Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I'm loving summer!

The hike last weekend was fantastic, I had a great Kung Fu class today, I'm going hiking again on Saturday, tomorrow will be filled with Canada day delights, and I just finished a bunch of projects in a row.

The most recent project was a wedding arrangement for voice and string quartet. Originally, I was under the impression that it was for voice and piano, but it turned into a string quartet accompaniment. That's delightful for the wedding, but it took up significantly more time than a piano arrangement would have. Oh well, it turned out well enough, though saccharine as weddings often do!

Really, the only things I NEED to do before going back to school are write a make-up essay and study for the Baroque entrance exam.
Non school-related, I have a stack of piano duo music to learn over the next two months.
I also have some composition projects which are both WANT and NEED, in a sense. I should really finish my Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird cycle/collection:

...Speak of the devil....
In the latest issue of the CMC Newsletter, BC regional director, Bob Baker made mention of the VISI ArtSong Collab and my pieces in particular:

"One of many highlights of the day was the performance of Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird by Michael Park, during which the singer changes character from that of a woman singing to a blackbird to that of the blackbird singing in response. Participants were transfixed by the transformative effect created through the words and the colour of Gayle Shay's voice, truly demonstrating the power of verse."

I don't mean to brag [yes, I do], but talk about good press!

The other WANT/NEED project I have in mind is an orchestral piece. If I start it during the summer, I'll be able to finish it by November, in time for the VSO reading session deadline.
Also, I feel like I should always be working on something. I had a sense of non-procrastination this last weekend and I want to keep that sensation going.

Speaking of procrastination, I'm making great progress on the Golden Girls. I've been watching them sporadically all year and I'm now on the final season. I don't know how I'll react when it's over and I have to watch the one season of the spinoff they did without Bea Arthur, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Kung Fu With a View

Yesterday was another pretty frickin' awesome day. As you may know, I've been doing Kung Fu with a group of music students this year. The group meets once or twice a week. We have our classes on Kits Beach, so we're used to having the ocean and the mountains in our line of sight; on a clear day, it's really inspiring. Anyway, we've been talking about doing a hike sometime so we could do Kung Fu on top of a mountain. Long story short, because one of our friends is moving away, we finally got around to it.

The hike we did was E
agle Bluffs, on the north shore of North Vancouver. I always get confused when I try to describe mountains, but we parked where the Olympics happened on mount Cypress. It was about a 45-minute drive and we left at 9 in the morning.

Despite the early morning aspect, the drive set the tone for a day of wonder and merriment. My bassoonist friend brought a fun little book of Canadian children's songs. I remember using the same series of books in elementary school [sidenote: I'm now on a mission to find some other volumes of these books cause they're so fun!] There were some great songs and we had a repeat of a song we learned the last time I went hiking - Lester the Lobster from P.E.I.. We took turns teaching each other the choruses by rote and then passing the book around for solo verses.

After a quick bathroom break, we started the hike. The first section of the hike was mild-to-moderately horrid. Almost exclusively steep s
witchbacks, and very few flat sections. I don't even like walking up a hill in Vancouver, so an hour of up-walking wasn't exactly putting a smile on my face. Unlike last hike, I never reached a point of feeling like death; I learned my lessons from the previous experience - stay hydrated and don't let your sugars drop.
*DIABETES TANGENT*
Last hike, I cut back my Lantus (background insulin) from 36u to 26u - as a result, my sugars were dropping the entire time. This time I only took 21u and my sugars were much more well behaved. They still dropped, but I had them higher to start - 10.0 mmol. At the first viewpoint, they were at 8 something, the lowest they got was 6 something just before lunch.
I made a big mistake - I assumed my s
ugars would be dropping, so I took less insulin for lunch, and took it later than I should have. When we headed back after lunch, my sugars had shot up to 15 and I felt like death! I corrected and after an hour, they were tolerable, but I won't second guess things next time.
*END TANGENT*
We took regular little breaks to re-hydrate and check sugars/snack. Basically, we reached the destination without incident - everyone was happy and healthy and it was good fun!

So, it's summer, right? We were all wearing summer garb like shorts. It was cooler than we expected, but we kept warm by moving around all the time. The sun was playing catch all day, and when it was sunny, it was very
warm. Despite this - THERE WAS SNOW! We had several little snowball fights as we went along, and it was the responsibility of the people at the back of the pack to try to hit the front runners. By far, the most exciting moment of the hike was this:


The discovery of crazy carpets!

