...in which I am needlessly bitchy
There is this one classical violinist who keeps registering for the University Rock Ensemble that I'm also in. Which, I'm minoring. I don't really have any room to say anything. As much as I really want to hit her when she opens her mouth, I sit there quietly. She's entitled to free speech and opinions and I know that if I can't say something nice, I should be quiet because as ignorant as she can be, she's also very nice and endlessly supportive.
Today, she asked our new instructor the same question she asks every term at least four times. "How do we function without a conductor? Like how do we,you know work as a group? Cause I know the boys have experience and like, Nita's a diva-"
Which I'm sure she doesn't realize is a complete insult in the Anchorage scene. so I kind of moved to the other side of the room to tune the guitars.
"So like, how do we work?"
Andy, the new 400 level instructor gave a speech and asked me if I had any words to add. I told him no because, seriously, every fucking term she asks this multiple times. I was willing to walk her through the first term, but this is her THIRD SEMESTER. If she seriously hasn't understood the many times I've tried to explain, then she isn't going to figure it out now.
Of course, after I said no several times, Andy asked her if this was her first semester doing it. When she fessed up to having done this for three semesters, he chewed her out a bit for not having figured it out by now. And then explained it to her one more time.
Life as a music minor is weird. Especially since I have a Writing major and a music minor officially, but have more music credits than creative writting credits. It means having a collection of guitars and more theory knowledge than practical skills since I'm cut out of the major university level classes that get offered at state universities. It means that generally, when someone needs tutoring they get pushed at me but when soloing opportunities come up or5 the possibility of gigging in town, I get left in the dust.
A good chunk of my credits also come from this huge amount of vocal work. I have three and a half octaves but most bands woulds rather have a crappy singer that can shred guitar than a great singer who does auxillary percussion because it means instead of splitting their income in five ways, they split it in four.
The purpose of female singers in the mind of the department chair and most of the people in town, is to be a hot three part harmony chorus to sing in the background of a lead male singer. They are there to be eye candy and sing incomplicated pieces. Every time he starts to give the speech, I kind of want to throw things at him. Because his feelings match everything I've seen in the music scene up here. Most men would pick a male guitarist over a female guitarist of better skill. I've been here nearly four years and I've only seen one female fronted band, let alone, a band with female instrumentalists. That band, a family pirate/gypsy band and two female accordian players.
Screw Anchorage and the mysogony. FOr real