i bought four at the op shop today. just because i could. and also because they were really cheap.
i don't own a record player (although i know a few people that do, plus the library has record players) and i don't know how to use one. but i guess i'll learn.
this is amazing, these are the four that i picked up:
*Carlo Mario Giulini conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", plus Prokofiev's "Symphonie Classique".
*Vladimir Horowitz playing Mussorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" from a recital at Carnegie Hall
*Cecile Ousset playing Mussorgky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" plus Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit"
*Vladimir Horowitz in Moscow, his first in Russia in 1986 since he left about 60 previously
Five points for the person who can guess why I bought each of those, as you will notice lots of doubling ups.
i hope they work; i'm really excited about experiencing this! and wow, i can't believe i got my hands on some of this...!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
'endlessly' by muse
there's a part in me you'll never know
the only thing I'll never show
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
If the moment ever comes
It's plain to see it's trying to speak
cherished dreams forever asleep
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
if the moment ever comes
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
but the moment never comes
the only thing I'll never show
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
If the moment ever comes
It's plain to see it's trying to speak
cherished dreams forever asleep
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
if the moment ever comes
hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
hopelessly I'll give you everything
but I won't give you up
I won't let you down
and I won't leave you falling
but the moment never comes
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
one of those days
after attempting (again) to take stock of my life, i just had one of those beautiful days.
that made me think "yeah, i think i like it. i could see something happening out of this."
i woke up at about 7am with my alarm, to pull back my curtains and have sunlight STREAMING into my room (perhaps a little too bright mind you!) as S asked me later, "did you have a good morning?" the real answer is a very emphatic "yes!". you see, this sunlight made me happy. listened to the news in bed, and then jumped out for the morning routine of the shower, checking of email and breakfast.
i managed to do about three hours of piano practice in the morning, with a little break within that time. which i thought was pretty enthusiastic! mind you, it would be just lovely if almost every day was like that! i then went to the brass department concert, which was part of the melbourne international festival of brass - a big event indeed! unfortunately, D couldn't come, but that's ok. the horn octet was hilarious, on so many levels. mind you, K, D and I sat there, feeling remarkably and ridiculously local and non-brassy...! haha. the trombone choir was great, especially the wagner.
i got peer-pressured (in a good way!) by S, A & K (who's not even going...!!! haha) to buy a ticket to the wednesday night concert of mifb: stefan dohr & ralph sauer in concert. Dohr is principal horn with the berlin phil. and i suppose one just can't turn down this opportunity to see and hear him play. plus, he's playing the brahms trio. with no other than Duo Sol, of which my teacher is half. so, i should totally go. i'm very excited. because the brahms is awesome. and because this guy plays in the berlin phil!!!! and also because i'm about to embark on the brahms with S & K. should be fun! i wish K was coming so we could have, i dunno, pre-trio bonding?! haha.
afterwards, we (the intention was K & me, and the horn boys, plus others who came along) went for lunch; we bought food from threshermans and then went to the park near the melbourne museum to consume it, while sitting on the grass (S wanted outdoors. great idea, coz it was such a lovely day!) we had a great time, being silly and all. we played hacky sack for a while - i suck at it coz i don't really have any co-ordination, but still fun nevertheless!
it was just such a beautiful afternoon, to just hang out, enjoy the weather, and definitely each other's company! on the way back, ran into a few friends, which was nice. i like how that happens in melbourne, particularly on lygs. it's nice to know that it's really like our own neighbourhood.
attempted to do some work when i got home, which was admittedly pretty hard - so, i didn't get much done. oops. oh well.....
was expecting D to come over to collect some stuff he'd left here yesterday, but he was running late, oh well. he did make it in the end! went to melba hall to help out with a concert!
this concert was part of the impressaria series, and Ewa Kupeic was playing. incidentally, i met her yesterday...she was at queen's! (shock horror you say! no way! a real life concert pianist, just ....THERE!!!! yes!!!) i was finding M to tell her i could help out, and instead ended up talking to Ms Kupeic, which was pretty phenomenal. she told me to practice hehe :P. because there is no such thing as too much practice! so, i was there to help with ticketing and programme selling. which went well. it was a great concert, i really enjoyed it.
here comes the epiphany for the day.
as i sat in the concert, listening to schubert, i was thinking about what a great day i had. and that most of it was strung together with music. and i thought, "yeah, i really do enjoy and love music. i could do it for the rest of my life. i could just play piano. i want to do chamber music and i want to be an associate artist."
there, i said it. if anybody asked if i ever had a job in mind, that would probably be my best bet at the moment.
it might change tomorrow, but at least i have thought this at least three times in the last three months!
that made me think "yeah, i think i like it. i could see something happening out of this."
i woke up at about 7am with my alarm, to pull back my curtains and have sunlight STREAMING into my room (perhaps a little too bright mind you!) as S asked me later, "did you have a good morning?" the real answer is a very emphatic "yes!". you see, this sunlight made me happy. listened to the news in bed, and then jumped out for the morning routine of the shower, checking of email and breakfast.
i managed to do about three hours of piano practice in the morning, with a little break within that time. which i thought was pretty enthusiastic! mind you, it would be just lovely if almost every day was like that! i then went to the brass department concert, which was part of the melbourne international festival of brass - a big event indeed! unfortunately, D couldn't come, but that's ok. the horn octet was hilarious, on so many levels. mind you, K, D and I sat there, feeling remarkably and ridiculously local and non-brassy...! haha. the trombone choir was great, especially the wagner.
i got peer-pressured (in a good way!) by S, A & K (who's not even going...!!! haha) to buy a ticket to the wednesday night concert of mifb: stefan dohr & ralph sauer in concert. Dohr is principal horn with the berlin phil. and i suppose one just can't turn down this opportunity to see and hear him play. plus, he's playing the brahms trio. with no other than Duo Sol, of which my teacher is half. so, i should totally go. i'm very excited. because the brahms is awesome. and because this guy plays in the berlin phil!!!! and also because i'm about to embark on the brahms with S & K. should be fun! i wish K was coming so we could have, i dunno, pre-trio bonding?! haha.
afterwards, we (the intention was K & me, and the horn boys, plus others who came along) went for lunch; we bought food from threshermans and then went to the park near the melbourne museum to consume it, while sitting on the grass (S wanted outdoors. great idea, coz it was such a lovely day!) we had a great time, being silly and all. we played hacky sack for a while - i suck at it coz i don't really have any co-ordination, but still fun nevertheless!
it was just such a beautiful afternoon, to just hang out, enjoy the weather, and definitely each other's company! on the way back, ran into a few friends, which was nice. i like how that happens in melbourne, particularly on lygs. it's nice to know that it's really like our own neighbourhood.
attempted to do some work when i got home, which was admittedly pretty hard - so, i didn't get much done. oops. oh well.....
