event
Yesterday was the music & dance event. I had lots of fun, and I think things went really well in general.
My class (actually a group-teach with lrstrobel and Alaric) was in the first time slot and only got one student, but we had a decent discussion. (The topic was organizing/leading music groups -- basically, how to go from "we'd kind of like to do this" to a functional group that performs at events and stuff.) I took several other neat classes, including one on Ars Antiqua vocal music, which is early (medieval, not renaissance) music that sounds really neat. I came away with copies of music that would be suitable for our choir; must remember to make copies for Ray. Ray taught a class on medieval trumpets that was interesting, and at the end he let us try to play the ones he had there. I do not have clues about brass, so it took a while before I could get random things that almost sounded like notes, and none of it was controlled. I was actually doing something different with my lips than I do when I blow a shofar, though the person who explained shofar to me described it as "like brass", so I'm probably doing something wrong there. I can get notes out of a shofar, though. Beginner's luck, I'd bet.
I watched the Caroso-style ball, which is performance-oriented, and enjoyed it. There were some very good dancers there. I especially enjoyed watching Lyev, who does well with flirting and the "story-telling" dances like Gelosia (Jealousy). I bet he'd be a good actor, too. There was a real imbalance of genders, with many more women than men dancing, which is part of why I sat out. There was also some imbalance in who was getting asked to dance and who wasn't, with some people dancing half a dozen times and others dancing once. This might need to be managed more closely when there are significant numbers of non-local dancers. Lia and Fiddle observed that kids are an impediment here; neither of them got asked to dance at all, though at any given point one of them could have easily danced while the other paid attention to the kids (who were behaving).
I thought the choir's performance went pretty well. Most of the pieces went very well; a couple suffered from warts of various degrees of severity. I don't know if the other tenors rely on being able to hear me (I'm in the front row during performances and they're not); there were glitches in places where I'm not used to there being glitches. Of the three of us who were at this performance, I'm probably the strongest on this repertoire currently. Brandon is a strong singer who's still learning the material (he's new to the choir), and Degan lacks both volume and confidence.
After the performance someone in the audience (non-local, and I don't know his name) complimented me on my expression (facial expression, eye contact, mood, whatever). I was glad to hear that, as in the past we've gotten feedback that we don't do well in this area. There was a Pennsic performance where, according to Arianna, the only person seen to be doing this was Roxane, which I found odd as I thought I was doing a good job at that time. So I do what I sometimes worry is too much, but I guess it's ok. And I've learned how to fake eye contact; it's an essential skill for job interviews. :-) (The way my eyes work, if I'm really making eye contact with you you'll see me as staring off into space behind you.)
The food was good. I especially liked the spinach balls, the grape leaves, and the mango lassi (not all at the same time). It turned out that I was unable to shield Dani from the eggplant by eating it all before he got there, because they cooked the eggplant with meat. Oh well.
Robert and Kathy had a post-revel and I got to spend more time talking with some of the out-of-town folks. Avatar came in from Texas with a bunch of instruments. I also got to talk with Phillipia, Mairi, and the Carolingians. Unfortunately I didn't get to talk with Rufina, who drove in from New Jersey. (She taught the Ars Antiqua class.)
My class (actually a group-teach with lrstrobel and Alaric) was in the first time slot and only got one student, but we had a decent discussion. (The topic was organizing/leading music groups -- basically, how to go from "we'd kind of like to do this" to a functional group that performs at events and stuff.) I took several other neat classes, including one on Ars Antiqua vocal music, which is early (medieval, not renaissance) music that sounds really neat. I came away with copies of music that would be suitable for our choir; must remember to make copies for Ray. Ray taught a class on medieval trumpets that was interesting, and at the end he let us try to play the ones he had there. I do not have clues about brass, so it took a while before I could get random things that almost sounded like notes, and none of it was controlled. I was actually doing something different with my lips than I do when I blow a shofar, though the person who explained shofar to me described it as "like brass", so I'm probably doing something wrong there. I can get notes out of a shofar, though. Beginner's luck, I'd bet.
I watched the Caroso-style ball, which is performance-oriented, and enjoyed it. There were some very good dancers there. I especially enjoyed watching Lyev, who does well with flirting and the "story-telling" dances like Gelosia (Jealousy). I bet he'd be a good actor, too. There was a real imbalance of genders, with many more women than men dancing, which is part of why I sat out. There was also some imbalance in who was getting asked to dance and who wasn't, with some people dancing half a dozen times and others dancing once. This might need to be managed more closely when there are significant numbers of non-local dancers. Lia and Fiddle observed that kids are an impediment here; neither of them got asked to dance at all, though at any given point one of them could have easily danced while the other paid attention to the kids (who were behaving).
I thought the choir's performance went pretty well. Most of the pieces went very well; a couple suffered from warts of various degrees of severity. I don't know if the other tenors rely on being able to hear me (I'm in the front row during performances and they're not); there were glitches in places where I'm not used to there being glitches. Of the three of us who were at this performance, I'm probably the strongest on this repertoire currently. Brandon is a strong singer who's still learning the material (he's new to the choir), and Degan lacks both volume and confidence.
After the performance someone in the audience (non-local, and I don't know his name) complimented me on my expression (facial expression, eye contact, mood, whatever). I was glad to hear that, as in the past we've gotten feedback that we don't do well in this area. There was a Pennsic performance where, according to Arianna, the only person seen to be doing this was Roxane, which I found odd as I thought I was doing a good job at that time. So I do what I sometimes worry is too much, but I guess it's ok. And I've learned how to fake eye contact; it's an essential skill for job interviews. :-) (The way my eyes work, if I'm really making eye contact with you you'll see me as staring off into space behind you.)
The food was good. I especially liked the spinach balls, the grape leaves, and the mango lassi (not all at the same time). It turned out that I was unable to shield Dani from the eggplant by eating it all before he got there, because they cooked the eggplant with meat. Oh well.
Robert and Kathy had a post-revel and I got to spend more time talking with some of the out-of-town folks. Avatar came in from Texas with a bunch of instruments. I also got to talk with Phillipia, Mairi, and the Carolingians. Unfortunately I didn't get to talk with Rufina, who drove in from New Jersey. (She taught the Ars Antiqua class.)