[are you satisfied with an average life]
So I've made an executive decision that I need to learn how to play the pipe organ.
I've always loved the organ. I've always acknowledged that it is the most badass of the instruments. I mean, it was invented because some musician, who may or may not have been high at the time, realized that playing one instrument simply wasn't enough-- that what he really wanted was to play all the instruments, and moreover at the same time, and nothing else would do. And so he invented the pipe organ, and it is both the oldest and STILL the most badass thing ever created. "What's that? You play the clarinet? Oh. How quaint. See me hitting this key with one finger? I am now playing eight clarinets. Where is your god now." "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Norris. Must say, you're quite the badass-- Winning staring contests with the sun, counting to infinity twice, making onions cry at ten paces-- but I can play four keyboards at the same time. And one of those with my feet. You may address me as 'Sir.'"
On Wednesday, my fizzix class took a day off to sit in Sharp Concert Hall and listen to the organ professor lecture about the scope and capabilities of OU'S 1930s pipe organ (this is the one in the theater, not the equally glorious one out in the lobby). Organs are, as a rule, pretty fucking massive, but this one is big even by organ standards. A family of four could live without much difficulty in the space this organ takes up. I think all told it's close to three stories high. It's connected not only to a full range of pipes, but to a player piano and a great many exciting sound effects (all acoustic) for its previous use as a theater organ. It longest pipes have yet to be installed - once they are, the organ will take up a good half of the theater on its own, because it will have 104 pipes and several of those will be 35 feet tall.
I want to sit all five feet, two inches of me down on that little elevated bench and make a sound to shake the rafters. I want to play notes too low to hear, that rumble under the seats and rattle bones at their fundamental frequency. I want to make a noise so vast and glorious that God hears it - and isn't that why the greatest organs in the world are still in cathedrals, where the sound itself could be the voice of God echoing off the walls? I don't even have to be good at it. I just want, once at least, to command something so powerful.
The best part: This is actually possible. If I finish Piano II next semester, I will have the requisite experience to learn the organ. I might be the shittiest pianist on the face of the earth, but damn it, I don't have to be good. I just want to play that motherfucker. By then maybe there'll be all 104 pipes for me to play.
Plans for the week:
-skip Convocation today; go hear Senator Joe Lieberman speak instead. (Technically, missing one Convo is utterly verboten. But this is no longer relevant to my major, and damn it, Convo every two weeks < senator's speech.)
-attempt Music in the Elevators (basically: sit in an elevator and serenade the people riding up. How a cello and an elevator full of people will coexist remains to be seen, but this sounds so fun. |D)
-apply for internship in OK legislature (this will, if I get it, either be amazing or depressing. Oh god.)
-finish papers (OR FINISH ONE AND START THE OTHER SOB)
I've always loved the organ. I've always acknowledged that it is the most badass of the instruments. I mean, it was invented because some musician, who may or may not have been high at the time, realized that playing one instrument simply wasn't enough-- that what he really wanted was to play all the instruments, and moreover at the same time, and nothing else would do. And so he invented the pipe organ, and it is both the oldest and STILL the most badass thing ever created. "What's that? You play the clarinet? Oh. How quaint. See me hitting this key with one finger? I am now playing eight clarinets. Where is your god now." "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Norris. Must say, you're quite the badass-- Winning staring contests with the sun, counting to infinity twice, making onions cry at ten paces-- but I can play four keyboards at the same time. And one of those with my feet. You may address me as 'Sir.'"
On Wednesday, my fizzix class took a day off to sit in Sharp Concert Hall and listen to the organ professor lecture about the scope and capabilities of OU'S 1930s pipe organ (this is the one in the theater, not the equally glorious one out in the lobby). Organs are, as a rule, pretty fucking massive, but this one is big even by organ standards. A family of four could live without much difficulty in the space this organ takes up. I think all told it's close to three stories high. It's connected not only to a full range of pipes, but to a player piano and a great many exciting sound effects (all acoustic) for its previous use as a theater organ. It longest pipes have yet to be installed - once they are, the organ will take up a good half of the theater on its own, because it will have 104 pipes and several of those will be 35 feet tall.
I want to sit all five feet, two inches of me down on that little elevated bench and make a sound to shake the rafters. I want to play notes too low to hear, that rumble under the seats and rattle bones at their fundamental frequency. I want to make a noise so vast and glorious that God hears it - and isn't that why the greatest organs in the world are still in cathedrals, where the sound itself could be the voice of God echoing off the walls? I don't even have to be good at it. I just want, once at least, to command something so powerful.
The best part: This is actually possible. If I finish Piano II next semester, I will have the requisite experience to learn the organ. I might be the shittiest pianist on the face of the earth, but damn it, I don't have to be good. I just want to play that motherfucker. By then maybe there'll be all 104 pipes for me to play.
Plans for the week:
-skip Convocation today; go hear Senator Joe Lieberman speak instead. (Technically, missing one Convo is utterly verboten. But this is no longer relevant to my major, and damn it, Convo every two weeks < senator's speech.)
-attempt Music in the Elevators (basically: sit in an elevator and serenade the people riding up. How a cello and an elevator full of people will coexist remains to be seen, but this sounds so fun. |D)
-apply for internship in OK legislature (this will, if I get it, either be amazing or depressing. Oh god.)
-finish papers (OR FINISH ONE AND START THE OTHER SOB)