GHYO Concert 2/24/08
>< so yeah...we blew it. Apparently no one in the audience noticed, but we did. Lessee...the first was the Carmen. It was all pretty good, and we probably should have done that one last. Dennis (a clarinet guy) didn't come in at the right time, as usual, and Wheeler had a miniature barely disguised fit on-stage. He was really mad during parts of the performance. In the Saint-Saens, his son was playing (holy F***, that boy can play). He's twelve, the same age as the prodigy cellist on YouTube, but this kid is cuter. Not "i'd date him" cute, but "awwwwwwwwwwwww" cute. He's so shy.
So anyway, during the Saint-Saens, we were CRAP. There's this one part, it's just up and down runs for twenty or so measures, with rests every two measures or so. They're not scales, not arpeggios, but weird things that have nothing to do with each other. Frustrating, to say the least. You either have to count super well, memorize the music, or look at the people in front of you. I opted for the last, but that proves hard when the people in front of you don't do any of the three mentioned above. We had a good page and a half of the Saint-Saens before we encountered the runs again, but a half-step higher. Then, 16th notes, 32nd notes, 64th notes (probably not literally, but they feel like 64th notes), and double stops. This man (conductor) does not realize that no one in the first violin section can play that inhumanly fast. The soloist is crazy awesome, and I swear I'd totally fangirl over him for a few more hours, but I really know nothing about him, other than he can play the cello like the devil can play the fiddle. And this kid's probably better.
The last was the Britten. "Matinees musicales" with little sections. It starts out like a circus ("March"), and that wasn't too bad. The second, the "Nocturne" was waaaaaaaaay worse, mostly because there were five or six flats. or seven. I'm not sure. And annoying string crossings. The one after was a crazy fast "Waltz". Starts on a D on the E string, 4th position. Goes up to approximately 7th position, I guess. I'm not counting. And accidentals. Ooh, how I hate accidentals. Then, there was a nicer one, "Pantomime", that is really nice and easy. Highest position is probably fifth or fourth, but it's slow, so it's not a big deal. The last is my favorite. "Moto perpetuo" means endless motion, and that is a very appropriate name. It's hard, cause the first three measures, we don't play. But the first measure is 4/4, with four quarter notes that the violins do not play, then 3/4, then 4/4, then we come in on the fourth measure, still 4/4, but then it changes to 3/4. And he's upping the tempo every measure. ooh, it was horrible. We go up higher than the other ones, at least to 9th position? Really? I was just counting, and it seems right, but I didn't think it went up that high...probably not, but I know we reach a high C at some point, and I know that a couple twenty measures later, we have a high E, higher than the C. I mean, an inch and a half away from the end of the fingerboard. Then we have the same pattern as the beginning of the "Moto perpetuo", with the weird measures and tempo. Anyway, it end of an F. Very anticlimactic. You'd expect a chord or something, but nooo. ><
I messed up a lot in the last two. And the entire section felt guilty in the Saint-Saens, because the soloist was so damn amazing, and we just screwed everything up. sigh. just needed to get it all out.
now i should study. or sleep. sleep sounds good.
So anyway, during the Saint-Saens, we were CRAP. There's this one part, it's just up and down runs for twenty or so measures, with rests every two measures or so. They're not scales, not arpeggios, but weird things that have nothing to do with each other. Frustrating, to say the least. You either have to count super well, memorize the music, or look at the people in front of you. I opted for the last, but that proves hard when the people in front of you don't do any of the three mentioned above. We had a good page and a half of the Saint-Saens before we encountered the runs again, but a half-step higher. Then, 16th notes, 32nd notes, 64th notes (probably not literally, but they feel like 64th notes), and double stops. This man (conductor) does not realize that no one in the first violin section can play that inhumanly fast. The soloist is crazy awesome, and I swear I'd totally fangirl over him for a few more hours, but I really know nothing about him, other than he can play the cello like the devil can play the fiddle. And this kid's probably better.
The last was the Britten. "Matinees musicales" with little sections. It starts out like a circus ("March"), and that wasn't too bad. The second, the "Nocturne" was waaaaaaaaay worse, mostly because there were five or six flats. or seven. I'm not sure. And annoying string crossings. The one after was a crazy fast "Waltz". Starts on a D on the E string, 4th position. Goes up to approximately 7th position, I guess. I'm not counting. And accidentals. Ooh, how I hate accidentals. Then, there was a nicer one, "Pantomime", that is really nice and easy. Highest position is probably fifth or fourth, but it's slow, so it's not a big deal. The last is my favorite. "Moto perpetuo" means endless motion, and that is a very appropriate name. It's hard, cause the first three measures, we don't play. But the first measure is 4/4, with four quarter notes that the violins do not play, then 3/4, then 4/4, then we come in on the fourth measure, still 4/4, but then it changes to 3/4. And he's upping the tempo every measure. ooh, it was horrible. We go up higher than the other ones, at least to 9th position? Really? I was just counting, and it seems right, but I didn't think it went up that high...probably not, but I know we reach a high C at some point, and I know that a couple twenty measures later, we have a high E, higher than the C. I mean, an inch and a half away from the end of the fingerboard. Then we have the same pattern as the beginning of the "Moto perpetuo", with the weird measures and tempo. Anyway, it end of an F. Very anticlimactic. You'd expect a chord or something, but nooo. ><
I messed up a lot in the last two. And the entire section felt guilty in the Saint-Saens, because the soloist was so damn amazing, and we just screwed everything up. sigh. just needed to get it all out.
now i should study. or sleep. sleep sounds good.