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RMSC Forum
Anticipating the Summer at RMSC
By Angela Cassette
Somewhere around January I get the bug. The chill of Nashville (yes, the South, but you'd never know it by those biting winds) hits me to the core, and my body cries out for change, my mind driven to anticipation of the summer. The blissful summer, when I will spend weeks relishing in what is quite possibly the most agreeable climate in the United States. And though the first few weeks of classes are always thrilling, I soon settle into that bittersweet melancholy surrounding my studies. Who wouldn't want to read about gender and politics, conversions and interfamilial struggles? But all these things drag time away from my violin, which is unhappy to be usurped at all, despite the considerable amount of time I allot it, and February starts me longing for the freedom of summer, where my papers melt into performances, exams into recitals, presentations into performance classes.
By March I can scarcely contain my excitment about returning to RMSC, as prospective students question me about my experiences. How can I put it into words? Everything I could say seems so trite. How do I explain, without seeming corny, how much I love this place? How do I convey the truths that it was at RMSC I first truly felt like a violinist, my violin a paintbrush in my hands, a voice that I can use to speak to the world? How do I tell of those musical experiences, those moments where I knew beyond reason that being a musician is my calling, moments in performances or rehearsals during which I truly connected with my collaborators and my audience, the moments that have spurred me on when playing the violin isn't glamorous, even through a season of injury? How can I possibly make someone understand how RMSC is different from other festivals--when they have not seen the outstanding faculty in action, or been part of staff meetings which painstakingly analyze every potential consequence of a decision, or sat down to discuss with the director such various topics as the long-term vision of the festival or their own plans for the upcoming semester? It is impossible to explain. I do try, talking excitedly and perhaps too fast about how amazing RMSC is: you will love it, I promise, and the faculty is great, and you have so many performance opportunities, and it's so beautiful there, and I love going on hikes, and the food really isn't bad, and the recitals are amazing, and you will improve so much, and ensembles are great, and you get so much attention, and, and, and...but I know it is useless. My words are insufficient. The thrill of what awaits me is relegated, even in my very self, to a feeling, a rush of adrenaline that visits me every two or three days by the time April rolls around, usually accompanied by a tepid phrase such as "I cannot wait for the summer." I begin to plan what I will accomplish, what pieces I will study, and wonder what my ensembles will perform--hoping, annually, that finally this summer I will play the first movement of Schubert's Cello Quintet.
May passes by in a blur, my heart simultaneously at home with my family and already living in Colorado. Finally June hits, with the realization that oh, yes, going to Steamboat for six weeks means packing for six weeks, and I futilely wish I could teleport myself to Steamboat, bypassing the inevitable special screening I will encounter at the airport, probably on account of my violin unless they really believe I am a terrorist, which I find unlikely--for goodness' sake, what kind of terrorist would wear a pink sweater and carry a stuffed frog in her backpack? And then, suddenly, finally, I am there. I return again to that place I've grown to love so dearly, a six-week reunion with some of my closest friends and mentors, a place that feels more like my other home than summer camp. Amidst all the bustle of those first few days, contentment fills me, and I know that once again, I've come to the right place.
Angela Cassette is a graduate student in violin at Arizona State University and the former Chamber Music Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory.
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