05/05/2002 - 10:47 a.m.

This is my tune for the taking

Right, so IHMSA Large Group Competition was yesterday. The women's choir got a 1, the men's choir got a 1 (go Andy), the concert choir got a 1, and the band got a 1 (which my Dad says, and I agree, was entirely on Carin's account: that's one fantastic flutist in the sea of a crappy band...), and the orchestra got a 2, and the symphonic orchestra got a 2. I'm sure Mrs. Tatge's having a conniption someplace. However, I have heard them. They are not a quality orchestra any longer. They have been playing some of the same pieces for the past four years, and they don't have anyone except Austin and Ryan and maybe a few others who can play them well. (There's a difference between knowing the notes and playing well- the Lucas girls do not fit this category.)

Ah well, I'm done wtih that, and so glad that I am. I hated being in orchestra, I hated taking lessons, I just liked playing. I like music, I like instuments, but I guess I'd rather have been taught how to fiddle rather than to play concert music. I play five finger verisons of television theme shows on the piano, I play folk songs on my Irish penny-whistles, and I suppose we could have rounded that out by teaching me folk-y dance tunes- English, American, Irish.

I'm not cut out for long symphonic pieces. I like some of it- the Barber Concerto, Canon in D, just about anything by Mozart, Vivaldi, Corelli, and some random other extremely well known stuff, but I don't want to learn to play it. I always thought that the ultimate orchestra concert- one that people would come to, and one that the orchestra would like- would be to play pieces that could be recognised from television and the movies- the DeBeer's diamond commercial, Rodeo from the beef commericals, Barber (it's in some military movie), Orpheus in the Underworld, the theme to Masterpiece Theatre, things like that. I always think it's cool to watch Moulin Rouge and go: "Spectacular, Spectacular!, yeah, I can play that.