more songs!

check it out I posted the songs I'm most frequently asked to sing at parties here

Assundry

I was in the midst of trying to play with my digital recorder to provide you all with some more fun recordings, but this week has spun into moving land.

I know I've said this over and over again, but you don't know just how much stuff you have until you go to move it. And I ultimately don't have that much stuff, infact all that I own (excluding my cello and my new bed [which is surprisingly comfy for something that was man handled the way that it was as Mia and I heaved it up 3 flights of stairs]) can be fit into about 7 large boxes maybe alittle more, and 3 of those are steeo, and computer parts. Yet when it comes time for moving you just look at all you your stuff and question things, do I really need that? Will I regret getting rid of that?

All that said the new apartment is lovely, maybe one day when I am equipt with the technology I will post some pictures. Also our landlord is amazing.

I was on vacation with my family in Northern Michigan for a week, Sarah came for the second half. It was really excellent, my family gets along really splendidly, and Sarah for her part fits right in. She must like us quite a bit because this is the second time she's come up to visit us there.

I've been singing more since getting back, I think that my voice will be in spry shape for the fall as long as I get back to practiceing and start up voice lessons again. Hopefully once all the moving and job searching is over I will have the time to post about things other than summaries of what I've been doing.

singing!

no not me now, my voice is pretty crap. due to the weather the air conditioning and me not practicing...you know the voice is a muscle too and needs to be exercised.

however now have a way for you fine folks to hear recordings I've made!
you can check it out here
I'll post it in my links
<---- over there, I'll label it something easy...like...my recordings or something

vacation

This is where I'm going and have gone for all of my life for vacation.
There are certain smells I associate with this place calamint, and ceders.
I'm going to just leave you with another picture

Orchestra as a democratic process

I went to the Pub with a bunch of people after the orchestra concert on Monday. It was a pretty good time, mostly because I really like talking to all of the people who were there. It also turned out to be an informative evening because one gentleman there turned out to be a vocal coach, so he had interesting opinions to share. He was actually more than willing to share his opinions when I asked, which was nice for me, but sort of killed all other conversation, which I felt bad about.

However this is not what currently interests me. My buddy A. who was a music major here just like I was contended that conductors should be done away with and replaced with robots. (comment I'm sure to be taken with a grain of salt)

My response was, well for performances fine, but what about the rehearsal process, this is when the conductor gets to work on his musical interpretation with the orchestra. (also, what I just thought of now is rehearsal management. A sign of a good conductor is one who knows how to make the most of their time in rehearsal, such that the orchestra can succeed in their performance, and still enjoy the rehearsal process)

A. Said that he thought that even there that a conductor was not necessary. He said that he thought that orchestras ought to be run through a democratic process, like the English parliament. "I think you should be louder here, I think I should be louder there" etc.

Now A. is an excellent musician, and also does Jazz. So this format would be very similar to how some jazz X-tets are run. However the X is usually 3-8 where as an orchestra can be 20-80 or even larger numbers. Oh! just imagine the rehearsals! It would be absolute chaos.

A. is also making I believe an assumption that the other musicians are as good musicians as he is. This is not a comment upon technical prowess, their ability to play well, but upon their musicality. I don't mean necessarily, their ability to "feel" the music, something that people I think confound the term musicality with frequently. But are they a good musician? Do they understand how music is constructed, how it works, and how best to demonstrate these attributes.

I would contend that in most orchestras that not every individual is a great musician, and of such a nature that collaboration for musical decisions would result in anything good at all. I think that in any orchestra that you will find a range of musicians, and as soon as everyone is not on an equal playing field I think that musical interpretation as a democratic process would fail.

Anyhow: funny how a snipit of conversation can spark your thoughts.