Hier etait mon anniversaire, donc j'ai 22 ans jusqu'a la prochaine. Le jour était splendid. Je pense que chaque person dans l'école de musique m'a souhaité un bon fête. J'ai reçu des bon cadeaux:
-un sippy cup des Raisins sec de la Californie, de mon amie Cathy (pour remplacé l'un que j'ai perdu l'année passée.
-un petit livre rulée pour l'ecriture de musique, de ma blonde Deena
-Beaucoup Beaucoup de bonbons de mes amis Chris et Andrea
-du gateau et des raisins, de les residents de Bethana Haus
-de mes parents j'ai reçu socks et underwear de Giant Tigre, un nouveau telephone sans fil et les autres petits choses. il y a un mois, ils m'ont acheté beaucoup des vetements, et un nouveau winter coat!
Je me sens tres chanceux pour tous que j'ai reçu, mais plus important... pour les souhaites et bon mots de toute la monde!
Merci beaucoup!
and now in English
Yesteday was my birthday, so now Im 22 until the next one comes around. The day was splendid, I think that everyone in the school of music wished me a happy birthday. I recieved some good presents:
-A California Raisins sippy cup from Cathy to replace the one I lost last year
-a little staff-lined book for writing musical thoughts down, from my girlfriend Deena
-Lots of Candy from friends Chris and Andrea
-Cake and raisins from the residents of Bethana Haus
-from parents, socks and underwear from Giant Tiger, new cordless phone and other littls stuff, they had also bought me clothes and a new winter coat about a month ago!
I feel super lucky for what I got, but more importantly, for all the birthday wishes and niceness in general from everyone!
Thanks!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Really Heinous Cunty Post
Blah, grr.... IM ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!
I realize I've been spending entirely too much time on the internet. I have been checking blogs at least every 2 hours. and NO ONE IS UPDATING. Some people might say this is my fault for not entertaining myself, but that's dirty rotten lies! I still manage to be productive, but I dont know. this post is completely irrational and Im ok with that. I spent too much time inside today, I woke up early intending to go to a modern ballet class but there was no car in front of my house,a nd i didnt have time to BUS! I then proceeded to practice and then eat lunch, and then practice and then I taught piano and then my parents came home, and then I went to wallymart with mommy and I bought stuff to stuff teddy bears with, and slightly different coloured yarn for my teddy bears legs, and then we went to chicken chef to buy potatoe salad and coleslaw, and then we came home and ate, and the coleslaw was soo nasty, and then i ate the rest of my meal, and then I played some piano and then I came to the internet and then now Im here.
I like my piano students, they're brothers named Michael and Cameron and they are actually musically bright and they found me funny!!! this is going to be a good student-teacher relationship!
Im happy now! this was a good rant!
I hope people will read my blog and also COMMENT!
I realize I've been spending entirely too much time on the internet. I have been checking blogs at least every 2 hours. and NO ONE IS UPDATING. Some people might say this is my fault for not entertaining myself, but that's dirty rotten lies! I still manage to be productive, but I dont know. this post is completely irrational and Im ok with that. I spent too much time inside today, I woke up early intending to go to a modern ballet class but there was no car in front of my house,a nd i didnt have time to BUS! I then proceeded to practice and then eat lunch, and then practice and then I taught piano and then my parents came home, and then I went to wallymart with mommy and I bought stuff to stuff teddy bears with, and slightly different coloured yarn for my teddy bears legs, and then we went to chicken chef to buy potatoe salad and coleslaw, and then we came home and ate, and the coleslaw was soo nasty, and then i ate the rest of my meal, and then I played some piano and then I came to the internet and then now Im here.
I like my piano students, they're brothers named Michael and Cameron and they are actually musically bright and they found me funny!!! this is going to be a good student-teacher relationship!
Im happy now! this was a good rant!
I hope people will read my blog and also COMMENT!
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Back to the dance!
Well, Im now officially back into the world of ballet. Today was my second saturday of work. I only work saturdays at the ballet, 9-5. You'd think, wow great you get 8 hours of work, but no. In actuality, I get 5.5 actual hours of work and therefore pay for the 7 hours and 55 minutes that I have to be there. theres a huge 2 hour break right in the middle, grr.
I like the mornings, the exact same classes as last year, teachers and everything. I start the morning with Primary Ballet. This is great cause hte kids are cute, and the music is basic enough that I can improvise it without expending too much brain energy. The next class is a joint elementary and intermediate level ballet class. These are the more advanced students in the General division, so I run the full gammet on sat. mornings.
After the long long break during which I can eat lunch, practice, socialize and still have extra time, I have a dreaded afternoon. the middle class isn't too terrible, its a workshop class, so the teacher works on more specific kinds of work than they would in a standard ballet class, basically, it means that I will be playing the same kind of piece over and over again. Today was steps across the floor, so I played about 8 different waltzes, varying the tempo a bit, or the accents, or the style...
On either side of the workshop class I have musical theatre. Shannon must have misunderstood. When I told her I was enjoying working in the young ballet classes because i get to really see how they react to music.... I did not mean that I enjoy sitting behind a keyboard watching the snotty little shits playing games and screaming their heads off with a teacher that doesn't have the foggiest idea of discipline. I actually get a headache by the end of the day. I played some musical theatre classes last year, which was only slightly agonizing, because it was adults or at least older kids. The class actually involved singing what was on the page (well as close as music theatre people get, I dont think theyre generally literate, thats why they have to listen to things on the cd before they try and sing it).
And speaking of how shitty it is and how much I hate musical theatre.... what the fuck is with this Annie crap. if i wanted to hear a sack of undignified untrained, loud rank unpleasant voices, I would go down to a real orphanage, or to a school where I can hear stupid children mutilate their tonsils. Why would anyone want to go see a musical where people who are assumed to have some training, stand on stage and purposely sing as obnoxiously and badly as possible.
In other words, I do not enjoy playing for music theatre class in general.. especially not for 7-9 year old children. In ballet class they are at least encouraged to have respect and dignity in the class, but this teacher and most jazz/music theatre teachers tend to throw that out in the trash. Boo hiss.
Im not looking forward to later in the year when I get further screwed over and that workshop class no longer needs a pianist. Then I will have an hour long break between two musical theatre classes. KILL ME NOW!
On the other half of my ballet experiences, I met with my choreographer. As a person as well as a choreographer, she is extremely unoragnized in her thinking and is struggling to make the initial plunge into choreography. Im hoping this will work out, but I have my reservations. Basically, Im doing this for course work, so I will need to make it work out. Im kind of worried that she's going to quit part way through and leave me out to dry. I really did try to voice my concerns to the organiser of the program, and tell her that I wanted someone with experience, cause i dont know how much I will learn from doing the same thing as last year, atleast that choreographer was organized before I came intot he picture.... well not organised, but she had ideas of what she wanted. She told me what she wanted the dance to be, and I made the music fit it.
I spent our first rehearsal talking to this girl and explaining to her not just why, but the basic principal that her dance had to have some kind of a form, and that form had to have some reason to inspire cohesion. I went through all sorts of examples of how it could have a storyline, or if she didnt want a story, she could have the dance be a development of something, or a degredation. We talked about how the dance could have different sections with a common element in order to highlight a variation, and the music could shift to represent that.
