An unusual Gig...*S*

[RAGNAR]

LOL

[Medi]

...This is a more serious post... ...about my r/t face...

As long as I can recall, my normal facial expression is very dour...I have to rouse myself to smile.  Looking at myself in the mirror and putting on makeup often is hard...I get depressed!     The expression served me well at times...especially taking a deposition...the deponent would be very uncomfortable.   

I was the Treasurer of a Music Club, and was asked to judge student scholarships for the strings.  We collected a lot of money, and would spend it to support amateur music events, and would award scholarships to children.  The scholarship would be paid to their private teacher for their lessons.      It was a GREAT program!  The children would range from grammer school to HS...some of the HS kids just made my jaw drop...they were SO GOOD!  The younger children were harder to judge...I had to consider their age...how long they had been playing...and such.  Once, as a young boy started, I stopped him, and got him to hand me his violin...tuned it...handed it back to him, and said..."Start again."

The most difficult was when a harpest showed up.  I just watched her...I HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW A HARP IS PLAYED!  I cut her off after a few minutes, and said "Thank you"  and wrote on my chart.  I did give her the highest marks...the music sounded nice...she got a nice scholarship.

The cutest was a young girl, maybe 10 years old, playing the violin.  She was very nervous, and I am sure that my dour expression didn't help her...but she was playing VERY WELL for her age.  I actually let her finish her piece.  Like the harpest...I would usually listen for a few minutes...cut off the player...thank them...and write on their chart.  I smiled at her and said, "Tina, you are very good at your age...keep practicing and soon you will be playing in our orchestra."  She ran out of the room, and I could hear her shouting...

"MOMMA...SHE SMILED AT ME...SHE SMILED AT ME...SHE SMILED AT ME!"

I was taught a lesson by a ten year old...that I still try to utilize to this day.  A smile can mean so much to one, even a stranger.   

[Medi]

...I need to add this to the above post.  The girl wasn't scared, she smiled back at me, and said that she would keep practicing...and I smiled and nodded.  I think that she was excited because she had played very well, and I had complimented her, and wanted to tell her parents of how well she did.     I also think that word had gotten out to the students that I didn't smile.

[Medi]

...I just love this piece.  Elgar was in a deep depression, and was ready to give up composing  music.  A man, Jaeger, showed up at his home and they spoke.  Jaeger was a music critic, and would write nice reviews of some of Elgars' works...but would also be very brutal of some others.  He convinced Elgar to keep composing.

This is movement #9 of the Enigma Variations.  Elgar had had a difficult day teaching student lessons, and he sat at his piano and came up with a simple theme, and his wife loved it.  He got out of his depression, and composed the work. The 1st movement introduces the theme, and then it develops...and it is dedicated to his wife.  The rest of the movements are each dedicated to a friend of his, and the theme continues...but Elgar tries to reflect their personality in each one.

Some are short...and amusing.  In one...the flute keeps doing a 'gentle laugh'...it is about a woman who had a nice laugh.  There is one that is VERY furious...it is about a friends bulldog who falls, and rolls into a small stream...comes out...shakes its' body and BARKS!   

Movement #9, 'Nimrod'...is named after a biblical hunter...and Jaeger also means 'hunter'.  I think that in this movement is Elgar trying to express what it meant to him to have someone pull him out of his depression.  The movement starts very slow...and waxes and wanes...and ends with triumph...and relief.

https://youtu.be/sUgoBb8m1eE

[Medi]

...Another 'orenry' time...and it shows that we females stalk men just as you stalk us...

At Conservatory, I lived in the Dorms my 1st year, and then moved to an apt with two other students.  Dora was also a Sophomore, but Steph was a Frosh.  Dora was a violinist, Steph played the trumpet.  We two string players would sometimes tease Steph... ...but the three of us got along as well as can be expected of three young women living together.

We worked out an agreement...we each took care of our own rooms and fed ourselves, and agreed NOT TO TOUCH ANOTHERS FOOD THAT WAS IN THE FRIDGE AND CUPBOARDS!!!!      We would rotate things like vacuuming and cleaning the common area.  But we did establish a very nice weekly event.   

We rotated, and each Sunday, one of us would prepare dinner for us all.  It got into a competition... ...young women are like that.  However, we were all students on marginal budgets.  When I knew that my turn was coming up, I would save my cash and eat very modest meals for a week so that I could buy nice food for all of us.  Steph just blew us all away in the competition...her father dropped by to visit, he had been fishing...and left us three of the HUGEST SALMON STEAKS I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!  She knew how to cook them, and grilled them on a small Weber we had...and Dora and I just said..."You WON!"

