Week 13

Last night I went to the Concerto Competition Concert. I would say it was pretty good. The soloists consisted of a violist and a saxophonist. I felt that they both gave good performances and displayed the works well. The concert started off with the viola concerto that consisted of one movement. It was slow and dramatic showing off the warm tone of the viola well. I was surprised to hear a vocalist who never played the instrument in his life composed it. It is interesting how compositions can intertwine with different genres to be voiced melodically. While playing piano I try audiating different instruments to bring out the melody and character in a piece. Perhaps that is what the composer did. I can definitely hear that piece as an opera as well. The saxophone piece was very atonal so I was not very fond of it. The playing was very well rehearsed and formed well. Instead of the whole orchestra the ensemble consisted of three quintets that were seated separately. I remember the finals night of the competition and the ensemble part sounded more difficult on piano. I really felt bad for that pianist that day. The next performance was a piano concerto played by one of the piano faculty at Illinois State. The professor of composition here wrote it as well. I moved closer to the stage so I could watch her hands. It was very entertaining seeing the numerous trills that glimmered throughout the piece and how relaxed she was. The concert ended with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite that is mostly known through Disney’s movie Fantasia. I thought of the movie cartoon interpretation throughout the whole piece and it is amazing how well it fits in with the music and how well I remembered it after years of not seeing it. That was a great performance as well except for the coughing duet that took place during the quiet movements between an audience member and percussionist on stage. Since it was the last concert of the year, I am looking forward to next year’s concerts!

WC: 346

Free Write!

Well… this is awkward. I just deleted by blog review on accident so now I need to retype the whole thing. My original post was me ranting on about how I dislike people and don’t understand reasoning behind their actions, but now I think that was a sign to stay positive in these posts so I don’t seem like a whiney little school girl. I am happy to say that my performance on Wednesday night went very well! I would post a link but I can’t figure it out for some reason. Maybe I’ll keep trying. That is, only if someone would actually watch it.  I just realized how much college could change people.  An unnamed group of people was afraid to try any sort of illegal substance or alcohol, but now they party most weekends or get drunk on weekdays. College has changed the way I view people and society.  People tend to care about superficial things. This suddenly turned into the original blog. I feel really strange today. At least some classes tomorrow are canceled. I think I will take a nap and work on my project. It is hard to think of new subtopics to prove my point. Maybe I should just elaborate on those that I already have. A good paper is hard to write. Anyone can write a paper but to have knowledge and purpose is difficult. At the moment I cannot imagine writing more than ten pages on a research paper.  The future is somewhat scary in that aspect.  I don’t understand how some people can write like 5 pages in an hour. Even if the material isn’t that good, the concept still makes me jealous. It took me two days and about 12 focused hours to write about 3 and a half. I try to phrase things without being repetitive or under informed. I hope I finish! 

WC:310

Performance Links:

Hungarian Dances

Hungarian Dances2

P.S. I found the blog I thought I deleted.... hahaha

Yay...I get to pick anything. Well for starters this is my first blog for the past 3 weeks. Somehow I kept forgetting that I needed to write one ever since spring break. I am glad that I remembered today. Also, I came to the conclusion that I do not like people very much. It is funny how hard you can try to accomplish something, but it turns out that what matters to society is who you know or how you present yourself and not what you know or who you are. I feel that most of society is shallow and concerned with superficial issues. Many people come to me with problems that seem so simple and elementary-like. I would like to tell them so suck it up and shut it, but I am too nice. I suppose I would let the first-time offenders slide but those who continue to make the same mistakes and do not take my advice the first time should go crawl in a hole. I hate having to repeat myself because people cannot get things into their head. I guess I should give myself some advice and just forget trying to help people like that. They need to take action themselves since my advice ,and others', is not good enough. I want to hash tag this so bad.

On a more positive note, I recently took part in ISU's annual Piano Project concert Wednesday night. I played with my good friend Mo. I am really fortunate to have met her this year because she has taught me so much. She will be leaving soon because she is graduating with her masters and going to school for her doctorates in piano. I wish her the best. Here is a recording of the performance!