She had heard a piece of music that she wanted me to hear, yet when I asked her what she liked about it, she couldn't say whether it was the colours, the harmonies, the melody, the rhythms.... and it wasn't just lack of musical vocabulary, cause she has that, she just couldnt identify what about the piece was good.......
This is going to be an interesting venture.
Nevertheless, I'm going about my business. I told her that I basically can't start doing anything until she informs me of the form and reasonings/storyline. Then I can start thinking about vague musical elements, but I still need to wait for the choreography to be in place before I can give shape to the music.
Bottom line is that this is not a reassuring start to this project. She said yesterday "It seems like no matter how my part works out, your part will turn out well; But I need for my part to be perfect.." Im glad that she has utter confidance in me, but I don't want to work with bad choreography. I don't even want to work with average. I would much rather be working with great creative minds that would inspire and encourage me to work up to their level.
Oh well, i hope this is all just angst and fear of the unknown.... she flighty enough that there could really be a great creative power in there, just waiting to be unleashed... I will believe that for the moment. This will be an exciting project, yes, I'll go back to that mentality...
good night
I like the mornings, the exact same classes as last year, teachers and everything. I start the morning with Primary Ballet. This is great cause hte kids are cute, and the music is basic enough that I can improvise it without expending too much brain energy. The next class is a joint elementary and intermediate level ballet class. These are the more advanced students in the General division, so I run the full gammet on sat. mornings.
After the long long break during which I can eat lunch, practice, socialize and still have extra time, I have a dreaded afternoon. the middle class isn't too terrible, its a workshop class, so the teacher works on more specific kinds of work than they would in a standard ballet class, basically, it means that I will be playing the same kind of piece over and over again. Today was steps across the floor, so I played about 8 different waltzes, varying the tempo a bit, or the accents, or the style...
On either side of the workshop class I have musical theatre. Shannon must have misunderstood. When I told her I was enjoying working in the young ballet classes because i get to really see how they react to music.... I did not mean that I enjoy sitting behind a keyboard watching the snotty little shits playing games and screaming their heads off with a teacher that doesn't have the foggiest idea of discipline. I actually get a headache by the end of the day. I played some musical theatre classes last year, which was only slightly agonizing, because it was adults or at least older kids. The class actually involved singing what was on the page (well as close as music theatre people get, I dont think theyre generally literate, thats why they have to listen to things on the cd before they try and sing it).
And speaking of how shitty it is and how much I hate musical theatre.... what the fuck is with this Annie crap. if i wanted to hear a sack of undignified untrained, loud rank unpleasant voices, I would go down to a real orphanage, or to a school where I can hear stupid children mutilate their tonsils. Why would anyone want to go see a musical where people who are assumed to have some training, stand on stage and purposely sing as obnoxiously and badly as possible.
In other words, I do not enjoy playing for music theatre class in general.. especially not for 7-9 year old children. In ballet class they are at least encouraged to have respect and dignity in the class, but this teacher and most jazz/music theatre teachers tend to throw that out in the trash. Boo hiss.
Im not looking forward to later in the year when I get further screwed over and that workshop class no longer needs a pianist. Then I will have an hour long break between two musical theatre classes. KILL ME NOW!
On the other half of my ballet experiences, I met with my choreographer. As a person as well as a choreographer, she is extremely unoragnized in her thinking and is struggling to make the initial plunge into choreography. Im hoping this will work out, but I have my reservations. Basically, Im doing this for course work, so I will need to make it work out. Im kind of worried that she's going to quit part way through and leave me out to dry. I really did try to voice my concerns to the organiser of the program, and tell her that I wanted someone with experience, cause i dont know how much I will learn from doing the same thing as last year, atleast that choreographer was organized before I came intot he picture.... well not organised, but she had ideas of what she wanted. She told me what she wanted the dance to be, and I made the music fit it.
I spent our first rehearsal talking to this girl and explaining to her not just why, but the basic principal that her dance had to have some kind of a form, and that form had to have some reason to inspire cohesion. I went through all sorts of examples of how it could have a storyline, or if she didnt want a story, she could have the dance be a development of something, or a degredation. We talked about how the dance could have different sections with a common element in order to highlight a variation, and the music could shift to represent that.
She had heard a piece of music that she wanted me to hear, yet when I asked her what she liked about it, she couldn't say whether it was the colours, the harmonies, the melody, the rhythms.... and it wasn't just lack of musical vocabulary, cause she has that, she just couldnt identify what about the piece was good.......
This is going to be an interesting venture.
Nevertheless, I'm going about my business. I told her that I basically can't start doing anything until she informs me of the form and reasonings/storyline. Then I can start thinking about vague musical elements, but I still need to wait for the choreography to be in place before I can give shape to the music.
Bottom line is that this is not a reassuring start to this project. She said yesterday "It seems like no matter how my part works out, your part will turn out well; But I need for my part to be perfect.." Im glad that she has utter confidance in me, but I don't want to work with bad choreography. I don't even want to work with average. I would much rather be working with great creative minds that would inspire and encourage me to work up to their level.
Oh well, i hope this is all just angst and fear of the unknown.... she flighty enough that there could really be a great creative power in there, just waiting to be unleashed... I will believe that for the moment. This will be an exciting project, yes, I'll go back to that mentality...
good night
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Quick link
I just want to post a quick link to a U of Manitoba blog on a conversation about whether or not people are willing to pay higher tuition fees for a better education...
This is a matter I feel fairly strongly about, and I would like it if people would take the time to read and form your own opinions, and please post them here so I can see what my friends think.
The conversation references several times the relation to the US education system. The Canadian understanding seems to be that they pay ridiculously high tuition, like 20grand a year and that the education is fairly comprable. When I talked to some friend in the US that were attending ivy league and comprable schools, they explained they they recieve a 1 for 1 tax break, usually useable by their paying parents. As in, when her brothers tuition was 40k a year at MIT, her parents didnt have to pay taxes on the top 40 grand, with both of them going to school, thats 80grand of their parents income that was tax free while they were in school. Unfortunately, this system works very much like the US government in general, that the rich people benefit much more than the poor.
Also keep in mind that their schools get much more corporate funding via sports teams and because the tuition is higher, they have more fluid cash to put into keeping things up to date.
At say U of M, i think the finances are a constant struggle.
Fundamentally, I still think that the difference between say 3 and 5 grand is negligible. I DO REALISE THAT I RECENTLY POSTED ABOUT MY FINANCIAL SITUATION AND I MUST LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE but I value a quality of education. I would value a school that would allow me to attain more than 4.5 hours a WEEK during school hours of practice time when i am expected to put in well over 20! I would value a school that had enough offices for profs. Unfortunately, I will not see this in my undergrad education. So I am torn, I WOULD pay more for a better education, but U of M has shown that Im not going to get it, so Im greedy, I don't want to pay more so other people can get a better education.
Please comment, I want to hear everyone's ideas.
This is a matter I feel fairly strongly about, and I would like it if people would take the time to read and form your own opinions, and please post them here so I can see what my friends think.
