Over the past few days, I went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston to go visit my brother for Parents Weekend. I have to say, it was a lot of fun going around reorienting and familiarizing myself to an environment that I was in just a little over a month ago. My brother gave my mom and I more of a tour of his dorm building (Which I heard used to be a French Embassy). He showed us where all the practice rooms are and how they are almost soundproof. After a brief tour of the dorm building, we decided to go to the BPC (Berklee Performance Center) to see live auditioning. However, we sort of left early because it was not what we expected it to be. It wasn't the art of learning what to do and how to prepare for an audition, it was basically the judges decide if Berklee students get into different ensembles based on their proformence, the judges' education and the audiences feedback (I can imagine a lot of the people getting in because audiences are usually supportive of the person onstage). After that awkward and disappointing realization of an event, we just walked around the different streets of the campus and had dinner at just a standard city-like restaurant called UNO. We were walking around some more until it was time for one of the nightly shows that Berklee students usually put on at the BPC. The first group of the night that I saw play was an acapella group called Pitch Slapped! They sang a tune to one song that I don't recall the name of but which I thought was harmonized and syncopated perfectly. They also did "Call Me Maybe" which I couldn't sit still in my seat for. They told the audience that they were releasing their first or new album on itunes and I hope to check it out. Who knows? They could have some originals on them.
The next day I went to an ear training introduction seminar taught by Prof. Paul Stiller. I have to say that this was probably the highlight of the trip because I get to actually learn how they run a college class and to see how a college professor and a student majoring in voice teach other people. We learned different types of things: conduction, chords, how to sing songs in solfeggio (do, re, mi...), and dictation which is pretty hard because of how it works. Basically, the prof. gives u a rhythm and you write down the rhythm and the notes. After the presentation, we packed up or stuff and headed home. I hope to return to Boston again and explore the more music and any more type of art it has to offer!
