... gloomy and ecclesiastical? I dunno.
Background information: I have played the clarinet for 14 years (!!) and currently I'm in the NUI Galway Chamber Orchestra, also known as "Orchestra Society" or "orchestra soc."
So orchestra soc had our second concert yesterday. We put on a concert with two choirs, playing a bunch of Mozart, as well as a (choir-less) Schubert symphony. Normally, we rehearse once a week for an hour and a half. This week, in order to get things together with the choirs, we also rehearsed for 2.5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday, before the (hour-and-a-half) concert Sunday night. The stamina in my facial muscles is not what it once was, and so by the end of the 3 hour rehearsal on Sunday afternoon I was really sore. --Sidebar-- Something that non-musicians might not know is that playing an instrument, especially a wind instrument, is painful! It can be a fairly strenuous activity. Anyway, all the extra long rehearsals did a number on me, and I had a hard time holding my embouchure by the end. And I bit through my lip callus, too,* so I had to resort to the old trick of putting a bit of wax paper over my lower teeth. That was fine for the concert-- although holding a bit of paper in my mouth makes me salivate a lot more, which causes its own set of issues-- but today it's still really raw, and drinking hot coffee kind of hurt.
But aside from all that! The concert was in the medieval church in town, which was really cool... except we didn't get to rehearse there until Sunday afternoon, and that place has weird acoustics. (It's really hard to hear the people around you, but out in the audience it sounds great.) Getting used to that was hard, and so our rehearsal on Sunday afternoon was brutal. Hugh, the conductor, was getting pretty pissed by the end. But, somehow, we brought it together for the concert! The performance went really well... the pieces with the choirs were simply gorgeous. I didn't play in a couple of the movements, so I got to just sit back, close my eyes, and listen to some glorious Mozart being played in a medieval church. Beautiful.
Our Schubert symphony, sans choirs, went quite well too. We've performed it once before, and this concert was at least four times better than the last one. The oboes were in tune, the flutes didn't make me want to kill someone (which counts a "good"), and I nailed all my solo bits. Yay.
Next weekend we are going to Cork, about threeish hours away, for our final performance. We're going down Friday, performing Saturday afternoon, and returning Sunday. It should be a fun time!
In conclusion, it has been a very musically exciting weekend, which has left me feeling rather regenerated. Music really is part of my soul. The downside, of course, is my carpal tunnel syndrome has been flaring up like crazy, and today I am wearing my wrist brace which I normally only wear to sleep. I can type surprisingly well with it, though I can't really handwrite effectively. Anyway I should stop rambling about music now, because I had actually planned on getting some work done today...
*Something else non-musicians might not know: playing a wind instrument is kind of gross.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tell me, is something eluding you, sunshine? (Musical excitement part 1)
(This past weekend, I had a lot of musical excitement! So much I'm doing it in two posts. Here is the first part...)
I don't really have favorites. I enjoy a lot of things, and I feel like ranking them devalues the inherent enjoyment in some way. If you ask for my "favorite" anything, the best I could probably give you is a top 5 list in no particular order. The major exception to this is that Pink Floyd is my number 1 favorite band ever-- not that my other "favorite" bands are lesser, but that the 'Floyd is just that much greater. So when I tell you that this weekend I saw a stage adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall, you can understand my excitement.
Holy. Crap.
It was, well, a stage adaptation of The Wall! It actually reminded me a little of the live version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, where it's kind of a play and kind of a rock concert. Or maybe a play disguised as a concert. The plot and imagery were the same as the movie-- it actually used some of the movie's animations ("Goodbye Blue Sky," "What Shall We Do," and of course the infamous flower sex.) They used camerawork a lot, too; there were some pre-recorded sequences, and at least five camerapeople running around shooting different angles of the show. This stuff was shown on two big (12'x 9') projector screens on either side of the stage.
The stage stuff was mostly very faithful to the movie, although there were some artistic interpretations of certain scenes. All the characters were quite faithful... the one that deviated most was Pink himself. The actor was a guy in his 50s, slightly overweight, unshaven and with hair that was long and disheveled for most of the show. He worked really well, though. The Mother was excellent-- the part in The Trial where she ran down the stage singing "Baaaaaaaaaaaabe!" was perfect! And the Schoolmaster was spot on. He seriously looked just like the guy in the movie, mustache and angry Scottish accent and all! And he very obviously had fun with the part.
Musically-- oh man. So good! There was a 5-piece band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard) and a full 25-or-so-piece choir to back them up. The choir had excellent soloists, including one really lovely tenor and one guy who sounded a LOT like Roger Waters. The lead guitarist was fantastic-- his sound was very, very similar to David Gilmour's. His solos in Comfortably Numb were gorgeous. (And he also played the recorder during "The Trial," which was hilariously fitting.) The whole performance sounded almost scarily close to the album! Having a rock band backed by a choir is really the only way to do justice to Pink Floyd. And they all obviously loved it. I was watching the band at the transition moment into "Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2," and as they ripped into "We don't need no education!" the bassist had a huge grin on his face. The choir, also, did a lot of head-bobbing and dancing in place.
