School’s gotten rather hectic already, at least during weekdays. On top of regular reading and practicing assignments, I’m already preparing for a group presentation, a composition project, and two papers. Though in all honesty the papers aren’t due for a while, thse professors just like to see proposals, rough drafts, etc. So far paper topics look like: Wagner’s anti-Semitism as manifested through his operas and writings (and how Hitler was influenced by these), and collaboration of women of different races in the context of Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
For the record, I sound smarter than I actually am. The presentation is on competing views of sexuality in the context of Dickinson’s poetry. That topic however, was chosen for us.
And now to attempt describing orchestra tour. Firstly, its pretty much the best thing going on this semester that doesn’t suck, and so far we’ve laughed through more rehearsals than is really conducive to learning. The semi-official website should help a bit.
Before the show starts, a bunch of orch members wander around the audience in sunglasses muttering into their watches. (I was given instructions to stir up the kids a bit…) Some of the orch members have been trying to make contact with an alien being through sound waves, which we find out right before the concert starts. Audio-visual display above the orchestra set up the plot show and our alien & spaceship, and also set up some background info via kids and fireworks displays. The alien lands, and needs music as food source, but our music is too dense for her so we have to teach elements of melody/harmony, major/minor, skips/steps, long/short phrases, duple/triple meter with help from flashlights (star simulators) handed out to kids in the audience, and some people in the orchestra. The screen shows what type of food the music we’re playing ‘tastes’ like. Final the alien understands and hears her fill, she sings an awkward aria, and we perform a new piece oddly timed to her audio-visual getaway, and then the show is over. Elementary kids will eat it up, no pun intended.
I’m not sure whether I’m relieved or bothered that I have absolutely no obligations until tomorrow night, so I think I’m going to draw out my time as much as possible going to the gym, doing laundry, and then staying in the music building for as long as possible because honestly, its 2 degrees outside.
Oh, so it’s a teaching thing! That’s cool. Really complex — how do you get the funding for the audio/visual stuff?
Also, yes, this weather sucks. Did you guys get the boatload of snow that we got last week?
1. With what SU charges for tuition, I don’t think we’re worried about technology funds. However we do charge schools in advance for our performances.
2. Its been doing the annoying snow-melt-snow-melt all week, so there’s been tons of snow but probably only an inch or so is on the ground.