This was after we reached the summit and we used them on the way to the Eagle Bluffs Lookout.
[oh ya, so it's a little confusing, but the main destination is not the summit, rather it's a viewpoint. The summit is the highest point, but not that stellar. After the top, you hike down to get to the Eagle Bluffs where you can see Vancouver, and on a clear day, Vancouver Island. This is where we did Kung Fu and ate lunch]

Kung Fu with a view was great! We had a bit of an audience, as we always do at the beach, but we were mostly distracted by the view and the tiredness and the hunger! We focused just on arms, obviously our legs were getting a good workout from the hiking.

Anyway, the section between the summit and the Eagle Bluffs was my favourite - it was downhill a fair bit and snowy. My choral conducting friend and I were the only ones who took crazy carpets. Someone had obviously just left them there for other people's enjoyment. There were lots of little places to slide down on the crazy carpets, lots of screaming and fun! My butt was pretty much soaked for that whole section of the hike
Before we reached the Eagle Bluffs, we ditched the carpets so that other people could enjoy them near the snow.
I hate regretting things, but I regret not holding on to the carpets for another hour! Halfway down, we reached the biggest hill! It was next to an off-season ski hill. My snow friend and I ran down the hill and had fun doing that, but it would have been SO MUCH FUN to have had the carpets.
Oh well.

The hike was great!

Later in the evening, I went to a bonfire and we had s'mores.
It was a fantastic day!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Best Day Ever

I was up all night doing the Easter Seals Piano Marathon. Surviving today on 4.5 hours of sleep, split between two naps, I've had that achey kind of heartburny sensation all day long.
In a sense, I've felt pretty horrid all day long.

So, why didn't I just sleep the day away after the piano marathon?
Because if I did, today would have been lame.

Instead, I went to the VISI/CMC Art Song Collab this afternoon and everything about it was perfect.

As an event that I helped organize, it was a great success. It wasn't a full house, but it was well attended. There were submissions by 2 established and 2 emerging composers, so there was a nice variety as well as a sense of community. As one of the emerging composers, I was glad to be in the good company of Hal Foxton Beckett and Neil Weisensel.

The performers were fantastic - not just their musical skills, but their dedication, willingness, and excitement! Knowing that they only had the music for a few days before today's reading session, I really appreciated the time they spent learning and rehearsing my music. As today's workshop was focused on interpretation, they really engaged with the music, the poetry, and the new musical approaches that I asked for in my songs. In addition to great singing and playing, the performers were so positive and supportive of the songs presented today.
Singing my newest creation, More Than Containers, was Michael Broder - and extremely polished young baritone. Singing The River is Moving and A Man and a Woman was Gayle Shay, a mezzo-soprano with a delightfully velvety tone. At the piano for A Man and a Woman was the supportive touch of Allison d'Amato and finally, Laura Loewen, one of the most compassionate musicians and people I've encountered, played piano for More Than Containers and The River is Moving.

One of the most exciting parts of today's event was the open discussion that followed the performance of each piece. This was a great opportunity for composers and performers to discuss and ask questions of each other. In organizing this event, some concerns had been raised about the involvement of the audience in an open discussion of the pieces and interpretation in general. I'm not sure if those concerns were ever quelled, but there was no reason to worry today. The audience was stacked with interesting, intelligent minds - ready to experience and explore new music.
I should be upfront: the feedback on my pieces was unwaveringly positive, so of course I will sing the audience's praises, but it goes further than that. Today's gathering seemed stripped of pretensions and personal agendas, instead, people had genuine interest in exploring the ideas and interpretations which were presented.

All of these elements came together to make today a wonderful experience. I wasn't nervous at all; the performers and audience created a sense of warmth and support.
Bottom line - I get to add some stuff to my CV, I met some great new people, heard some great music, but most importantly, I heard my own music performed really well and other people really enjoyed it - I call that a good day!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Good Fortune!

I went shopping today at Long & McQuade in Vancouver.

When I was in undergrad, my piano teacher advised me that it was the cheapest place for me to buy music. Time and time again, even with shipping, it was!

I was informed on facebook that they were having a customer appreciation day. I needed to order some scores anyway, so I went for an adventure. Long story short, they were clearing out a bunch of scores with 75% off in addition to my student/teacher discount.

I scrounged the piano section and found a variety of stuff and even picked up a few mini scores for symphonies and whatnot. Holding this armful of music, I thought I was already breaking the bank; but my mental math skills were lacking - it was only $30.
After paying, I continued searching, discovering the full score section and found a LOT of great pieces!

