This.

Video Post 1

This's been sitting around in my drafts for a while under the title of "video post 1." By "a while" I really mean "a few years." Or however long this blog's been up.

"Medicine Man" from The Hush Sound's Goodbye Blues.

Memorial Day and the End of the World

Not really.

(Not the end of the world, I mean.)

For the marching band, Memorial Day means a parade. It's one of those days when everything feels like the essence of a small town- people lining the streets, a slow, amiable feel to the atmosphere. We headed out this morning, slightly disorganized but in good spirits. It's only been a year for me, but it's the last time I'll march with everyone. Sad, but true. You people are awesome.

The (academic) year is winding down. Actually, it's probably already ended for most people, but we're still plugging along. We're down to four more days of classes. I'm graduating with honors. There's a good school waiting in the fall. Things are looking pretty decent. I'm still swamped with work and deadlines and obligations and other stressful things like that, but all in all, not bad. 

It is also, by the way, Towel Day. (For those who have no idea what that means, kindly read Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.) 

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

And remember. When in doubt, don't panic. 

Amelie Soundtrack

Courtesy of friend Ian, here is a streaming playlist of the hauntingly beautiful Amelie soundtrack. Enjoy.

We're Goin' Places

Last spring, we, as in our choir, participated in our usual festivals. We, for lack of a better term, owned. The reprotoire that year consisted of the some of the most beautiful choral music I have ever had the fortune to perform. If you have never heard Sergei Rachmaninoff's Bogoroditse Devo, look it up. It is much more impressive in person, certainly. Not to sound smug or anything, but I have felt that our performance, our interpretation, sounds far... well, superior to many others'. Never have we felt such deep emotional connection to our music. When we sang this piece in particular, some of the audience became moved to tears. We were moved to tears.

So in May we took a road trip down to the Heritage festival in Cleveland, which hosted not only choral but instrumental groups. And there we did more than well. There were not many other ensembles present at the time we were there, but we received the highest score. One of the judges, in fact, specified that he had never or only once given a higher score in his (approximately) fifty-year career. As a result, we have earned a spot in another gathering to be held this spring, when the nation's best high-school choirs convene under the direction of one Dr. Eph Ehly.

In Carnegie Hall.

There are no words to express how honored we all are. Most would have been awed to sit audience in that famed hall. We are to take part in a performance. Many who dream of getting to Carnegie deserve it, yet never reach the stage. We are no world-class symphony, no legendary musicians, but we are going to be there. We are going to stand on that stage, and we are going to sing.

I Found

...a video of our marching band this past season. It's only the last half of the show, and yes, I'm posting several months late, but this is state finals after all, and I'm quite glad to have found it. Thanks to whomever took and posted this!

It's Musical Season

We fumble blindly down a set of concrete steps in the darkness, emerging in a low-ceilinged room with the feel of a disused basement (which it undoubtedly is). Occupying the majority of the space is a makeshift sort of plywood stage. Everyone gingerly navigates the steps up. The platform is covered in a rather musty-looking carpet and a tangle of cords and wires. The only light comes from the opening in the ceiling, around which chairs and music stands are tightly clustered. This is pit orchestra, and once again the height of musical season approaches. We're here to play.

Up on stage someone is tap dancing. A gentle shower of sawdust drifts down from the stage floor overhead. Moments later a stampede of chorus members thunders over our heads. The sound system isn't quite coordinated yet- sometimes we can't hear what's happening upstairs, and they can't hear us. It's okay though. This is merely a rehearsal, and although opening night is tomorrow, this counts as being on schedule.

Typically, I audition to join the cast. The lure of bright lights of the stage, the energy, the freedom of unrestrained singing, and the pure satisfaction of giving it your all right in front of a live audience is strong. It's still something I would enjoy doing, but recently I've been finding the backseat, more out-of-view supporting role just as appealing. Playing in the pit has been, in a different way, an experience just as satisfactory.

From outward appearances, I seem to devote more time and energy to vocal music. It's easier, it feels, to fake experience at singing than at playing an instrument. But I was an instrumentalist before a vocalist, and deep down, if I had to choose, I would not give up my longer-standing skill. It often feels that many are divided along an unspoken line, in which those who play instruments are dry, distant bores and those who sing are fluff-headed, flighty creatures. Few are those who belong to both camps. I, who have been part of both, have gained a respect for both. More people ought to give the other a second chance.

Madrigal Dinner

This weekend's madrigal dinner was also my last. We sang, feasted, and Renaissance-d away our past few days in several great performances (with an exception or two). It was held in our high-school cafeteria this year, unfortunately, but the audience and other atmosphere more than compensated. I did spend much of the first day feeling rather ill, though.

I also learned that:

-Volumious sleeves don't work well during meals.

-The audience can tell when nearly all members of an ensemble don't know their music.

-Singing after stuffing oneself with food is a bad idea.

-Wearing pants under one's costume gives one the handiness of pockets, but

-Reaching up one's skirt is only an option if others' views of one are blocked.

Good times.

A Dicken's Christmas

Every year, as the holidays approach, our town holds a festival downtown. During the busier hours, the streets are bustling and graced with lights. The atmosphere is crisp and cold (but not this year; it was freezing), snow falls, and occasionally the sound of bells or hooves can be heard. It's really quite picturesque.

Now, I've been for a while part of a madrigal group that comes down here to carol every year. We set up shop in a local business that's graciously let us use their building, sing some traditional music, and it's terrific fun. I unfortunately have no pictures of us to share- can't take 'em if we ourselves are performing.

Usually small ensembles of instrumentalists, our fellow students, also play in a shop down the block. I dropped by to listen to them today (or yesterday, rather), and... well. I'm jealous.

.

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Until next time-

But Wait, There is More

That's right. We're too cool to be the marching band. We're the marchin' band. (Tho' we're on the verge of becoming a bazd.) The tower does not lie.

More, I say- marching band is not yet over. Today we had terrific fun playing at the last home football game, but this time it really is the last. The weather was spectacular- not freezing or raining, for a change. A video will be posted as soon as I can force it to upload. Meanwhile:

Instrument sharing abounds; playing in the stands.

Edit: At long last, I've uploaded a fight song during the game.

Here is also a three-minute recording (batteries were running out) of a run-through during our rehearsal (this one known affectionately as the shirtless run-through). It's not a terribly good video, I'm afraid, it doesn't include the best parts of the show, and the angle is quite limited. The camera was sitting on my keyboard, so at least one of my instruments is audible, for a change.

Click here for another great video of the Friday performance. It's the best recording I've seen yet.