Thursday, June 21, 2012

Symphonie Fantastique Drinking Game

This is part three of a series on Hector Berlioz.  Check out the other parts here:

A completely scientific and formal biography of Hector Berlioz

A completely factual, honest, and true list of real information and data about Hector Berlioz


So, it's looking like a little while until the next International Hector Berlioz Appreciation Day wanders around, so most of you probably haven't listened to Symphonie Fantastique for a few months... but, why?  Why should your appreciation of Jesus Chuck Norris Morgan Freeman Optimus Prime Aragorn son of Arathorn Hector Berlioz, man among men, be confined to a single day?  After all, was Berlioz's deep, passionate longing for one Ms. Smithson confined to a single day?  Of course not, it was all-encompasing and eternal.  As one who knows a touch of that bitter taste of unrequited love, we must of course pay our respects to the absolute master of unrequited love, and his Holy Graile of a worke that confined it so perfectly:  Symphonie Fantastique.  So, while you should of course listen to it on his holiday, feel free to invite friends over to listen to Fantastique on any day of the year!  To make this more appealing to those who haven't seen The Truth, I've made a nifty little drinking game to gather their attention.

Now, of course, the first thing you'll need is a recording of Fantastique.  I'll provide a pretty good one here, though my favourite (as usual) is Chicago... I'm such a huge Herseth fan.  Though ironically, I'm not too fond of his solo recordings.  It's his recordings in symphonies as a principal where he really shines, and Fantastique is no different.


Pay close attention to the theme that starts at 5:34.  That's the Beloved's theme, the object of our protagonist's affection.  It'll be a central part of this game.  Now, here are the rules:


+ Off the top... take a drink!  After all, you're the lonely bachelor... and we might as well get this party started with a bang.

+ Singing along will be required in certain passages, but is encouraged throughout.  There is no penalty for not singing along in areas not covered by the rules, but the other participants are allowed to make fun of you for it.

+ For every movement besides the first, take a drink when you hear a new timbre.  For example, the harp entry in the second movement, the English horn in the third (I believe), and the tubular bells and the col legno in the fifth.

+ If anyone makes a sound during a Grand Pause, take two drinks.

+ THE GOLDEN RULE:  Every time the Beloved's theme enters, the first person to yell "THEME!" gives a drink to the rest of the players.  Then, after drinking or yelling, everyone must sing along with the theme, or take two drinks if they stop or ignore it.  If you falsely called for the theme, take five drinks.  Use your discretion for the fragments in the first movement (most of them wouldn't count as a full entry).  The snippet in the fourth movement counts, and is in fact one of the most important ones.

+ NEW RULE ADDED MARCH 2013:  This is a direct corollary to the Golden Rule, and completely changes the way the game is played.  When a player activates the Golden Rule, if there is another player whose real life idée fixe is a mutual friend of them and the THEME-yeller, and the THEME-yeller doesn't know it, that player may elect to publicly reveal the identity of their idée fixe to all present. Everyone avoids their drink, and the THEME-yeller must finish their drink and get a new one. If the idée fixe is present in the game, they must finish their drink and get a new one as well, regardless of whether they knew or not.

+ If you get bored during the third movement, take a drink to make the time pass faster.  You can do this multiple times.

+ There are two shepherds at the start of the third movement.  At the end, there is only one.  The usual interpretation is that the other one left to escape the rain on the horizon, but I've always found this passage unnecessarily eerie, and interpreted it as the other shepherd having passed away.  Everyone takes a drink in his honour.

+ In the fourth movement, everyone cheers and drinks a toast during the two brass fanfares.

+ THE GALLOWS:  Another super-important rule, near the end of the first movement, the Beloved's theme returns.  After/during that, everyone must yell "BANG!" in sync with the guillotine, or else finish your drink and get a new one.  This stacks with the Golden Rule, so be quick about it so as not to miss the guillotine!

+ During the second entrance (first full entrance) of the Beloved's theme in the fifth movement, anyone in the room who has ever played an E-flat clarinet can elect to either finish their drink and get a new one, or get slapped in the face.  I hope you didn't miss the guillotine, because those stack!

+ During the fifth movement, everyone must sing along with the Deis Irae, using the lyrics "Deis Irae."  No penalty, but just... do it.  It's fun.  Especially if you sing it in as deep a voice you can for the low brass entrances.

+ And, of course, cheer, applaud, and toast for the grand finale!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

MAHL WARS: EPISODE I - TITAN

I'm not going to post a recording, but feel free to follow along at home with your own copy, or search one up on YouTube, iTunes, the Classical Music Library, or Nexus Music Library!  As usual, I suggest the Chicago/Solti recording... the trumpets are amazing, Herseth is so incredibly on the ball in that one!