((Continued Below... ))

[Medi]

...When we moved into our apt, I got my parents to bring me my piano.  It was a small, upright model, and fit well.  I would sometimes practice on it...but would not practice in the evenings out of consideration for the other tenants.  All three of us would use it to study music theory and such.

I had a lot of music in the 'bench'...one was a piano transcription of all of the Beethoven Symphonies...I had bought it in my Frosh year.  In the Music History Course, an entire chapter of the textbook was devoted to Beethoven.  Beethoven was REALLY the genius who made the transition between the 'Classical' and 'Romantic' periods.  I would play the themes of the symphonies, in order to memorize them.  The professor, during a formal test...would do 'drop the needle' questions.  He would put on a disk, let it go for 10 seconds, and stop, and ask..."What was that?"  We would write down our answers...and he would start another one.   

((Finishing below... ))

[Medi]

...As I said, Steph was a year behind Dora and me...and being a wind player...had NO idea of how to play the piano.      Dora and I were a bit puzzled when Steph pulled out my Beethoven transcriptions, and kept practicing...over and over again...the 1st 8 bars of the 2nd movement of Beethovens 7th.  Well, we found out why!!!!!!!!!!!   

A REALLY CUTE FRESHMAN showed up on Sunday, after we had eaten, and cleaned the area.  Steph welcomed him in, and said, "We are studying our music history class on Beethoven."  Dora and I should have left...BUT WE JUST COULDN'T!!!      Dora and I went to the couch, and pretended to read magazines...but we were watching them as they sat at our small dinner table.

It seemed to go pretty relaxed, they were softly talking about Beethoven.  Then Steph got animated as they spoke about the symphonies.  Somehow, Steph got them talking about the 7th,  and the Cute Guy was puzzled.  She stood, and said, "Don't you know the 2nd movement?" and walked over to piano and played the 8 measures that she had spent hours learning, and looked back at the Cute Guy.

Dora and I COMPLETELY LOST IT!!!!!!!!!!!!     Steph looked over at us...and with her back to the Cute Guy glared at us...and flipped us off.      We got the hint...and we each went upstairs...gathered our instruments...and said..."We are going to the practice rooms."  When we thought we were far enough away...we just SQUEALED WITH LAUGHTER!!!!

[Medi]

...Here is the 2nd Movement...

https://youtu.be/ffYKCNY6kUk

[Medi]

...This is a great composition by Beethoven...this is the 3rd Movement of the 'Moonlight Sonata'.  The first we all know, it is quiet, very pensive, and thoughtful.  The middle movement is relaxed, but this, the last Movement is VERY angry!  When I was learning it, I imagined that it had to be about getting over a very difficult challenge...and failing many times.  The right hand races up the keyboard...and falls back...and keeps trying.  Then both hands get upset...and pound on the keyboard.  At times they settle down...but are still angry and frustrated...and you can hear them trying to think out the problem.  The right hand tries again...and fails...and fails...and fails.  They think the problem through...and come up with a solution...and the right hand races up the keyboard...gets over the top...and triumply races down!   

https://youtu.be/WolqGAgiolM

[Medi]

...I need to add this...so I won't come off as a self-important bitch.     I was pretty nimble at the piano, although I was a cello performance major at Conservatory.  In Frosh Musical Theory class, the professor assigned us a two week assignment, which was to learn to play all basic chords, and be able to play them on the piano.  I TOTALLY IGNORED the assignment!     The professor called me up, first, and told me to play a I, V, VI and VIII cord in G Major.  I did get the first one right, and then just TOTALLY BLEW the rest...   I kept hammering at the piano...trying to figure them out!     He actually grabbed me by the back of my hoodie, pulled me away from the piano...and said..."Get back to your seat."  I slunk back...one guy was actually falling out of his chair...he was laughing so hard!     The professor was FURIOUS... ...and scolded us all for 5 minutes...and kept glaring at me...at times saying..."You all think you can make a living by JUST PLAYING THE CELLO?"   

I did study his assignments better after that...

[RAGNAR]

I would have told him to get his dick beater off my clothes or pull back a nub.

[Medi]

... ...Technically, Rags, I probably should have slapped him, or made a formal complaint.  But, I was also studying martial arts, and was very used to being beaten by instructors, so it didn't bother me...plus I was very embarrassed!   

