Hi interwebs! Long time no rant! So, here's one rant, and I have another ultra-nerdy but still music one planned for... whenever I have the chance, so like next week sometime. XD
Thing number one: MASTERCLASS TOMORROW. I'm incredibly pumped, we're having one of (if not) the BEST trumpet players in the country come to direct it, and her orchestra's performing with our local pro orch Saturday night. WHICH I'M GOING TO. I lucked out on two tickets through a series of fortunate events, and they're playing Tchaik 5, so I'm totally stoked.
I'm going to play Legend in the masterclass. I've played it once already in front of people, at the last noon-hour concert at school. It actually went really well, except I was for some reason shaking, which I rarely ever do these days (and by rarely, I MEAN it, like maybe once a YEAR or so). But, there was only one part I was consciously aware of cracking, though that run at the end gets me every time. I start to get ahead of the piano, so I pull back on the rein, and then it becomes a rocking-back-and-forth until we (usually) end together miraculously at the same time. Much like the contour of the lick itself.
So, orchestra. Oh, orchestra. I'm sitting second in the youth orchestra this year, which I've known for ages, and I'm cool with that. But I think I got demoted in university orchestra, since I'm labeled as first for the first concert (ALL SIBELIUS, ALL THE TIME), even though we rotate, I play first in two pieces, and my ol' buddy Thalberg does in one (he's Thalberg because I have longer hair, so I get to be Liszt, and there's actually a few other good reasons we line up that way, but not going to go into too much detail right now). But now I'm apparently sitting second for the whole of the second concert... I just wanted to drive ONE of the orchestras. Not both. Just one. I feel like it's another one of those "we're getting you accustomed to it now so if you get that kind of gig in real life you can deal" things, but... idk. I just feel like the conductor shouldn't have written "trumpet I" on the set of parts I got in September if he planned on switching them up like that. On the other hand, I feel like I AM getting to be a decent second, in the sense of anticipating what the lead's going to do and matching lenght/style/tone/etc, but... I have enough chance to practice that in youth orchestra, I just want to experience it from both sides. :/
Anyways, off to play me some Legend. After all, Masterclassmasterclassmasterclass. ^.^ I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope it goes well for me. I really do.
(Also, the third movement of the Sibelius violin concerto? That's totally the soundtrack to some guy baking a pizza. Just saying.)
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Hector Berlioz: The Man. The Myth. The Incessant Orgy-Riddled Finales.
A few Februaries ago, some of my friends and I decided that February 14th, for the sake of the one single guy at the time, must become a better holiday. And thus, International Hector Berlioz Day was born. It was our day to recognize that overly-fixated, whining, over-the-top, badass, and generally awesome French romantic composer of at least one piece, and possibly some other pieces. Now, for your enjoyment, my crash-course on why Berlioz is pretty much the best thing in the history of ever, mostly either as my own knowledge or stolen from Wikipedia.
Berlioz, unlike Mozart, wasn't super-pro at the piano the moment he came out of the womb. He didn't even play it... the PIANO. In fact, he played the guitar and the flute. That already implies volumes about his personality. He wrote some random chamber pieces at a young age, but nothing too great. And he had the hots for his 18-year-old neighbour when he was 12. This spiritually launched his career as a starving romantic, moving from one fixation to the next, breaking down crying at awesome performances of Beethoven symphonies, and standing up and yelling in rage during bad performances of Beethoven symphonies.
So, he went off to be a doctor, but then saw someone dissecting a body (presumably in a class and not just on the side of the road), and jumped out of the window in disgust. Being introduced to the music of Christoph Gluck, perhaps the least attractively named composer at that time, got Berlioz even more into composition as a goal. So, he goes off to study music.
During a production of "Hamlet," he instantly becomes infatuated (not an uncommon trait for Monsieur Berlioz) with Harriet Smithson, playing Ophelia. Yeah, the insane chick. You know, the kind of person one usually DOESN'T want to become attracted to. So, he sends her overly-mushy love letters, and she (obviously) thinks he's a total creep. He ends up dedicating Symphonie Fantastique (yeah, that one piece that he wrote) to her, but goes and gets engaged some Camille Moke chick instead. Oh, and I believe Fantastique was the first of several pieces he wrote to have a movement/scene based on an orgy. In particular, this one's a DEMONIC orgy. So that's cool.
