av8rmike

"Do you guys have 'Kathy' written in your parts at measure 33?"
Mumbles of "yes"
[To the principal cellist]
"Kathy is your sister, right?"

[Reading a note in the conductor's score]
"If the intonation in the E-flat clarinet is not favorable, the 1st flute may be substituted."

"I'm going to live on a farm!"

Rehearsals for the pops concerts are always fun, especially the first one. Last night we played the March (theme, basically) from Raiders of the Lost Ark and "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter, the latter of which is devilishly hard. Then, on to the main theme from Star Wars. Can you guess what the theme of the concert will be? ;) The best part of the evening: Jason looking at his watch and saying, "we have plenty of time; who wants to read through the rest of the music?" and everyone agreeing. "Let's do Leia next!" "You wish!"
Getting to play the "Imperial March" and the throne room scene was just awesome, although the latter had some developmental section that's not in the original closing titles and was just weird. Finally, there was also a suite from Lord of the Rings that was mostly just music from Fellowship, but was pretty cool aside from the ending.
Trying to sleep on a sore shoulder, not as much fun.

Quote from Jason at last night's rehearsal, to the cellos and basses during Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony, The Storm: "Beethoven knows that part is impossible to play. Just make noise."

Quote from Jason during Saturday's Young People's Concert: "This is a piece called "Hoe-down", from Aaron Copland's Rodeo. It's a ballet about... cowboys who dance. Kind of like Brokeback Mountain."

Saw this icon over at grrliz_icons and it seems perfect for Jamie:

Got a message from our conductor about next Monday's rehearsal. Seems that, since there isn't much to work on for the next concert (for kids!), he wants to spend the first 35 minutes or so sightreading Beethoven's Symphony #1. I've already played #s 3, 5, and 8, so I wonder how close I can come to playing all nine? violinchick, you might actually want to show up for this! ;)

Also, I can't believe I didn't check this sooner. In the long-awaited fantasy football rematch with my brother's team, it was a complete cakewalk, 90-something to 30-something. Losing McNabb really did him in, but there's no shame in splitting the match-ups. Of course, we may be facing off again in the playoff consolation rounds.

I wish I had some good news to report. Maybe by this afternoon or evening, hopefully.

In the meantime, enjoy the George Allen Insult Generator, Macacans.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to sit in with the UMBC Symphony, because their concert is coming up and they needed more violinists. The conductor's chosen Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, "Eroica", which I've discovered is not all that difficult, just long. It's an interesting group; mostly students with some community members, but there's actually some ability there. It's a shame they don't have a better conductor. There just isn't anything particularly inspiring about him. He comes in, does his thing, sometimes we stop and address technical problems, and he leaves. Jason, on the other hand, works so much on artistic interpretation that sometimes we're stopping every few minutes. I guess it's just a difference in approach.

By "we", I of course mean my rehearsal schedule, starting tonight with the first read-through in Columbia. Someone must have thought the concert would be too short as it was, so two Brahms Hungarian Dances have appeared on the program now. That hour or so I had to look over stuff last night was woefully inadequate, but without knowing where I'm going to sit, it's hard to know which part to work on.

Oh, and I have to print out directions to the new rehearsal space.

In case anyone was concerned, I did survive the expired cream cheese, with no (so far) ill effects. Also, I think I got rid of whatever that was that installed itself. It was some extension to the Viewpoint software that's bundled with AIM.

Not too much interesting to report lately. Lessons could actually start going well again, given that I was able to play almost the entire Romance from memory on Tuesday. Hopefully that means I'll be able to move on soon to another challenge.

Somebody must have eaten all our experienced second violins, because none of them were at rehearsal last night. The concertmistress tapped yours truly to move over to principal second, as I'd played most of those parts before. I guess that's a good sign, considering I was convinced she disliked me. I got a solo, too, for about 3 measures! It'll remain to be seen who actually shows up to next week's concert, however.

Busy weekend coming up. Mom will be visiting, again, this time so we can catch Yuri Temirkanov's last concert as the BSO's music director on Sunday. They're playing Mahler's 2nd symphony, "Resurrection", which is actually the same piece with which Temirkanov started his tenure here in 1999. No idea what we'll do the rest of the weekend. I think I saw that HonFest is Saturday, and since neither of us have been, that may be on the agenda.

Other breaking news whenever it feels like breaking.

I tried working a little on the John Williams medley and the hard part from Light Cavalry Overture, but my right arm is hurting for some reason. I had to stop after about 1/2 an hour.

The stupid schools are all cancelled for tomorrow, but I talked to one of the orchestra personnel. She said we may still have rehearsal, just at a different location.

Oh, and I seem to have inherited a violin student.

Jenn W. was right. That orchestra is lucky to have me as a member.

Also fortunately for them, I'm not vindictive enough to throw a hissy fit and storm out when I don't get my way.

Yes, a rare football-related post. Watched the entire Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game. Boy, that was exciting, but too many times the Steelers had me thinking, "no! How can they lose it now?!" Somehow, they held it together, and now they're on the way to Denver. Of course, between that and going to Dad's for dinner, enough of the day was taken up that I didn't practice. Nor did I practice yesterday, when the only things I did were go to Target and stay in for the evening and watch Shawshank Redemption.

Today I discovered the BSO Musicians blog, for the members of the Baltimore Symphony. It's an interesting look backstage, with questions answered by the members. The description of what the librarian does is cool, if long.

This week:
Monday: Columbia Orchestra rehearsal.
Tuesday: Sitting in with a Jewish a cappella group a friend is directing.
Wednesday: Greenspring Valley Orchestra rehearsal.
Thursday: Columbia rehearsal again.
Friday: Greenspring Valley Orchestra concert, rescheduled from December.
Saturday: Columbia Orchestra concert, for which Mom is coming to stay.

Yeah, could be busy.