work related post...
Ok, this is more of a work-related post... sorry in advance :)
Tonight, the faculty at the college are doing a concert at the school. Part of the concert is Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat (or Soldier's Tale), which happens to be the only piece that I'm playing. The conductor mentioned it last year sometime, and I jumped on it. I'm always up for a challenge. The fall semester came and at the end of the semester, he sent us all emails saying he wanted to play it in January! WHAT?! Um, that only gives me a month to work on this. Eeeks. We had a read-through in December before we left for break, but at the time I hadn't had time to even look at it, as I had been preparing for another recital. The rehearsal was disastrous for me, to say the least. After the break and my trip, I could finally start working on it, for the concert less than 20 days later. So, here we are...
Anyway, the youtube link up there is a performance of L'Histoire done at SummerFest in 2002. There's a bit of talking at the beginning, but the whole piece is performed after they talk about it (about 11 minutes in). We aren't using dancers, but we do have a narrator. The violinist is a very well-known solo performer, Leila Josefowicz. She's freaking amazing on this piece. (AND OMG, I just noticed, she doesn't do something that the part specifically says either!! Whew, I feel better now...ha!)
So, most of our post-break rehearsals were this week. The music we have is the non-copyright stuff. It's hand-written mush, most of it. So, I had to put two movements (Ragtime and Triumphal March of the Devil, for those interested) into Finale (a music writing program on the computer) so I could actually read it. I'm feeling much better after actually being able to practice the part, but I'm still a bit worried. The violin part is extremely difficult, so there's plenty of times that I could fall apart (and the ensemble as well). Last night, we had rehearsal late, and by the end I was feeling so tired that things weren't coming out very well. We have a run-through tonight before the performance. We haven't actually gone through the whole thing all at once before.
Thankfully, the complete craziness of the first trimester have tapered off. I remember sitting in one rehearsal for a symphony early on and totally not being able to focus. I feel back to normal (as much normal as I can feel) in terms of playing. But, a performance means....concert black. Concert black is how performers dress for concerts. Usually "concert black" is tuxes for men and nice black for women. Though, tonight, we're all wearing black (no tuxes). But, that still means I need to wear black. Last weekend, I had to wear concert black for the symphony concert, and I noticed that my pants were getting a bit tight. And those are the last pair of black pants that fit. So, I need to get some new pants.
So, maternity clothes shopping is on the list today. I'm not sure I'll end up wearing said maternity pants tonight, but I know I'll need them soon. I got a gift certificate to a maternity store here in town, so I'll head over there today. If I feel like it, I'll go over to Old Navy as well, to see what they have.
And I also need to practice.
Tonight, the faculty at the college are doing a concert at the school. Part of the concert is Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat (or Soldier's Tale), which happens to be the only piece that I'm playing. The conductor mentioned it last year sometime, and I jumped on it. I'm always up for a challenge. The fall semester came and at the end of the semester, he sent us all emails saying he wanted to play it in January! WHAT?! Um, that only gives me a month to work on this. Eeeks. We had a read-through in December before we left for break, but at the time I hadn't had time to even look at it, as I had been preparing for another recital. The rehearsal was disastrous for me, to say the least. After the break and my trip, I could finally start working on it, for the concert less than 20 days later. So, here we are...
Anyway, the youtube link up there is a performance of L'Histoire done at SummerFest in 2002. There's a bit of talking at the beginning, but the whole piece is performed after they talk about it (about 11 minutes in). We aren't using dancers, but we do have a narrator. The violinist is a very well-known solo performer, Leila Josefowicz. She's freaking amazing on this piece. (AND OMG, I just noticed, she doesn't do something that the part specifically says either!! Whew, I feel better now...ha!)
So, most of our post-break rehearsals were this week. The music we have is the non-copyright stuff. It's hand-written mush, most of it. So, I had to put two movements (Ragtime and Triumphal March of the Devil, for those interested) into Finale (a music writing program on the computer) so I could actually read it. I'm feeling much better after actually being able to practice the part, but I'm still a bit worried. The violin part is extremely difficult, so there's plenty of times that I could fall apart (and the ensemble as well). Last night, we had rehearsal late, and by the end I was feeling so tired that things weren't coming out very well. We have a run-through tonight before the performance. We haven't actually gone through the whole thing all at once before.
Thankfully, the complete craziness of the first trimester have tapered off. I remember sitting in one rehearsal for a symphony early on and totally not being able to focus. I feel back to normal (as much normal as I can feel) in terms of playing. But, a performance means....concert black. Concert black is how performers dress for concerts. Usually "concert black" is tuxes for men and nice black for women. Though, tonight, we're all wearing black (no tuxes). But, that still means I need to wear black. Last weekend, I had to wear concert black for the symphony concert, and I noticed that my pants were getting a bit tight. And those are the last pair of black pants that fit. So, I need to get some new pants.
So, maternity clothes shopping is on the list today. I'm not sure I'll end up wearing said maternity pants tonight, but I know I'll need them soon. I got a gift certificate to a maternity store here in town, so I'll head over there today. If I feel like it, I'll go over to Old Navy as well, to see what they have.
And I also need to practice.