The conversation references several times the relation to the US education system. The Canadian understanding seems to be that they pay ridiculously high tuition, like 20grand a year and that the education is fairly comprable. When I talked to some friend in the US that were attending ivy league and comprable schools, they explained they they recieve a 1 for 1 tax break, usually useable by their paying parents. As in, when her brothers tuition was 40k a year at MIT, her parents didnt have to pay taxes on the top 40 grand, with both of them going to school, thats 80grand of their parents income that was tax free while they were in school. Unfortunately, this system works very much like the US government in general, that the rich people benefit much more than the poor.
Also keep in mind that their schools get much more corporate funding via sports teams and because the tuition is higher, they have more fluid cash to put into keeping things up to date.
At say U of M, i think the finances are a constant struggle.
Fundamentally, I still think that the difference between say 3 and 5 grand is negligible. I DO REALISE THAT I RECENTLY POSTED ABOUT MY FINANCIAL SITUATION AND I MUST LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE but I value a quality of education. I would value a school that would allow me to attain more than 4.5 hours a WEEK during school hours of practice time when i am expected to put in well over 20! I would value a school that had enough offices for profs. Unfortunately, I will not see this in my undergrad education. So I am torn, I WOULD pay more for a better education, but U of M has shown that Im not going to get it, so Im greedy, I don't want to pay more so other people can get a better education.
Please comment, I want to hear everyone's ideas.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Yarr mateys!
Yarr, I be wishin ye all a fine National Talk Like a Pirate Day today! Ye best be shivvering me timbers or ye'll be walking the plank...
and enough of that...
It's a fairly little-known festive day, but my friends and I at school enjoy the happy day.
Speaking of happy, there really is little else in the world that makes me as happy as the feel, the sound, then experience of crunching leaves underfoot. The leaves have finally started to fall, just a little, so theres some lone leaves here and there on the sidewalk bewteen the bus and my house. I must have looked like I was attempting some kind of odd little dance, as I was jumping around trying to step on every leaf I came across. -On the other hand, there was an excessive amount of... I'm not sure if it was insects or some kind of pollen or airborne particulate of some kind, but it was driving my little nose crazier than Ms Daisy-
Finally, after waiting a long time for the chamber music groups to be posted at school, I now know that I am in a Piano trio with a cellist named Luke something and a violinist named something else... I don't know either of them, nor anything about them, I believe that they are first year students. Judy, the lady who was organizing the ensembles took me aside and explained/appologized that the other people in my ensemble were not terribly advanced, but the priority of the more advanced string players was to play with the more experienced pianists, so I suppose next year I will play with the more senior players... The other point she wanted to make was that it provides me with the opportunity to be a leader.... in other words she has high expectations of me. She suggested that I look for a piano trio that is quite busy/challenging for the pianist, but a little less involved in the string parts.
I think I won't have any real problems leading the ensemble... it often seems like thats just another part of the pianists job, but I was really excited about playing with some really skilled musicians that would make me step up to work at their level. Nevertheless, I am excited to dive into another area of piano rep that I have never really been deeply exposed to. I went to the library today and took out some Beethoven Piano Trios, and also the complete collection of Haydn's piano trios.... The Beethoven ones didn't really have that balance of difficulties that was reccomended, so I ended up doing flash sightreading of almost all of them in just under 2 hours. I would play at tempo the exposition of the opening movements, and then peruse the other movements if i liked what I played. I narrowed it down to 5 of them that I like, or am willing to play; if anyone knows anything about them, or has recommendations, feel free to comment :
Trios number VII in E minor, IX in Bb Major, XIX in G minor, XX, XXIX in F major.
What I am realising about the classical era is that SO many of the techniques in piano writing are the same across the board. The work that I've done on sonatas, and my concerto last year has prepared me well, and I've come across most types of passages at some point earlier. All things considered, I was impressed at my own sightreading today, I was able to easily get the mood/sound of the pieces, and the notes were quite accurate. I dare say that if I was more fluent in scales and technique in general, I would have knocked my own socks off. Earregardless, I still have to talk to my teacher and the chamber coach about what rep they think would be suitable.
and enough of that...
It's a fairly little-known festive day, but my friends and I at school enjoy the happy day.
Speaking of happy, there really is little else in the world that makes me as happy as the feel, the sound, then experience of crunching leaves underfoot. The leaves have finally started to fall, just a little, so theres some lone leaves here and there on the sidewalk bewteen the bus and my house. I must have looked like I was attempting some kind of odd little dance, as I was jumping around trying to step on every leaf I came across. -On the other hand, there was an excessive amount of... I'm not sure if it was insects or some kind of pollen or airborne particulate of some kind, but it was driving my little nose crazier than Ms Daisy-
Finally, after waiting a long time for the chamber music groups to be posted at school, I now know that I am in a Piano trio with a cellist named Luke something and a violinist named something else... I don't know either of them, nor anything about them, I believe that they are first year students. Judy, the lady who was organizing the ensembles took me aside and explained/appologized that the other people in my ensemble were not terribly advanced, but the priority of the more advanced string players was to play with the more experienced pianists, so I suppose next year I will play with the more senior players... The other point she wanted to make was that it provides me with the opportunity to be a leader.... in other words she has high expectations of me. She suggested that I look for a piano trio that is quite busy/challenging for the pianist, but a little less involved in the string parts.
I think I won't have any real problems leading the ensemble... it often seems like thats just another part of the pianists job, but I was really excited about playing with some really skilled musicians that would make me step up to work at their level. Nevertheless, I am excited to dive into another area of piano rep that I have never really been deeply exposed to. I went to the library today and took out some Beethoven Piano Trios, and also the complete collection of Haydn's piano trios.... The Beethoven ones didn't really have that balance of difficulties that was reccomended, so I ended up doing flash sightreading of almost all of them in just under 2 hours. I would play at tempo the exposition of the opening movements, and then peruse the other movements if i liked what I played. I narrowed it down to 5 of them that I like, or am willing to play; if anyone knows anything about them, or has recommendations, feel free to comment :
Trios number VII in E minor, IX in Bb Major, XIX in G minor, XX, XXIX in F major.
What I am realising about the classical era is that SO many of the techniques in piano writing are the same across the board. The work that I've done on sonatas, and my concerto last year has prepared me well, and I've come across most types of passages at some point earlier. All things considered, I was impressed at my own sightreading today, I was able to easily get the mood/sound of the pieces, and the notes were quite accurate. I dare say that if I was more fluent in scales and technique in general, I would have knocked my own socks off. Earregardless, I still have to talk to my teacher and the chamber coach about what rep they think would be suitable.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
quasi-political rant
I often get emails from the Conservative party of Canada. Usually, they are stupid and funny, but today it rubbed me the wrong way. I guess it's just my mood, but Im not as entertained as I usually am by them, more angered.
It's not just this specific email that bothers me, it's the underlying political ideologies and practiced that I don't agree with. It always frustrates me around campain times when the advertising gets slanderous. Bottom line is, I don't want to hear your party's bias against your opposition; it's hard enough reading through or around bias in the newspapers... I just end up having to ignore any intra-party commentary.
