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sigmastolenSo, yeah. I guess this is just a general update. First -- I did not in fact march the pregame show Saturday the 30th, as Tracy was feeling -- well, not much better, but better enough to march, which was good and a relief. This weekend I did march pregame, and during halftime, the beach show, I played frisbee and stuff with some other alternates in the Side 1 endzone, which was more tiring than you'd think: frisbee is hard work. Ten minutes to the half, the entire band (entirely in uniform for pregame and playing in the stands) stripped down to beachwear, which at the extreme most comprised a T-shirt or tank top and shorts (and sometimes also a grass skirt), and in the case of two of the tubas (former section leader Chris and current section leader Stuart (or Stuba)), a speedo and nothing else (it was going to be all of the tuba guys, but some weren't shameless enough, and others didn't have speedos and felt that the ones at the UCLA store were too expensive (I don't blame them, I mean, $32 for a speedo? what would you be paying for? It's not like there's any material there) and so everyone else was considerably more clothed than chris and stu). It was brilliant. middle aged women were going crazy and taking photographs; i'm actually surprised we didn't get any catcalls (that I was able to hear). A woman walked past us on the aisle, looking completely freaked out, and ryan, who was sitting on the end (the better to attend to equipment crew duties), told her, "yeah, we're still the band." it was precious. And actually, the crowd really loved the Beach Show; they were listening and watching and clapping and everything. Yes, there really was applause, and you really could hear it from the field. Fantastic! For the postgame show, we did our Show 1 (the Big Show, which = jazz), which I did not get to march (and I need to talk to Shelley about switching off for that and who will be marching it for Notre Dame and Cal and such, the idea of which conversation kind of makes me feel like an asshole so i've been sort of avoiding it even though ryan keeps telling me pointedly that shelley and i need to make some sort of arrangements for this), but watching it was pretty damn orgasmic. It is such a sexy, sexy show. Yes, there were flaws, but it was very exciting.
So, about classes. I called Student Services last week and arranged to be able to take 28 units, but URSA still doesn't know that, or it didn't actually go through like the woman said it did or something, because I still haven't been able to register for things, and so I'm kind of displeased about that and I need to call them again.... But everything is going well so far, except for taking waaay too much time, and I'm already several chapters behind in the reading for music history (which most upperclassmen I've spoken to say is kind of unnecessary anyway, but whatev, I'll still try, especially since Prof Upton is amazing and I want to be her best friend). And a strange, confusing fiasco about orchestra placement, too, stemming mostly from the fact that we have a new orchestra TA this year who doesn't have very good English, and who is making awkward mistakes: I auditioned for the orchestras, and got an e-mail saying I was placed into the Symphony (along with sylvia, the other second year, and charles, a fifth year), closely followed by an e-mail asking for one of us to play contrabassoon in the Philharmonia. I discovered on Monday or Tuesday by checking the bulletin board where they post the orchestra rosters that I would in fact be playing contra with Philharmonia (the Symphony roster was not yet posted), which is fine (except for the part where now I'm late to bnad all the time which makes me feel guilty) and actually, really cool, since there are some really awesome contra lines in Shosty 10 (which is the piece I'm playing on). So Wednesday, I was all jazzed about Symphony, and I check the roster on the board to see what parts I've been assigned, and my name is not in the roster, and neither is Sylvia's -- instead, the part assignments have gone variously to Charles and the two non-majors who were in it last year. I freaked out a little and asked Isaac the orch manager (a 3rd or 4th year cellist) about it (or rather, told Dena, who asked for me since I had to run to class), and later got a call from him saying that the new TA had made a really awkward mistake and Sylvia and I were in fact alternates/subs/what-have-you. So we were both all deeply annoyed and confused. And then evidently sometime this weekend, Sylvia got a call or e-mail saying that there had in fact been yet another awkward mistake, and we were in Symphony and the non-majors were subs, but I heard that indirectly and haven't actually had a chance to talk to Sylvia about it; I haven't gotten any word myself, except for a couple odd e-mails from the TA asking for my "student status and address," then my student ID, which I assumed was for Philharmonia stuff; in the last e-mail I asked him why he needed my ID number. I sort of think it's probably for enrollment or something, in which case he'll have an unpleasant surprise when URSA tells him I can't take any more units. But it's all exceedingly strange and confusing and I'm more than a little annoyed and resentful about the whole thing.
Um. I'm also taking Intro to Conducting, which seems like it'll be fun... I'm already a little nervous about the part where the class becomes our practise ensemble, though. But lots of exciting people are in the class with me, which is pretty cool; they include:
- Dena
- Tom, who shaved his head and so I totally didn't recognize him until Dr. Lee was taking roll; it upsets me a little, I mean, he has such lovely hair
- several people from Theory
- several other upperclassmen I know from ensembles
- several of this year's batch of transfer students, including a hot bassist
and, perhaps most entertaining of all,
- the two drum majors, Dan (band dan) and Sean
So, that should be cool.
Also, I had my first lesson with John Steinmetz on Wednesday, and I love him. I like his philosophy of teaching, which is very oriented toward personal growth and reflecting on your playing and what you want, and then setting goals and working toward them. It's a complete turnaround from Charlie, which is great. I think it'll be really good for me, too, since I'm beginning to realise that I don't really think about my playing very much, and what I can improve about it; I'm very teacher-dependent, and I don't do as well without some kind of external motivator, so this may help me connect with internal motivation. (Alternatively, it could also be an opportunity for me to just underachieve at bassoon and just spend the entire year slacking & sucking, which I will make every effort not to do.) But yeah, Steinmetz wins. (I just need to actually practise now...)
