Thursday, November 11, 2004
Crescendo and Decrescendo
Sorry about the lack of postage yesterday. I wanted to get around to it but there was just too much stuff I was trying to cram into those 24 hours. So let's start from the beginning...
I got up at a reasonable hour and forced myself to go to the gym. I severely dislike the gym. But I went, and I must have done some good because I'm sore today in the muscles I thought I was working. So hooray.
After Calculus I came back home to do some homework. Jacob from upstairs needed a ride to pick up his car that was in the shop, so I dropped him off downtown. In exchange he lent me his copy of Finale (a music writing computer program) so I could use it to score my piece for music theory. (Please don't get on my case about pirating the program. I'm supposed to have access to it somewhere in the music building but no one can direct me to a computer that actually has something more than the trial version installed. They also have trial versions of another program called Sibelius, but none of the computers on which it's installed are connected to printers, and since I don't have the program myself I can't just email myself the file and print it out. Darned music department.) Anyway, I spent the next couple of hours learning how to use Finale. By the time I had enough features learned to score my piece, it was time to go to marching band. So off I went.
Marching band went well. They changed the sperm into a barbell (you know, because barbells are so manly). We learned the rest of the show, and it too was stripped of its sexual innuendoes. At least, it was stripped of all of its readily apparent sexual innuendoes. Regardless, we all have it learned. Due to the Thursday holiday, we won't have another rehearsal until the day of the game (aren't we hard working?). In all fairness, rain is forecasted for tomorrow and we're starting our rehearsal on Saturday an hour earlier. We have some work ethic, just not that much.
After band I went and had pizza with some bandos, and then it was back to my room to score my piece. (By the way, the piece needs a title. I'm trying to decide between "Overture to the Flower Pot" and "Flower Pots on Exhibition." I'd appreciate any comments regarding this matter. I'd also accept any other suggestions you might have...) I finished just in time to print everyone's parts before I met the group in the music building to continue learning the piece.
At the music building, I found three of five of my group members there. The fourth showed up about twenty minutes later. The fifth didn't show up. One of the three who was there on time had to leave early. I don't know how we can learn this if we can't get all six of us together at one time; I'm getting kind of nervous. But we agreed upon a 5:00 rehearsal time on Sunday. (We may have to change it because the guy who never showed up is out of town this weekend. Great.) So yeah, we have a few hours to perfect this by the time we perform on Friday. I'm confident in three of the people (who can read music), but I'm a little worried about the other two. They'll be playing from memory, and although this is a simple piece it is 156 measures long. But we'll see. As far as the piece goes, I'm actually quite please with how it sounds. It's very easy to play and is very repetitive but it (surprisingly) isn't too boring. Maybe our group can go on tour and stop off in San Diego to play it for all of you.
I came home from that to find that Kevin had a couple of his architecture friends over. They were just sitting on his bed, talking. It was after 9, and I had a physics midterm the next day (which, by the way, is my reason for not posting yesterday). So instead of waiting around for them to leave or trying to study through them, I went down to the main lobby and studied there, which worked pretty well. I produced my 3x5 card of equations and read through all of my notes, referring to the book when something wasn't clear. It took me a good hour and a half, but luckily I understood everything. (I'm a little fuzzy on interference of waves, but I totally get light waves, and I actually enjoy doing the problems associated with them.)
And then I went to bed.
This morning I got up bright and early to make sure I wasn't late to physics. I got there with time to spare and used the minutes before the midterm to squeeze in some last-minute studying. The midterm was all right; there was nothing I hadn't seen before, although, as I said before, I was a little fuzzy on some of it. But the test itself was completely fair. It's hard to say how I did. I had at least a good idea of how to do everything, and I wasn't pressed for time. Plus, there was an extra-credit problem at the end that I knew how to do. I don't know...we'll see soon enough.