Thats what pissed me off today, you'd think that a monthly newsletter from the Conservative Party would be a good way to get to know their party stances and ideals, but NO. There was absoltely NO SUBSTANCE in this newsletter. They are unable to let their stances stand on their own, when they claim to "stand up for the safety and security of Canadians by working with all levels of government" I would like to hear about what cooperations they see as possibilities, and what improvements they have planned. Instead they go on to talk about the effects of 'twelve years of Liberal cuts" to the "Canadian military" then going on to mention how we would be unable to deal with a natual disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Later it likens our weakness in defense also to terrorism. Fuck all this terrorism fearing bull shit. Canada is not the country terrorizing a country and then shoving their faces in the shit of a foreign society/political system/ethics. I believe that we stood against the 'war on terror' and further that terror attacks have been made mostly on the countries that were doing the shitshove warring.
The next issue the Conservatives were tackling was gas prices, an issue sensitive to many people. Let me get my thoughts out of the way first: Maybe if gas costs more, we'll use less. For those who don't care and can't feel bad about wasting energies by the effects it has on the environment, they should at least feel bad via materialism, which seems to be the only manner of thinking and rationalization that the conservatives can. I love the quote "Stephen Harper is the only leader who wants to lower high gas prices and the Conservative party is the only party standing up for Canadians and advocating lower - not higher - gas prices". Wow, I also dislike high gas prices, Stephen Harper is my hero! He isolates the Liberal-NDP coalition as being the cause of high prices through double taxation, but why doesn't he suggest a better way of lowering gas prices.... oh thats right, cause he has no control over how much we are being charged for crude oil... stupid cunt.
The newsletter also goes on to slander PaulMartin for calling the canadian idol girl when he obviously should have been on the phone talking to G Bush about softwood lumber... Fuck you Steven Harper, I'm willing to pay taxes on wood if I can use the 2by4's to hit you on the head! Maybe it would be better if it was hard wood.
anyways, im getting to bitchy and stupid to continue this anymore... heres my conclusion
As the opposition party, they should be presenting opposing plans to make out country better... isn't that why people are in government and politics, to effect a positive change?!? Rather it seems that the Conservative Party believes their responsibility to be the slander of the current government; They would rather see the country suffer due to lack of alternative methods, than to offer improvements!
WHORES!
It's not just this specific email that bothers me, it's the underlying political ideologies and practiced that I don't agree with. It always frustrates me around campain times when the advertising gets slanderous. Bottom line is, I don't want to hear your party's bias against your opposition; it's hard enough reading through or around bias in the newspapers... I just end up having to ignore any intra-party commentary.
Thats what pissed me off today, you'd think that a monthly newsletter from the Conservative Party would be a good way to get to know their party stances and ideals, but NO. There was absoltely NO SUBSTANCE in this newsletter. They are unable to let their stances stand on their own, when they claim to "stand up for the safety and security of Canadians by working with all levels of government" I would like to hear about what cooperations they see as possibilities, and what improvements they have planned. Instead they go on to talk about the effects of 'twelve years of Liberal cuts" to the "Canadian military" then going on to mention how we would be unable to deal with a natual disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Later it likens our weakness in defense also to terrorism. Fuck all this terrorism fearing bull shit. Canada is not the country terrorizing a country and then shoving their faces in the shit of a foreign society/political system/ethics. I believe that we stood against the 'war on terror' and further that terror attacks have been made mostly on the countries that were doing the shitshove warring.
The next issue the Conservatives were tackling was gas prices, an issue sensitive to many people. Let me get my thoughts out of the way first: Maybe if gas costs more, we'll use less. For those who don't care and can't feel bad about wasting energies by the effects it has on the environment, they should at least feel bad via materialism, which seems to be the only manner of thinking and rationalization that the conservatives can. I love the quote "Stephen Harper is the only leader who wants to lower high gas prices and the Conservative party is the only party standing up for Canadians and advocating lower - not higher - gas prices". Wow, I also dislike high gas prices, Stephen Harper is my hero! He isolates the Liberal-NDP coalition as being the cause of high prices through double taxation, but why doesn't he suggest a better way of lowering gas prices.... oh thats right, cause he has no control over how much we are being charged for crude oil... stupid cunt.
The newsletter also goes on to slander PaulMartin for calling the canadian idol girl when he obviously should have been on the phone talking to G Bush about softwood lumber... Fuck you Steven Harper, I'm willing to pay taxes on wood if I can use the 2by4's to hit you on the head! Maybe it would be better if it was hard wood.
anyways, im getting to bitchy and stupid to continue this anymore... heres my conclusion
As the opposition party, they should be presenting opposing plans to make out country better... isn't that why people are in government and politics, to effect a positive change?!? Rather it seems that the Conservative Party believes their responsibility to be the slander of the current government; They would rather see the country suffer due to lack of alternative methods, than to offer improvements!
WHORES!
It seems I haven't blogged in a little while.. oh well. It's never too late.
In the past, it's not that I always had lots of money, or even money at all times, but I had never been concerned about my money and where I was spedning... this perhaps has led to the situation I am in now. For the past week or two, I have had no money, that is to say pretty much zero dollars with no immediate income coming in. Also looming over me is the fact that I need to make, with the recent tuition hike that just appeared out of nowhere, 1,400$ ish by Jan... and with a job that pays about 300$ a month gross over just over 3 months... the math is not looking so promising. Oh well, I will find a way of making things work. I am planning on applying for some grant money for my ballet composition, as there is no room in the ballet's budget for paying musicians or anyone involved in the First Steps program. Nevertheless, there must be someone out there who thinks that collaborative projects in the performing arts deserve some money.
The biggest problem is not spending money... I've been sucked into such a world of consumerism and like most of my friends, almost all of my money goes to food. Not in terms of groceries, but in Winnipeg, the thing to do for socialization is restaurants. Especially when you are out with friends at 1 or 2 in the morning, the only thing open is a late0night restaurant, so you go there and consume. This is why working a part time job in high school never saved me any money, it just allowed me to go out and spend. In the end, I am realizing that it's physically easier than I'd ever thought to not spend... just bring a bag lunch, and snacks, decide to have friends over for tea, watching movies at home... BUT its more or a mental habitiual challange than anything else.
Im supposed to have some piano students this year; provided I can get ahold of the mother and set up a time, it should work out well. Then I'll have 2 students, rather than the whopping studio of one I have had lately.
With financial concerns that Im not used to dealing with, and that I know I am bad at dealing with, I've been fairly stressed lately, and I need to not be. Stress for me means avoiding practicing, which is a bad thing to do starting out the year.
I'll write again later.
In the past, it's not that I always had lots of money, or even money at all times, but I had never been concerned about my money and where I was spedning... this perhaps has led to the situation I am in now. For the past week or two, I have had no money, that is to say pretty much zero dollars with no immediate income coming in. Also looming over me is the fact that I need to make, with the recent tuition hike that just appeared out of nowhere, 1,400$ ish by Jan... and with a job that pays about 300$ a month gross over just over 3 months... the math is not looking so promising. Oh well, I will find a way of making things work. I am planning on applying for some grant money for my ballet composition, as there is no room in the ballet's budget for paying musicians or anyone involved in the First Steps program. Nevertheless, there must be someone out there who thinks that collaborative projects in the performing arts deserve some money.
