Week 14: November 24

Earlier this week I stepped outside GGH and was confronted by toilet art.

There's something you don't see every day.....

Bathroom reading

Geoff Nuttall was here this week, and gave a chamber masterclass and played a chamber concert. Those of you who are familiar with Mr Nuttall’s playing, and/or his teaching methods, will not be surprised that I took pains not to miss either the class or the concert. 

On a side note, the St Lawrence String Quartet (of which Nuttall is a member) is now based here in California, which seems strange. I didn’t know this until Ian told me on Thursday.  I feel like they ought to change their name, but then people probably wouldn’t recognize them. Oh well, SLSQ they remain. 

Friday night was the composition department recital. I had friends performing and friends composing, and I attended with some trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised by most of the pieces. One of the titles took me half a dozen readings to figure out that I still didn’t understand it. 

I bet that title took longer to write than the piece

On the other hand here is a legitimately clever title.

"Too Short, Contrasting Movements"

This weekend was the third set of orchestra concerts. I was not assigned to this set, but my crew duties required me to be present at both concerts nonetheless. As the repertoire consisted of Brahms d minor piano concerto, Hindemith “Symphonic Metamorphosis of themes by Carl Maria von Weber”, and Conte’s “Copland Portrait”, I wasn’t complaining. (Side note: David Conte is on the composition faculty here.)

This coming week is American Thanksgiving, so we get a very long weekend, and I am going to Orange County to visit my Californian relatives. I look forward to the change of scenery.

- Antisocial Violinist

Week 13: November 17

Americans don’t wear poppies for Remembrance Day, which they call Veteran’s Day. This was a problem, as I am not American but Canadian, and therefore obliged to wear a poppy. Luckily there are a few limited craft supplies at GGH. In Flanders Fields, may we never forget.

DIY poppy

We have finally started playing real music in viol class! Our teacher brought us a 4-voice fantasia by Purcell, with *GASP* Sharps and flats in it!!! My part requires me to read treble clef an octave down. This is a new challenge. It is no problem to read alto clef on my tenor viol, and I am getting a handle on bass clef and treble clef at pitch, but treble an octave down keeps mixing me up. I shall, in the end, prevail.

SF weather is really weird. There is no snow or rain. At the beginning of November the air became slightly colder, so that I began wearing a jacket outside, and the sun sets early. These are my only two indices that time is passing. It is very strange – like another world. This is the country of perpetual summer, which has its pros and cons. On the bright side, you get nice green grass and flowers all year long. On the off side, it’s just…..really……boring. I hope you are all keeping warm in the blizzards, and staying safe.

Yesterday I went to Mountain Lake for a multi-stage cache which marks my 550^th find. The lake was undergoing restoration, but it was still pretty, and I spent some time poking around the dry creek bed.

Mountain Lake, w/o mountains

Appropriate for the weekend after Remembrance Day

Where the cemetery used to be

Is this a geocache I see before me?

Mural in progress

This afternoon was my first Baroque Ensemble concert. It could not have gone better. We played three concerti grossi by Geminiani, Locatelli and Hellendaal (I had a concertino part in Hellendaal), and also the Telemann Don Quixote Suite.

Finally, a nod to everyone who went to Banff with CYO. My thoughts were with you all weekend, and I very much wish I could have been there with you. I hope the concert went awesome and that you blew the roof off once again, and that there weren’t any last-minute emergencies with broken strings (although seeing as I wasn’t there to cause them, I probably don’t have to worry). Don’t let those Edmontonians get the better of us! 

Banff 2011. Long live the CYO!

- Antisocial Violinist 

Week 12: November 10

Here's something funny that came out in this week's student newsletter.

Nothing terribly exciting happened this week, as I was sick for most of it and didn't attend any notable performances, and nothing specially funny or memorable happened. I slept a lot and dragged myself to classes, rehearsals etc. So I think it's an appropriate time to show you a little of my everyday life, nothing special or exciting, just life. I'm sure you can all relate.

GGH, home sweet home

Lobby entrance - you can just make out "Golden Gate Hall" on the awning

The dive bar next door - I pity the kids that live directly above it

The fudge shop next to the dive bar. I have to walk past here several times a day...

MMMMMMM

I'm always mystified by how the graffiti artists managed to get up there

This is what I use now instead of Calgary Transit.

Ok, that's weird......

There you have my little commute between home and school. I will now proceed to show you around SFCM itself.

It's Prep Division day in the atrium

Student lounge on the fifth floor

I missed this, which made me sad.

Unfortunately this is how we advertise ourselves....

Sixth floor terrace

Sixth floor library, decked out  for fall

It's common at music schools to have seats, studios and practice rooms dedicated to donors, in recognition of their support. In some of these cases, the plaques outside the practice rooms make you look twice.

And there you have it, my uninteresting daily life.

Oh yeah, I guess I did do something fun, yesterday I went to the beach with M and N. Had a really great time.

That's the edge of the Sunset District

M on the left, N on the right

We spotted this in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, several blocks from the beach

- Antisocial Violinist

Week 11: November 4

Anyone remember when I posted about my crew job? I work on the orchestra set-up crew, which is (imho) the best job it is possible to get at SFCM. The hours are minimal and the pay far exceeds the amount of actual work you do. It’s straightforward, you’re part of a team and it’s not a desk job, which I would hate. But by far the greatest perk of this job arises from the fact that people tend to forget to take their pencils with them after rehearsals. This means that every rehearsal, at least one pencil gets left on a stand, meaning…..FREE PENCILS!!!! YAHOO!!!! And most of the crew members aren’t interested in pencils, so Sam and I get to split the pickings. 

My spoils from a day when Sam wasn't there

I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in years, but K really wanted to dress up as Minions (from Despicable Me), so last weekend we went shopping for costumes and face paint.

WIP shot

Super cute

Our trick-or-treating destination was Sea Cliff, a super rich neighbourhood. The object of the game was to find Robin Williams’ house and see if he was giving out candy. We found his house alright, but he wasn’t there, and the security guards were all out of glow sticks. Oh well – we still had a fantastic time, singing on the bus in harmony, like a barber shop quartet/trio. The Singing Minions of the SFCM Violin Department – that’s got a nice ring to it, hmmmm…….

Sorry I don't have a better picture, it was dark

BANANAAAAA!!!!!!!

We ran into other people dressed as Minions. How awesome is that???

N as Ludwig himself

On Saturday M, N and I mounted another expedition to GGP, specifically to the California Academy of Sciences, which was having a free day for downtown residents. Photography was prohibited at most of the exhibits, so I can’t show you most of the cool stuff we saw. I thought the most fascinating animal was the leafy sea dragon, which looked like a piece of swimming kelp. A close second was the coconut octopus, which drags coconut shells around with it and hides inside them when danger threatens. It is the only invertebrate known to use tools. We also saw a penguin feeding and went in an earthquake simulator. 

Penguins!

It's Dory!!

At the Fountain (that's also a cello piece, by the way)

Gorgeous day

This weekend was the second set of orchestra concerts. By far the highlight was Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances – I’ve never had to watch the conductor so much in my life. I actually know what he looks like now. It was really, really hard, but exhilarating, and so rewarding when we pulled it off well. 

I apologize for the late update. I’ll try to be better next week.

- Antisocial Violinist