously. Not much of a story behind his name, but we all agree it suits his colour and tonal qualities. Interestingly enough, a cellist who started coming to a local music ensemble about the same time that I started playing bassoon in it also happens to be as crazy as me to name her cello - and coincidentally she named it Alexander too! It feels good to know that Alexander (the bassoon) will have a friend - and one with the same name, for that matter.

I know, the photo emphasises the piano more than the bassoon - I couldn't help it, though, as I didn't have anything else to stand the bassoon against that didn't look worse. I thought the bassoon and piano looked quite elegant together, though.

By the way, if anyone has any tips on how to take good photos of shiny objects, I'd love to hear them!

Openness

I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling, or if 'openness' is even a proper word. But it's something that's really been on my heart lately. One thing (of many) that really frustrates me is secretiveness, and I'm absolutely convinced that less of it - and consequently more openness - would solve a lot of the problems in our society. I'm constantly shocked at how much of their thoughts or feelings people will try to hide. I can only wonder how much more is hidden that we can't even detect. What frustrates me even more is that more often than not, these people don't really even have a good reason for hiding their thoughts! Maybe they do it because that's the way they've always done it, or because their family did it and they followed suit - however, the most common 'reason' seems to be that they will not volunteer extra information to someone unless the other person does it to them first. This just creates a bad case of circular reasoning; "I won't do it unless s/he does it and s/he won't do it unless I do it." So many people are left wondering what their friends, acquantaintances, and even family members are thinking just because they aren't open enough with each other! Imagine the problems this causes in their relationships. I can hardly think of something worse than 'friends' not being able to share with each other everything they're thinking.

Which brings me to another reason (which is relievingly more reasonable than the others) for lack of openness - the fear of offending someone. While there are a few people who can (and will) take offense very easily, I believe that the vast majority of people will respond very well to honest and genuine openness. The very fact that you care enough about your relationship with the person to bring up a topic like being open with each other should be enough to convince the friend that your intentions are sincere.

It's interesting being able to hear about people's own experiences with this. Half the people I see are convinced that if they told their friends what they really thought, they might take offense. The other half think that their friends are hiding things from them, creating a kind of barrier in the relationship. See the problem?

I happen to know quite a few people who are very open and will not hesitate to tell you exactly what they think, be it good or bad. Even though I am not particularly close to any of these people, I feel so much more comfortable when I'm around them, because I know that they aren't hiding anything from me. Besides, if I have a fault (and I know that I have plenty!) I really want to know about it so I can do something to fix it! Personally, I can't see any benefits from people not being open with me. I guarantee that you would find it pretty much impossible to offend me if you speak in genuine sincerity.

So here's your chance to tell me anything you've always been afraid to say before. If you've already told me everything (blessings to you!) but you'd like to hear my honest thoughts, please send an email anyway, mentioning this, and I would be delighted to oblige. I'd also like to encourage you to be open with all your other friends, acquaintances, and family members, and I guarantee that the relationships will be the better for it. Of course, I should mention that we can't do everything (or anything!) with our own power, and it is only with God's help that we will ever be able to solve any problems.

This week I have...

1) Had my first day at school (even if it was only for 1½ hours). That's right, a real school. I went to vaccinate the school's rabbit for one of the teachers who I know and she asked me to stay and sit in on her Year 10 Drama class.

2) Become the only double-reed player in Poa ensemble - and already I've been dragged into playing in a concert on Wednesday! Later on I found out that most bassoonists start out exactly the same way, due to the high demand for bassoons in ensembles.

3) Started a new subject/course called Successful Living. It is a 1-year study based on the first 9 chapters of the book of Proverbs. It looks great so far, and I'm very much looking forward to doing more work on it.

4) Saw a policeman directing traffic - definitely one of the highlights of my week.

5) Saw the number plate 'MY CAR' which happens to be one I've been looking for for years - one of the highlights of my month.

6) Have officially started teaching my first student - a family friend who is learning the flute. I've given him 6 lessons on a trial basis to see whether he is interested in continuing, which he is, so I'll be teaching him until at least the end of this term.

7) Finally gotten around to doing a blog post. Although I guess that's kind of self apparent...

And such concludes all the major happenings of my week that I can remember at the moment.

I'm a bassoonist!!!!

No joke, I really am! It's almost as much of a shock to me as it is to you!! If someone had told me 2 weeks ago that I would be playing the bassoon before the month was over, I would never have believed them. But then God started working again, and opened all these doors that made it amazingly clear. Basically, this is what happened:

1) My piccolo which I had been looking forward to learning to play turned out to still have problems. I still haven't had an opportunity to have it fixed.

