The First One Here

So, in typical George fashion, I was the first one to check in at the Oregon Bach Festival. For the duration of the festival, we will be staying at the Global Scholars Hall. This building is very cool. I've only been here a few hours, and can tell that the University of Oregon is thinking about higher education very intently.

I've always thought that the University of Utah had a very cool library in the form of the Marriott. I like the independent study rooms where one can have a meeting. I also like the classrooms that are in this dormitory-style building. There are even MUSIC classrooms here.

I like this idea of a residential learning community. Even though there are classrooms around campus, it is great for students to have the opportunity to meet with their faculty members in the  place where they also reside. Another cool thing, well, there are also individual computer workstations in this building, too. The University of Oregon has truly thought very hard about how to improve undergraduate education.

I really like this program thus far. The Symposium Director sent someone to the airport to pick me up. I thought that was great. Apparently, the director of the symposium is on the faculty senate. He picked out someone who was on the student to help run the festival. When we were riding back from the airport, we had a good conversation about life, education, a good ale, and just about everything you could think of. I feel really welcome at this symposium.

Now onto things of music. Tomorrow, I have to make 42 copies of my composition. It's probably going to cost a little bit of money, but that's okay. Let me talk about my piece a little bit. It's pretty straightforward in structure. It's in more of a modal style. It's not a religious setting, but it kind of reminds me of Bruckner's "Os Justi." My piece, like Bruckner's, doesn't modulate. I feel like it achieves diversity in minute variations and consistency. It sounds nothing like my instrumental music. My instrumental music is dissonant, chromatic, and "stuck in the twelve-tone period." Personally, I don't think that, but apparently, my more traditional choral music gets me more mileage.

People are going to start pouring in tomorrow. I'll update then and let you know how my time is going.