was expecting D to come over to collect some stuff he'd left here yesterday, but he was running late, oh well. he did make it in the end! went to melba hall to help out with a concert!
this concert was part of the impressaria series, and Ewa Kupeic was playing. incidentally, i met her yesterday...she was at queen's! (shock horror you say! no way! a real life concert pianist, just ....THERE!!!! yes!!!) i was finding M to tell her i could help out, and instead ended up talking to Ms Kupeic, which was pretty phenomenal. she told me to practice hehe :P. because there is no such thing as too much practice! so, i was there to help with ticketing and programme selling. which went well. it was a great concert, i really enjoyed it.
here comes the epiphany for the day.
as i sat in the concert, listening to schubert, i was thinking about what a great day i had. and that most of it was strung together with music. and i thought, "yeah, i really do enjoy and love music. i could do it for the rest of my life. i could just play piano. i want to do chamber music and i want to be an associate artist."
there, i said it. if anybody asked if i ever had a job in mind, that would probably be my best bet at the moment.
it might change tomorrow, but at least i have thought this at least three times in the last three months!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
holidays: thoughts and happenings
the potential to do about 5-6hrs of piano practice a day, by doing a morning and an afternoon session, leaving my evenings free. it's worked a couple of times - other days i've been kinda slack...oops....but it is quite nice!
sleeping in till 8.30, shock horror!
taking stock of my life, again. this happens every so often.
often about my course - is this really what i want to be doing?
my mum re-ignited ideas about exchange. i'm hesistant about exchange next year because a) i don't know where i'd go [and before you all say "uh, duh! europe! music!", i do have to consider the commerce degree, where in europe, what university, what sort of programme etc. there are many things to think about! however ideal we'd like it all to be!] b) i feel, well, not necessarily tied down, but committed to commitments - eg. accompaniment roles ('associate artist'. whatever. you know who you are.), choir, chamber groups. just to name a few.
studying and enjoying muse 1-1. thanks for the recommendations guys :)
hanging out at the vic quite a lot. five times in one week, friday to friday, if i'm not mistaken!
going out for coffee/breakfast/dinner with friends. nice :)
trying to figure out course plans for the next two years. kinda hard because the 2008 handbook hasn't come out yet and i suppose some things will change because of the new generation degrees in the melbourne model.
cleaning my room in the afternoon. also known as throwing out a few things. then making new piles of stuff. that are all at 90-degree angles to other things.
and then subsequently turning my room upside down that night in search of something in particular.
only to not find it. but to find lots of other stuff, namely, lots of music! amounting to a pile about 25cm high, including some folders which are only partially full - so, lots of music plus files to clean out so i can use them!
finally cracking open a subject that isn't prac study nor chamber music! haha
techniques listening list.....getting there.....starting, i mean. haha
i should do my laundry.
spending enormous amounts of time on facebook.
wondering if i have to sit by myself at mealtimes because there is almost nobody left at college.
researching: contact lenses from the victorian college of optometry.
finding it very hard to find winter (our summer) programmes for music in europe. or internships - not really sure where to look. this, i suppose, was the latest thought before re-ignition of exchange ideas. perhaps i should google 'scholarhips' instead.....if anybody knows any programmes, let me know - i'd be interested to have a look!
sleeping in till 8.30, shock horror!
taking stock of my life, again. this happens every so often.
often about my course - is this really what i want to be doing?
my mum re-ignited ideas about exchange. i'm hesistant about exchange next year because a) i don't know where i'd go [and before you all say "uh, duh! europe! music!", i do have to consider the commerce degree, where in europe, what university, what sort of programme etc. there are many things to think about! however ideal we'd like it all to be!] b) i feel, well, not necessarily tied down, but committed to commitments - eg. accompaniment roles ('associate artist'. whatever. you know who you are.), choir, chamber groups. just to name a few.
studying and enjoying muse 1-1. thanks for the recommendations guys :)
hanging out at the vic quite a lot. five times in one week, friday to friday, if i'm not mistaken!
going out for coffee/breakfast/dinner with friends. nice :)
trying to figure out course plans for the next two years. kinda hard because the 2008 handbook hasn't come out yet and i suppose some things will change because of the new generation degrees in the melbourne model.
cleaning my room in the afternoon. also known as throwing out a few things. then making new piles of stuff. that are all at 90-degree angles to other things.
and then subsequently turning my room upside down that night in search of something in particular.
only to not find it. but to find lots of other stuff, namely, lots of music! amounting to a pile about 25cm high, including some folders which are only partially full - so, lots of music plus files to clean out so i can use them!
finally cracking open a subject that isn't prac study nor chamber music! haha
techniques listening list.....getting there.....starting, i mean. haha
i should do my laundry.
spending enormous amounts of time on facebook.
wondering if i have to sit by myself at mealtimes because there is almost nobody left at college.
researching: contact lenses from the victorian college of optometry.
finding it very hard to find winter (our summer) programmes for music in europe. or internships - not really sure where to look. this, i suppose, was the latest thought before re-ignition of exchange ideas. perhaps i should google 'scholarhips' instead.....if anybody knows any programmes, let me know - i'd be interested to have a look!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Phantom of the Opera
This probably isn't the best time to do it, because I like sleep (something that is in great demand and very short supply during the semester) but heck, I'm going to attempt the review....
So, tonight, I went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Princess Theatre. First up, thanks to Simon for organising everybody - you truly are the man of much knowledge.
The theatre is beautiful; unfortunately, I didn't really get a lot of time to wander around because we arrived about 10mins before the start. Oh well, it's in a really nice part of town, and definitely somewhere I'd like to explore more.
So, the review part. I've only ever seen the moview version and heard the music, so I was intrigued to see how everything would be portrayed on stage. We had fantastic seats - smack bang in the centre of row D of the Dress Circle.
Anthony Warlow played the part of the the Phantom. He was by far the most outstanding performer. There is much more acting in the stage version than the movie, and he did this really well. Furthermore, his voice is to die for! Just gorgeous - so much tonal colour, variety and emotion. His projection and characterisation were fantastic.
The role of Christine was well-played - she was a talented young woman. Funnily, her song "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" received a lot of applause, but I unfortuantely didn't like her version too much, not least because there were a few pitching issues.
Unfortunately I didn't like the actor who played Raoul. This was probably the thing lacking most for me - it often seemed that he didn't portray a complete character at any one time, that he was either focussed on acting, or singing, but never at the same time. His voice lacked some sort of intense passion that I would associate with the role of 'the lover'. Unfortunately his singing lacked tonal and colour variation and his vowel sounds, particularly "oo" (such as in "you") were very flat, which was disappointing.
The woman who played the dancing instructor of the Opera company was excellent, maintaining poise and character very well. I noticed that this character actually requies quite a large vocal range and great stage presence, of which tonight's performance showcased that. I think that this is a largely under-valued role.