What else to say about it? There was a high platform at the side of the stage from which Pink shouted at the audience during (both versions of) In The Flesh-- and during the second one, two uniformed choir members started marching up and down the aisles, and then attacked a woman and started beating her with batons! Stage "beating," of course, but I'm still not sure if she was a plant or not. They built a wall across the stage right before the intermission, each brick probably 4' x 3', and until "Comfortably Numb" (where they knocked a hole in it) they just used the cameras and shot the action going on behind it. Which was mostly Pink standing facing the wall playing the guitar, or sitting in the armchair looking crazy.
At the end, they did an encore, playing "Comfortably Numb" with the whole ensemble onstage singing and encouraging the audience to sing-- and I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room made the same little finger-flick gesture simultaneously after "OK! Just a little pin-prick!" If you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. (*Ding!*) They then ended with "Another Brick pt. 2," during which the Schoolmaster chased the little boys around the audience and threatened audience members (including me!) while the cast danced onstage and everyone sang and clapped. I really can't stress how much fun the whole thing was. And musically excellent. I would have felt I got my money's worth even without the play, the band was that good.
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise...
I don't really have favorites. I enjoy a lot of things, and I feel like ranking them devalues the inherent enjoyment in some way. If you ask for my "favorite" anything, the best I could probably give you is a top 5 list in no particular order. The major exception to this is that Pink Floyd is my number 1 favorite band ever-- not that my other "favorite" bands are lesser, but that the 'Floyd is just that much greater. So when I tell you that this weekend I saw a stage adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall, you can understand my excitement.
Holy. Crap.
It was, well, a stage adaptation of The Wall! It actually reminded me a little of the live version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, where it's kind of a play and kind of a rock concert. Or maybe a play disguised as a concert. The plot and imagery were the same as the movie-- it actually used some of the movie's animations ("Goodbye Blue Sky," "What Shall We Do," and of course the infamous flower sex.) They used camerawork a lot, too; there were some pre-recorded sequences, and at least five camerapeople running around shooting different angles of the show. This stuff was shown on two big (12'x 9') projector screens on either side of the stage.
The stage stuff was mostly very faithful to the movie, although there were some artistic interpretations of certain scenes. All the characters were quite faithful... the one that deviated most was Pink himself. The actor was a guy in his 50s, slightly overweight, unshaven and with hair that was long and disheveled for most of the show. He worked really well, though. The Mother was excellent-- the part in The Trial where she ran down the stage singing "Baaaaaaaaaaaabe!" was perfect! And the Schoolmaster was spot on. He seriously looked just like the guy in the movie, mustache and angry Scottish accent and all! And he very obviously had fun with the part.
Musically-- oh man. So good! There was a 5-piece band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard) and a full 25-or-so-piece choir to back them up. The choir had excellent soloists, including one really lovely tenor and one guy who sounded a LOT like Roger Waters. The lead guitarist was fantastic-- his sound was very, very similar to David Gilmour's. His solos in Comfortably Numb were gorgeous. (And he also played the recorder during "The Trial," which was hilariously fitting.) The whole performance sounded almost scarily close to the album! Having a rock band backed by a choir is really the only way to do justice to Pink Floyd. And they all obviously loved it. I was watching the band at the transition moment into "Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2," and as they ripped into "We don't need no education!" the bassist had a huge grin on his face. The choir, also, did a lot of head-bobbing and dancing in place.
What else to say about it? There was a high platform at the side of the stage from which Pink shouted at the audience during (both versions of) In The Flesh-- and during the second one, two uniformed choir members started marching up and down the aisles, and then attacked a woman and started beating her with batons! Stage "beating," of course, but I'm still not sure if she was a plant or not. They built a wall across the stage right before the intermission, each brick probably 4' x 3', and until "Comfortably Numb" (where they knocked a hole in it) they just used the cameras and shot the action going on behind it. Which was mostly Pink standing facing the wall playing the guitar, or sitting in the armchair looking crazy.
At the end, they did an encore, playing "Comfortably Numb" with the whole ensemble onstage singing and encouraging the audience to sing-- and I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room made the same little finger-flick gesture simultaneously after "OK! Just a little pin-prick!" If you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. (*Ding!*) They then ended with "Another Brick pt. 2," during which the Schoolmaster chased the little boys around the audience and threatened audience members (including me!) while the cast danced onstage and everyone sang and clapped. I really can't stress how much fun the whole thing was. And musically excellent. I would have felt I got my money's worth even without the play, the band was that good.
