First Year Anniversary of Becoming a Full Time Music Student!

I retired from Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems a year ago.  Since then I have completed two semesters as a full time music student at the University of Maine working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree and my goal to be a church musician.  I enjoy my music studies immensely and I can see (and hear!) some progress in my skills.  I have learned much about music.  I have learned much about community.  I feel very blessed to have so much support from my husband, John, and my family, friends, teachers, fellow-students, and colleagues.

I finished my last final exam for this semester on December 16.  Then December 17, I flew to New York to attend a ballet in which a good friend was performing.  My daughter, Carletta, met me in New York for this brief visit.  Here is a link to a storybook describing American Ballet Theater’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker:

http://www.abt.org/nutcracker/index.html

You click on the top right corner of the book on the screen to turn the pages.

With Carletta at the Nutcracker ballet

The ballet was beautiful and showcased the skills of the students of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet.

http://www.abt.org/education/jko_school.asp

I flew home on Friday, December 19, because the St. John’s Christmas Concert was December 21 with the dress rehearsal on December 20.  What a beautiful concert of the St. John’s Youth and Adult choirs!  I sang with the choir and played one organ piece during the concert.  This organ piece is a theme and four variations on a French Christmas Carol composed by Claude Balbastre (1724-1799).  I recorded myself playing “Joseph est bien Marié” a few days later at St. John’s in a quiet church:

https://soundcloud.com/catherine-bruno/2014-12-26-balbastre-joseph-est-bien-marie

At the console of Hook Opus 288 at St. John’s