In which our Hero reflects on the wisdom of certain class requirements....
I am now several weeks into my classes, they are going very well, I have scored A's on all my tests so far. With this I am well and truly pleased. However even thus so well disposed as I am, I still stress out... this does not probably bode well for the future. This weekend a lot of that tension was at least lightened, if not removed.
My weekend began on Friday night, as many weekends do. I had decided on Wednesday that I wanted to see the Heartland Chamber Chorale Festival Chorus perform "Carmina Burana" with the Ft. Wayne Ballet. I was able, due to the help of a friend, to get a job ushering so that I did not have to pay. I had never heard "Carmina Burana" all the way through from beginning to end, and so, I was blown off my feet. It was an excellent performance, the Ballet was marvelous and the choir sang beautifully.
My weekend continued with Saturday, as weekends must. On Saturday evening, having spent my afternoon doing homework, I attended the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic's season opening concert. Rachmaninoff and Dvorak, absolutely sublime. I came out of that concert tired from just watching the pianist play the Rachmaninoff, feeling generally giddy having heard the spectacular Dvorak concerto.
My weekend is ending with Sunday, as it always will. Today, I went to church and had the supreme joy in participating and listening to the music of the Church, hymn and chant and high-thanksgiving. After church there was a welcome brunch for the Seminary students, a jovial affair, as always. Afterwards I came home and sat around doing nothing until it was time to leave for the French Baroque recital at IPFW. Not nearly as grand scale as either of the other concerts, but definitely well worth listening to; lovely pieces being played on stringed instruments of that time period.
Ah, but you must be saying, "Why? Why go on so long with seemingly no end, and no point, in sight?" and now friends, I will state my hypothesis. The IPFW Department of Music requires that its students attend ten performances in the community every semester. The point being that if you cannot manage that much, you have no business studying music; you have to be interested in music to study it. But I think it serves a dual purpose, I think that it also serves to calm down stressed-out music majors. It is almost impossible for me to imagine feeling stressed at all while sitting and listening to a live performance of some variety. It is a very relaxing experience. You cannot really spend any time worrying if you are busy listening to the music.
But now I must prepare for the week. With a performance on Tuesday and theory picking up in tempo, (yuk yuk) I will have an interesting and busy week ahead of me. At least, as I approach the week, I will have the memory of such beautiful music.
