Sorry about the undignified outburst (and the even more undignified caps) but I might get an audition with my friendly local chamber orchestra!!!! Not that this is a paid gig or anything, and not that any of the members (or concert goers) are under the age of 65 but... I might get to play in an orchestra! Now that would be four months of useful experience (hopefully they understand I can only play with them through December- I hate leaving phone messages :-P)!

Have I mentioned ever that I love playing in orchestra? Now this does not apply whatsoever to my two years of high school orchestra. Now the string players tried hard, I'm sure, and some of them were really good, but I still could never shake the feeling that the second violin section was a chorus of demons sent from hell to torment us poor little wind players with their awful screeching! :-P

Anyway. I was in orchestra my junior year of college. I absolutely adored it. I admit I was really nervous at first, especially since I ended up with the first flute part for two pieces on that first concert (the only two I played in, mind you- that was a very ambitious concert and there was a lot of part rotation, but that's besides the point). We had a very good guest conductor for that concert, and you could tell she was wondering which elementary school band they had picked me up from at that first rehearsal, but she was far too professional to say anything. And the Brahms "Haydn Variations" is not even the hardest piece in the world. I was just feeling a little out of my league.

But with scads of practice and by overcoming a lot of frustration, the Brahms turned out pretty well. I'll never forget, after the piece was over and I was walking backstage to hack and cough (I had a terrible cold that night), this brilliant lady conductor gave me a hug and said "Good job". A little encouragement every once in a while works wonders with me. :)

*grins happily*

The Kodaly "Hary Janos Suite" went amazingly, even with me messing up a little bit. That's a hard piece! It didn't help me though how my flute teacher came up to me after the concert (she's in the symphony, mind you) and the first thing she said was "You missed that one solo! You missed the high B!" Not even a "Good job!" first. Constructive vs. destructive criticism, I always say, especially since I seem to synthesize every little negative thing people say about me into one great big ball of self doubt...

Anyway, I loved playing in orchestra. The next concert we did selections from "Swan Lake." I love Tchaikovsky. And the one concert spring semester (that was a loooong time to prepare the Mendelssohn "Reformation" Symphony) went swimmingly. I loved orchestra. I know I answer this on every survey I do, but if a genie could grant me one wish, I'd want to play in an orchestra for a performance of the Beethoven 9. I love it, I love it, I love it. I was in wind ensemble last year, which is great fun (especially on piccolo!), but it's just not quite as satisfying as orchestra. By the college level, the string players are much improved I guess. ;)

Sorry to be boring with all this music talk. I guess it beats me going on and on about being mopey though. And I'm just such a music geek. After all, I am the one 20 something that goes to the orchestra concerts on a regular basis around here... ;)

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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." -Aldous Huxley

Oh yeah. :) Speaking of music, I just downloaded KaZaA. Zeppelin, Skynyrd... what more do I need? :) :)

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