From physics I biked over to music theory, as I always do. We're learning about scales now; today we learned the circle of fifths/fourths and where it came from. We have a quiz on Friday, which I'm not worried about because it will be mostly on how many flats/sharps are in each scale and things like that. But anyway, after class I went to Dr. Barata's office hour and showed him my score. He could't pick out any major problems with it, but he also couldn't tell me if it was a good piece or not. The hardest thing with this project is knowing what exactly I'm supposed to compose. There's no sheet giving requirements. All I know is that it needs to be 2-3.5 minutes long, with each person playing for half of the piece. Add in a couple of requirements about having ties across barlines in each part, and that's all the restrictions there are. It makes sense to not restrict us too much (after all, we're composing original pieces), but I have no idea how complicated or simple the piece is supposed to be. It would have been nice if Dr. Barata had played us an example of an 'A' piece. I'm not too worried though, because it's only 15% of my grade, so if I get a 50 out of 100 I'll still have an A (assuming I don't bomb any quizzes or tests...). Whatever...I'm still having fun with this class.
After Dr. Barata's office hour I came home and slept. Wednesdays are good for that because Kevin has lots of class and I don't. So I slept until noon. It was good.
I then read a couple of chapters out of my California government book. I know I told you this a while ago, but just to refresh your memories: I'm taking a one-unit independent-study class (i.e. I don't go to class, I just read a book and take a final) on California government. I need this because AP Government fulfills the national government portion of the GE requirement, but I still need knowledge of how California's governing bodies function. The final - my entire grade in this class - is next Wednesday. I got through about 25% of the book today, so I'm feeling better about it. I also went and talked to the instructor of that class today about what to expect on the test, and it sounds like it's more of a test just to make sure I read the book. I'm still pretty nervous about it, though...the book is short but there's still a lot of information in there...
I had dinner with bandos again at Lighthouse. Hooray for beef roast and mashed potatoes! On the way through the university union, I noticed a display assembled by some students. It was all about how holidays that are supposed to have religious significance are too commercialized. They had the Easter bunny hanging on a cross, a Santa Claus in a manger, and a big Jesus pooping an Easter egg. Their point is well taken, although I might have tried to find another way to get it across. My own personal opinion of the issue is that Americans should be free to commercialize holidays. The specific American freedom in question is not only freedom to religion, but freedom from religion. If people want to make Christmas just about the presents, then all the power to them. I personally don't want to do this, but if other people do it doesn't keep me in the slightest from celebrating the religious meaning behind the holiday. People should be free to do what they want; get off their case. If ignoring the religion is a sin, then they'll end up paying for it someway, somehow. But it's certainly not up to a bunch of college kids armed with cardboard cutouts and plywood to control.
Anyway, this evening I went to hear the Warsaw Philharmonic play at our PAC (as a requirement for windO). They were very good, although the pieces they played weren't the most thrilling. The first piece, entitled "Polymorphia," wasn't music so much as it was all the string players making a variety of sound effects for eight or nine minutes. It was interesting, but...well...I'm not sure how I felt about it. They also played a piano concerto by Rachmaninoff; the pianist was superb. After intermission they played Brahms's first symphony in C minor quite well...I was impressed. I've really grown to like music this quarter more than I ever have before. I hope I can continue at trumpet and especially piano and maybe someday become as good as these people I hear playing.
I came home from that and bummed around the common room for awhile, talking at whoever would listen. And now I'm here, writing to all of you. Neat how that works out, isn't it?
I'd like to close off by relating to you a conversation I overheard while sitting in the common room tonight:
"Excited for Veterans' Day?"
"Is that what tomorrow is?"
"Yeah...you didn't know that?"
"S---, I don't care. All I know is that I don't have class."
I hope all of us can find a moment tomorrow to think about why it is that we don't have to go to school/work. I have a great amount of respect for our military, both past and present, and I'm sure that somewhere out there there is a little more gratefullness for them than what I've seen in our common room.