Ensemble singing in the first act suffered a little, as it was sometimes unclear, particularly when different lines were being sung by the different characters. The second act was better in this respect. "Masquerade" was awesome to watch, even if one line was left out, I suppose accidentally! The visual spectacle that is, with so much colour, action and life is quite amazing.
The orchestra was ably led by the conductor - after Urinetown, I have even more respect for musical directors, repetiteurs and conductors of musicals. For at least a third of the musical, I know I was watching the pit instead of the stage! It was interesting to see how it all worked - I could spot out TV screens focussed on the conductor, I could see the conductor giving cues and showing cut-offs (something I wish more people would watch for and follow!), and looking at particular sections. Ok, so it was a bit far to see all of the orchestra, but it was pretty good. Okay, so I'm being picky when I saw that the horns split at least one note (pretty amusing), and that the clarinet was out of tune in one particuarly prominent moment. But overall, the music was very well done - I do really think some of this music is quite poxy, but after dealing with that....the drums (as opposed to the rest of the percussion) sounded quite tinny and synthetic, as if it were an electric drum kit. I wanted to know how many keyboard players there are for the musical! Generally, the horns were excellent (some great runs in there, some great high notes, and some great stopped notes!), the flautist was quite good, and the strings were definitely solid. Of particular mention in the musical which I thought was quite amusing is the bit where the owners of the opera company are exasperating over the added requirements of the Phantom's new opera, and singing about hiring an extra bassoonist - of course, with bassoon holding up the bass line. Hehe. I laughed.
The scenery and costumes were just amazing. Everything was appropriately elaborate. The coolest 2 bits of cool set and the like were probably the coming into the underground lair of the Phantom, and the effects created by those candles. And then when the Phantom disappeared. Just amazing, I still don't know how they did it..!! Those props were pretty cool too, including that staff which emitted fire! The lighting effects were fantastic, particularly with the use of fire and pyrotechnics, which surprised me a bit and hurt my eyes sufficiently :)
I see now that after being so heavily involved in a musical myself, I tend to pick a lot of things up and apart. This doesn't really diminish my ability to enjoy it though (much like listening and analysing a harmonic progression in a song doesn't really wreck my experience of listening to music) - I actually think it enhances it, as I consider things critically. I think this is a much more active way to lead a life!
So really, I thought it was a great production. I'm very happy that I saw Anthony Warlow - he is really the reason I decided to go see the musical, and he played such a demanding character with elegance, passion, finesse and intensity, making it his own. He really made it for me :) If you do get the chance to see this production, it really is a treat. A very sumptuous musical to leave you humming the songs. My kudos go to Anthony Warlow, the orchestra and the musical director!
So, tonight, I went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Princess Theatre. First up, thanks to Simon for organising everybody - you truly are the man of much knowledge.
The theatre is beautiful; unfortunately, I didn't really get a lot of time to wander around because we arrived about 10mins before the start. Oh well, it's in a really nice part of town, and definitely somewhere I'd like to explore more.
So, the review part. I've only ever seen the moview version and heard the music, so I was intrigued to see how everything would be portrayed on stage. We had fantastic seats - smack bang in the centre of row D of the Dress Circle.
Anthony Warlow played the part of the the Phantom. He was by far the most outstanding performer. There is much more acting in the stage version than the movie, and he did this really well. Furthermore, his voice is to die for! Just gorgeous - so much tonal colour, variety and emotion. His projection and characterisation were fantastic.
The role of Christine was well-played - she was a talented young woman. Funnily, her song "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" received a lot of applause, but I unfortuantely didn't like her version too much, not least because there were a few pitching issues.
Unfortunately I didn't like the actor who played Raoul. This was probably the thing lacking most for me - it often seemed that he didn't portray a complete character at any one time, that he was either focussed on acting, or singing, but never at the same time. His voice lacked some sort of intense passion that I would associate with the role of 'the lover'. Unfortunately his singing lacked tonal and colour variation and his vowel sounds, particularly "oo" (such as in "you") were very flat, which was disappointing.
The woman who played the dancing instructor of the Opera company was excellent, maintaining poise and character very well. I noticed that this character actually requies quite a large vocal range and great stage presence, of which tonight's performance showcased that. I think that this is a largely under-valued role.
Ensemble singing in the first act suffered a little, as it was sometimes unclear, particularly when different lines were being sung by the different characters. The second act was better in this respect. "Masquerade" was awesome to watch, even if one line was left out, I suppose accidentally! The visual spectacle that is, with so much colour, action and life is quite amazing.
The orchestra was ably led by the conductor - after Urinetown, I have even more respect for musical directors, repetiteurs and conductors of musicals. For at least a third of the musical, I know I was watching the pit instead of the stage! It was interesting to see how it all worked - I could spot out TV screens focussed on the conductor, I could see the conductor giving cues and showing cut-offs (something I wish more people would watch for and follow!), and looking at particular sections. Ok, so it was a bit far to see all of the orchestra, but it was pretty good. Okay, so I'm being picky when I saw that the horns split at least one note (pretty amusing), and that the clarinet was out of tune in one particuarly prominent moment. But overall, the music was very well done - I do really think some of this music is quite poxy, but after dealing with that....the drums (as opposed to the rest of the percussion) sounded quite tinny and synthetic, as if it were an electric drum kit. I wanted to know how many keyboard players there are for the musical! Generally, the horns were excellent (some great runs in there, some great high notes, and some great stopped notes!), the flautist was quite good, and the strings were definitely solid. Of particular mention in the musical which I thought was quite amusing is the bit where the owners of the opera company are exasperating over the added requirements of the Phantom's new opera, and singing about hiring an extra bassoonist - of course, with bassoon holding up the bass line. Hehe. I laughed.
The scenery and costumes were just amazing. Everything was appropriately elaborate. The coolest 2 bits of cool set and the like were probably the coming into the underground lair of the Phantom, and the effects created by those candles. And then when the Phantom disappeared. Just amazing, I still don't know how they did it..!! Those props were pretty cool too, including that staff which emitted fire! The lighting effects were fantastic, particularly with the use of fire and pyrotechnics, which surprised me a bit and hurt my eyes sufficiently :)
I see now that after being so heavily involved in a musical myself, I tend to pick a lot of things up and apart. This doesn't really diminish my ability to enjoy it though (much like listening and analysing a harmonic progression in a song doesn't really wreck my experience of listening to music) - I actually think it enhances it, as I consider things critically. I think this is a much more active way to lead a life!