Now, here's the infamous story that our Berlioz fan club just can't get enough of. Berlioz goes to live in Rome for a little while, and absolutely hates it. He receives a letter from Camille's father, saying the engagement is terminated and she's going to marry some piano builder. Yep, the PIANOS are back. So, here's his plan: he buys a french maid outfit, several poisons, and steals a pistol with three shots, so that he can shoot her, her lover, and himself, and use poison if the pistol jams. But, he gets on the train to Paris, and (depending on who's telling the story) either gets kicked off and goes back to Rome, or gets off, realizes he forgot his costume on the train, and gives up and goes back to Rome.
So, Berlioz holds a concert where Symphonie Fantastique is performed (you know, that one piece he wrote). Guess who shows up? Harriet Smithson. Oh, and CHOPIN, LISZT, PAGANINI, AND VICTOR HUGO. But mostly Harriet Smithson, I guess. Anyways, that happens. And he and Harriet somehow get together, even though they don't speak the same language, and he was a creepy stalker like a few years ago. So that was a thing.
Paganini, being impressed, asked him to write a viola concerto. Thus Harold in Italy exists. Yeah, you know Italy, that one place Berlioz hated. Anyways, Paganini thought that it was too easy, and didn't play it. We'd like to think that it's a second piece Berlioz wrote, but if you listen to it, it's pretty much Fantastique with all the bars in a different order, and the viola being more important. Paganini DID end up paying Berlioz, though, so he could pay off some debts Harriet worked up. Oh, and then they broke up. Smooth. But fine for him, he was already starting to get together with some actress by the name of Marie Recio, who, according to Google Images, wasn't quite as attractive. For some reason, he ended up providing Harriet financial aid the rest of her life, which, as a composer, would have been impossible, had Mikhail Glinka not showed him how to make a fortune by composing... IN RUSSIA.
And, that's most of the entertaining, non-boring-ol'-history facts that I know about the most awesome of composer figures ever. Not most awesome composer, that would be Tchaikovsky. And not the composer with the most awesome figure, that would be Ravel. Or Fanny Mendelssohn, I guess. Not a lot to choose from in terms of women, assuming we limit ourselves to mainstream classical composers. Berlioz, on the other had, is just full of awesome. From rumors of him hating Richard Wagner, to him writing an opera so grand, they couldn't afford to put it on and instead put on one by Wagner, the stories of this guy just seem to keep flooding in. Check him out sometime.
Maurice Ravel is bringing sexy back. Yeah.
Berlioz, unlike Mozart, wasn't super-pro at the piano the moment he came out of the womb. He didn't even play it... the PIANO. In fact, he played the guitar and the flute. That already implies volumes about his personality. He wrote some random chamber pieces at a young age, but nothing too great. And he had the hots for his 18-year-old neighbour when he was 12. This spiritually launched his career as a starving romantic, moving from one fixation to the next, breaking down crying at awesome performances of Beethoven symphonies, and standing up and yelling in rage during bad performances of Beethoven symphonies.
So, he went off to be a doctor, but then saw someone dissecting a body (presumably in a class and not just on the side of the road), and jumped out of the window in disgust. Being introduced to the music of Christoph Gluck, perhaps the least attractively named composer at that time, got Berlioz even more into composition as a goal. So, he goes off to study music.
During a production of "Hamlet," he instantly becomes infatuated (not an uncommon trait for Monsieur Berlioz) with Harriet Smithson, playing Ophelia. Yeah, the insane chick. You know, the kind of person one usually DOESN'T want to become attracted to. So, he sends her overly-mushy love letters, and she (obviously) thinks he's a total creep. He ends up dedicating Symphonie Fantastique (yeah, that one piece that he wrote) to her, but goes and gets engaged some Camille Moke chick instead. Oh, and I believe Fantastique was the first of several pieces he wrote to have a movement/scene based on an orgy. In particular, this one's a DEMONIC orgy. So that's cool.
