(no subject)

[gargoylisous]

here's what happened today. during my bass lesson, my teacher kept increasing tempos on me to see how fast i could play, which annoyed me but he seemed impressed. he isn't always impressed. then during ensemble rehearsal, two of the three Dans had a protracted ideological argument about whether playing 'really out' was ok at school; one of the dans is the teacher, who felt that it was not really ok, and the other dan is a tenor player, who felt it was and who had played 'out' during a recent performance. the contemporary music part of 'the new school for jazz and contemporary music' was brought up, and it came out that contemporary music was actually supposed to be preceded by the word 'related' but because of the massive bureaucracy and internal politics the word was dropped. this was news to a number of people in the room. it underscored a long simmering issue with those who want to play crazy-sounding stuff and those who feel it isn't music. it happens to be, in fact, music, which usually consists of pitches sounded in sequence with a specific intended effect or shape. my teachers are just slightly taken with their own legacy, which they should be because they're teachers, but it makes some things difficult.

then there was take back the night, the 'event for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence', which was like cardio for your soul. it was amazing how many of my friends turned out for it, and some of them even spoke, which was even more touching, and i can't speak how proud it made me to know them. i missed the candlelight vigil and the march, which was by all accounts just as empowering as the posters said it was going to be, but got to hang with atrix instead which was just as cool. and we hung out afterwards as well and discussed a few of the deep things in life. and laughed at them.