So really, I thought it was a great production. I'm very happy that I saw Anthony Warlow - he is really the reason I decided to go see the musical, and he played such a demanding character with elegance, passion, finesse and intensity, making it his own. He really made it for me :) If you do get the chance to see this production, it really is a treat. A very sumptuous musical to leave you humming the songs. My kudos go to Anthony Warlow, the orchestra and the musical director!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
still busy...bring on the holidays
it has still been busy, but is that any surprise?
i missed seeing christian lindberg with aco, which i am a bit miffed about, but that is completely my fault too.
i had dinner at wen-li & jude's place last week - it was amazing, steamed fish and vegetables with rice! ok, so this is something i may typically have at home, but wow, was it super good or what?!
met up with erica on wednesday, it was beautiful just to sit in the sun (well, shade really, but a nice day) and catch up with her and read the bible and talk about stuff.
ace and i went to see 'waitress' at nova on wednesday night - i'd won tickets, being a brunetti's member thingo and all. we really enjoyed it! it's an indie sorta drama/comedy. really enjoyable. my type of film :) then we went to brunetti's, which was just round the corner, to indulge in some dessert and tea (especially after a fairly unsatisfying dinner).
had a very long thursday. it kinda went something like this (some bits i'm very proud of!)
piano practice at 7am or so, for 1.5hrs before my 9am class. yes, that's right, BEFORE a 9am. class 9-11am. more practice in the basement, 11-1. went to a careers seminar (the lady was wafty) at 1.10, till 2pm. hung out for about an hour (revising that morning's lectures, no doubt on the couches in the con foyer...!), rehearsal 3.15-about 4pm, got kicked out, then went to sinfonia at 4.30-6.30. then came home. unfortunately i didn't go to the Switchfoot concert, which i'm a bit miffed about, but i 1) couldn't afford it (despite it being ridiculously cheap for a concert, $45 oh well), and 2) not enough time.
last week was just really busy doing stuff before the weekend...
so, the weekend was APOLLO CAMP!!!!
(gah, the bit that i'd written wasn't saved, and i can't remember what i wrote. darn! oh well)
so, apollo is the group i am involved in, with the choir in particular. we went to shepparton to rehearse some, the opportunity for med kids to look at the rural clincal school, perform a community concert and to basically hang out with each for a weekend.
it was a great weekend - admittedly, i had a smaller choir which was quite unbalanced, but it worked out well in the end.
and what camp wouldn't be complete without some sort of disaster? oh, it happened, just near the very end. take this: we were driving a small truck/large van (to and) from shepparton, and i was getting dropped off at queen's. i got all my stuff out of the back, and the other two guys got back in so they could drive to the next place to unload stuff, and the vehicle wouldn't start. hmm...one first thinks, flat battery. ok. we had to tell the honking taxi behind us that it wasn't going to move so his best option really was to back out the driveway. so, went and got my neighbour to see if he could jumpstart the car. had to push the vehicle so it didn't block the road (actually, watched in amusement as somebody else did it haha). couldn't find button to put the hood up. had to make a zillion phone calls to all sorts of people. i actually had to run off (i was really really late oops..) but it turns out it wasn't a dead battery, but something was actually wrong with the starter motor. sigh! oh well, hopefully all good now.
so, camp was actually really fun - had a great time, walking along the main road in shepp (to burn off the amazingly large amounts of food we ate at dinner on saturday night), interpretive dance to the wiggles' hot potato (including the best peeling of a banana i have ever seen), getting freaked out about extra people in rooms, the game we played on saturday night involving a round of charades which involved me taking (a layer of) clothes off (hahaha...probably don't want to know....! hahaha sorry), walking around shepp, almost driving into the shepp club, george (in a yellow fluoro jacket) directing us around a tight corner, dress-shopping (aka. helen and me diverting into a shop), looking for missing sunglasses and watch, rolls in a bag in the water ('oh snap' hahaha), cow statues of all sorts. fun times :D it was great to meet and get to know med people!
had a bunch of reherasals on tuesday afternoon: 1pm don giovanni sextet, after that some of my own practice, then a trio rehearsal at about 3.30-5pm. lots of playing. quite wonderful really. when i think about the prospect of just playing lots of piano in one day, it really gets me quite excited. nerdy, i know hehe :P
i sat through a faculty of music undergraduate studies committee meeting on wednesday morning. (My piano lesson was cancelled) there was the dean and other various important people representing heads of departments (instrmentally, and specialisation-wise etc.) there were some bits that were interesting - there are many changes going on pertaining to the melbourne model! however, there were some boring bits too...as with most meetings! i went to the MUCO concert on wednesday night (instead of the GM...). considering that reherasals weren't going all too well (as i hear), it stuck together quite well. i went out to koko black with kristen and jen afterwards, which was really nice! i had a chocolate ice-cream martini: wow!!! how amazingly beautiful. that place is just wonderful hehe.
had a rehearsal on thursday, which went well. (wow, can you see how my life could really be described as: "practice, rehearsal, meeting, rehearsal, more practice"?!) i went to sinfonia in the afternoon; john couldn't be there, so mark took it instead. it went really well! there was much more stop-starting, but that was ok. mark would always say something helpful or suggest a way of doing something, like, "play it like this violins" or "let's do something about those note lengths". it was great! i was leading the 2nds, which was scary but fun (we were so hot right now hehe). we played the overture from wagner's tannhauser (however you spell it..), and parts of brahms' symphony 4. much fun-ness!
there was an open vic night on friday night. not too many people came, because people had gone to med ball or home or on camp. but we watched STAR WARS!! (a new hope, and the empire strikes back). i've never really watched them before, so that was pretty epic! almost everybody else in the room had, so they knew when all the funny bits were coming up, and were laughing at those as well as at me, when i made noises of surprise or when i giggled at the funny parts! it was great! i didn't think i'd enjoy star wars at all, to tell you the truth, but after the first one, i fully got into it and promptly announced "we have to watch the next one!". don't worry, i will get to watch them all, it's pretty cool!
i haven't done too much this weekend....there has been a lot of lazing around, just because it's the first weekend of the holidays. so, practice has taken a bit of a battering at the moment. there is much to prepare and practice for!
i had several minor disasters this morning, all before 10 o'clock in the morning!! how terrible! but thankfully, ace was there to help me out, and andrew was there to say everything was ok! thanks guys, you know me too well - stresshead!!!! on our way home from hawthorn this morning, i pointed out that japanese crepe place where you can get sweet or savoury crepes. they were so funny that andrew thought we should have some. hehe. so much fun, it was really amusing actually!
so, today was actually just beatiful - music, friends, eating, enjoying the day. that just seems so ideal really! that's what i definitely could be doing all weekend, all year round :) thanks for so much fun guys! xo
i missed seeing christian lindberg with aco, which i am a bit miffed about, but that is completely my fault too.
i had dinner at wen-li & jude's place last week - it was amazing, steamed fish and vegetables with rice! ok, so this is something i may typically have at home, but wow, was it super good or what?!
met up with erica on wednesday, it was beautiful just to sit in the sun (well, shade really, but a nice day) and catch up with her and read the bible and talk about stuff.
ace and i went to see 'waitress' at nova on wednesday night - i'd won tickets, being a brunetti's member thingo and all. we really enjoyed it! it's an indie sorta drama/comedy. really enjoyable. my type of film :) then we went to brunetti's, which was just round the corner, to indulge in some dessert and tea (especially after a fairly unsatisfying dinner).
had a very long thursday. it kinda went something like this (some bits i'm very proud of!)
piano practice at 7am or so, for 1.5hrs before my 9am class. yes, that's right, BEFORE a 9am. class 9-11am. more practice in the basement, 11-1. went to a careers seminar (the lady was wafty) at 1.10, till 2pm. hung out for about an hour (revising that morning's lectures, no doubt on the couches in the con foyer...!), rehearsal 3.15-about 4pm, got kicked out, then went to sinfonia at 4.30-6.30. then came home. unfortunately i didn't go to the Switchfoot concert, which i'm a bit miffed about, but i 1) couldn't afford it (despite it being ridiculously cheap for a concert, $45 oh well), and 2) not enough time.
last week was just really busy doing stuff before the weekend...
so, the weekend was APOLLO CAMP!!!!