Because I feel like it, here is a catalogue of the scores I got today - from smallest mini scores to largest full scores/piano scores:

Mini Scores

Beethoven Symphony No. 4 and 5-7
Milhaud Concertino de Printemps
Poulenc Sextour
Schoenberg String Quartet Op. 7
Bruckner Symphony No. 7
Richard Strauss Symphony for Winds
Milhaud 3rd String Quartet (with chorus)
Khachaturian's The Valencian Widow Suite
Berlioz Romeo and Juliette
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2
John Adams Chamber Symphony

Piano
Saint-Saens Scherzo Op. 87 for Two Pianos Four Hands
Scarlatti 20 Sonatas
Satie Les trois valses distinguées du previeux dégouté
Reger Aus Meinem Tagebuch Op. 82, book 2
Roussel 3 pieces for piano Op. 49
Haydn Easy Piano Pieces and Dances
Bastien Series Playtime at the Piano, Happy Thanksgiving, and Collage of Solos

Scores
Lindberg Cantigas
Dutilleux Sur le même accord
Gounod Petite symphonie
Gubaidulina The rider on the white horse for large orchestra and organ
Pärt's festina lente, pro et contra, Wenn Bach Bienen gezüchtet hätte, and the fratres version for winds and percussion
Shostakovich orchestration of Johann Strauss's polka, The Pleasure Train
Penderecki 3 Pieces in Baroque Style
Hovhanness Holy Mystery of the Martyrs


In conclusion, I'm very happy with my findings!
In the end, I ended up spending $101.31 on scores today, but the savings on the receipts was $610!!! It probably wasn't the ideal time to make an investment in my library, but some sales are just too good to pass up!

Tonight, I go to the opera, play piano all night for a fundraising pianothon, and then go to my workshop tomorrow afternoon. It'll be a while before I sleep!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

So, the video from the Vancouver Complaints Choir performance is already up on YouTube!




The weather was beautiful yesterday - it was a wonderful day to be wandering around downtown Vancouver, maybe even a touch too warm. I should have worn shorts and a non-black shirt, but oh well. We garnered some good attention and got good feedback everywhere we sang.
All in all, it was a pretty damned fun experience and it came together just dandy for only 3 rehearsals.

Visit www.complaintschoir.org for more information on how you can set up your own complaints choir!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Milestones and Complaints!

Some important milestones are coming up:

1) This is post #984 ish. Only fifteen more and then it's the big One Thousand!
B) In August, I'll be celebrating the fifth anniversary of this here blog.

Please feel free to leave me some comments on how I should mark either of these momentous occasions.


Over the last month or so, I've become involved with the 2010 Vancouver Complaints Choir. The Complaints Choir project is pretty spiffy and has quite a following. Basically, complaints are gathered from a region, a local songwriter turns those complaints into music and then a choir is organized to perform the song. Do click for more information - it's a fascinating project!

The 2010 Vancouver Complaints Choir will be performing the 10-minute song by Veda Hille tomorrow at various locations in downtown Vancouver at 1, 2, 3, and 4pm. CBC One came by to do some interviews and a recording at one of our rehearsals and it will be aired at 8am Pacific time, tomorrow morning (10 am in Winnipeg, 11 am in Ontario). I was one of the people that she interviewed a little more in depth, so you might hear glimpses of me on the airwaves. I did say, "mumbly", and I was unorganized with my thoughts, but if you're reading on here, you should be used to that. I haven't decided if I even want to be subjected to listening to myself in 6 hours, but I'll set an alarm just in case.

For now, I'm off to try and fill up as much of those 6 hours with sleep as possible.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Movie Reviews

I love bad movies.
Give me poor production values, inconsistencies, flawed storyline. bad acting, etc., and I'm a happy camper. In the other direction, my standards for a good movie are rather high, but luckily, I react the same to most movies that tickle my fancy.

In the past, I've had some friends that would indulge my love for B-movies, and I even had one thickly-browed friend who loved teeny-bopper rom-coms, so that filled a big section of the bad movie category, but there are few people out there who are willing to watch whatever I want.

Lately, my bassoonist friend has indulge me in watching a bunch of bad movies from the new releases wall. Here are some reviews (If you want real details and names, look them up on imdb or something - these are truly michael-style reviews and you better bet there's gonna be spoiling):

Tenure
This was about and English prof who has twice been denied tenure at various universities; surprise surprise, he's up for tenure again... Long story short, he doesn't get it the third time around. I'm glad they didn't go the Hollywood route of realizing his unseen brilliance at the end and getting offered a position at Harvard, etc.; instead, he realized that his passion was for teaching of any kind and that he didn't need to be in a university to do it. In short, they glamorized a huge wage-decrease and basically demotion!
There was a love story involved, but it only really appeared and resolved in the last few scenes, so I wasn't nauseated. The secondary storyline involved the main character's best friend who was searching for Bigfoot - you can't go wrong there! Both of these guys seemed vaguely familiar. I think the main guy was Dewey from Scream, and his best friend often plays a sidekick character.
In short, this movie was better than it should have been!