Part I - Langsam.  Schleppend.

Scene opens in the vast, deep emptiness of space.  A beat-up looking pod soars by the camera, which follows it.  Resistance spacecraft can be seen in the background, in orbit around the planet Liepzooine.  The pod soars towards the planet, landing in the desert near a small farm.

[5th bar after rehearsal 4] Out of the farm comes Gustav Skywalker, a strapping young lad full of ambition, but too poor to make a name for himself in the galaxy.  His dream is to join the Star Resistance and fight against the evil Empire.  As he goes out into the farm to work, he begins to daydream about flying, fighting Imperial ships, and saving maidens.  He phases in and out of being able to pay attention to his work, and glorious visions of space battles.

[Rehearsal 12] Gustav discovers the pod, which opens to reveal a small robot.  The robot reveals to him that he has a message to deliver to Anti-Non Brucknobi.  Gustav wonders if this will lead him on to an adventure, and travels with the robot through the early morning mist to meet Old Ant Brucknobi.

[Rehearsal 15] The robot tells Anti-Non that the Resistance is in dire trouble of losing the Viennescant system to the Empire.  The Resistance representative, Princess Alma, asks if Anti-Non can return to them the power of Titan.  Gustav asks what this is, and Anti-Non explains that Titan was the nickname of a famous fighter pilot that used to fight against the Empire before it was established, but hasn't been seen in years.

[Rehearsal 26] After much discouragement and warning about the evils of the Empire, Anti-Non finally decides to take Gustav with him and teach him the ways of the Composers' Guild, an ancient order that uses the craft of Muzyk as a source of power.

Part II - Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell.

Anti-Non and Gustav enter the main city of Mos Liepzig, where a Resistance outpost is taking recruits.  Gustav is at first turned away, but Anti-Non vouches for him, and manages to persuade the recruiters to take him, using the mystical powers of Muzyk.

[Rehearsal 5] Anti-Non and Gustav board a Resistance ship, flying to the capital planet of Viennescant.  Gustav is overwhelmed by all the people, the procedure, and the amount of stuff he's expected to know and do.  He's also rather clumsy, and makes a fool of himself often.

[Rehearsal 16] Gustav, while trying to find the briefing room that will explain what he should do when they reach their destination, accidentally stumbles upon Princess Alma's quarters.  Though she is timid at first, the two take to each other well, though they are both rather awkward and shy.

[Rehearsal 26] Gustav finally makes it to his briefing, and is taught some basic things about flying his own spaceship, since the Resistance is quite strapped for pilots.  He then decides to seek out Anti-Non learn about Muzyk, and Anti-Non tells him they will begin his training when they touch down.

Part III - Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen.

When they arrive on Viennescant, Anti-Non takes ill, and passes away in his sleep that night.  A funeral is held the next day, and while most people believe it was Brucknobi's old age that did him in, Gustav doesn't think someone that wise in the ways of Muzyk could die of natural causes.

[Rehearsal 5] Gustav notices some shady characters leaving the funeral, and decides to tail them through the city.  They end up in a dingy pub, called Bernstein's.  He orders a drink to look less conspicuous, but after taking a sip, passes out.

[Rehearsal 10] Anti-Non comes in a vision to Gustav, saying that the power of Titan belongs to anyone strong in the ways of Muzyk, and that by releasing his spirit, he is allowing Gustav to absorb the powers of the Titan into himself.  He then tells Gustav to seek out Master Yogner as soon as he can, who will be able to oversee Gustav's training.

[Rehearsal 13] Gustav comes to his senses, and finds himself tied to a chair in the pub, with the shady characters all around.  Through the powers of Muzyk, he manages to improvise a story to explain his being there, get them to untie him, and make a sneaky escape.

Part IV - Stürmisch bewegt

Gustav makes it back to base just in time, an Imperial Planet Render has come out of hyperspace accidentally and stumbled across the secret base at Viennescant.  The Resistance decides to scramble as many fighters as they can spare, and take it down before it can make communications with the Emperor's flagship.  Gustav, being a new trainee, is still given a small, cheap ship, because the Resistance simply doesn't have the numbers to deny even the newest recruits to take part in the battle.

[Rehearsal 15] Princess Alma seeks out Gustav before he lifts off, and tells him that she has taken a liking to him, and to be careful.  Gustav cannot believe his luck, and is momentarily dumfounded, before realizing that there is a battle going on, and the fighters must be scrambled.