The biggest problem is not spending money... I've been sucked into such a world of consumerism and like most of my friends, almost all of my money goes to food. Not in terms of groceries, but in Winnipeg, the thing to do for socialization is restaurants. Especially when you are out with friends at 1 or 2 in the morning, the only thing open is a late0night restaurant, so you go there and consume. This is why working a part time job in high school never saved me any money, it just allowed me to go out and spend. In the end, I am realizing that it's physically easier than I'd ever thought to not spend... just bring a bag lunch, and snacks, decide to have friends over for tea, watching movies at home... BUT its more or a mental habitiual challange than anything else.
Im supposed to have some piano students this year; provided I can get ahold of the mother and set up a time, it should work out well. Then I'll have 2 students, rather than the whopping studio of one I have had lately.
With financial concerns that Im not used to dealing with, and that I know I am bad at dealing with, I've been fairly stressed lately, and I need to not be. Stress for me means avoiding practicing, which is a bad thing to do starting out the year.
I'll write again later.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Improv as an art or science...
Go here:
The Two Sides of Music
In my constant search for info on classical improvisation, i stumbled upon it, and while the bias is blatant, it actually makes it easier to pick out the valuable information. Near the end, the author harps on the the idea of how overintellectualizing improvisation can make it mechanical (agreed) when people try to "force rigid European standards of analysis on a form of music that was created without a written "language"".
What is a written language, if not a visual representation of the sounds we produce to communicate. We learn to listen to and speak language long before we write it down, just as we hear music, hum along, sing with mommy Long before we learn the names for intervals, note names and whatnot. The author is implying that the method by which one attempts to explain what they are hearing/playing puts limitations on the ability for this creation (thus he dooms the world of university jazz). As much as I have trouble arguing that university jazz is a self righteous inflation of lowered inhibitions in a forward thinking musical environment, I feel we must remind ourselves that the the language comes afterwards.
I will sit in theory class, and when I learn something new, it is not that I say "oh, now that I have seen on paper this arrangement of intervals... I can introduce that sound to my ear"... Rather, I am finally able to name a sound that has been known to me for some while. Likewise, when I am taught about different spellings of a 4-note chord of Major-minor-minor third structure either as V7 of a key, or as the French Augmented Sixth chord of another, It teaches me to hear that chord in a different way, It explains to me why it sounds correct to my ear to resolve it either way.
Bascially, when I sit at the keyboard and improvise, I do not think first about the form and key of what I will play. My fingers are following the instructions of my ear, which granted is infulenced by my knowledge of such things, but certainly is not limited
The author calls 'playing by ear' a right-brain activity. Are we really to believe that simply because someone might not be referring to musical ideas and gestures by their names, that they are not understood by their musical function? or is it possible that the addition of names to this theoretical understanding actually inhibits the brain by bringing in the other side of the brain? I really do want to hear some feedback on this, I realize now that im partially arguing against my bias against solfege, so ya, let me know what you all think.
The Two Sides of Music
In my constant search for info on classical improvisation, i stumbled upon it, and while the bias is blatant, it actually makes it easier to pick out the valuable information. Near the end, the author harps on the the idea of how overintellectualizing improvisation can make it mechanical (agreed) when people try to "force rigid European standards of analysis on a form of music that was created without a written "language"".
What is a written language, if not a visual representation of the sounds we produce to communicate. We learn to listen to and speak language long before we write it down, just as we hear music, hum along, sing with mommy Long before we learn the names for intervals, note names and whatnot. The author is implying that the method by which one attempts to explain what they are hearing/playing puts limitations on the ability for this creation (thus he dooms the world of university jazz). As much as I have trouble arguing that university jazz is a self righteous inflation of lowered inhibitions in a forward thinking musical environment, I feel we must remind ourselves that the the language comes afterwards.
I will sit in theory class, and when I learn something new, it is not that I say "oh, now that I have seen on paper this arrangement of intervals... I can introduce that sound to my ear"... Rather, I am finally able to name a sound that has been known to me for some while. Likewise, when I am taught about different spellings of a 4-note chord of Major-minor-minor third structure either as V7 of a key, or as the French Augmented Sixth chord of another, It teaches me to hear that chord in a different way, It explains to me why it sounds correct to my ear to resolve it either way.
Bascially, when I sit at the keyboard and improvise, I do not think first about the form and key of what I will play. My fingers are following the instructions of my ear, which granted is infulenced by my knowledge of such things, but certainly is not limited
The author calls 'playing by ear' a right-brain activity. Are we really to believe that simply because someone might not be referring to musical ideas and gestures by their names, that they are not understood by their musical function? or is it possible that the addition of names to this theoretical understanding actually inhibits the brain by bringing in the other side of the brain? I really do want to hear some feedback on this, I realize now that im partially arguing against my bias against solfege, so ya, let me know what you all think.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Update on Hoppy Hopster...
Just a quick post today.
A lot of you were worried as to whether my new friend Hoppy Hopster would learn to make new friends, especially after scaring Evan so badly. I'm glad to announce that Hoppy has found new activities that he can do, and share his common interests and activities with other people and new friends!
Here's Hoppy with his new friend Jade exploring new possibilities while attending the "Where can it go?!?" convention over this weekend. Congratulations Hoppy, keep on making new friends! We're rooting for you!
A lot of you were worried as to whether my new friend Hoppy Hopster would learn to make new friends, especially after scaring Evan so badly. I'm glad to announce that Hoppy has found new activities that he can do, and share his common interests and activities with other people and new friends!
Here's Hoppy with his new friend Jade exploring new possibilities while attending the "Where can it go?!?" convention over this weekend. Congratulations Hoppy, keep on making new friends! We're rooting for you!
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Back to School today!
Well today was the first day back at school and let me tell you, it was special! I was happy to get back to a quasi almost productive atmosphere and to see all the people that I partially fell out of touch with during the summer. The situation at school is much like kindergarten, for the past two years we had all our classes together, ate lunch together, played games together... basically we were all one colelctive of music making fun. As you can imagine, after a whole 3 or 4 months of not seeing everyone every single day, there was much rejoicing and excitement in the air.
I only had one class today from 2:30-4, but it really only lasted about half an hour. For some silly reason, I was at the school by 11:26. I was intending on going to the auditions for the Opera ensemble with all the people who were to be singing there, not because I was also singing, but because it seemed like the thing to do. Nevertheless, by the time I arrived, people had already left to walk to the other side of campus. Seeing other people to catch up with, I was in no rush to head over by myself. I ended up arriving an hour late partially due to being chatty with people at the school, and partially because I didn't know exactly where I was going...
I have been to University College I think once before, but the exact location was not so clear... so I decided to take the tunnel as they would probably have signs telling you where to take the stairs to the main level of each building.... I guess I missed the sign, but I made it to the end of the tunnel and got confused. I backtracked and found the place and then I had to pee, so I did. I asked a girl where the nearest washroom was, and she looked up and said "No, but I can point to the sign" I carefully followed the invisible dotted line extending from her finger to the sign pointing down the stairs. I found the tinkler then returned to hear about 4 or 5 people audition. In general things were sounding good.
I hung around with my friends, we all ate lunch outside on the sunny grass. We have to take advantage of the short sunny season in the school year, as the first snow is only about 1.5-2 months away.
