| Jan. 18th, 2009 @ 03:28 pm Ah, music. The thing I love which vexes me so. |
|---|
A moment ago I was taping together copies of my score pages from orchestra. Yes, orchestra is back in session for me, and we had our first rehearsal on Tuesday the 13th. Here are some highlights of that rehearsal.
I like the music. It consists of several Beethoven pieces and a lot of show tunes. It was all music that was immediately accessible to the musicians, and most likely by our future audience.
We have a new percussion section leader who showed up late (bad). He's a good musician, though, and seems to get on well with everyone. In fact, that's what surprised me because it looked like he already knew everyone. I wondered where he'd been hiding. I think he's a guy I can enjoy working with, and it will be easy to take his leadership.
During the first Beethoven read before the new guy came, I was sight-reading on snare drum. The truth is that I suck at sight-reading snare and I'm a timid player. That's why I've been forcing myself to do it. I want to grow as a player, and the only way to do it is to take that risk out of my comfort zone.
During this time, one of the other musicians, who in the two seasons past has played the part of my personal nemesis, came over to me to instruct me on how to play the part. She is a junior high band director, but I didn't appreciate her help. She was talking down to me as if I was one of her students. Okay, maybe that's the only way she knows how to talk to someone when giving instruction. Even so, it wasn't appropriate. She had her own part to play, which she was neglecting by coming to me, and I'm not her responsibility to fix, even if she is the assistant conductor of record.
The woman didn't take kindly to me telling her to go play her own part. She ranted at me that she won't be disrespected in her own band hall. I replied firmly that it's not her ensemble.
The new guy came later, and she didn't bother me again, likely because he was there. I got to play a variety of keyboard stuff, and read that well, much to my surprise. Plus, I'll be doing some tympani stuff this season, which I've wanted to do for a while. I always loved playing those.
After the rehearsal was over, the woman called to me across the room asking if I'd come speak to her in her office. I laughed incredulously and said, "No!" Again, she was talking to me as if I was one of her wayward students, instead of the music degree-holding adult that I am. That really made her angry, so she ranted at me in front of everyone, as if being on the receiving end of such a rant would actually bother me. She said several things, such as her being willing to let bygones be bygones and that I was rude to her, and she repeated that she won't be disrespected in her band hall.
Well... internally, I was thinking about the bygones thing, "What did I do to you? Show up breathing?" Really, I don't engage this woman or seek her out in any way. It was her coming to me with her misguided "help," something that she didn't offer to any other musician in the group that night. That alone lets me believe she was waiting for whatever my first mistake would be. Something else is that someone who has truly let bygones be bygones doesn't actually talk about it. That's like burying the hatchet but leaving the handle sticking out so you can grab it whenever you need it.
As to her last, I didn't argue. I only told her that it is her band hall. I think that surprised her as she expected argument and so forth. Then I repeated like a broken record that it is not her ensemble. The woman was so furious she threatened me that if I can't show her respect, I shouldn't come back to rehearsal.
You know, I'm not going to bend like that. If I caved at the first sign of adversity, what kind of person would I be? We were sight reading. Mistakes are to be expected. As mentioned above, I already know this is a weakness of mine, but I won't get better without challenging myself. I told a coworker that it's kind of like bad drivers: they need time on the road, too, or they won't become good drivers.
Something else about this situation that my friend Joe told me is that there are rules in any organizations bylaws about the admission and dismissal of members. So if it doesn't fit the bylaws she can rant until she's blue in the face. I'll still have the right to be there.
Skip to yesterday. I had a bass lesson with my teacher, who rocks both figuratively and literally. I feel lucky to have found him because I am making progress toward becoming a better bassist. He's helping me take music knowledge I already have and apply it to new situations. My assignment from yesterday was to figure out the exact basslines to 4 songs he put on a CD for me at the end of the lesson. I think this will be a challenge. Not impossible, but just difficult enough to make it interesting. My aural skills aren't where I'd want them to be, either, so it's another chance to grow.
The first song on the CD was "Crosscut Saw" by Albert King. We worked that out briefly at the end of the lesson, and I can do it. In theory. It's a little fast for me right now to do it well. It's not necessarily a fast song, but I just wasn't graceful doing it. Yet. Even so, now I can say that I can do the exact part of one song all the way through. Thank you for little things. |
|  |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
aikakone's journal
nostalgic
