Weekend fun

I try not to fall more than a week behind when describing my activities, but due to a busy week with Gondoliers rehearsals, I haven't yet had a chance to write about either of my particularly fun activities last weekend. So here is a brief description of each.

On Friday evening, I went to the presentation of the McDermott arts award. This is a prize MIT awards to recognise a young person who is quickly becoming influential in the arts world. This year's recipient was Gustavo Dudamel, a conductor with the LA philharmonic and various other orchestras and music programs. After a brief biographical video and the actual presentation, he led a rehearsal of the MIT symphony orchestra.

Although it sounds very strange, I was disappointed to see how full the building was, due to my high regard for the orchestra. Although I'm very happy to see lots of people watching the orchestra, I go to every MITSO concert I can (they perform about three times per semester, and one always seems to clash with Gilbert & Sullivan, and I missed one while on my holiday visiting Amanda in November. The audience on these occasions never quite reaches half full. I'm a bit sad that one conductor can draw twice as many people as scores of talented MIT musicians.

Nevertheless, it was mostly a good thing to have so many people there (and the Gilbert & Sullivan group garnered a very brief mention as one of the musical activities available on campus). The rehearsal was every enjoyable: they performed Mozart's 38th symphony (Prague) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol (this must be one of his most famous works).

It was very interesting watching the rehearsal process (not as enjoyable as simply listening to the music during the times they essentially just played through, but that's due to how enjoyable the latter was, not how unenjoyable the former). Now that my main musical activity is ensemble rather than solo, I have begun to notice what musical directors look for and try to do. The group was well beyond the initial stages of rehearsal, where one needs to ensure the notes, timing and gross dynamics are correct, so he was looking for the more subtle level of creating the correct feeling. One really has to simply know what feeling to be looking for and feel it: there comes a point where specific instructions just aren't enough any more. I liked some of the metaphors he used in the process: he talked about eating a hamburger, and how he likes to keep the ketchup with him, so that he doesn't take a particular bite only to discover it has no ketchup! I know what he means: when I used to eat lunch with Dad frequently (which I did in 1991 and 2004 - I'm referring to the latter now) I couldn't see how he could stand having his spread so unevenly spread on his sandwiches! I also see how it's a good metaphor for trying to always have a 'complete' sound from the orchestra, which can be more difficult (hence one needs to work harder towards it) when the strings are playing piano (that is softly, not the instrument!).

On Saturday evening, I went with John to an improv comedy performance. That was lots of fun. Since it would perhaps lose in the retelling, I'll just recount what were the two highlights for me. The first was when they brought an audience member onto the stage and asked her various questions about her life (mostly how she met her boyfriend). They then proceeded to re-enact their interpretation of what she had said. It wasn't necessarily completely original, but it was certainly very well executed.

The second was after they asked for what makes people happy, and the suggestion was 'unicorns'. They replied that unicorns actually make them sad, and proceeded to sing 'The One Horn Blues'. This song was about a unicorn who was sad because none of the mooses, elks, etc. would be friends with him, and called him a rhino. My favourite line was when all of his friends he tried to call (can't remember the exact sentence structure, but the line ended with call), and nobody would answer except the narwhal.

An even busier weekend lies ahead: it's production week for The Gondoliers.