Thank you to all of the veterans out there. Your sacrifices are truly appreciated.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: opinionated
music: whatever it is that Kevin's playing
location: dorm
I got up at a reasonable hour and forced myself to go to the gym. I severely dislike the gym. But I went, and I must have done some good because I'm sore today in the muscles I thought I was working. So hooray.
After Calculus I came back home to do some homework. Jacob from upstairs needed a ride to pick up his car that was in the shop, so I dropped him off downtown. In exchange he lent me his copy of Finale (a music writing computer program) so I could use it to score my piece for music theory. (Please don't get on my case about pirating the program. I'm supposed to have access to it somewhere in the music building but no one can direct me to a computer that actually has something more than the trial version installed. They also have trial versions of another program called Sibelius, but none of the computers on which it's installed are connected to printers, and since I don't have the program myself I can't just email myself the file and print it out. Darned music department.) Anyway, I spent the next couple of hours learning how to use Finale. By the time I had enough features learned to score my piece, it was time to go to marching band. So off I went.
Marching band went well. They changed the sperm into a barbell (you know, because barbells are so manly). We learned the rest of the show, and it too was stripped of its sexual innuendoes. At least, it was stripped of all of its readily apparent sexual innuendoes. Regardless, we all have it learned. Due to the Thursday holiday, we won't have another rehearsal until the day of the game (aren't we hard working?). In all fairness, rain is forecasted for tomorrow and we're starting our rehearsal on Saturday an hour earlier. We have some work ethic, just not that much.
After band I went and had pizza with some bandos, and then it was back to my room to score my piece. (By the way, the piece needs a title. I'm trying to decide between "Overture to the Flower Pot" and "Flower Pots on Exhibition." I'd appreciate any comments regarding this matter. I'd also accept any other suggestions you might have...) I finished just in time to print everyone's parts before I met the group in the music building to continue learning the piece.
At the music building, I found three of five of my group members there. The fourth showed up about twenty minutes later. The fifth didn't show up. One of the three who was there on time had to leave early. I don't know how we can learn this if we can't get all six of us together at one time; I'm getting kind of nervous. But we agreed upon a 5:00 rehearsal time on Sunday. (We may have to change it because the guy who never showed up is out of town this weekend. Great.) So yeah, we have a few hours to perfect this by the time we perform on Friday. I'm confident in three of the people (who can read music), but I'm a little worried about the other two. They'll be playing from memory, and although this is a simple piece it is 156 measures long. But we'll see. As far as the piece goes, I'm actually quite please with how it sounds. It's very easy to play and is very repetitive but it (surprisingly) isn't too boring. Maybe our group can go on tour and stop off in San Diego to play it for all of you.
I came home from that to find that Kevin had a couple of his architecture friends over. They were just sitting on his bed, talking. It was after 9, and I had a physics midterm the next day (which, by the way, is my reason for not posting yesterday). So instead of waiting around for them to leave or trying to study through them, I went down to the main lobby and studied there, which worked pretty well. I produced my 3x5 card of equations and read through all of my notes, referring to the book when something wasn't clear. It took me a good hour and a half, but luckily I understood everything. (I'm a little fuzzy on interference of waves, but I totally get light waves, and I actually enjoy doing the problems associated with them.)
And then I went to bed.
This morning I got up bright and early to make sure I wasn't late to physics. I got there with time to spare and used the minutes before the midterm to squeeze in some last-minute studying. The midterm was all right; there was nothing I hadn't seen before, although, as I said before, I was a little fuzzy on some of it. But the test itself was completely fair. It's hard to say how I did. I had at least a good idea of how to do everything, and I wasn't pressed for time. Plus, there was an extra-credit problem at the end that I knew how to do. I don't know...we'll see soon enough.