Deena and I have been trying to think of a good plan of spite for our friend Gabi. Several times last year Gabi was meddling with us and trying to convince us to date, based solely on the fact that we both play piano. In the end, we did end up dating, starting near the summer, but we don't feel that it would be right to justify Gabi's actions. We tried to plan some exotic story or something, but today Deena simply told Gabi that we're not dating, and we left it at that. Lying is simple and it's what we do well (*see side story below). It was pretty much a blatant lie too, as everyone else in our little social clique knows about the situation.
*(This is the side story from above) Quite a while ago, before Deena and I were dating, we were both at a party at Brendan's house. Brendan is our mutual friend who conducts a high school wind ensemble, which he sometimes uses as a dating pool. At this party there were many Band Geeks whose drunken behaviour caused Deena and I to feel like Jane Goodall observing chimps, except we were watching Band Geeks pick insects off each other. The following approximation of the dialogue from that night involves three characters: S(the little 15 {turning 16} drunk girl who seemed to be entirely too guillable), Deena, and Me.
ACT 1
S- So, are you guys like dating.?
{pause}
M- No, not really.
D- Ya, we're more just fuckbuddies...
S- (shocked) oh...
M- ya, but don't tell Brendan, we don't want him to know
D- Ya cause he'd get jealous
S- jealous...?
D- oh ya, he wouldn't want to know theres another guy
S- you mean... you're sleeping with Brendan too...
D- ya
M- and me too...
S- {confused look, pause}
M- Brendan and I have sex all the time
S- {Complete Shock} so you are like a threesome?
D- No, the three of us are never together at the same time..
S- Wow, thats wierd
Act 2
D- Well, the two of us have to be really close, especially when we share so much...
S-{in anticipation} oh... like what
M- the syphallis
S- what's that?
[at this point, Deena turns her head and breaths deep to avoid bursting out laughing]
M- it's an STD. It effects the brain and the nervous system, if left untreated it can cause your brain to eat itself away so you go insane.
S- Are you serious?
D- ya of course we are.
[short not-so-awkward pause]
S- I hope Im not making the two of you uncomfortable with this, Im sorry.
M- No we, just want people to learn from our mistakes...
[We then proceeded to list off as many STD's as we could think of, and she kept believing us. Herpes, Gonnerhoea, Chlamydia, Crabs, Scabies, The Clap, Hepatitis, Genital warts, but not AIDS, that wouldbe too serious...] [Somewhere during the list, I had to turn my head to avoid laughing as well]
ACT 3
S- Oh my gosh, this is .. Im so sorry for you guys
D- thats ok, we just want people to learn from us...
M- can I give you some advice?
S- Ok
M- No matter what, if you ever are thinking of trying something new, don't use purple lysol
S- {schock and disgust} what would people use that for?
D- Lube
S- WHY?!
D- the smell
M- and the tingle, it has this really cool tingly sensation that really adds to the sexual pleasure... but no. It'll never be the same afterwards...
A mixture of her drunkeness and gulliability, and Deena and I both being on the same wavelength the whole time.... it just made this so fun. We actually didn't even straighten things out later...
We are terrible people, but that's ok. Im sure she won't turn out to be some kind of sexual deviant...... ish.
I only had one class today from 2:30-4, but it really only lasted about half an hour. For some silly reason, I was at the school by 11:26. I was intending on going to the auditions for the Opera ensemble with all the people who were to be singing there, not because I was also singing, but because it seemed like the thing to do. Nevertheless, by the time I arrived, people had already left to walk to the other side of campus. Seeing other people to catch up with, I was in no rush to head over by myself. I ended up arriving an hour late partially due to being chatty with people at the school, and partially because I didn't know exactly where I was going...
I have been to University College I think once before, but the exact location was not so clear... so I decided to take the tunnel as they would probably have signs telling you where to take the stairs to the main level of each building.... I guess I missed the sign, but I made it to the end of the tunnel and got confused. I backtracked and found the place and then I had to pee, so I did. I asked a girl where the nearest washroom was, and she looked up and said "No, but I can point to the sign" I carefully followed the invisible dotted line extending from her finger to the sign pointing down the stairs. I found the tinkler then returned to hear about 4 or 5 people audition. In general things were sounding good.
I hung around with my friends, we all ate lunch outside on the sunny grass. We have to take advantage of the short sunny season in the school year, as the first snow is only about 1.5-2 months away.
Deena and I have been trying to think of a good plan of spite for our friend Gabi. Several times last year Gabi was meddling with us and trying to convince us to date, based solely on the fact that we both play piano. In the end, we did end up dating, starting near the summer, but we don't feel that it would be right to justify Gabi's actions. We tried to plan some exotic story or something, but today Deena simply told Gabi that we're not dating, and we left it at that. Lying is simple and it's what we do well (*see side story below). It was pretty much a blatant lie too, as everyone else in our little social clique knows about the situation.
*(This is the side story from above) Quite a while ago, before Deena and I were dating, we were both at a party at Brendan's house. Brendan is our mutual friend who conducts a high school wind ensemble, which he sometimes uses as a dating pool. At this party there were many Band Geeks whose drunken behaviour caused Deena and I to feel like Jane Goodall observing chimps, except we were watching Band Geeks pick insects off each other. The following approximation of the dialogue from that night involves three characters: S(the little 15 {turning 16} drunk girl who seemed to be entirely too guillable), Deena, and Me.
ACT 1
S- So, are you guys like dating.?
{pause}
M- No, not really.
D- Ya, we're more just fuckbuddies...
S- (shocked) oh...
M- ya, but don't tell Brendan, we don't want him to know
D- Ya cause he'd get jealous
S- jealous...?
D- oh ya, he wouldn't want to know theres another guy
S- you mean... you're sleeping with Brendan too...
D- ya
M- and me too...
S- {confused look, pause}
M- Brendan and I have sex all the time
S- {Complete Shock} so you are like a threesome?
D- No, the three of us are never together at the same time..
S- Wow, thats wierd
Act 2
D- Well, the two of us have to be really close, especially when we share so much...
S-{in anticipation} oh... like what
M- the syphallis
S- what's that?
[at this point, Deena turns her head and breaths deep to avoid bursting out laughing]
M- it's an STD. It effects the brain and the nervous system, if left untreated it can cause your brain to eat itself away so you go insane.
S- Are you serious?
D- ya of course we are.
[short not-so-awkward pause]
S- I hope Im not making the two of you uncomfortable with this, Im sorry.
M- No we, just want people to learn from our mistakes...
[We then proceeded to list off as many STD's as we could think of, and she kept believing us. Herpes, Gonnerhoea, Chlamydia, Crabs, Scabies, The Clap, Hepatitis, Genital warts, but not AIDS, that wouldbe too serious...] [Somewhere during the list, I had to turn my head to avoid laughing as well]
ACT 3
S- Oh my gosh, this is .. Im so sorry for you guys
D- thats ok, we just want people to learn from us...
M- can I give you some advice?
S- Ok
M- No matter what, if you ever are thinking of trying something new, don't use purple lysol
S- {schock and disgust} what would people use that for?
D- Lube
S- WHY?!
D- the smell
M- and the tingle, it has this really cool tingly sensation that really adds to the sexual pleasure... but no. It'll never be the same afterwards...
