Week 7: October 6

Most of the interesting things that happened this week were in the past few days, so I’ll start with the chamber concert on Thursday night: a piece by Debussy, a piece by Ravel, and two pieces by the keyboard player. The most interesting thing that happened that night was in the last piece, when the cellist suddenly stopped playing, stood up and announced that something was wrong with his bow (I didn’t catch what it was). The piece ground to a halt and everyone laughed, and sat in bemused silence until the cellist returned with a different bow. We applauded, they finished the piece, and I felt that I had gotten my money’s worth (that’s a joke, because the ticket was free).

The next night was the symphony concert, with Leila Josefowicz playing Stravinsky concerto. This is quite possibly the COOLEST piece ever written for the violin, and if anyone hasn’t heard it, I strongly encourage you to look up the Oistrakh recording (20 minutes of sheer ecstasy).

Friday afternoon I also went on an expedition to find a cache in a little art park. 

I thought these were cacti, but apparently they represent the four seasons. I think Vivaldi did a better job.

San Franciscan menhir

Then Saturday night was a new music show at school, with SFCM’s New Music Ensemble and a few guests. There was “Living Room Music” by John Cage, where four players can use any household items they like to realize rhythmic patterns. At one point they become a speech quartet. I found this fascinating.

However, the real reason I went to the new music show was for Dracula, a one-act opera by David del Tredici. It was awesome: the music was tonal, accessible and extremely effective, and the soprano soloist was spectacular. Best of all, our Western Civ professor was the off-stage narrator and voice of Dracula himself. 

Wait, maybe that wasn’t the best thing of all…..maybe the best thing of all was that my theory professor (Jacques from Montreal) was playing the theremin, and when I expressed my admiration for this instrument, he let me try playing it!!! In case anyone doesn’t know, a theremin is an electric instrument that is played completely hands-free. You move your hands back and forth in the magnetic field, and one hand controls pitch and the other controls volume, but you’re not actually touching any part of the instrument. It’s like magic!! Here is a link to the thing being played by its inventor and namesake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5qf9O6c20o

The weirdest and most exciting thing is how analogous it is to the violin. You control pitch with your right hand instead of your left, but because the frequencies are the same, the physical distances between the pitches are the same too. So if you were to play two notes on one string, on the violin, the physical distance between the two notes is exactly the same as the physical distance between the same two notes on the theremin, only it’s in the air instead of on a string.

I’ll balance out this week’s wall of text with a few candid shots of dorm life. Brace yourselves.

First floor is Pokemon-themed

 

 

 

 

Second floor Royal-Tea. This is my floor. Aren't I lucky?

Third floor pirates. This is also the highest floor, in more ways than one.

I think they try to make it cheesy on purpose.

Somebody's desperate.......

This, unfortunately, is my door. The board belongs to Liz, although neither of us is responsible for the dreadful content.

And  that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it's like to live in a college res hall. Thank you.

- Antisocial Violinist