"Into the Woods JR" and I am playing for ballet classes

I'm getting my feet wet with a couple of new different activities here. I volunteered to participate in a program called Round-about Opera for Kids, which this year involves preparing an abridged version of Into the Woods Jr (which, by the way, is a musical and not an opera) for performances at different elementary/middle schools. I will be occasionally participating in rehearsals for that musical, and in a month or two, the cast and crew will tour to a different school each Friday to perform the musical. I've never played a musical before and I really love the music of this one, so I hope it will be a rewarding and not too overwhelming voluntary musical experience.

Another new experience includes accompanying pre-college ballet classes for pay. As of now, I am lined up to play for 8 different classes 9 hours a week for maybe 10 or 12 dollars an hour. I met with the pre-college ballet coordinator along with a couple other pianists, and she showed us on piano some of the music we might use and what we should use for certain ballet exercises. For some reason not a lot of pianists do this job, but it seems like a marketable skill to acquire. I'm glad I will have some income starting in a couple of weeks. It would be perfect if I found a church job to add to this.

Yesterday, the dean of the school welcomed us 300+ new graduate music students in an hour long meeting. It was really inspiring to hear other students share such uniquely specific aspirations. Additionally, it was good to hear about the dean's input on the societal need for classical musicians. I feel much more reassured about being here and about pursuing classical music professionally.

I've been starting to experience the reasons why I was so excited to come here. I finally got back to practicing a couple of days ago, and I have been hearing some AWESOME playing through the doors. Everyone I've heard here so far is at the level of "really good." It's so inspiring to be around so much amazing talent and to have the standard set so high here. I've been enjoying my practice very much here. I just hope I can keep my energy level and concentration up throughout the semester.