[Rehearsal 21] Gustav's squad takes off, flying into space.  They arrive at the site of the battle, and are immediately intercepted by Wie-Fighters.  Though Gustav has never flown before, he finds that with the power of Muzyk, outflying the Imperials is much easier than he expected.

[4 before Rehearsal 34] As Gustav is neck and neck with an enemy Wie-Fighter, he hears Anti-Non's voice in his head, telling him "Yes, Gustav Skywalker... you are the Titan they so seek."  Gustav channels this power, and uses it to take out the Wie-Fighter.  He then turns his focus on the Planet Render.

[Rehearsal 38] Gustav flies underneath the Planet Render's shield, and though it looks like he is lost in a firefight, he manages to neutralize the ship's generator with a well-placed torpedo, allowing the Resistance flagship to enter and dispose of the larger ship.  Gustav's ship has undergone heavy damage, though, and is brought back to the surface, though no one has heard any correspondance from him.  Fearing the worst, they open the helm.


[Rehearsal 45] Gustav is found in critical condition, and brought to the hospital.  It is discovered that there is some shrapnel close to his heart, so the surgeons immediately get to work.  It looks like he is alright, but one piece has lodged in too close to remove.  As the surgeon tries as hard as he can, the barely conscious Gustav reaches out with Muzyk to give him the power he needs.


[Rehearsal 52] Gustav has recovered, and is awarded a medal for bravery by Princess Alma.  The scene pans back up to space, and shows fireworks and Resistance ships flying past in jubilation.  Cue the end credits.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Pallet Town Ping Pont Festival! With music sometimes.

So the music festival finished yesterday, with our big concert being that one piece by that one guy. You know, that one.


This piece was actually ridiculously fun.  Some folks were terrified of the counting, especially in the last dance, but I'm pretty tank at odd meter, so it worked out.  As much as I didn't want to believe it at first, you can totally just get in the zone after a while, and not worry about screaming beats in your head... the piece has kind of a groove that's pretty easy to lock in to.  Anyways, the point is, I can say I've played this in front of people who paid to hear it now, and that is amazing.


So, a few of the observations about Festival this year: one, our trio is awesome.  McBoss, Firebird, and I were really making excellent efforts, connecting, and just having fun by the end of it.  I kind of want to see if they'd be willing to do a recording at some point over the summer, not to sell or anything, but as just kind of a demo to have on hand.  If nothing else, it could be the best YouTube recording, since I haven't found a professional one there, but I'm not a huge fan of putting my stuff online.

Quintet was pretty fun, though I did at times feel like we were rushing to get some things together near the end.  I don't remember the piece taking as long for the University quintet to get together, but that's probably just because that group only changes by maybe one member a year, and the Festival quintet had mostly just not played with each other before.  Still, it was a blast.  I feel like we got along better in this quintet than in the one in last year's festival.

Of course, I didn't play as well as I wanted to in the masterclass, but I wasn't expecting to blow people away.  I had been working on the piece for... probably just under a month, and I was playing it without piano, so I was rather nervous off the top, not taking a cue to come in.  Oh, and it was this.  On trumpet.


I had another lesson with Big Boss, and although he had a lot of great points that I'm going to try to focus on all summer to make them second nature, I'm glad to hear that it sounds like I'm improving.  I sometimes worry that I go long amounts of time without making a difference, but considering the things he suggested last year and the things he suggested this year, it sounds like he has a lot more confidence in me now, and I'm getting more confidence in myself, too.  Although I still worry about whether I'll be on par when I get to Viridian City, I'm feeling a little better about myself after this festival, which is much more than I can say about last year.

Hey, speaking of last year... this blog has been around for a year, hasn't it? *checks calendar* A year and a week, actually!  So, I totally missed the birthday, but I think I will end up celebrating it by kicking off a new mini-series, starting as soon as I have a free two hours some evening.

So, I noticed something after 'Vinsky last night... I miss having a musicology friend.  Empress went to the concert, and we chatted for well over half an hour in the lobby afterwards about random things... Beethoven and living in conservatories and Schoenberg yelling at Shirley Temple fans and playing things to make them sound like you're trying really really hard when you might not be... just, stuff.  And because of a certain someone having moved away, I don't get my musicology fix nearly as much as I used to, so that was... just nice, I guess.

Anyways, next time, the birthday kickoff, which will launch a nine-part series (they won't be back to back, they'll probably be between regular updates) that you REALLY don't want to miss.  Because it might involve Star Wars somehow.  I'm not entirely sure how, yet, but it will.