2) My passion for Woodwinds was reinforced, and I couldn't stop dreaming about the bassoon. Even when I wasn't dreaming, it seemed like there were bassoon reeds following me all around the School of Music.

3) Mum started talking about how much we will need a bass instrument to replace the cello when Bradley goes off to Uni. This was the first time I started thinking that it might actually be a reality, not just one of my dreams.

4) I told Mum (and Dad) about the bassoon and what it could do, and mentioned that it has been my dream to learn to play it. Amazingly, they were both very positive about it. In fact, the idea met absolutely no opposition at all! This convinced me that God was telling me something, because I had been expecting to spend months convincing the parents to let me learn another instrument!

5) Then I had to face the reality - buying a bassoon would cost me about $5,000 to get a decent instrument. I didn't give up hope, though, and kept praying. Then God opened another door when I found out that the Canberra School of Music had a very good bassoon sitting in storage that I could 'rent' for free as a MuST student!! I became convinced that God creates these 'problems' so that we can watch him at work solving them, rather than just take everything for granted.

6) The worst problem of all then presented itself. Playing pretty much any wind instrument can have very bad effects on one's flute playing. I had to give up playing the trumpet, clarinet & oboe for that very reason. However, it turns out that bassoon is the ONLY wind instrument (besides maybe recorder, which is technically a type of flute) that is compatible with flute playing!! To me this is nothing short of a miracle.

So I decided to take the challenge and learn another instrument - and before I knew it my dreams had become reality! I brought home the bassoon (haven't come up with a name for him yet... suggestions welcome! =P) on Tuesday afternoon, and much to my relief it came with a reed (a reed is the bit of cane that vibrates to make the sound - without the reed, you can't play a bassoon). I think I would have died if I had had the bassoon for a whole week without being able to play it. I'm seeing my new bassoon teacher on Tuesday, which, needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to. He is the Principle Bassoonist of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, a position he's held since 1965. He has also received a Canberran of the Year award, as well as an Order of Australia medal for his work in youth orchestras.

And now I've come to the point where I realize that in all my excitement I forget to tell you what a bassoon actually is. Most of you probably wouldn't know, due to its extreme rarity. Well, the Bassoon is the bass of the Woodwind family. It is made of an 8-foot long pipe which is bent double over itself to allow the player to reach all the keys. It has an extremely complicated fingering system - most of the fingers only have to cover 1 hole each, but the thumbs have to control 13-14 levers between the 2 of them. Crazy, I know. Especially when you're the one playing it. But trust me, it's definitely worth it!

Since bassoons are so expensive, hardly anyone plays them, so they are very in demand in ensembles and orchestras. After only playing for 1 day, I've already been asked to play in a beginner orchestra group and possible another ensemble later in the year. This afternoon will be my first experience playing bassoon in an ensemble, so wish me luck!

Finally, here is a picture of the bassoon I'm using. This photo doesn't show the size very well, but standing up it goes up to about the height of my neck. I might add some photos to this post later on if I can manage to take any that aren't as bad quality as this one.

An answer to prayer

Okay, well most of you may find this post irrevelevant or even boring (as probably most of my posts are), but something so exciting happened that I have to share it with someone - or everyone.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been praying very hard about how God wants me to spend my life, and what career pathway he has planned for me. I have some of my own ideas based on my own feelings, but I really want to know for sure exactly what He wants me to do with my life. So I've been praying really hard about it for quite some time, but not really getting any answers. In fact, it didn't seem like I was getting any response at all.

But then things started happening. Seemingly out of the blue Mum received an email from a student of the Sydney Conservatorium whom she (Mum) had emailed months before, with no response, whom we had all forgotten about long ago. Apparently she was doing research as part of her PhD into the effects that being homeschooled have on one's music education. She was looking for willing families through which to conduct the research, so of course Mum volunteered us. Months later we received an email back saying she would very much like to come and see our family in the July holidays.

So on Tuesday she came and spent several hours interviewing us and listening to us perform. Nothing special had happened up to this point. Then we got to talking with her and found out that she was homeschooled (which we had kind of guessed already) and had studied a Bachelor of Music Education majoring in Flute. You can imagine how excited I was to have somebody to talk to that has experienced and done exactly what I am interested in doing. It was the most amazing help to be able to ask all these questions I've been wanting to ask someone for YEARS, as well as having the assurance that this person understood exactly where I was coming from, having come from there herself. To me it was a heaven-sent opporunity to find the answers I'd been looking for. Long story short, we (or I) ended up interviewing her more than she did us. Fortunately she didn't mind at all, and I was overjoyed at receiving the guidance I'd been praying for. Not only because I now have a clear idea of what God wants me to do, but also because it was such a blessing to see prayer answered so effectively!

P.S. I didn't take that photo, much as I would like to say I did...