Yaay! Cheer the cuties!

Lots to say… I’ll try and say it all at once, perhaps:

Sun, Oct 21: Um? Oh, I started making some elf ears! Out of Games Workshop green stuff! After a few false starts, I made a pretty good right ear. The left would soon follow, much worse.
Mon, Oct 22: Huh… no energy? I think? As usual?
Tues, Oct 23: Can’t remember
Wed, Oct 24: Blah phooey
Thurs, Oct 25: Meh?
Fri, Oct 26: I rehearsed my Dracula Suite with Nick, the narrator. Very cool. We talked about non-organ things for a bit, which was nice, too.
Orchestra Concert: Oh, this was so good! I finally talked to Michael about it yesterday (Oct 31), but I didn’t rave about it as much as I raved to Leslie (I wonder why not? Was I tired? Too shy to gush to one of the participants? Not sense-making…). Anyway, if you read this, Michael, this is what I wanted to say but parts of which I never got around to doing in an articulate manner. Or in an enthusiastic enough manner.
Gluck - Overture to Iphegenia in Aulis: Brilliant! I want more classical orchestra music! I didn’t notice Wagner’s bit at the end (I missed the ‘three chords’) but I could tell when the ‘Greek chorus’ parts were and it was very beautiful.
Mahler - Adagietto: Grippingly beautiful. I would definitely like to hear that again. So smooth…
Bruckner - Symphony #?: Oh, stars. This was so much fun. The first movement, I enjoyed immensely even if I can’t remember how it went and therefore can’t say anything intelligent about it. Second movement, there was that meltingly beautiful viola solo (which was also in the cellos, but the violas have it twice). Yes, it’s time to break out the italics. Anyway, the third movement was tremendous fun, and all the thrilling brass fanfares put lovely pictures in my head… all about peoples in armour from Zela’s mythology. So what do I care if you don’t care, it fitted perfectly. It also planted the tiniest little seed of plot that may grow into the pivotal point of the whole story - a realistic reason for a giant war starting. I want to downplay that bit, because the music itself was wonderfully joyful and triumphant. I loved the big crescendo everytime the rondo theme came back; it never got boring for me. Last movement, brilliant finale. So happy at the end of it I think it might be illegal. But, as Aristotle says, you can’t call anyone licentious who takes undue pleasure in listening to music. Mwahahaha. Joyful, happy, rejoicing, estatic, transported, uplifted, call it what you want, I was it that night. I could have listened to that program about three times over before I got bored.
Sat, Oct 27: Organ concert! This was pretty cool: Nick played Pièce Heroique de Franck, and the Toccata and Fugue in D- (whoo) and someone played my Gigout Toccata (slower than I, but more stately) and gave an introductory speech dressed as Gigout (cloak, tux, top hat) using a bad fake French accent! ^_^7 Great fun. Later the same person played a piece from the Phantom of the Opera and he wore the same clothes and added the white half-face mask! There was a soprano, but she wasn’t really loud enough to be heard clearly over the organ, which wasn’t that loud… I also didn’t like her singing style particularly. It ended with the Boëllmann Toccata from Suite Gothique, which I had never heard before although I have the music, and it was very dramatic. Nice. I also have to thank my Dad lots, because he painted my ears wonderfully, and my Mom, for helping me with the two braids in my hair in between cooking bits of supper. No hair in the food, don’t worry.
Sun, Oct 28: This day may as well not exist in my memory. Oh, right, I studied with Leslie and Kevin T! I think we did lots of good stuff. And I showed Michael M my ears as well as showing Leslie and Kevin.
Mon, Oct 29: Busy! I played in a masterclass, and I was dead tired in May Ling’s masterclass, and I was so tired that I forgot I showed Michael M my ears already so I did again, and also I made lots of mistakes at Via Choralis. I did learn that “je t’aime” is “I love you”, but that “je t’aime bien” is “I like you”. Other person in the car to Via Choralis had a French test, so that why we were talking about French. And I remember doing more studying after the first masterclass.
Tues, Oct 30: The studying was for a Music History midterm, which happened today. It went well, I think, even though I didn’t know some of the questions. Michael G is so pessimistic about his marks. He is swamped, but he’s really smart… I also played Beethoven’s Rage Over a Lost Penny at my lesson, and it went surprisingly well considering I hadn’t practiced it since last spring! Oh, and I took a good picture of Michael G today. He’s hard to draw from memory. You may see the product of this project in a few months. Choir practice tonight was rather hysterical - a bunch of the basses did some cross-dressing. Two of them went and sang alto to boot.
Wed, Oct 31: Wow! Lots of people were in costume today! There was a pumpkin headed monster (with quietly roaring socks) in History today (Jeff, hee hee) and a Benedictine monk, and the fourth-year baritone voice student had a giant bullet or a nail or a chisel or something in his forehead, and Kevin N and someone named Derek (both part of the cross-dressing project - Kevin N was very pretty) dressed as each other (Kevin N always wears soccer shorts) and Mr. Bean was there and the whole cast from Clue and David Clenman dressed up as a king (with a party hat) and there was a Greek priestess and Alex thought I was a Vulcan >_<7. Seriously, now. Do Vulcans laugh? I wouldn’t know. I’m not a Trekkie. I just like the theme music. “Bye, Enterprise!” Anyway, I digress. I laugh too much to be a Vulcan whether they laugh or not at all, and I wore my ears so that’s how that situation arose in the first place. It was highly entertaining hanging out downstairs. None of my close friends dressed up, though. I guess I have conservative friends. That’s nice to know. And I finally showed Michael G, who at first didn’t see them. ^_^7 He had a French midterm that day, so skipped his other classes to study for it. I think I want to help him. A few trick-or-treaters came by, more than last year (meaning, about three or four came this year and about two last year).
Thurs, Nov 1: Whoosh. I’m pretty on top of my schoolwork. Just a 60 second crazy clapping composition, a two-page essay on some modern composer (I’m going to look up Varese?) and my long-term history project. I think I’m set to help out Michael G when he wants to be helped. Today I had a very entertaining talk with Michael M and Nathan, and then I had a two-and-a-bit hour long choir group rehearsal, at which six people total showed up - though not all at the same time, but five at a time. Holy cow. That’s almost twice the number of people who managed to make it to one rehearsal at one time before. We now have another tenor who doesn’t sing quite as well as Michael G, (the more the merrier) and at least one bass player who sings really well despite not being a voice major (they get some fun lines in the Haydn). Leslie is fantastic at playing three voices at once on the piano. I also ate with her again today - I’ve started doing that. It’s nice to eat and talk with someone - and I showed her my current mini-sketchbook. She enjoyed it a lot. Thanks, Leslie! She’s so nice. And she likes Tsubasa! Whoo!

The oddest thing happened to me today… when I woke up, the Harmoniemesse was in my head. When I came home today, after supper I was alone downstairs and I spontaneously burst into the Kyrie of the Harmoniemesse - and I was right in tune! I didn’t check it with a piano! It was scary! I ran upstairs because it sounded so in tune and I checked it. That’s how I know. I don’t have perfect pitch at all - Michael M and Nathan helped me establish that this morning even - but I guess my voice remembered where it had been singing this afternoon! That’s really neat!

Art contest! Take a look! Deadline Dec 1!