Good stuff
Well, life has been pretty crazy/hectic/crummy lately. But yesterday was alright, actually. I have just had so much to do lately, and it has been almost impossible to find the time to do the things I need to do. Luckily, there are things like sleep and eating that I can fairly easily forgo for a time. For example: Monday night, I finally had the opportunity to write a paper that was due the next day. Due to extra rehearsals for our big Beethoven concerts this weekend (in addition to my usual crazy workload), I didn't get to start it until about 10:00 p.m. I stayed up until 4:00 a.m. working on it, and then got up at 9:00 to keep going. Pretty sweet system. Not. So, that's a little snapshot of how crazy things have been (I could go on and on, but I won't). But yesterday was pretty okay.
I was having a hectic and stressful day until I got done with classes at about 5:30. Then I went to Wendy's with Kamauri and Connor before we went to the Cathedral for our first rehearsal with the orchestra and all the soloists for our Beethoven concerts. It was unbelievable. It sounds so incredible; I guess it helps that the Missa Solemnis is honestly probably the most amazing piece of music I've ever heard in my life. The orchestra and the soloists are all fantastic; the only thing is that most of the choir isn't watching the conductor, and so they are getting way behind. They're listening rather than watching, so they fall more and more behind because what they're hearing is the echo of the orchestra off the back of the church. But even so, it all was sounding really good.
Then after we finished the Missa portion of the rehearsal, they rehearsed the Choral Fantasy ("they" being the smaller choir, the orhcestra, and our guest soloist). This is a piece for piano solo, orchestra, and towards the end it has choral parts. It is a really, really great piece. Our guest soloists just happens to be Thomas Lauderdale, from Pink Martini. Our choir director has known him since he was in middle school, so Lauderdale enthusiastically agreed to do this with us. Since I'm not in the choir that's singing this piece, I just sat and watched the rehearsal. I sat in the very front pew, about a foot from Lauderdale while he was playing, just watching his hands fly across the keys. Absolutely amazing. And what was really cool was that he kept joking with me and asking me questions. Like, at one point he messed up the end of a crazy run and laughs and says to me, "Oops!" with a shrug. Then later on, during a break in his part, he turns to me with a kind of anxious look on his face and says, "Do I sound nervous?" After a while my friend David came and sat with me, for a better view; first Lauderdale just looked at him and smiled and nodded to acknowledge him and say hi, but then he did a double-take and said "Hey, I just saw you in a show this week, on Monday! You were in Les Miserables, right?" and David was speechless and just nodded with his jaw dropped haha. It was pretty sweet. Then when they finished rehearsing that piece for the night, Lauderdale turned to us and said, "That was better, right? It sounded okay?" and I said, "Trust me, it sounded great, I swear!" I had to add the "I swear" part because he looked like he didn't believe me haha. A few minutes later he came up to me and was asking me how well he was staying with the orchestra; "Was I getting too much ahead? Was I rushing at all?" and stuff like that. It was pretty darn cool. And I think that if they rehearse it again tonight, I'm going to stay and watch again. Good stuff.
So yeah, yesterday turned out to be a pretty okay day. I just wanted to document a fairly good day that I had, because they've been few and far between lately! haha.
Love,
Paul
I was having a hectic and stressful day until I got done with classes at about 5:30. Then I went to Wendy's with Kamauri and Connor before we went to the Cathedral for our first rehearsal with the orchestra and all the soloists for our Beethoven concerts. It was unbelievable. It sounds so incredible; I guess it helps that the Missa Solemnis is honestly probably the most amazing piece of music I've ever heard in my life. The orchestra and the soloists are all fantastic; the only thing is that most of the choir isn't watching the conductor, and so they are getting way behind. They're listening rather than watching, so they fall more and more behind because what they're hearing is the echo of the orchestra off the back of the church. But even so, it all was sounding really good.
Then after we finished the Missa portion of the rehearsal, they rehearsed the Choral Fantasy ("they" being the smaller choir, the orhcestra, and our guest soloist). This is a piece for piano solo, orchestra, and towards the end it has choral parts. It is a really, really great piece. Our guest soloists just happens to be Thomas Lauderdale, from Pink Martini. Our choir director has known him since he was in middle school, so Lauderdale enthusiastically agreed to do this with us. Since I'm not in the choir that's singing this piece, I just sat and watched the rehearsal. I sat in the very front pew, about a foot from Lauderdale while he was playing, just watching his hands fly across the keys. Absolutely amazing. And what was really cool was that he kept joking with me and asking me questions. Like, at one point he messed up the end of a crazy run and laughs and says to me, "Oops!" with a shrug. Then later on, during a break in his part, he turns to me with a kind of anxious look on his face and says, "Do I sound nervous?" After a while my friend David came and sat with me, for a better view; first Lauderdale just looked at him and smiled and nodded to acknowledge him and say hi, but then he did a double-take and said "Hey, I just saw you in a show this week, on Monday! You were in Les Miserables, right?" and David was speechless and just nodded with his jaw dropped haha. It was pretty sweet. Then when they finished rehearsing that piece for the night, Lauderdale turned to us and said, "That was better, right? It sounded okay?" and I said, "Trust me, it sounded great, I swear!" I had to add the "I swear" part because he looked like he didn't believe me haha. A few minutes later he came up to me and was asking me how well he was staying with the orchestra; "Was I getting too much ahead? Was I rushing at all?" and stuff like that. It was pretty darn cool. And I think that if they rehearse it again tonight, I'm going to stay and watch again. Good stuff.
So yeah, yesterday turned out to be a pretty okay day. I just wanted to document a fairly good day that I had, because they've been few and far between lately! haha.
Love,
Paul