A mixture of her drunkeness and gulliability, and Deena and I both being on the same wavelength the whole time.... it just made this so fun. We actually didn't even straighten things out later...
We are terrible people, but that's ok. Im sure she won't turn out to be some kind of sexual deviant...... ish.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Independance is a sure thing...
Well I went to the university today on my SECOND trip related to official business. Today I had a meeting with a professor to see if he would be my faculty advisor for an independant study course I have planned. I think I have mentioned it, but generally I have found a way to get credit for composing and performing a piece of music for an entry into a ballet choreography competition. After finding out that the ideal professor is not an option for an advisor because he is not full-time faculty, I was turned down by 2 or 3 other professors that I asked. I was getting worried, but a few people suggested this newer prof that I talked to today.
The meeting was concise and fruitful. We gave each other our relative backgrounds and discussed what projects we had going during the year, he is quite the busy composer working on some fun projects. I told him my expectations for the independant study course and then he told me his expectations for what I should be doing as well. It was good to actually talk to someone who feels confidant that he can offer me something as an expert in terms of this project: something which none of the other profs had stated.
He has done some composition for dancers, although he admits that the situation I am in is ideal. I will be working with the choreographer in the development stage (The standard situation is that a choreographer works from music that has already been writted and often they are using the recording that will be used in the end for the performance). This allows for the utmost creative licence on both parts, and it means that the music will be specifically moulded to the dance.
He seemed to be in agreement with my proposed outline, and the only suggestion he wants to add is that he expects me to sit in on composition seminars when I have the time... This means that I get free education and suggestions and ideas about how to compose.... Im quite alright with that!
He is genuinely excited about this project, and of course I am as well. The course is going to be spaced out over both school terms and there are no set times for meetings, they will be 'as needed'(whatever we decide that means). Most of the work is going to rest upon me, which is what I was planning. All in all, Im very excited about this project!
In other news...
I ran into Mel (head of the voice dept) today on my way into the school. Expecting that I might have to put up more of a fight, I was surprised when, after reassuring him that i hadn't the time for Singers, he asked if I was able to join Cantata, or if it was too much committment. I told him it would be fine, and so it is done. Im quite satisfied that things turned out in my favour. Nevertheless, I think of myself as a strong propegator of bitterness and spite, so I expect that some of the people who were not happy about having to spend an extra year in a less-than-ideal time-committment might be less than happy for me. But in the end, I am glad that I got my way. It's frustrating the way politics get in the way of so many things in life, be they work, school, international relations....
All in all, I am very excited for this year, its going to be busy, but rewarding and exciting and super fun! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The meeting was concise and fruitful. We gave each other our relative backgrounds and discussed what projects we had going during the year, he is quite the busy composer working on some fun projects. I told him my expectations for the independant study course and then he told me his expectations for what I should be doing as well. It was good to actually talk to someone who feels confidant that he can offer me something as an expert in terms of this project: something which none of the other profs had stated.
He has done some composition for dancers, although he admits that the situation I am in is ideal. I will be working with the choreographer in the development stage (The standard situation is that a choreographer works from music that has already been writted and often they are using the recording that will be used in the end for the performance). This allows for the utmost creative licence on both parts, and it means that the music will be specifically moulded to the dance.
He seemed to be in agreement with my proposed outline, and the only suggestion he wants to add is that he expects me to sit in on composition seminars when I have the time... This means that I get free education and suggestions and ideas about how to compose.... Im quite alright with that!
He is genuinely excited about this project, and of course I am as well. The course is going to be spaced out over both school terms and there are no set times for meetings, they will be 'as needed'(whatever we decide that means). Most of the work is going to rest upon me, which is what I was planning. All in all, Im very excited about this project!
In other news...
I ran into Mel (head of the voice dept) today on my way into the school. Expecting that I might have to put up more of a fight, I was surprised when, after reassuring him that i hadn't the time for Singers, he asked if I was able to join Cantata, or if it was too much committment. I told him it would be fine, and so it is done. Im quite satisfied that things turned out in my favour. Nevertheless, I think of myself as a strong propegator of bitterness and spite, so I expect that some of the people who were not happy about having to spend an extra year in a less-than-ideal time-committment might be less than happy for me. But in the end, I am glad that I got my way. It's frustrating the way politics get in the way of so many things in life, be they work, school, international relations....
All in all, I am very excited for this year, its going to be busy, but rewarding and exciting and super fun! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Well, the auditions are done, and not all that remains of my summer is this weekend, and three days next week which are filled with meetings and getting organized.
My piano audition went well. The piece was by no means perfect, but I think it was above any realistic expectations for something learned over the summer without private lessons. There was literally no feedback from the panel other than a "Thank you Michael" which I am forced to assume would not be utterred if I had genuinely offended them with my playing...
I also think that the singing audition went well also, there were only two people on the panel and they both seemed to get and enjoy the humour from the PDQ Bach piece. It worked out perfectly, I told them I was singing an Air by Bach, implying JS Bach, but still not lying. Mel was tittering quietly through the entire piece, which made me happy. Contrasting the lack of feedback from the piano panel, this particular panel felt quite open about giving advice. Mel asked from whom I had been taking lessons, to which I replied "noone really, well randomly I've been getting lessons from such and such random people"... He then emphasized that I have a really lovely voice but Im doing something terribly wrong in the back of my throat, and he wants to avoid me singing like 'one of those tenors' then doing some sort of impersonation of a tenor that I assume nobody would want to sound like.... quite frankly I found it amusing, and would be happy if I could amuse people so.
The other oddity with the audition was the 'new regulation' regarding keeping people stuck in the Univserity Singers for 3 years of their degrees. This has many people up in a huff cause a lot of people in my year wanted to move on to Cantata. Lots of my singer friends are outraged, mostly because those are their only 2 options for large ensembles. Realistically, those are also the only two I would want to consider, but I have made my schedule and have decided that I no longer want to spend 4.5 hours a week in ensemble when I could spend only 1 or maybe 2. Therefore, I told them at the audition that it is entirely a time issue, so if I am not permitted to be in cantata, it will not result in my staying in Singers, rather I will find an instrumental ensemble which is less of a time committment.
I am really not sure how this will all pan out, but I'm fairly confident that I will get into Cantata, but realistically, If I have to I will probably sing in Univ Singers for another year and just bitch about it. Thats what I do best!
I am excited for the RWB School to start up again. This season I will be working almost the same amount of hours, except on only one day (Saturday) rather than Sat and Wednesday last year. This means that my weeknights are completely open for teaching and homework. Im waiting to hear back from some students about what night works for them, and then my work schedule will be completely set. It's frustrating that on my school schedule, there are still 4 courses to be slotted in because I have to work out a time with the professor or whatnot. When I only have 4 courses (3 for certain) marked in my timetable as it is, it is impossible to know what my school year is really going to look like.
Oh well. It's all good!
My piano audition went well. The piece was by no means perfect, but I think it was above any realistic expectations for something learned over the summer without private lessons. There was literally no feedback from the panel other than a "Thank you Michael" which I am forced to assume would not be utterred if I had genuinely offended them with my playing...