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Relaxation
Hey look! An update on a Sunday for once! Crazy.
Well, the reason updates have been so sporadic is because I was in the middle some serious essay writing. I handed in my last midterm on Friday, though, and immediately felt a whole-body sort of sigh of relief. The fact that I was fairly happy with it helped. Not only did I hand in a paper, I handed in a good paper. There is something immensely satisfying for me in good academic writing. I really do love my career.
There is also something immensely satisfying in going to the library to return more books than one can easily carry. I had a stack of books that were slipping and falling out of my arms the whole walk from my cubicle.
This weekend has been fun and relaxing, too. Friday was my friend Jenn's birthday, so I went over to Jenn & Bri's apartment for dinner. I brought a bottle of wine and a bunch of daffodils, because I am physically incapable of attending a dinner party without contributing something, and I gave Jenn a pretty little headband that I made. Saturday-- yesterday-- I met up with Jenn in town and we went shopping together. Just for sundries, but it was the kind of shopping I do alone every weekend, so it was nice to have someone with me. We have also had absolutely beautiful weather all week, so it was nice to be out in the sun! I turned off my heat and have switched from my winter wool coat to my spring corduroy blazer, and crocheted a new spring scarf. Even though Ireland doesn't have the painful winters that Michigan does, it's still a nice change.
Also, I made some rather lovely chestnut and mushroom soup for dinner last night! It's not a perfect recipe-- for one thing, I think it would benefit from some sherry. (Of course, this would make only the third time in my life that I have required sherry to cook with, and since it comes in wine bottles but you only use about a tablespoon at a time, I don't think I'll be buying any.) Still, it's definitely a nice idea.
Today I slept in and have been crocheting and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I recently treated myself and bought the complete series box set-- all 140-some episodes, plus lots of special features! I will never need television again.* Plus the box itself is really nice, great presentation... it would be very nice to get signed, say, if I ever meet any of the cast! A girl can dream.
I've been crocheting a lot as usual lately, but with the exception of Jenn's headband and the shamrock I made for Paddy's day (both of which took about half an hour!) I haven't been working on any specific project. Rather, I've been practicing crocheting flowers. I think I've finally got a good method down. And today I've been practicing granny squares, again using flower motifs in the center. I saw a cute openwork sweater at the store yesterday, and it gave me an idea for a project using these elements. It makes me really happy to see fashionable items for sale and knowing that I could make them!
So, it's been a very relaxing weekend, after several stressful weeks. The stress will start up soon again, but for now it's nice to just sit back and crochet the flowers. Nothing terribly exciting, but nice all the same.
Have I mentioned that Jim is going to visit me? No, I guess not... Jim is going to visit me! He will be here the last weekend of April. I'm very excited. ^_^
*Yes, I know that Buffy is a tv show. But I'm watching on dvd, on a laptop, and have only actually seen in it on a television broadcast maybe twice. I really love tv-on-dvd, and really hate television.
Well, the reason updates have been so sporadic is because I was in the middle some serious essay writing. I handed in my last midterm on Friday, though, and immediately felt a whole-body sort of sigh of relief. The fact that I was fairly happy with it helped. Not only did I hand in a paper, I handed in a good paper. There is something immensely satisfying for me in good academic writing. I really do love my career.
There is also something immensely satisfying in going to the library to return more books than one can easily carry. I had a stack of books that were slipping and falling out of my arms the whole walk from my cubicle.
This weekend has been fun and relaxing, too. Friday was my friend Jenn's birthday, so I went over to Jenn & Bri's apartment for dinner. I brought a bottle of wine and a bunch of daffodils, because I am physically incapable of attending a dinner party without contributing something, and I gave Jenn a pretty little headband that I made. Saturday-- yesterday-- I met up with Jenn in town and we went shopping together. Just for sundries, but it was the kind of shopping I do alone every weekend, so it was nice to have someone with me. We have also had absolutely beautiful weather all week, so it was nice to be out in the sun! I turned off my heat and have switched from my winter wool coat to my spring corduroy blazer, and crocheted a new spring scarf. Even though Ireland doesn't have the painful winters that Michigan does, it's still a nice change.
Also, I made some rather lovely chestnut and mushroom soup for dinner last night! It's not a perfect recipe-- for one thing, I think it would benefit from some sherry. (Of course, this would make only the third time in my life that I have required sherry to cook with, and since it comes in wine bottles but you only use about a tablespoon at a time, I don't think I'll be buying any.) Still, it's definitely a nice idea.
Today I slept in and have been crocheting and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I recently treated myself and bought the complete series box set-- all 140-some episodes, plus lots of special features! I will never need television again.* Plus the box itself is really nice, great presentation... it would be very nice to get signed, say, if I ever meet any of the cast! A girl can dream.
