Tonight was another first rehearsal back with the orchestra. As most of my musician friends can surely vouch for, first rehearsal nights can have the effect of making one want to sell their instrument. So I thought about it, and decided that, yes, I would like to sell my instrument. It's time for a new instrument.
Sigh... okay, so that may have to wait until I'm back in the U.S.
It was a bit of a rough return after a couple of weeks off. The (von) Weber Bassoon Concerto is deceptively easy with its pure, classical sound. I played some notes in that one that I think I borrowed from one of the other pieces, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. And some of the notes I played in that one seemed to have come from Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, because they certainly didn't come from Mussorgsky.
Ack. So I've been feeling somewhat exhausted for a few days now--can't stop yawning. It isn't acually bothering me that this is a six-day work week at school. I mean I can't quite figure out what's bothering me. I was lucky tonight, that shortly after I was feeling quite down about my playing and feeling some general sadness and loneliness, the conductor of the orchestra put me on the spot. In the spotlight, I should say. Out of the blue, he asked me to stand up and introduce myself--3 people had apparently asked him who I was since last season, unbeknownst to me. I was surprised because he actually held up the rehearsal to continue asking me questions like how long I'd been around and what the name of my city at home was and so on. After that, I didn't feel lonely or sad for the rest of the evening. It's strange and humorous how ephemeral feelings can be, how powerful they can feel, and how a little attention goes a long way...
BTW, to all those who tend to inquire about my language skills, I am now quite comfortable introducing myself in Japanese. I only had to do it 1598 times to get to this point. Other things continue to come slowly. I understand about 41% of formal conversation when it's raining, and 58% of casual conversation when there are dogs or birds in the room.
Writing in this state of tiredness is sort of goofy!
I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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2 comments:
Do you play in the first or second violin section? How many violins does the orchestra have? Are the 1st's and 2nd's on the same side or opposite side of the orchestra? How far do you have to travel for rehearsals? Are most rehearsals in the evening as in the USA? Look around for new Japanese or Chinese violins while you're there. You might be able to find one that sounds remarkably good and is easy to play for far less money than you might think!
BigBadBob
bbb-Thanks for the tip. You're right--there must be some pretty decent instruments floating around here if I can find them. I'll bet you some of those orchestra members know. Let's find out, shall we??
The orchestra is about 70 people, maybe 16 violinists. I'm a first, and the seconds sit on the same side as we do. The only difference I've noticed in the set up is that the horns sit next to the woodwinds instead of the brass and the basses stand behind them. I suppose that arrangement can be seen in some other orchestras..?
We rehearse twice a week, which is twice the amount we did back home. It takes an hour to get there, in the same general area as Aikido class. Kind of a lot of driving, but I use that time to listen to music and audiobooks.
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