(gah, the bit that i'd written wasn't saved, and i can't remember what i wrote. darn! oh well)
so, apollo is the group i am involved in, with the choir in particular. we went to shepparton to rehearse some, the opportunity for med kids to look at the rural clincal school, perform a community concert and to basically hang out with each for a weekend.
it was a great weekend - admittedly, i had a smaller choir which was quite unbalanced, but it worked out well in the end.
and what camp wouldn't be complete without some sort of disaster? oh, it happened, just near the very end. take this: we were driving a small truck/large van (to and) from shepparton, and i was getting dropped off at queen's. i got all my stuff out of the back, and the other two guys got back in so they could drive to the next place to unload stuff, and the vehicle wouldn't start. hmm...one first thinks, flat battery. ok. we had to tell the honking taxi behind us that it wasn't going to move so his best option really was to back out the driveway. so, went and got my neighbour to see if he could jumpstart the car. had to push the vehicle so it didn't block the road (actually, watched in amusement as somebody else did it haha). couldn't find button to put the hood up. had to make a zillion phone calls to all sorts of people. i actually had to run off (i was really really late oops..) but it turns out it wasn't a dead battery, but something was actually wrong with the starter motor. sigh! oh well, hopefully all good now.
so, camp was actually really fun - had a great time, walking along the main road in shepp (to burn off the amazingly large amounts of food we ate at dinner on saturday night), interpretive dance to the wiggles' hot potato (including the best peeling of a banana i have ever seen), getting freaked out about extra people in rooms, the game we played on saturday night involving a round of charades which involved me taking (a layer of) clothes off (hahaha...probably don't want to know....! hahaha sorry), walking around shepp, almost driving into the shepp club, george (in a yellow fluoro jacket) directing us around a tight corner, dress-shopping (aka. helen and me diverting into a shop), looking for missing sunglasses and watch, rolls in a bag in the water ('oh snap' hahaha), cow statues of all sorts. fun times :D it was great to meet and get to know med people!
had a bunch of reherasals on tuesday afternoon: 1pm don giovanni sextet, after that some of my own practice, then a trio rehearsal at about 3.30-5pm. lots of playing. quite wonderful really. when i think about the prospect of just playing lots of piano in one day, it really gets me quite excited. nerdy, i know hehe :P
i sat through a faculty of music undergraduate studies committee meeting on wednesday morning. (My piano lesson was cancelled) there was the dean and other various important people representing heads of departments (instrmentally, and specialisation-wise etc.) there were some bits that were interesting - there are many changes going on pertaining to the melbourne model! however, there were some boring bits too...as with most meetings! i went to the MUCO concert on wednesday night (instead of the GM...). considering that reherasals weren't going all too well (as i hear), it stuck together quite well. i went out to koko black with kristen and jen afterwards, which was really nice! i had a chocolate ice-cream martini: wow!!! how amazingly beautiful. that place is just wonderful hehe.
had a rehearsal on thursday, which went well. (wow, can you see how my life could really be described as: "practice, rehearsal, meeting, rehearsal, more practice"?!) i went to sinfonia in the afternoon; john couldn't be there, so mark took it instead. it went really well! there was much more stop-starting, but that was ok. mark would always say something helpful or suggest a way of doing something, like, "play it like this violins" or "let's do something about those note lengths". it was great! i was leading the 2nds, which was scary but fun (we were so hot right now hehe). we played the overture from wagner's tannhauser (however you spell it..), and parts of brahms' symphony 4. much fun-ness!
there was an open vic night on friday night. not too many people came, because people had gone to med ball or home or on camp. but we watched STAR WARS!! (a new hope, and the empire strikes back). i've never really watched them before, so that was pretty epic! almost everybody else in the room had, so they knew when all the funny bits were coming up, and were laughing at those as well as at me, when i made noises of surprise or when i giggled at the funny parts! it was great! i didn't think i'd enjoy star wars at all, to tell you the truth, but after the first one, i fully got into it and promptly announced "we have to watch the next one!". don't worry, i will get to watch them all, it's pretty cool!
i haven't done too much this weekend....there has been a lot of lazing around, just because it's the first weekend of the holidays. so, practice has taken a bit of a battering at the moment. there is much to prepare and practice for!
i had several minor disasters this morning, all before 10 o'clock in the morning!! how terrible! but thankfully, ace was there to help me out, and andrew was there to say everything was ok! thanks guys, you know me too well - stresshead!!!! on our way home from hawthorn this morning, i pointed out that japanese crepe place where you can get sweet or savoury crepes. they were so funny that andrew thought we should have some. hehe. so much fun, it was really amusing actually!
so, today was actually just beatiful - music, friends, eating, enjoying the day. that just seems so ideal really! that's what i definitely could be doing all weekend, all year round :) thanks for so much fun guys! xo
Saturday, September 01, 2007
i think i made it...
after getting through production week, i had to keep going through week 5.
went mask shopping last monday, to the city. thankfully it didn't take too long. also bought a book for chamber music notes. i figured that chamber music is something i really want to get into, and i sit in class listening to pearls of wisdom, which somehow exit my mind almost straight away, which is a waste. so, a book to write down these pearls for future reference.
went to the orchestra concert on monday night.
two bad ideas (completely my fault):
1. wear shoes that hurt. and i know they hurt. but then 1a) i suppose is that i didn't take precautions (ie. bandaging) to prevent even more hurt.
2. stay out wayyy too late. luckily, i came home with some friends, so thanks guys!
and Y&J didn't even open up the top part for us...
A) i got asked for ID at the bar, when i ordered a lemon lime & bitters. uhm....there isn't that much alcohol in that drink....it's basically soft drink..!!!
