The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” on Halloween was just great. In fact, the whole residency week went extremely well. They kept me busy without killing me, and I had a blast. Thank you to everybody at SYSO! I can’t wait to come back in March!

Tomorrow night is the first on-stage rehearsal of Robert’s piece at Juilliard — including musicians. I’m excited, but a little nervous. I don’t know why this piece makes me nervous. I’m excited about it, but it’s weird having only attending one rehearsal so far throughout the process. I’m usually quite a mother hen (or something), and I’m not used to being so out of the loop. With all of the travel I’ve been doing, I haven’t had much choice.

I’ve been e-mailing back-and-forth with Richard Clary, the conductor of the wind ensemble at Florida State University. It sounds like he really gets “Redline Tango,” and I wish I could be there for his performance in a few weeks.

I’d write more, but I’m feeling pretty down today. Sometimes, things just don’t go the way they should.