Kansas City, Part 1
Oct. 11th, 2004 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariFrom my travel journal, minimally edited.
Oct. 6, 2004
The journey here was smooth and uninteresting. Even the connection in O'Hare went fine despite having to do a little running between terminals. During the beginning of both flights, I found myself thinking of the Evan Ziporyn piece that was on one of last season's BMOP concerts, the one that was partially based on the experience of flying. I realized just how good a job Ziporyn did of evoking that experience, particularly the moment of liftoff, which was rendered clearly audible. The best part of both flights was being able to actually see the land most of the time. All of my flights in the past have been above cloud cover. That view of the land is suprisingly beautiful, in all its patchwork glory. Rivers and ponds glitter in the sunlight, and everything stretches out forever.
Missouri is very green, with plenty of trees. The first thing I noticed when I got down on the ground and out of the airport was the heady smell of mown grass. It's also sunny and hot here - it feels more like late June than October. Except the leaves are falling off of the trees.
I got to my hotel in plenty of time. The Hotel Raphael is incredibly swanky and very comfortable. The UMKC campus is only a simple 15 minute walk from here, through a nice-looking neighborhood.
I have attended two classes today and gone to a pub with a bunch of grad students and Paul Rudy, one of the composition professors. So far, I really like what I have seen. Both students and professors have been very friendly and welcoming. Sitting in those classes, I felt as if I was one of the students here already. Everyone is quite relaxed and has a good sense of humor about stuff. Students appear to get along and not be in competition.
The first class I went to was a group composition lesson with Jim Mobberley. I was impressed with his teaching style - he reminded me somewhat of Dr. Bell. Then I sat in on a computer music class, which was very well taught. In fact, it was better than a similar class I'd seen at Northwestern in January. Even though the UMKC class was taught by a graduate teaching assistant and Northwestern's by a professor.
Then came the excursion to the pub, which was a lot of fun. It may have been a slightly unorthodox grad school visit activity, but I really enjoyed it. I think you can learn a lot from watching students and teachers interacting under different circumstances. It says a lot to me that thepeople here are comfortable and friendly enough with each other to hang out together.
Oct. 6, 2004
The journey here was smooth and uninteresting. Even the connection in O'Hare went fine despite having to do a little running between terminals. During the beginning of both flights, I found myself thinking of the Evan Ziporyn piece that was on one of last season's BMOP concerts, the one that was partially based on the experience of flying. I realized just how good a job Ziporyn did of evoking that experience, particularly the moment of liftoff, which was rendered clearly audible. The best part of both flights was being able to actually see the land most of the time. All of my flights in the past have been above cloud cover. That view of the land is suprisingly beautiful, in all its patchwork glory. Rivers and ponds glitter in the sunlight, and everything stretches out forever.
Missouri is very green, with plenty of trees. The first thing I noticed when I got down on the ground and out of the airport was the heady smell of mown grass. It's also sunny and hot here - it feels more like late June than October. Except the leaves are falling off of the trees.
I got to my hotel in plenty of time. The Hotel Raphael is incredibly swanky and very comfortable. The UMKC campus is only a simple 15 minute walk from here, through a nice-looking neighborhood.
I have attended two classes today and gone to a pub with a bunch of grad students and Paul Rudy, one of the composition professors. So far, I really like what I have seen. Both students and professors have been very friendly and welcoming. Sitting in those classes, I felt as if I was one of the students here already. Everyone is quite relaxed and has a good sense of humor about stuff. Students appear to get along and not be in competition.
The first class I went to was a group composition lesson with Jim Mobberley. I was impressed with his teaching style - he reminded me somewhat of Dr. Bell. Then I sat in on a computer music class, which was very well taught. In fact, it was better than a similar class I'd seen at Northwestern in January. Even though the UMKC class was taught by a graduate teaching assistant and Northwestern's by a professor.
Then came the excursion to the pub, which was a lot of fun. It may have been a slightly unorthodox grad school visit activity, but I really enjoyed it. I think you can learn a lot from watching students and teachers interacting under different circumstances. It says a lot to me that thepeople here are comfortable and friendly enough with each other to hang out together.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 01:57 pm (UTC)And it sounds like a really nice place in general, from those first impressions. It's so wonderful to have fellow grad students who are supportive instead of competitive!
no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 06:46 pm (UTC)