Tuesday, September 1st. Day 65.

Today started with Dok, my music business class. We had a tax consultant come and talk to us about taxation and tax rebates in the Netherlands. While few of us in the class have definite plans to live and work in the Netherlands after school, it was very interesting to hear about tax policies and accounting with relation to musicians. Apparently, people like this gentleman make a whole career out of helping musicians, actors, and artists make the most of their money. I found that little fact the most interesting aspect of the day's lecture.

After Dok I had drumset lessons. While it is always exhausting to focus on minute musical details for a whole hour, I can tell that I am progressing, albeit very slowly. I am only a few chapters into my Effortless Mastery book, I think it will help me relax and let go of my mental blocks. But that will take some time.

Later, I had jazz arranging. That lesson is probably my most mentally taxing, just because I have to put up with my teacher, who is not much of a teacher at all. He is very good at what he does, however he is NOT good at communicating any of his knowledge. I practically have to interrogate him to get any useful information, which is frustrating because I know he knows what he is doing, since most of the time he just jams on the tunes I bring to him.

For dinner I went to the Kantjil Indonesian resturant with a big group from IES. It was very interesting food, to say the least. It was also very nice to see some of the "normal" (meaning non-conservatorie) students that I haven't seen in months.

After dinner, our group went to the Concertgebouw to see Shostakovich 1st cello concerto and Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony. The performance was actually not that great; you could tell the orchestra was tired (apparently they had just played an opera for a week straight before this show). I thought the cellist had a very bright tone, yet it did not cut through the orchestra at all. It was like watching her pretend to play. Also, many of the "normal" students were quite obviously not used to going to classical performances, and were taking flash pictures with their phones and talking through the pieces... annoying.