Now, here's the infamous story that our Berlioz fan club just can't get enough of. Berlioz goes to live in Rome for a little while, and absolutely hates it. He receives a letter from Camille's father, saying the engagement is terminated and she's going to marry some piano builder. Yep, the PIANOS are back. So, here's his plan: he buys a french maid outfit, several poisons, and steals a pistol with three shots, so that he can shoot her, her lover, and himself, and use poison if the pistol jams. But, he gets on the train to Paris, and (depending on who's telling the story) either gets kicked off and goes back to Rome, or gets off, realizes he forgot his costume on the train, and gives up and goes back to Rome.
So, Berlioz holds a concert where Symphonie Fantastique is performed (you know, that one piece he wrote). Guess who shows up? Harriet Smithson. Oh, and CHOPIN, LISZT, PAGANINI, AND VICTOR HUGO. But mostly Harriet Smithson, I guess. Anyways, that happens. And he and Harriet somehow get together, even though they don't speak the same language, and he was a creepy stalker like a few years ago. So that was a thing.
Paganini, being impressed, asked him to write a viola concerto. Thus Harold in Italy exists. Yeah, you know Italy, that one place Berlioz hated. Anyways, Paganini thought that it was too easy, and didn't play it. We'd like to think that it's a second piece Berlioz wrote, but if you listen to it, it's pretty much Fantastique with all the bars in a different order, and the viola being more important. Paganini DID end up paying Berlioz, though, so he could pay off some debts Harriet worked up. Oh, and then they broke up. Smooth. But fine for him, he was already starting to get together with some actress by the name of Marie Recio, who, according to Google Images, wasn't quite as attractive. For some reason, he ended up providing Harriet financial aid the rest of her life, which, as a composer, would have been impossible, had Mikhail Glinka not showed him how to make a fortune by composing... IN RUSSIA.
And, that's most of the entertaining, non-boring-ol'-history facts that I know about the most awesome of composer figures ever. Not most awesome composer, that would be Tchaikovsky. And not the composer with the most awesome figure, that would be Ravel. Or Fanny Mendelssohn, I guess. Not a lot to choose from in terms of women, assuming we limit ourselves to mainstream classical composers. Berlioz, on the other had, is just full of awesome. From rumors of him hating Richard Wagner, to him writing an opera so grand, they couldn't afford to put it on and instead put on one by Wagner, the stories of this guy just seem to keep flooding in. Check him out sometime.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Turbo boost, activate! FUUUUUL POWAAAAHHHH!
Tomorrow is the first noon-hour concert that the brass studio is putting on at our university. And I'm second from the end of the programme, playing the Honeggar Intrada. It's an awesome piece of music, and I really love it, but... IT'S SOOOOO stressful. I'm really bad at not choking up when I triple tongue, and I freak out in the introduction, even though I KNOW I can play it. It's probably because I have a trend: I always sound really bad in rep class, and I always sound pretty bad in rehearsals when I have a solo line, but I sound pretty good playing the same thing in an ACTUAL concert. I've convinced myself that it's because the concert isn't a rehearsal, and I only sound bad in rehearsal. I doubt that's the case, maybe some psych major can prove me wrong.
I'm kind of excited to hear how people are going to sound this year. I've gotten a bit of an idea from rep class, but I want to see who gets jittery, who has learned to cope with performance nerves, who won't need to cope because they don't have them, and the like. I used to have terrible performance anxiety. How did I get rid of them? You're not going to like this answer. :P
I'll be brutally honest with anyone who has a similar problem: I got over fear of failure by failing. I'd walk up on stage, and freak out, and the piece would be terrible. Then, after a while, I got used to it, and the piece would still go not great, but I wouldn't freak because I expected that. Then, the pieces slowly stopped going not great, and starting sounding good. But I was so used to the worst possible outcome, so I wasn't nervous, as I had experienced the worst already. It's kind of a lacklustre way to go about solving the problem, but hey, it worked.
Does anyone else get performance tunnel vision when they play? I've had moments before when I'd realize, about halfway through a concert, "waitwhat... where'd that audience come from?" I'd be so in the zone, so "we gon' play us a Symphony" that I forgot people were actually there to WATCH it. Which I should probably consider at one point, but there's a LOT of things I should probably consider at one point, so I'll get there in due time.
Anyways, guess I should run through the piece at least once tonight. Then bring my Silent Brass (^.^ <3) in tomorrow so I can stay fresh through a barrage of Bordogni/Rochut before I play. Honeggar, I'll be glad when you're over... I have an easier time pacing myself in Legend. XD
>.>
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