Two whales walked into a bar last night. The fish was a bit nervous, and the krill was a bit loud (who knew glockenspiel was a LOUD instrument? My ears were still ringing this morning) and the mermaid got blisters on her thumb (she asked me to put fewer glissandi in my next composition), but the lobster was just right and the whales were amazing. And the voice track totally worked. I could not tell you how the whole thing sounded from the audience (I was too engrossed in trying not to mess up the performance and in general act human in public, which is hard), I will buy the CD when it comes out (there was a recording made) and find out then, but the audience gave it third prize (out of twenty performances).

Beta took a picture of a guy in a white suit giving me my prize

The workshop is an amazing program. The level of engagement and dedication on the part of all involved flabbergasts me. This is how education should work all the time.

And there are some talented little kids out there, man, swear to god. I felt a little bit bad that I (and another adult and a kid about 18) won the prizes and not the wee ones, since in my view a program like this is primarily for them and we grownups are lucky to be allowed to tag along. When we were leaving, the smallest boy and his mom walked past, and I was tempted to give him my prize and say, Here, you deserve this; but it was a gift certificate for forty Euro worth of books at a music store, so better luck next time, kid.