And now I'm really tired but I still have hella homework and it makes me want to cry. I desperately need to catch up to the history reading, and there's an online assignment for it that i need to do by noon tomorrow (which basically means tonight as Mondays have class from 8-12:20). I'm actually doing double duty right now (from what Dr. Lee said about listening to the St. Matthew Passion, we should really be concentrating on the music, without distractions, but here I am typing away), and have already decided to completely blow off the work assigned by one of the theory TAs as no one even understands what he wants us to do or why. And honestly, I probably don't have that kind of wiggle room in keyboard assignments, considering that I lose at piano and especially at improvised piano, but that's just too bad.
So. I should go. G'night.
So, about classes. I called Student Services last week and arranged to be able to take 28 units, but URSA still doesn't know that, or it didn't actually go through like the woman said it did or something, because I still haven't been able to register for things, and so I'm kind of displeased about that and I need to call them again.... But everything is going well so far, except for taking waaay too much time, and I'm already several chapters behind in the reading for music history (which most upperclassmen I've spoken to say is kind of unnecessary anyway, but whatev, I'll still try, especially since Prof Upton is amazing and I want to be her best friend). And a strange, confusing fiasco about orchestra placement, too, stemming mostly from the fact that we have a new orchestra TA this year who doesn't have very good English, and who is making awkward mistakes: I auditioned for the orchestras, and got an e-mail saying I was placed into the Symphony (along with sylvia, the other second year, and charles, a fifth year), closely followed by an e-mail asking for one of us to play contrabassoon in the Philharmonia. I discovered on Monday or Tuesday by checking the bulletin board where they post the orchestra rosters that I would in fact be playing contra with Philharmonia (the Symphony roster was not yet posted), which is fine (except for the part where now I'm late to bnad all the time which makes me feel guilty) and actually, really cool, since there are some really awesome contra lines in Shosty 10 (which is the piece I'm playing on). So Wednesday, I was all jazzed about Symphony, and I check the roster on the board to see what parts I've been assigned, and my name is not in the roster, and neither is Sylvia's -- instead, the part assignments have gone variously to Charles and the two non-majors who were in it last year. I freaked out a little and asked Isaac the orch manager (a 3rd or 4th year cellist) about it (or rather, told Dena, who asked for me since I had to run to class), and later got a call from him saying that the new TA had made a really awkward mistake and Sylvia and I were in fact alternates/subs/what-have-you. So we were both all deeply annoyed and confused. And then evidently sometime this weekend, Sylvia got a call or e-mail saying that there had in fact been yet another awkward mistake, and we were in Symphony and the non-majors were subs, but I heard that indirectly and haven't actually had a chance to talk to Sylvia about it; I haven't gotten any word myself, except for a couple odd e-mails from the TA asking for my "student status and address," then my student ID, which I assumed was for Philharmonia stuff; in the last e-mail I asked him why he needed my ID number. I sort of think it's probably for enrollment or something, in which case he'll have an unpleasant surprise when URSA tells him I can't take any more units. But it's all exceedingly strange and confusing and I'm more than a little annoyed and resentful about the whole thing.
Um. I'm also taking Intro to Conducting, which seems like it'll be fun... I'm already a little nervous about the part where the class becomes our practise ensemble, though. But lots of exciting people are in the class with me, which is pretty cool; they include:
- Dena
- Tom, who shaved his head and so I totally didn't recognize him until Dr. Lee was taking roll; it upsets me a little, I mean, he has such lovely hair
- several people from Theory
- several other upperclassmen I know from ensembles
- several of this year's batch of transfer students, including a hot bassist
and, perhaps most entertaining of all,
- the two drum majors, Dan (band dan) and Sean
So, that should be cool.
Also, I had my first lesson with John Steinmetz on Wednesday, and I love him. I like his philosophy of teaching, which is very oriented toward personal growth and reflecting on your playing and what you want, and then setting goals and working toward them. It's a complete turnaround from Charlie, which is great. I think it'll be really good for me, too, since I'm beginning to realise that I don't really think about my playing very much, and what I can improve about it; I'm very teacher-dependent, and I don't do as well without some kind of external motivator, so this may help me connect with internal motivation. (Alternatively, it could also be an opportunity for me to just underachieve at bassoon and just spend the entire year slacking & sucking, which I will make every effort not to do.) But yeah, Steinmetz wins. (I just need to actually practise now...)
And now I'm really tired but I still have hella homework and it makes me want to cry. I desperately need to catch up to the history reading, and there's an online assignment for it that i need to do by noon tomorrow (which basically means tonight as Mondays have class from 8-12:20). I'm actually doing double duty right now (from what Dr. Lee said about listening to the St. Matthew Passion, we should really be concentrating on the music, without distractions, but here I am typing away), and have already decided to completely blow off the work assigned by one of the theory TAs as no one even understands what he wants us to do or why. And honestly, I probably don't have that kind of wiggle room in keyboard assignments, considering that I lose at piano and especially at improvised piano, but that's just too bad.
So. I should go. G'night.
