Hey internet. I'm listening to Berlin play Tchaik 4 as I write this. Since you totally were wondering. It was actually in my top three symphonies for a little while, though that was before I knew Mahlers 1 and 3, and its younger brother Tchaik 2, which I enjoy more due to the personal connection (in that I've actually played it, and it was one of my strongest concerts to date, plus the ending is just so comically triumphant and it makes me very happy).
I'm gonna try to not sound too bummed out, because I really shouldn't be. Jeez, this whole blog's been a real downer for the past couple life-related posts, hasn't it? First term's over, I somehow got my Biblio paper "written," and I'm generally doing successful in school and classes and ensembles sometimes and stuff.
I had a bad concert last week. We performed Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Handel's Dettingen Te Deum, as I may have mentioned last time. And... wow... that lineup was really hard on me. >.< I was playing Trumpet 3: Director's Cut for the Britten, and I ended up having to drop a lot of the unison parts of the second movement, which was probably noticeable since my picc sound is so different from the other guys' C sounds, but I kind of sort of maybe got some of that nasty run after rehearsal four. To be honest, I kind of blocked the memory from my mind, so I *think* I got the high concert D, but I can't be sure.
The Handel, on the other hand, was another story. I actually started the first two movements much stronger than I expected, but the stupid amount of trumpet lines caught up to me. And then... the worst happened. I farted all over the introduction to the sixth movement, the trumpet and bass duet. Kind of the most important movement to get right. It was definitely the most embarrassing moment of the term for me, and the next concert's so far away that I don't have a way to "redeem myself" before people forget about it. Which I know sounds unnecessary, but I'd really rather there be a big show sooner rather than later, so instead of people thinking "Oh look, he improved," they'd think "Oh look, he's actually not as bad as Handel led me to believe." Which is me being immature. I admit it. I'm sure eventually I'll be glad I had the experience to do a bad show so that I know mentally how to deal with it, but... that's later and this is now. So I'm going to be bitter. So THERE.
(Wrote this paragraph as an afterthought, so I'm almost at the end of the third movement of Tchaik, at the part where it quotes the fourth movement... or... vice-versa, I guess) I guess the thing about this that's the most humbling is the fact that... well... real trumpet players CAN do this. There are shows out there that are worse. Apparently Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks is an even MORE tiring trumpet part, and looking at the excerpts, I can tell. But... real players can pull it off. And I can't. Not yet. So... that's not acceptable. I NEED to be able to do this. No getting away with "oh, that was a hard show, you did your best." NO. Not allowed. So it's time to get back to practicing, cuz my best better pick up the pace.
So I'm ditching Termina and heading back to Hyrule for a couple weeks, later this week. It's going to be nice to see people again. I mean, I am making some pretty good friends here, but I've generally been less social than I have been in the past (part of this because of not being in a youth orchestra, and part because I'm practicing on average 2-3x as long per day as I did last year). Damn guys the second movement just started playing, I love this one... sorry, easily distracted. As I was saying... being less social in general. I'm actually curious as to whether that'll carry on when I go back home, playing 4-5 hours a day and pissing off the folks (maybe I'll go to the school some days so they don't have to deal with it, maybe not, idk). I can't imagine why it wouldn't, except that I won't be entirely on my own schedule and have to conform to the family's routine, so there's that.
So I'm applying for like five or six summer programmes, I've decided, which means... audition DVDs! Totally using the grad degree as a (legitimate) excuse to not be able to travel or spend money on auditions, meaning I have to record a bunch over the next two months (I'll end up making a big graph to see which recordings I could technically do back-to-back without stopping the camera, might make bookings easier). I want to do a few over the break, back home, though I'd also rather get some done here in January, since I'd have more practice time, and get to have a lesson or two with Yoda first. There's two in particular I'm hoping for, due to complementary schedules and excellent opportunities/resume lines, though if nothing goes through, there's always the Pallet Town Ping Pong Festival (which I'd love to do, don't get me wrong I really enjoy it, but another programme that I REALLY SHOULD go to overlaps with the end a bit).
Okay, I'm gonna go continue to reorganize my iPhone music library (whyyyyyyy didn't I splurge for a 16GB device?). I leave you with this awesome masterclass from Tanglewood, it's about an hour, but really worth the watch. Ohhey, the third movement's starting up, I love this one, too! K, peace out, y'all.
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