The subject line of this post was a question a kid (probably about 5) asked me when I was on the bus with my bass going to a rehearsal the other day.  It can be kind of annoying taking that thing on a bus, but you also get really used to not driving (or paying for gas!) which is REALLY nice.  I'm going to try to drive less when I get home.  You never know what kind of character is going to get on the bus next, which is pretty amusing.

I've been in rehearsals for about a week now for the opera Hansel and Gretel (by Humperdinck).  I enjoy being in a pit, probably because I got so used to it at Butler doing ballets all the time, and my section is just 3 bassists, Betsy being one of them, so it's fun getting to play with her.  We haven't gotten in trouble yet, but sometimes we enjoy ourselves in rehearsals a little too much, haha. 

Betsy and I also took a little side trip to Glenwood Springs yesterday.  It's about an hour away, and the biggest city in the vicinity.  Our trip did have a purpose, but the most exciting part was that we got to eat Qdoba for lunch.  The only chain restaurant in Aspen in McDonalds (which is both a good and bad thing) so we were pretty darn excited.  It's amazing how good those nachos can taste.

My roommate's boyfriend is visiting - turns out he's a Butler alum.  Small world.  Our time there never overlapped, but it's fun to reminisce about Hinkle anyway.  We all went out last night to the little dive of a bar that lots of the students here go to (it's relatively cheap).  There is this guy there that always brings his little dog and we got to hold her a little.  Strange place to bring a dog, but she is the most patient dog I have ever met.  We also went to one of the swanky places in town that is really nice, but too expensive to go to on a regular basis.  (Most of the drinks were at least $10.)  It's fun to feel ritzy sometimes, though and it certainly was a change from the usual hang out places.

Well it's off to evening opera rehearsal.  Hopefully Hansel and Gretel will be able to escape the witch again tonight.

Yesterday and today Betsy and I went hiking in an area called the Maroon Bells.  It's called this because there are maroon colored mountains there shaped like bells.  As you walk past the entrance, you see a glacial lake in a valley with mountains on three sides.  There are lots of Aspen and Fir trees, wildflowers, grasses, and rocks.  They have paths that go several different ways.  Last night we took the path around this first lake (Maroon Lake) which doesn't take you very far up, but through some forest and over some rocks.  This morning we got up early and went on a longer hike to Crater Lake, which is more difficult to get to.  You go up on a rocky path and several miles to reach the lake.  It's also surrounded by mountains, but since it is higher up there is more snow on them.  I'm not sure exactly how high we were, but I think it was about 2 miles.  Thankfully we're pretty used to the altitude by now, so it doesn't bother us as much as the hiking itself.

I will try to get pictures up - I took LOTS.  Right now I'm in a computer lab, so I don't have the pictures.  But, the pictures are pretty cool, even for an amateur, so want people to be able to see them!!  I want everyone to see what we did.  SOON.

Kate

I thought I would start this journal to keep people updated on what I'm doing in Aspen.  It's hard to keep in touch with everyone since I am staying pretty busy, and the phone reception isn't always that great here either.  Anyway, I will try to update this when I can just to give people an idea of what exactly a person does for nine and a half weeks in Aspen.  Hopefully I will get to post some pictures too, but for some reason, I am having trouble finding them on my computer.... Anyway, here's what I've been doing to get everyone up to date.

I've been in Aspen about 3 and a half weeks now, which means I'm finally getting used to the altitude (about 9,000 ft. above sea level, depending where you are).  My days have been filled with rehearsals, practice, lessons, classes, concerts, hiking, exploring Aspen, and meeting new friends.  I am taking a class about Alexander Technique, which is kind of complicated to explain, but in the most base terms, it's a class on posture and body use and movement (which as you can imagine is very important for musicians!).  My bass lessons are going well.  I've already had 3 and they last about 1.5 hours (typically they are 1 hour) so it's more intense than usual, but in a good and challenging way.  My teacher has a lot of good suggestions and of course is a great bass player himself.

The locals here are very friendly and seem glad to have the music festival and its almost 1,000 students, faculty, staff, and guests-artists in town.  The town itself is only about 5,600, so you can imagine that we make quite an impact.  I know most of you probably haven't been to Aspen; I like to describe it as 5th Avenue in the mountains, meaning it's a bit of a swanky, pricey town, complete with Gucci, Prada, Burberry, and many, many more designer stores.  This makes it kind of hard on all of us music students, so we mostly stay away from retail stores and restaurants, but there are a few budget-friendly hang outs we've managed to find where we go after concerts or on our nights off.

So what's a typical day for me?  It varies a lot, but I suppose it would go something like this: a morning orchestra rehearsal, a lesson, class, or some kind of work-study activity (like helping in the music libraries), individual instrument practice, and then attend a concert in the evening. 

This should give you a good idea of what I've been up to so far.  I'll try to write more about specific things like hiking, etc, in the future but I wanted to do kind of an overview to start out with.   Let me know if there is anything in particular you are curious to hear about.

Bassically,
Kate