I also think that the singing audition went well also, there were only two people on the panel and they both seemed to get and enjoy the humour from the PDQ Bach piece. It worked out perfectly, I told them I was singing an Air by Bach, implying JS Bach, but still not lying. Mel was tittering quietly through the entire piece, which made me happy. Contrasting the lack of feedback from the piano panel, this particular panel felt quite open about giving advice. Mel asked from whom I had been taking lessons, to which I replied "noone really, well randomly I've been getting lessons from such and such random people"... He then emphasized that I have a really lovely voice but Im doing something terribly wrong in the back of my throat, and he wants to avoid me singing like 'one of those tenors' then doing some sort of impersonation of a tenor that I assume nobody would want to sound like.... quite frankly I found it amusing, and would be happy if I could amuse people so.
The other oddity with the audition was the 'new regulation' regarding keeping people stuck in the Univserity Singers for 3 years of their degrees. This has many people up in a huff cause a lot of people in my year wanted to move on to Cantata. Lots of my singer friends are outraged, mostly because those are their only 2 options for large ensembles. Realistically, those are also the only two I would want to consider, but I have made my schedule and have decided that I no longer want to spend 4.5 hours a week in ensemble when I could spend only 1 or maybe 2. Therefore, I told them at the audition that it is entirely a time issue, so if I am not permitted to be in cantata, it will not result in my staying in Singers, rather I will find an instrumental ensemble which is less of a time committment.
I am really not sure how this will all pan out, but I'm fairly confident that I will get into Cantata, but realistically, If I have to I will probably sing in Univ Singers for another year and just bitch about it. Thats what I do best!
I am excited for the RWB School to start up again. This season I will be working almost the same amount of hours, except on only one day (Saturday) rather than Sat and Wednesday last year. This means that my weeknights are completely open for teaching and homework. Im waiting to hear back from some students about what night works for them, and then my work schedule will be completely set. It's frustrating that on my school schedule, there are still 4 courses to be slotted in because I have to work out a time with the professor or whatnot. When I only have 4 courses (3 for certain) marked in my timetable as it is, it is impossible to know what my school year is really going to look like.
Oh well. It's all good!
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Back to school
I'm about to head to school for the first time this year on OFFICIAL schoolish activities. Today are my ensemble auditions. These auditions are a bit of an oddity. My piano audition serves a few little functions:
1) It is supposed to get you to make sure that you have started practicing enough at the tail end of summer in order to whip together one piece thatyou play well enough that you don't want to crawl into a hole and die. Ultimately the professors' expectations are still high enough that you won't play well enough for them... and they will wish you to crawl into said hole. Ideally, you should have been practicing throughout the summer, which I did...ish.
2) The audition is used for placement in the piano-related ensembles. This year I am going into Chamber Music, so this audition will decide who I am going to be placed with for the ensemble... I have no idea how they decide this, I could be in anything really: a piano duet, playing with a cellist, a violinist, maybe a string quartet or piano trio.... who knows. They tend to put better pianists with better instrumentalists...at least thats what I think.
The other audition I am doing is for the voice department. I need to participate in a large ensemble, and there are not many 30-pianos playing together at the same time emsembles, so I sing. For the women, this can be a stressful one, so many really good singers and the competition is high. For the men, there are less of us, so ya, not so stressful. Also, as I am not a voice major, I'm not particularly bothered either way with what the voice department thinks of me. Similarly to the piano ones, these auditions serve a few purposes.
1) They serve as a guage to how well or badly you do from ground zero because NONE WHATSOEVER of the singers in the school have been practicing over the summer! As usual this gives the singers the oportunity to talk badly about themselves in front of other singers as a handout waiting for the compliments coming back from the other side (really, all musicians do this though).
2)Placement. The main ensemble that the majority of people are auditioning for is University Singers, which is auditioned and elitist. Further elitist (described as an ensemble for 'advanced singers') is the Canata ensemble. As far as I can tell, at least for me, the main draw to this one is that it is MUCH less time committment than most, especially Univ. Singers.
As I'm not particularly worried about either of these aspects, I am going to use this audition as an opportunity to entertain the audition panel. I have chosen a very humourous song by P.D.Q. Bach. I really think he is the cat's pyjamas and I want everyone to be exposed to him, so I will start with this audition. The song is set in the serious style of the real Bach, but the lyrics are that of a "singing commercial" for PDQ dish soap. It tells the sad tale of Poor Jane whose lover asks for her hand in marriage, but alas it is wrinkled and raw from the dishpan.... if only she usee PDQ..... she could have the skin she's always wished for. As you can tell, Im excited about this ditty, and I will post later to tell you all how it went!
This is going to be an exciting year coming up, and Im glad to be getting back to school. That is why Im excited about this first official school activity. There's just something so exciting about this time of year with all the things starting afresh, all the change, the emininance of my birthing.... I love all of it!
1) It is supposed to get you to make sure that you have started practicing enough at the tail end of summer in order to whip together one piece thatyou play well enough that you don't want to crawl into a hole and die. Ultimately the professors' expectations are still high enough that you won't play well enough for them... and they will wish you to crawl into said hole. Ideally, you should have been practicing throughout the summer, which I did...ish.
2) The audition is used for placement in the piano-related ensembles. This year I am going into Chamber Music, so this audition will decide who I am going to be placed with for the ensemble... I have no idea how they decide this, I could be in anything really: a piano duet, playing with a cellist, a violinist, maybe a string quartet or piano trio.... who knows. They tend to put better pianists with better instrumentalists...at least thats what I think.
The other audition I am doing is for the voice department. I need to participate in a large ensemble, and there are not many 30-pianos playing together at the same time emsembles, so I sing. For the women, this can be a stressful one, so many really good singers and the competition is high. For the men, there are less of us, so ya, not so stressful. Also, as I am not a voice major, I'm not particularly bothered either way with what the voice department thinks of me. Similarly to the piano ones, these auditions serve a few purposes.
1) They serve as a guage to how well or badly you do from ground zero because NONE WHATSOEVER of the singers in the school have been practicing over the summer! As usual this gives the singers the oportunity to talk badly about themselves in front of other singers as a handout waiting for the compliments coming back from the other side (really, all musicians do this though).
2)Placement. The main ensemble that the majority of people are auditioning for is University Singers, which is auditioned and elitist. Further elitist (described as an ensemble for 'advanced singers') is the Canata ensemble. As far as I can tell, at least for me, the main draw to this one is that it is MUCH less time committment than most, especially Univ. Singers.
As I'm not particularly worried about either of these aspects, I am going to use this audition as an opportunity to entertain the audition panel. I have chosen a very humourous song by P.D.Q. Bach. I really think he is the cat's pyjamas and I want everyone to be exposed to him, so I will start with this audition. The song is set in the serious style of the real Bach, but the lyrics are that of a "singing commercial" for PDQ dish soap. It tells the sad tale of Poor Jane whose lover asks for her hand in marriage, but alas it is wrinkled and raw from the dishpan.... if only she usee PDQ..... she could have the skin she's always wished for. As you can tell, Im excited about this ditty, and I will post later to tell you all how it went!
This is going to be an exciting year coming up, and Im glad to be getting back to school. That is why Im excited about this first official school activity. There's just something so exciting about this time of year with all the things starting afresh, all the change, the emininance of my birthing.... I love all of it!
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