B) towards the end of the night i heard somebody in passing "is it just me or are there lots of really young people here...?!" um...we're not all young, like, underage or even just straight out of school thank you. i felt like turning around and telling her, "um, does that mean you're old?"
ball working-bee on wednesday involved writing names on placecards. daniel commented "the president and vice-president shouldn't be doing tasks like this!" haha. i like his idea of executive :) but it was fun anyway, doing the job with him, ed & bridie.
all years concert class was pretty good. the horn quartet cracked me up - who knew horns could swing it?! and will's composition was absolutely beautiful.
admittedly, i didn't really concentrate very much on thursday, and am surprised i even managed to sit still for part of thursday, because thursday night was MUSIC BALL!!!
photos may come later, no guarantees (ie. just get facebook). preparations started well in the afternoon - involving me having fantastic ideas about hair, and trying to source a lily hair piece. i was really hoping for a clip at the chemist. two chemists later (and no hair piece) i decided that a live lily would have to suffice. the conversation at the florist kinda went like this:
me: "do you have any oriental lillies?"
florist: "white or pink?"
"err..preferably pink, but white's ok too."
"well, we have these"
"i was actually just hoping for just one lily, you know, almost completely open, for tonight"
"well, i could sell you this one..."
i decided to take the whole stem, which comprised of one almost completely open lily, plus two more to bloom over the next week. the lady probably thought i was completely crazy haha.
then the hair-curling began. now let me tell you that my hair doesn't normally curl. it has never, and so i really was quite unsure whether my fantastic plans were going to work out. thanks penny for doing it, and for enduring such a shiny hand/finger from the hair spray. and check this out, i'm going to put in a photo because it's pretty phenomenal...:
i was a bit freaked out coz i had to make the welcoming speech, plus a few thankyous at the beginning of the ball - and if you know me, you'll know that i don't really like public speaking at all. but all ended up going well, and it turned out to be an aweomse night! ok, so we decided that it'd be a good idea at about 2am after the ball to go get macca's. it was a good idea at the time.....not so great afterwards haha. got to bed at about 3am, and woke up (after a sleep in yay!) at about 8.45am. i guess it's no surprise that chamber class was significantly less full than normal - to the extent that everybody could get a seat haha.
was very bored on friday night - i suppose after the excitement of the previous night, it seemed like a funny end to a great week!
went to renee's 21st on saturday night; this required a drive of about 1.5hrs in ben's hire car. hehe fun times. good conversations :) this party was so nice, i had a great time :) and admittedly, i've never been to that area either, so that was really cool!
on sunday night a few of us went to UC parkville, which was cool. that was the first time i'd been, so that was a new experience! we had the urinetown oscars at birra bella that night, after our final production meeting. there were some awesome awards presented, and a final chance to wrap up the excitement and experience that was urinetown. as i look back on the experience, i think several things:
1. I probably wouldn't really choose to do it again. this is not to say i didn't have a good time. there are several reasons for this:
a) this is a massive job. i unfortunately don't have the luxury of time. (although i was impressed i managed to do it, keeping on top of almost all of my uni work. and i didn't skip any classes!)
b) i don't find the music in musicals (in general) to be incredibly fantastic, in terms of the challenge it presents musically. of course, some of it is very hard, and is very good, but when you compare it to the piano repertoire (arguably one of the biggest) i struggle to keep interest when there is little more than oom-cha oom-cha.
c) of course, not to say i didn't enjoy my experience at all - because i did - or that recognition is the only thing one works for, but musical directors definitely don't get enough recognition for everything they do. i suppose it's because they're often left to their own devices, because something like musical directing is very specialised, and not many people can do it. and a lot of time and effort is spent in so many other (also important) things, but i think people sometimes overlook the music in a musical, as if it's a given. but the musical director is actually probably one of the most important people of the show - without that person, there is no musical, there is no show. if the music isn't hot, the show isn't hot. and i think MDs can be seriously under-appreciated.
those are my thoughts so far....
so thus began my week of going out YET AGAIN. i didn't realise this when i planned my semester. when i thought that the week after the show was going to be busy, i didn't really think about the following week. it kinda went like this:
sunday night - urinetown oscars
monday night - jude's smc
tuesday night - kungsbacka trio concert
wednesday night - dinner with mel and tim
thursday night - very long day at uni, didn't go out wow!
friday night - george's 21st
which leaves me sitting here on a saturday night, blogging.
cancelled apollo choir on monday afternoon, coz i felt horrible. i felt pretty bad about having to cancel though, so i went along and waited for a while while people trickled in, only to tell them to go home coz i felt sick. the sick thing is completely my fault - going out lots, not enough sleep. seirously self-induced, i know. but lucky it's med students: "what are your presenting symptoms?" haha. i love hanging out with them, they're awesome!
so, the jude's smc meeting was good. it was good to think about so many issues. thanks erica and jane for the ride home :) haha. and when we circled round the roundabout twice to check on the guy who was lying in the middle but apparently not drunk/passed out, when we realised he had a bag of grocery shopping, and then got up and walked home after we drove past again to ask him "are you ok?" haha.
i was debating all day tuesday whether i should go to the musica viva concert. in the end, the things that convinced me to go were:
1) my brother telling me that i should
2) mel asking me whether i would regret it if i didn't go (the answer was yes)
so i went. i coudln't find anybody else to go with me, so i went by myself. this thought was a bit intimidating, actually, coz i've never been to a concert (or similar kind of thing, such as a movie, or eg. going to dinner) by myself. but it was ok. because:
a) i saw a couple of people i knew (from the con)
b) i had an amazing seat - in the circle (elevated view) smack bang in the middle. all for $15!
c) i met a couple more friends i knew after the concert
d) we listened to the post-concert little chat with two members of the trio, plus one of the composers (obviously not schubert nor smetana...they're dead...)
e) i chatted a bit to the pianist; i told him that i really enjoyed watching him play, then had to explain that i was watching him quite a lot because i am a piano student myself
f) emma ayres (the cellist for the 1st beethoven cello sonata for the beethoven project with 3mbs in week 2, and most definitely the host of the afternoon weekday show on abc classic fm) was hosting this chat. i got to talk to her, she remembered me, then i actually did tell her that i enjoy listening to her :)
so the night was actually fantastic
i had a great piano lesson on wednesday morning. i was nervous, coz i didn't really know what i was doing with the chopin, and don't really play much beethoven (although after the cello sonata, i've been more enthusiastic!) so wasn't sure whether my interpretation was anything like what it's supposed to sound like! but she gave me lots to think about, which was good. i've had 3 lessons in 6 weeks, which by most standards, is not good at all. but it feels like those lessons have been productive, and feels like that i HAVE to be self-motivated (can be hard for me without lessons), and that it's a lot of individual progress, independant study. which i guess has to happen sometime, because a teacher can't hold your hand for your entire life.
