So today was yet another first as I made my way to Carnegie Hall. It was quite obvious I had never been there as I tried every entrance but the correct one. For class we went to meet Jeremy Geffen, who organizes and selects the performances to be shown at Carnegie Hall. He mentioned to us that he sees hundreds of performances to select from and it takes him a couple of years to completely plan one event.

          The last entry I wrote dealt with a presentation about hip hop and how music gives its own "theory of justice". More recently, we were advised to attend a reading by Joseph O'Connor, which allowed me to be able to compare the two different styles and approaches they each took to get their message across. What intrigued me most about O'Connor's reading was his irish accent and witty jokes. He was also pretty direct with how he was going to go about giving his reading, by telling us how long each section would take.

Attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art was an eye-opening experience for me. I still don't think I fully appreciate the opportunites we as Macaulay Honors Scholars have. The chance to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in general is amazing in itself. But we as scholars have the chance to visit the museum for free, whenever we please. I took the opportunity to visit the MOMA after our visit at Carneige Hall with the art director. There were many exhibitions being held at the MOMA, but we (Sara, Ross, and I) decided to take a look at the Monet's Water Lillies exhibition.

My first experience at Carneige Hall was definitely something I will keep in my memory. The Chinese inspired music still flows in my ears. Viewing the five pieces that composed the program we saw that night reminded me of one thing: the cinema. As we discussed in class, I felt I was viewing a horror film throughout most of the program. It began with the first piece. The gentleman walked out on stage, smiling, and sat down in his seat. Then all of a sudden, as if someone shouted "Action!," he completely transformed into character.

As I am not musically literate, I find that it is hard to articulate what I enjoyed about Monday’s concert. My father is a great fan of classical music. I grew up listening to it and attending concerts. I have also worked with Orchestras in various performances I was featured in. To preface this, I used to take singing very seriously. I trained with professional vocal coaches and enjoyed practicing. Yet, I never took the time to seriously learn to read music.