think carrie, think!

On Monday, I’ll be getting my music for orchestra. As I looked through the repertoire we’ll be going through this year, I am wondering how it will be possible to get through what our conductor has planned. Here’s what he has lined up:

Handel’s Fireworks Suite
Handel’s Water Music
Bach’s Orchestral Suites (yes, all of them)
Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
Haydn’s London Symphonies
Mozart’s Last Symphonies
some of Mozart’s instrumental concertos
ALL NINE of Beethoven’s symphonies
all of Beethoven’s Overtures
some of Beethoven’s concertos

That’s insane. Then again, I’ve never actually played in an orchestra before. My ensemble experience seems to have included everything BUT orchestras. Concert bands, jazz bands, jazz combos, pit orchestras, chamber trios/quartets/quintets, solo gigs … but never a full orchestra. I’m excited.

Also, for those of you who are familiar, you’ll have noticed that we’re going through all of the late Baroque to early Classical periods. A good mix for me (I’m thinking of my piano diploma certification now), as all my music talents are known to lie in the Baroque and Romantic eras, where my take of Classical period music is considerably weaker. And don’t even talk to me about Contemporary music.

Sometimes I wonder how I’ll ever be able to focus this year. I’m sure I’ll find a way. And have fun doing it.

This entire morning, I’ve been seriously contemplating getting my piano performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (yes, it’s Canadian). Because I just have so much time on my hands. Ha.

For piano, the RCM offers 11 practical examinations. Grades 1 through 10, and then a choice of ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory) diploma examination: either as a performer, or a teacher. Both of these last certifications are recognized worldwide. Additionally, starting at the grade 5 level, each practical examination must be supplemented by a series of music theory examinations in order for a passing grade.

I finished my grade 10 piano exam nine years ago. The only thing that has stopped me from doing the ARCT performance diploma is that sneaky music theory prerequisite. For the ARCT, three theory exams need to be written. Music history, analysis, and counterpoint exams need to be written, all within five years of the practical exam. And, because I never had time to study for the written exams, I never ended up finishing the diploma.

I figure it will take me at least two years to get back to the shape that I want to be in. Both physically and stylistically. So as long as I can get back into Canada sometime in the next five to seven years to do the practical and written exams, this goal of mine doesn’t seem too hard to accomplish. Except this whole time-finding business. Grad school is pretty good at stealing time away from me.

Playing and performing used to be my main channel for expression, stress relief, concentration, and just mental exercise in general. And sure, I could find other ways of doing that now. But I was a really good pianist. And it’s always a shame to stop something you’re really good at.

Moved into my new apartment in Pittsburgh this weekend. Thank you mom. She’s a superhero.

I like the place. It has windows that don’t look straight out onto pavement and the underneath of cars. I see actual trees! The sky! Oh the luxury.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital to figure out what I can do for them for my thesis. And to hopefully start all the IRB goodness that comes with working with little people. The Children’s Hospital is conviniently (for me) opening a brand new unit right under their Critical Care unit in October. That means there will be lots of room for me to go in and evaluate their current services, and hopefully find something lacking, or something to improve with respect to their current service offerings. It also helps that Bonnie Dean, the director of clinical education/research/professional development and patient care support (phew, long title), has enthusiastically agreed to be my second mentor for my year-long thesis.

As for my thesis paper, I know I will be doing something about music notation and services… but I’ve been thinking lately more along the lines of improvisation and how that can tie into services. Improvisation takes on a whole new notation system in terms of music. And improvisation in services is a whole lot different than fixed and planned service processes. It seems that a lot of problems with services occur because of the lack of proper improvisation, if that makes any sense. I dealt a bit with this over the summer at IBM. Example: routine checking-in at the airport, vs. finding out that your flight was canceled at time of check-in. Canceled flights can be a mess, but they don’t have to be if planned properly. So, planned improvisation, if you will. How do companies currently deal with out-of-the-ordinary situations? Do they know what goes on in their customer’s head as they try to deal with crisis scenarios? How can designers create a strategy for service providers for creating better customer experience? Would proper service notation and blueprinting help?

(Speaking of music stuff, I got into one of CMU’s orchestra classes this year. Very excited.)

I tried. I really did. But there were too many things I needed to check. Like whether I had enough money to pay tuition next week. So here I am, updating everything everywhere while I’m at it.

I got back home to Toronto on Saturday night, after waiting for an hour in the airport parking lot for CAA to come fix our car (it refused to start). Fun. Yesterday, my sister, some friends and I went down to Greektown for Toronto’s annual Taste of Danforth. I’ve missed Toronto a lot… the clean subways, the clean streets, the fresh air, the gorgeous weather, the friendlier people…

I thought I would have a relaxing week back in Toronto before my mom and I drive back to Pittsburgh on Friday. Instead I’ve been playing early morning tennis with my sister (who is still on Liverpool time), and all my mealtimes have been booked with a lot of my friends whom I haven’t seen in a long time (years, for some).

I have a feeling this week is going to go by quickly.

I’m in the middle of packing/cleaning the apartment. For one, my mom is coming tomorrow, and plus, I’m leaving in a week and figure I won’t really have that much time to lounge around cleaning or packing during the week.

Anyway, while packing I found the pamphlet I picked up when I went to Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum’s IDEO Selects exhibit. I leafed through it briefly because my attention span is worse than that of a goldfish. I noted that the three lenses that they chose to frame the items in the exhibit were inspiration, empathy, and intuition. “While we could have chosen any number of lenses, these three neatly distill the design thinker’s sensibilities as he or she solves a problem.”

Contrast this to something I read earlier in the week from Jeanne Liedtka (whom I quoted earlier today): “Great design, it has been said, occurs at the intersection of constraint, contingency, and possibility – elements that are central to creating innovative, elegant, and functional designs.”

Inspiration, empathy, and intuition. Constraints, contingency, and possibility. (oh my!). All important to designers. But the two groups seem to be somewhat disparate, no? Not that I’ve had time to dissect this thoroughly, but I find it interesting that IDEO chose to showcase their design exhibit from the first group’s frame of mind, while the business director described design from the other frame of mind.

That is all. I’m tired.