went to dinner with mel and tim that night to a place called Rumi, which serves cuisine of arabic-speaking nations. so we had things like: dipping bread with their house-made yoghurt, cigar shaped pastry (omg, so good), persian meatballs, a cauliflower dish, and lamb on rice (best rice i've had in a long while!). it was so beautiful, and oh-so-filling! we walked a bit, came across a beatuful pastry store which caught our eyes (and stomachs!) and had to buy some stuff! yum :)
accompanied nick d for concert class on thursday - he sang poulenc's le bestiaire. it's fantastic. we got ripped for using half-stick, but that was about it. the ensemble worked fantastically. the ending was absolutely magical, this amazing g min 7 chord, labelled "long", "laiser vibrer", and tied over, plus a pause on the bar line. there was this amazing silence as it rang in melba hall. absolutely wonderful. i think that's how wonderful performances end (to quote/paraphrase another student's review) - in magical silence, or to raptous applause.
was a very long day on thursday - up at about 7am, had to meet somebody at 7.45am to give something to them, a day of uni (with funny breaks, not worth coming home to waste time, so brought homework to do on the couch - no wonder people never think i leave!), came home at about 7pm after sinfonia. no wonder i didn't want to go out thursday night!
friday was yet another intense day. (it was an intense week of piano, which is absolutely lovely!) M came to queen's at approximately 8am for our rehearsal at 8.15. J slept through her alarm, came at 8.30. we played through some stuff, then ran down to uni for our 9am chamber music tute. that was fairly intense, but good! H had good stuff to say about our playing, plus lots of comments and suggestions for doing stuff. at 10am, J had another tute (this time with her quintet!), M had a music lesson, and i had the hour off (couldn't find a practice room, sad!). then we had chamber music class, at 11am, whereupon our trio played! we were at the front for a while, about 45mins (of the hour long class!). we played quite well. we were very well-warmed up! so, yeah, about 4 hours of playing before lunchtime! pretty intense!! but fantastic. if only that was all i had to do....lucky i'd done my techniques assignment well in time :)
so, at the moment, working on rachmninoff prelude (b-flat major, pretty intense. i don't get it, caroline suggests stuff then says later, after i've completely committed to it, "it's hard". oh great..! haha). i really have to re-look at the chopin winter wind. it's an intense programme, actually. looks like this:
JS Bach: Prelude & fugue in D Major (bk 2); Prelude & Fugue in E Major (Bk 2)
Chopin: Etudes Op 25 nos 7 (the beautiful one with the conversation between the lh and rh), and 11 (winter wind)
Beethoven: Sonata in a-flat major, op 110 movt 1
Rachmninoff: preludes op 23 nos. 2 & 4
plus keeping up with chamber music:
4 of the 8 pieces for clarinet, viola and piano op 83 by max bruch
accompaniment stuff, including:
a strauss nocturne, saint-seans nocturne, the sextet from don giovanni
i don't think the concerto competition is going to be for me this year...i've hardly looked at it...
oh well.
so, sorry this is insanely long. if you've made it all the way, i'm incredibly impressed. leave me a comment if you did, i'll personally congratulate you! bed time...
went mask shopping last monday, to the city. thankfully it didn't take too long. also bought a book for chamber music notes. i figured that chamber music is something i really want to get into, and i sit in class listening to pearls of wisdom, which somehow exit my mind almost straight away, which is a waste. so, a book to write down these pearls for future reference.
went to the orchestra concert on monday night.
two bad ideas (completely my fault):
1. wear shoes that hurt. and i know they hurt. but then 1a) i suppose is that i didn't take precautions (ie. bandaging) to prevent even more hurt.
2. stay out wayyy too late. luckily, i came home with some friends, so thanks guys!
and Y&J didn't even open up the top part for us...
A) i got asked for ID at the bar, when i ordered a lemon lime & bitters. uhm....there isn't that much alcohol in that drink....it's basically soft drink..!!!
B) towards the end of the night i heard somebody in passing "is it just me or are there lots of really young people here...?!" um...we're not all young, like, underage or even just straight out of school thank you. i felt like turning around and telling her, "um, does that mean you're old?"
ball working-bee on wednesday involved writing names on placecards. daniel commented "the president and vice-president shouldn't be doing tasks like this!" haha. i like his idea of executive :) but it was fun anyway, doing the job with him, ed & bridie.
all years concert class was pretty good. the horn quartet cracked me up - who knew horns could swing it?! and will's composition was absolutely beautiful.
admittedly, i didn't really concentrate very much on thursday, and am surprised i even managed to sit still for part of thursday, because thursday night was MUSIC BALL!!!
photos may come later, no guarantees (ie. just get facebook). preparations started well in the afternoon - involving me having fantastic ideas about hair, and trying to source a lily hair piece. i was really hoping for a clip at the chemist. two chemists later (and no hair piece) i decided that a live lily would have to suffice. the conversation at the florist kinda went like this:
me: "do you have any oriental lillies?"
florist: "white or pink?"
"err..preferably pink, but white's ok too."
"well, we have these"
"i was actually just hoping for just one lily, you know, almost completely open, for tonight"
"well, i could sell you this one..."
i decided to take the whole stem, which comprised of one almost completely open lily, plus two more to bloom over the next week. the lady probably thought i was completely crazy haha.
then the hair-curling began. now let me tell you that my hair doesn't normally curl. it has never, and so i really was quite unsure whether my fantastic plans were going to work out. thanks penny for doing it, and for enduring such a shiny hand/finger from the hair spray. and check this out, i'm going to put in a photo because it's pretty phenomenal...:
i was a bit freaked out coz i had to make the welcoming speech, plus a few thankyous at the beginning of the ball - and if you know me, you'll know that i don't really like public speaking at all. but all ended up going well, and it turned out to be an aweomse night! ok, so we decided that it'd be a good idea at about 2am after the ball to go get macca's. it was a good idea at the time.....not so great afterwards haha. got to bed at about 3am, and woke up (after a sleep in yay!) at about 8.45am. i guess it's no surprise that chamber class was significantly less full than normal - to the extent that everybody could get a seat haha.
was very bored on friday night - i suppose after the excitement of the previous night, it seemed like a funny end to a great week!
went to renee's 21st on saturday night; this required a drive of about 1.5hrs in ben's hire car. hehe fun times. good conversations :) this party was so nice, i had a great time :) and admittedly, i've never been to that area either, so that was really cool!
on sunday night a few of us went to UC parkville, which was cool. that was the first time i'd been, so that was a new experience! we had the urinetown oscars at birra bella that night, after our final production meeting. there were some awesome awards presented, and a final chance to wrap up the excitement and experience that was urinetown. as i look back on the experience, i think several things:
1. I probably wouldn't really choose to do it again. this is not to say i didn't have a good time. there are several reasons for this:
a) this is a massive job. i unfortunately don't have the luxury of time. (although i was impressed i managed to do it, keeping on top of almost all of my uni work. and i didn't skip any classes!)
b) i don't find the music in musicals (in general) to be incredibly fantastic, in terms of the challenge it presents musically. of course, some of it is very hard, and is very good, but when you compare it to the piano repertoire (arguably one of the biggest) i struggle to keep interest when there is little more than oom-cha oom-cha.
