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MrRod
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Name: Rian
Country: United States
State: California
Metro: San Jose
Birthday: 9/30/1980
Interests: Art, Baseball, Cooking, Clubbing, Dim Sum, Drinking, Golfing, Jazz, Movies, Music,
Expertise: Music: Classical, Jazz, trumpet, choral, rennaissance, Mahler, contemporary.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  Trombadeo
Member Since:
5/1/2004
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| Its been a while...
Had a couple of concerts this week, The Women's Choir and the Chamber Choir did awesome performances on Wednesday evening. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, but nevertheless had its very musical moments. The Jazz Combo also went on Wednesday night and I think they were impressive to the audience, but I know what I need to work on with them...SOLOS!
Band and Orchestra went on Thursday, not up to par. Orchestra did fairly well and the band did perform to my expectations or their expectations. So we got something to work on.
The next few gigs are for outside groups. Nov 1 I am performing with the Villages Concert Band at 2:30 pm. Nov 8 I am performing one piece with the Mission College Orchestra, The Brahms Serenade No. 1. Then for Veterans day, I'm performing with the Villages Concert Band at the Mormon Temple on San Felipe Road in evergreen. The Mayor of San Jose will be the keynote speaker.
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| My very first encounter with Paul Hindemith was my freshmen year in college when I had to play the first movement on my jury. I had to find a pianist and the last minute I did, which was too late. The piece is a nice beginning sonata for a trumpet player, but you need a pianist with some chops for an accompanist. Way too hard. I think I got a B+ on the jury (also for fucking up the second octave of my B major scale). I loved the sonata for Trumpet. I then heard some other pieces, like Symphonic Metamorphosis on themes of Carl Maria von Weber and Un Cygne from the Six Chansons. It wasn't until later when I discovered the Mathis der Maler symphony when I really fell in love with this composer's writing. From there I listened to the string quartets and the piano sonatas.
Hindemith is a very cerebral composer. The Symphonic Metamorphosis is really the only accessible piece for everyone. The rest of his pieces have a formal structure like Bach's and use great 20th century pandiatonicism. I particularly love his use of fugue and how he breaks the boundries of staying tonal. A great piece is the Symphony for Band. I enjoy his music like I enjoy a dark beer, only one or two pieces is enough and then I get too full. Its not something you would bring to a party, but enjoy with sophisticated friends who have the willingness to listen to a full movement of a piece in silence. I think the Mathis der Maler Symphony might be on my top ten favorite classical pieces of all time. The first movement is a through-composed translucent experience. I would try listening to it on many different kinds of altered states of mind if you choose to roll that way.
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| So everyday my alarm clock goes off at 5:50 am and I get up around 6:20 to shit, shower, shave, make coffee, eat breakfast, make lunch, and I am out by 7:15. On the weekend I sleep in until about 7:30 and try to go out to breakfast. When I call my friends at 11 am to go out to breakfast, they are still asleep and don't want to partake. I think I would be unreasonable to call them at 8:00 am, but not 11:00 am.
Am I getting old?
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| So I got a significant amount of money from tax return recently. What should I do with it? The practical thing would be to open up a IRA. In my case I am thinking of putting it in a 403b or 457b. But then there is the fact that I haven't gone to Europe in a few years. I started looking at festivals and the one with Larry Rachlef is like $4k and in Czech republic and only 7 days. The one in Romania is cool and 14 days, plus I get to conduct really cool lit like bartok concerto for orchestra, a few concerti, and kodaly Hary Janos Suite. That one is also more affordable. I could also just go to europe for vacation with this money. Also I could use a new C Trumpet and I need a piccolo trumpet. So what are your thoughts?
R
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| SO WHAT if you can play Waldstein sonata at the age of 14? I come across a good handful of pianists that can play Chopin mazurkas, Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart, and even some contemporary classical pieces. A lot of them play these pieces beautifully and can impress the hell out of a lot of people. 9 out of 10 of them have no clue how to sightread. Only 1 out of 100 of them could read jazz changes in root position. None of them can read figured bass. So what good are they to me? I have a kid that reads changes very well and plays great classical too. He complains a lot, but nonetheless, he is usefull and plays in the jazz combo. I had a kid a few years ago who sightread and he played piano for the choir. I had another girl who could sightread and she played for the musical.
So what happens to these amazing pianists? The first great pianist I had graduated from Stanford and is now an Investment Banker (I would make a comment on him not having his job for very long in this economy, but he is fluent in Chinese and could easily get a job in Taiwan). The one girl that played for the musical some years ago went to Harvard, I am not sure what she does now. I bet my little jazz kid gets in somewhere good, but if he goes to Berkeley...that would be a waste. The kid who played for my choir went to Berkeley. I think he is an engineering or economics major.
All this talent flushed down the toilet. Never to play piano again. When I look on You Tube and watch the 14 year old pianist who also plays cello just as amazingly, all I see is an engineer, investment banker, or corporate slave sitting in a cubicle. Its people like Rachel and I who grew up with the knowledge and freedom that we can be what ever we want and be successful that makes happy doing what we do. These days I am happy until 6th period, which is when I look around the room and feel sad for all the talented string players that will be sitting in a cubicle the rest of their lives in 10 years. Genetically engineered for writing code, communicating with their slave labor manufacturers in China and Cambodia, and in charge of gambling somebody else's money in a failing stock market.
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