This is one of my favorite Vaughan Williams works for strings.  I have never seen it staged like this.      The work has a string quartet, a string novet, and a full orchestra playing with, and against, each other.  When I performed it, we just all sat together with the whole orchestra.  I was excited to be in the quartet, and kept telling my H what a nice piece it was.  When we got onto the stage, I looked for him, I knew where his seat was, and he wasn't there.     We performed it, and he showed up after the half time.  I didn't talk to him much the next couple days, he had a very lame excuse for not arriving on time.   

Here it is...

https://youtu.be/ihx5LCF1yJY

[Medi]

... ...I 'performed' this work once...I was the 'page turner' for the organist.   

It was at Conservatory.      At the end of the year, we would do a concert where the best 'Performance Majors' would play a movement of a concerto with the full orchestra.  I had had a bad fall, and my right hand was in a splint, and I couldn't hold my bow, so I couldn't play in the orchestra, as usual.  The Conductor was disappointed, but wished me well and said he would look forward to seeing me in the section the next year.   

I went to Chris, he was going to be performing this work, and showed him my wrist, and said "I will not be able to play the concert, I am really sorry."  Chris and I knew each other very well, we were from the same city, and hung out together at times when we met at Conservatory.     He said, "Well, you can be my page turner"...and I said..."OK".

'Page Turning' is not as easy as it looks...    turn too early, or too late...and you can mess up the entire performance.  He had called on me before to be his page turner, and I had learned how to do that for him...we had actually rehearsed 'page turning' a number of times.     I can read music very well, and would stand to his right, and carefully follow him.  At the right time, I would take the upper right corner of the music in my left hand, and watch his face.  He would give me a slight nod, and I would quickly turn the page...making sure not to disturb the positioning of the music...that is not as easy as it sounds.   

   I actually dressed and did my makeup a little more formal than I normally do that evening.  When he was called up, I walked on stage behind him, and stood at his right.  I left my high heels back at my apt and wore 'flats'.     He performed very well, and I turned the pages BRILLIANTLY!     I followed him off the stage, carrying the music, and he got THREE CURTAIN CALLS!     At the last one, he actually grabbed my arm and hauled me out onto the stage, and had me bow with him!  There were calls of appreciation from some men...my gown was 'low cut'.   

Here is the music...I think that a lot of the themes in it ended up in movies.   

https://youtu.be/RduLr1Cp9Ls

[RAGNAR]

Tits usually do tend to enhance a performance.   

[Medi]

...JDL @ Rags...you are probably correct...if I could have faced the audience while I was 'turning pages'...Chris probably would have instructed me to do so.     I was wearing my  'social' gown...it was low cut.     I had another, much more modest one, that I would sometimes wear when performing.

One last story of my early life, for today...I will probably post more later.   

I had a male friend in early HS, we had met each other in the 'rocketry club'.  I liked him, and we built rockets together, but I didn't want to get 'romantic', our other interests were so different.  He liked to bicycle, and convinced me that I should do it, too.  I agreed, and bought myself a nice 10-speed.  I couldn't keep up with him at first, but after about three months, my legs got stronger and my breathing got better, and we would race all over town, sometimes side by side, other times chasing each other to see who would give up first.

One Saturday, we decided to ride up Mt Diablo, which was a few miles away.  I packed us up a modest lunch, and made sure that all of our water bottles were full, and we headed off.  We only made it up about 1/3...neither of us were in that good condition.     We spotted a small motel, and rode in and sat on a bench getting our breath back. We also saw that the motel had a pool.  Bob went into the office, and came out, waving a bathing suit and said, "I don't know about you, but I am going swimming."  I sat for about 5 minutes, wiping off sweat, and thought, "What the Hell."

I went into the office and asked the manager if he had any womens' bathing suits, and he smiled, and brought out a cardboard box that had an assortment, and said "One dollar to rent one."  I carefully went through them, and picked out the UGLIEST ONE PIECE that I figured would fit me.    

I put it on, and joined Bob in the pool.  We spent about an hour there, swimming, and just sitting and talking.  I had picked out the 'ugly one' because this was the 1st time Bob had seen me in a bathing suit, and I didn't want him to get 'romantic thoughts'.    We returned the suits, and rode back...it was MUCH EASIER!...we actually had to brake at times because we were going too fast.   

Here is the song...

https://youtu.be/GugsCdLHm-Q