Visioneers
Starring Zackafanakagakas or something. This was a about a bizarre world where people lead seemingly vacant existences and where dreams are a symptom of the growing epidemic of spontaneous explosions.
This rental was worth it only for the opening 15 minute segment at the main character's workplace. He walks in, gives the finger to a poster - as his coworkers come in, they all flip each other off and say, 'Jeffers morning'. Jeffers is the huge company they work for, which is the self-proclaimed most profitable company in the world. Every minute, a voice announces the time, and how many productive minutes until the weekend. There are also buzzings and beepings and ringings from different sources. I can't do it justice in words, but the opening sequence is like clockwork in it's intriguing and elaborate counterpoint of events.
In the end, the movie falls short, lacking in real character development or a compelling story. I get it that that's the point of the movie, but the point of the movie also seems to be what holds it back.

Confessions of a Porn Addict
This movie stars Spenny from Kenny versus Spenny, for those of you who are familiar with terrible Jackass-style Canadian comedy. This movie is a mockumentary; it doesn't matter what the topic is, the genre is guaranteed to be fantastic. [There's one about a parking-meter attendant that I highly suggest!]
It's about a porn addict whose wife left him as a result. He joins a support group and changes his life, only to realize that his wife has gone into the porn industry - hijinks ensue.
Despite the gratuitous use of pornography, I don't actually recall seeing genitals. Nevertheless, I wouldn't say it was done tastefully. At the end, when he confronts his wife in the middle of a Bukkake filming, the reunion kiss is both heart-warming and stomach-turning!
All in all, the movie is fairly entertaining.

Taxidermia
Weird.
I can barely describe it.
Basically, three short movies in one that were connected by generational lineage, but I still didn't quite get the connection of the first and second sections' main characters. It was foreign - I'm gonna go with Hungarian. Contrasting the last one, this movie has gratuitous genitals, as one should expect from any artsy foreign film.
The first section featured a military assistant or something... he has a fire/candle fetish and he caresses, licks, and nipples the flame. There is an impressive scene where he is jerking off his flame-throwing penis. There's a graphic sex scene but it keeps changing between his partner - the variables are his boss's obese wife, another random lady, and a pig carcass that had been slaughtered earlier that day. The next morning, when his boss finds him asleep with his pants down on top of the carcass, he shoots him in the head and then it pans to a scene where the boss's wife gives birth to a baby boy.
In the second section, the baby boy is now grown up - a Hungarian national speed-eating champion (well, second place). Apparently this is a profession and they train hardcore. The gratuitous obese vomiting was almost too much to handle. Long story short, he and the female speed-eating champion have a baby who ends up being the focus of section three.
Contrary to his gene pool, the son grows up to be an emaciated taxidermist who has to take care of his now incredibly obese father - imagine the Monty Python fat guy right before he explodes. After a fight, the father tries to leave his chair, he dies and his guts spill out all over the floor. The son comes back, cleans out his father's carcass and taxidermifies. He then hooks himself up to a machine that taxiderms himself and also slices off his head and right arm - resulting in the image for the movie cover.
The movie is grotesque to the extreme. While I wouldn't say there was what I would think of as traditional beauty in it, it had a rich tapestry and powerful imagery. Strangely compelling. Also, slightly disturbing.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Apparently, June has not been a good month for blogging.
It's also not been a good month for Kung Fu: I couldn't make it one of the weeks, another it was cancelled, and then all of a sudden, I haven't been in a month.

Comparatively, it's been a great month for composing. I wrote an artsong for the upcoming VISI ArtSong CoLab. While I had done a lot of the planning and prep-work over the last month or so, I did 95% of the work this past Sunday. Let this stand as a testament for me to remember, that I can compose quickly and I should do it more often. I simply need to reaffirm my desire to get lots of music written this summer!

I got a cheque in the mail the other day. It was pre-payment for a jazz standard I'm arranging for some couple's wedding. It's not great money, but the mere fact that they sent the cheque means that I need to get it done sooner than later.
Payment is always a good motivator!

Another project I'm working on is an improvised (ish) dialogue between a speaker and a pianist. My friend and I will be presenting it at a conference later this month. There are also tentative plans that it might be remounted in Toronto, outside of a conference atmosphere... SO I will need to find an intuitive form of notation suitable for another performer to use.