From physics I biked over to music theory, as I always do. We're learning about scales now; today we learned the circle of fifths/fourths and where it came from. We have a quiz on Friday, which I'm not worried about because it will be mostly on how many flats/sharps are in each scale and things like that. But anyway, after class I went to Dr. Barata's office hour and showed him my score. He could't pick out any major problems with it, but he also couldn't tell me if it was a good piece or not. The hardest thing with this project is knowing what exactly I'm supposed to compose. There's no sheet giving requirements. All I know is that it needs to be 2-3.5 minutes long, with each person playing for half of the piece. Add in a couple of requirements about having ties across barlines in each part, and that's all the restrictions there are. It makes sense to not restrict us too much (after all, we're composing original pieces), but I have no idea how complicated or simple the piece is supposed to be. It would have been nice if Dr. Barata had played us an example of an 'A' piece. I'm not too worried though, because it's only 15% of my grade, so if I get a 50 out of 100 I'll still have an A (assuming I don't bomb any quizzes or tests...). Whatever...I'm still having fun with this class.
After Dr. Barata's office hour I came home and slept. Wednesdays are good for that because Kevin has lots of class and I don't. So I slept until noon. It was good.
I then read a couple of chapters out of my California government book. I know I told you this a while ago, but just to refresh your memories: I'm taking a one-unit independent-study class (i.e. I don't go to class, I just read a book and take a final) on California government. I need this because AP Government fulfills the national government portion of the GE requirement, but I still need knowledge of how California's governing bodies function. The final - my entire grade in this class - is next Wednesday. I got through about 25% of the book today, so I'm feeling better about it. I also went and talked to the instructor of that class today about what to expect on the test, and it sounds like it's more of a test just to make sure I read the book. I'm still pretty nervous about it, though...the book is short but there's still a lot of information in there...
I had dinner with bandos again at Lighthouse. Hooray for beef roast and mashed potatoes! On the way through the university union, I noticed a display assembled by some students. It was all about how holidays that are supposed to have religious significance are too commercialized. They had the Easter bunny hanging on a cross, a Santa Claus in a manger, and a big Jesus pooping an Easter egg. Their point is well taken, although I might have tried to find another way to get it across. My own personal opinion of the issue is that Americans should be free to commercialize holidays. The specific American freedom in question is not only freedom to religion, but freedom from religion. If people want to make Christmas just about the presents, then all the power to them. I personally don't want to do this, but if other people do it doesn't keep me in the slightest from celebrating the religious meaning behind the holiday. People should be free to do what they want; get off their case. If ignoring the religion is a sin, then they'll end up paying for it someway, somehow. But it's certainly not up to a bunch of college kids armed with cardboard cutouts and plywood to control.
Anyway, this evening I went to hear the Warsaw Philharmonic play at our PAC (as a requirement for windO). They were very good, although the pieces they played weren't the most thrilling. The first piece, entitled "Polymorphia," wasn't music so much as it was all the string players making a variety of sound effects for eight or nine minutes. It was interesting, but...well...I'm not sure how I felt about it. They also played a piano concerto by Rachmaninoff; the pianist was superb. After intermission they played Brahms's first symphony in C minor quite well...I was impressed. I've really grown to like music this quarter more than I ever have before. I hope I can continue at trumpet and especially piano and maybe someday become as good as these people I hear playing.
I came home from that and bummed around the common room for awhile, talking at whoever would listen. And now I'm here, writing to all of you. Neat how that works out, isn't it?
I'd like to close off by relating to you a conversation I overheard while sitting in the common room tonight:
"Excited for Veterans' Day?"
"Is that what tomorrow is?"
"Yeah...you didn't know that?"
"S---, I don't care. All I know is that I don't have class."
I hope all of us can find a moment tomorrow to think about why it is that we don't have to go to school/work. I have a great amount of respect for our military, both past and present, and I'm sure that somewhere out there there is a little more gratefullness for them than what I've seen in our common room.
Thank you to all of the veterans out there. Your sacrifices are truly appreciated.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: opinionated
music: whatever it is that Kevin's playing
location: dorm
