First weekends of winter

I thought I should update you on my activities over the last few weekends.

I'll begin with Thanksgiving, Thursday 25 November. I joined the American football watching (on TV) tradition of Thanksgiving with the Patriots' game at Detroit. New England won quite easily, maintaining a streak that has continued, to the point where they are about to wrap up home field advantage for the entirety of the playoffs.

Meanwhile Jordan was cooking up a storm in the kitchen, for us and some materials science friends who visited. He produced a delicious turkey and many side dishes to accompany it. We all ate too much, feeling like true Americans (though many of us are not).

The following weekend, I went to listen to a few friends from church at their end of semester concerts. First up was the MIT christian a capella group, the Cross Products (physicists will know that's a very clever pun, as a cross product is a way of multiplying vectors). It was a style of music I'm not used to: using the voice as an instrument behind the solo singer. It was a pleasant entree (in the international sense) to the MIT symphony orchestra concert that evening. Three works were performed here: Ladder to the Moon by Ruehr, Fontane di Roma by Respichi and Beethoven's fifth symphony. I enjoyed the first two, though I wasn't familiar with them. The music director spoke for some time after intermission and before the Beethoven, and I enjoyed his obvious enthusiasm for the orchestra and the music.

The fifth itself was not my favourite performance ever. I felt it was taken a little too fast, and the strings couldn't hit the clarity early on that is really needed. Perhaps the later, less famous parts were more satisfying. I think it's difficult for a student orchestra to pull off something so famous, though I can also see the appeal of it for the students. I would say the music director has a tougher job in this case: to find the right interpretation for the group in a very crowded landscape.

The following weekend was another musical one: a singthrough of my operetta, The Marriage of the Miner's Maiden (thanks John!). Everyone I invited came (plus some!), and we had good fun singing it through. It was very similar to the ideas I had in my mind: surprisingly similar, in fact. I've been listening to the melodies, from my computer and in my head, for many months, and they didn't sound very different coming from real mouths. I did learn that I need to work on my harmony writing: it sounds right with all voices together, but the individual harmony parts are difficult to follow for the singer.

Last Saturday I went to see Boston Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. I found the dancing entertaining and the music glorious: it is indeed a wonderful composition. Purchasing a student ticket, I found myself close to the action (and once again in seat 24), a marked contrast from the last time I saw The Nutcracker (San Diego, 22 December 2007) from a seat that in my memory becomes Himalayan.

On Sunday some MIT grad students went to Harvard for Mass, as our chapel has closed for the winter. After Mass we enjoyed some lunch together, then games at Sidney-Pacific. A highlight of the evening was doing backflips using the rings outside the SidPac gym. I surprised myself with my ability to backflip, though like most of the others I could not front flip.