c) of course, not to say i didn't enjoy my experience at all - because i did - or that recognition is the only thing one works for, but musical directors definitely don't get enough recognition for everything they do. i suppose it's because they're often left to their own devices, because something like musical directing is very specialised, and not many people can do it. and a lot of time and effort is spent in so many other (also important) things, but i think people sometimes overlook the music in a musical, as if it's a given. but the musical director is actually probably one of the most important people of the show - without that person, there is no musical, there is no show. if the music isn't hot, the show isn't hot. and i think MDs can be seriously under-appreciated.
those are my thoughts so far....
so thus began my week of going out YET AGAIN. i didn't realise this when i planned my semester. when i thought that the week after the show was going to be busy, i didn't really think about the following week. it kinda went like this:
sunday night - urinetown oscars
monday night - jude's smc
tuesday night - kungsbacka trio concert
wednesday night - dinner with mel and tim
thursday night - very long day at uni, didn't go out wow!
friday night - george's 21st
which leaves me sitting here on a saturday night, blogging.
cancelled apollo choir on monday afternoon, coz i felt horrible. i felt pretty bad about having to cancel though, so i went along and waited for a while while people trickled in, only to tell them to go home coz i felt sick. the sick thing is completely my fault - going out lots, not enough sleep. seirously self-induced, i know. but lucky it's med students: "what are your presenting symptoms?" haha. i love hanging out with them, they're awesome!
so, the jude's smc meeting was good. it was good to think about so many issues. thanks erica and jane for the ride home :) haha. and when we circled round the roundabout twice to check on the guy who was lying in the middle but apparently not drunk/passed out, when we realised he had a bag of grocery shopping, and then got up and walked home after we drove past again to ask him "are you ok?" haha.
i was debating all day tuesday whether i should go to the musica viva concert. in the end, the things that convinced me to go were:
1) my brother telling me that i should
2) mel asking me whether i would regret it if i didn't go (the answer was yes)
so i went. i coudln't find anybody else to go with me, so i went by myself. this thought was a bit intimidating, actually, coz i've never been to a concert (or similar kind of thing, such as a movie, or eg. going to dinner) by myself. but it was ok. because:
a) i saw a couple of people i knew (from the con)
b) i had an amazing seat - in the circle (elevated view) smack bang in the middle. all for $15!
c) i met a couple more friends i knew after the concert
d) we listened to the post-concert little chat with two members of the trio, plus one of the composers (obviously not schubert nor smetana...they're dead...)
e) i chatted a bit to the pianist; i told him that i really enjoyed watching him play, then had to explain that i was watching him quite a lot because i am a piano student myself
f) emma ayres (the cellist for the 1st beethoven cello sonata for the beethoven project with 3mbs in week 2, and most definitely the host of the afternoon weekday show on abc classic fm) was hosting this chat. i got to talk to her, she remembered me, then i actually did tell her that i enjoy listening to her :)
so the night was actually fantastic
i had a great piano lesson on wednesday morning. i was nervous, coz i didn't really know what i was doing with the chopin, and don't really play much beethoven (although after the cello sonata, i've been more enthusiastic!) so wasn't sure whether my interpretation was anything like what it's supposed to sound like! but she gave me lots to think about, which was good. i've had 3 lessons in 6 weeks, which by most standards, is not good at all. but it feels like those lessons have been productive, and feels like that i HAVE to be self-motivated (can be hard for me without lessons), and that it's a lot of individual progress, independant study. which i guess has to happen sometime, because a teacher can't hold your hand for your entire life.
went to dinner with mel and tim that night to a place called Rumi, which serves cuisine of arabic-speaking nations. so we had things like: dipping bread with their house-made yoghurt, cigar shaped pastry (omg, so good), persian meatballs, a cauliflower dish, and lamb on rice (best rice i've had in a long while!). it was so beautiful, and oh-so-filling! we walked a bit, came across a beatuful pastry store which caught our eyes (and stomachs!) and had to buy some stuff! yum :)
accompanied nick d for concert class on thursday - he sang poulenc's le bestiaire. it's fantastic. we got ripped for using half-stick, but that was about it. the ensemble worked fantastically. the ending was absolutely magical, this amazing g min 7 chord, labelled "long", "laiser vibrer", and tied over, plus a pause on the bar line. there was this amazing silence as it rang in melba hall. absolutely wonderful. i think that's how wonderful performances end (to quote/paraphrase another student's review) - in magical silence, or to raptous applause.
was a very long day on thursday - up at about 7am, had to meet somebody at 7.45am to give something to them, a day of uni (with funny breaks, not worth coming home to waste time, so brought homework to do on the couch - no wonder people never think i leave!), came home at about 7pm after sinfonia. no wonder i didn't want to go out thursday night!
friday was yet another intense day. (it was an intense week of piano, which is absolutely lovely!) M came to queen's at approximately 8am for our rehearsal at 8.15. J slept through her alarm, came at 8.30. we played through some stuff, then ran down to uni for our 9am chamber music tute. that was fairly intense, but good! H had good stuff to say about our playing, plus lots of comments and suggestions for doing stuff. at 10am, J had another tute (this time with her quintet!), M had a music lesson, and i had the hour off (couldn't find a practice room, sad!). then we had chamber music class, at 11am, whereupon our trio played! we were at the front for a while, about 45mins (of the hour long class!). we played quite well. we were very well-warmed up! so, yeah, about 4 hours of playing before lunchtime! pretty intense!! but fantastic. if only that was all i had to do....lucky i'd done my techniques assignment well in time :)
so, at the moment, working on rachmninoff prelude (b-flat major, pretty intense. i don't get it, caroline suggests stuff then says later, after i've completely committed to it, "it's hard". oh great..! haha). i really have to re-look at the chopin winter wind. it's an intense programme, actually. looks like this:
JS Bach: Prelude & fugue in D Major (bk 2); Prelude & Fugue in E Major (Bk 2)
Chopin: Etudes Op 25 nos 7 (the beautiful one with the conversation between the lh and rh), and 11 (winter wind)
Beethoven: Sonata in a-flat major, op 110 movt 1
Rachmninoff: preludes op 23 nos. 2 & 4
plus keeping up with chamber music:
4 of the 8 pieces for clarinet, viola and piano op 83 by max bruch
accompaniment stuff, including:
a strauss nocturne, saint-seans nocturne, the sextet from don giovanni
i don't think the concerto competition is going to be for me this year...i've hardly looked at it...
oh well.
so, sorry this is insanely long. if you've made it all the way, i'm incredibly impressed. leave me a comment if you did, i'll personally congratulate you! bed time...
| You Are Romanticism |
 You are likely to see the world as it should be, not as it is. You prefer to celebrate the great things people do... not the horrors they're capable of. For you, there is nothing more inspiring than a great hero. You believe that great art reflects the artist's imagination and true ideals. |
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