Tico Tico!

We are still rehearsing at this resort in Costa do Sauipe in Bahia, Brazil. It's normally a very expensive place, which is weird for a bunch of scrappy college-age musicians from all over the world to be staying here for free.

The air is very humid and smells a little like coconut. I've seen an iguana on the beach, and a little monkey-looking mammal. The birds are bright colors and sing beautiful songs. I'm learning more Spanish and getting acquainted with a Brazillian drink called "capoena." Basically, it's limes, sugar, and a Brazillian liquor. We're also doing a lot of dancing - and it's a LOT of fun to be led around the floor by a Cuban.

We are going to play some encores for the concerts, and one of the ones we're doing is an orchestra arrangement of Tico Tico. When we read through that piece -- oh, my God -- it was like a party exploded in the middle of orchestra rehearsal. We were playing AND dancing at the same time. Sections would just stand up at different times, and everyone who was in the room who wasn't playing was doing the samba. Otherwise, we've begun rehearsing Porgy and Bess and Sheherezade.

I had a lesson yesterday with Leone Buyse, the flutist who teaches at Rice University and who is with us in our residency. She is former principal of the Boston Symphony and she is a wonderful teacher. She's completely positive -- I haven't heard a single negative thought come out of her head yet -- and she gave me some really good guidance on tone development, which I feel I need.