Well, I will start off with two major confessions. One I am a virgin to blogging and two I am a virgin to the SC Philharmonic. But look at me, I am growing.
So last week we met with the conductor of the Philharmonic and two of the instrumentalists: first chair clarinet and first chair viola. Confession number three: I have a crush on all of them. Let me tell you why.
First, the Japanese conductor is a ball of what appears to be buzzed-on-adult-beverages energy, but I asked around and the guy was sober. He was hilarious! I heard him say the word shit, kinda priceless for a grown man that carries around a tiny little baton. He also explained that conductor jokes are to lawyer jokes as viola jokes are to blonde jokes. I found these both interesting as I considered the parallels and as I was simultaneously catapulted to my GRE analogy studying days. The clarinet guy was mister sauvĂ© himself. First he has been doing this, playing music, forever. He has like 12 clarinets and I think one cost like 5,000 dollars. Plus he played for us this super cool little piece that made his face turn really red, which I for one totally appreciated the effort. Lastly, is my boy Jared. For some reason his is the only name I remember. Does this mean I like him more? I can’t say, maybe I shouldn’t say. But anyhow, Jared was super informative and really witty. Picture this: a professor/instructor that you didn’t mind listening to, who actually said things that were funny and during breaks he played a little ditty on the only viola he owns, not too bad.
Also, we learned that the SC Philharmonic operates on a budget of about a million dollars. Holy cow! And mostly they get their money from generous donors. Now how do I get these donors to donate to the Lori Student Loan Foundation? Ok I digress. So, the short of the long is that it takes a lot of money and a lot of talent, and being cute and funny goes a long way.
Ok, so I want to say something about last night. Last night we watched them all rehearse for the first time for this weekend’s performance. Did I mention that we first ate yummy dinners courtesy of Tio’s? I still have half a wet burrito in my fridge. Dinner fantasies! Focus Lori. So, during rehearsal there was this older man playing the drums and cymbals. The guy was a riot. First, he didn’t have any shoes on and I pretty sure his socks were purple. Secondly, the guy was dancing. Moving and shaking the way I only do after throwing back a few. Actually, he did way better than that. He definitely had Salsa Meringa rhythm. Mad props drum player!
And though we only heard one piece during the hour and a half rehearsal, the piece is like 22 minutes long. And watching our Japanese conductor man was fun. I am pretty sure his legs are sore after a rehearsal because he moves around a lot. Apparently being a conductor is kind of aerobic. Favorite parts: when mister conductor man shrieked from pretend pain, or maybe real pain, from the cello section, at least I think it was the cello section; when mister conductor man made a joke about pirates, which was funny because the thought it was hysterical; and when a light went out and he thought it was a bat, a flying black bat.
So in summary, the Philharmonic rocks! Roadies rock! And I can’t wait till Saturday to go see the performance. And I leave you with this mild yet jovial threat: be there or be square, because my ticket purchases are a drop in the ocean of a million dollar goal! And PS apparently you can wear jeans!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
When will you have some updates?
Post a Comment