I've been crocheting a lot as usual lately, but with the exception of Jenn's headband and the shamrock I made for Paddy's day (both of which took about half an hour!) I haven't been working on any specific project. Rather, I've been practicing crocheting flowers. I think I've finally got a good method down. And today I've been practicing granny squares, again using flower motifs in the center. I saw a cute openwork sweater at the store yesterday, and it gave me an idea for a project using these elements. It makes me really happy to see fashionable items for sale and knowing that I could make them!
So, it's been a very relaxing weekend, after several stressful weeks. The stress will start up soon again, but for now it's nice to just sit back and crochet the flowers. Nothing terribly exciting, but nice all the same.
Have I mentioned that Jim is going to visit me? No, I guess not... Jim is going to visit me! He will be here the last weekend of April. I'm very excited. ^_^
*Yes, I know that Buffy is a tv show. But I'm watching on dvd, on a laptop, and have only actually seen in it on a television broadcast maybe twice. I really love tv-on-dvd, and really hate television.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy Saint Patrick's day!
Yes, it is the biggest holiday in Ireland! No businesses are open, except pubs and off-licenses (liquor stores), and everyone is drunk by noon. Everyone who isn't a grad student that has a history paper due on Friday, that is.
Yes, I am spending this most raucous of holidays at my basement cubicle, working on a paper. It's my own fault, really-- I spent the thoroughly mundane weekend effing around and not doing much of anything, so now I have to spend a holiday working. It's ok. I don't have much money for drinking this month anyway, and I have to do a lot of work tomorrow too. But I did crochet a shamrock, and pinned it to my shirt, so that's kind of festive I guess.
(Friends back home are always saying "Oh, you're so lucky! You live in Ireland, that must be so fun!" Well, yes, I live in Ireland, but I'm also a grad student in Ireland. Doesn't leave much time for fun!)
One reason for me working so hard this week is that I will be chairing a seminar at a conference this weekend. This sounds much more impressive than it actually is-- it's an undergraduate history conference, and my role will be mostly to facilitate discussion with a group of undergrads. But it will look good, and I will do pretty much anything to pad out my CV! When did I become so career-oriented? (Probably about the time I got a career!)
Yes, I am spending this most raucous of holidays at my basement cubicle, working on a paper. It's my own fault, really-- I spent the thoroughly mundane weekend effing around and not doing much of anything, so now I have to spend a holiday working. It's ok. I don't have much money for drinking this month anyway, and I have to do a lot of work tomorrow too. But I did crochet a shamrock, and pinned it to my shirt, so that's kind of festive I guess.
(Friends back home are always saying "Oh, you're so lucky! You live in Ireland, that must be so fun!" Well, yes, I live in Ireland, but I'm also a grad student in Ireland. Doesn't leave much time for fun!)
One reason for me working so hard this week is that I will be chairing a seminar at a conference this weekend. This sounds much more impressive than it actually is-- it's an undergraduate history conference, and my role will be mostly to facilitate discussion with a group of undergrads. But it will look good, and I will do pretty much anything to pad out my CV! When did I become so career-oriented? (Probably about the time I got a career!)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
weather? damn near killed 'er!
Holy crap! I am sitting here at my cubicle, working away, when I suddenly glanced up and noticed that it is snowing! Really hard! Huge fluffy chunky flakes! That is crazy.
I doubt it will stick, of course. I woke up this morning to weather reports on the radio talking about "bad road conditions" across Ireland due to snow, but by the time I left the house there wasn't any in sight. It's in the mid-high 30s today, so I'm sure it will all melt away as soon as it stops coming down. But still. Crazy!
... and it was so nice last week, too. In the mid 50s the whole time. I actually brought out my spring/fall jacket (a corduroy blazer) but now I'm back to my winter wool coat. Well, according to weather.com, it's supposed to cold this weekend but then back to normal Ireland weather next week.
I was going to make a post this weekend, about Irish Fat Tuesday traditions, but then I forgot. Maybe I still will, but right now I should get back to work. I just wanted to make a post documenting the bizarre occurrence of snow in Galway!
I doubt it will stick, of course. I woke up this morning to weather reports on the radio talking about "bad road conditions" across Ireland due to snow, but by the time I left the house there wasn't any in sight. It's in the mid-high 30s today, so I'm sure it will all melt away as soon as it stops coming down. But still. Crazy!
... and it was so nice last week, too. In the mid 50s the whole time. I actually brought out my spring/fall jacket (a corduroy blazer) but now I'm back to my winter wool coat. Well, according to weather.com, it's supposed to cold this weekend but then back to normal Ireland weather next week.
I was going to make a post this weekend, about Irish Fat Tuesday traditions, but then I forgot. Maybe I still will, but right now I should get back to work. I just wanted to make a post documenting the bizarre occurrence of snow in Galway!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)