Day 6-The Beach

Today I decided to wake up early and get in a few hours at the beach before starting my day. This was my first time at the beach since coming down to Miami. I decided to try a beach on the island of Key Biscayne (about a 15-20 minute drive from my hotel). This was supposed to be a quieter beach, which was exactly what I wanted (I wanted to read on the beach). Of course, I got lost on my way to the beach, but this only added an extra 5 minutes or so to my drive. I finally found the beach and for $5 I was granted access to the parking lot and long stretch of beach. There were not many cars in the parking lot so I was able to park relatively close the the beach access path. It has been many years since I've been to the beach (probably 8-10) and it felt very nice to be near the ocean. I found a nice little spot underneath some palm trees and put my towel down. I ready for about 45 minutes and then decided I would take walk near the ocean. I ended going about knee deep in the water and walked along the shoreline for a few minutes and then preceded back to my spot to continue reading. I would have gone in the ocean further, but I did not have a bathing suit on (I had not planned on swimming so I wore shorts). I got a good amount of sun in the two hours or so I spent at the beach.

By about 12:30PM, I was back at my hotel ready for some lunch. After lunch, I went to the University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection to attend a Research Colloquium. This event was sponsored by the Collection's Fellowship Program. Every year, the collection awards several Fellowships (monetary awards) to aid Doctoral students in traveling to the Cuban Heritage Collection to conduct research for their Dissertations. Today's event had two of the Fellows who received the award presenting their upcoming Dissertation topics. Interestingly enough, both topics were about Transnationalism (one about the connection between Cuba and Algeria during the 20th century, and the other between Cuba and the rest of the world during the 18th century).

After the Colloquium ended, I utilized some of the holdings that the CHC (Cuban Heritage Collection) has to offer. I was able to find one archive of Musical Books and Sheet Music (some originally handwritten) from different composers, arrangers, and performers in Cuba. The music was all for piano and voice, consisting of mostly Danzón and Bolero styles, with a few others included. I was able to photograph many of the manuscripts, all of which I will transfer to my own "Cuban Piano Real Book", which will be a physical book with all of these out of print and rare songs.

While at the CHC, one of the staff members, Gladys, told me that Olga Guillot, a legendary Cuban singer (of mostly Bolero's) passed away on Monday at the age of 86. I was not aware of this, but she actually lived in Miami. Gladys told me that she was going to the funeral (which is in Little Havana) and invited me to come along. She told me that while it is a very sad time for the Cuban community, it is a good opportunity for me to meet Cuban musicians in the area. Honestly, I feel it might be a little strange attending a funeral for a woman who I barely even heard of before I arrived in Miami. Not to mention the fact that I would need to tell people I meet a little about my project (and get their phone numbers and such) and I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not. We'll see what happens tomorrow...I'll be at the CHC all day researching and photographing more manuscripts, so I'll think about it, talk to Gladys, and come to a decision. I'll probably end up going...haha

The internet connection here is very slow. Pictures take a few minutes to upload on this blog, so I will post some pictures when my internet connection allows it!

I also was able to talk to Paquito Hechavarría again this afternoon (a Cuban pianist who performed with Gloria Estefan) and he told me he would be in touch at the end of this week to discuss getting together to study. I'm hoping that the old saying rings true in this situation: "Good Things Come to Those Who Wait..."



Then, I came back to the hotel and then ran a few errands. I'm going to do a little more transcribing