Well, sheesh!
Mar. 31st, 2004 01:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaI'm studying for a listening test on Thursday. What is the good of writing an effective musical setting of this poem if one doesn't include the f-word? Or maybe it was the performers on the CD who changed it? Hmm.
We're studying some really nifty music in Theory now, stuff I haven't encountered (sort of) "in depth" before but have heard plenty about: Babbitt, Carter, Crumb, Penderecki, Reich, etc. The above setting is by a composer at this very school. Today was spent listening two professors talk about their compositions that are on our listening list. It was like Canadian Music Since 1930 class again. This is what I love about new music: you can talk to the composers.
The more time I spend at this school, the more I realize it's a pity I'm not a composition student. It looks like that is the strongest aspect of the program. Student composition concerts are held monthly. Flyers for composition competitions are posted, and I know of students who are entering them. And there are so many (for a program of fewer than 150 students) established composers teaching here too! We currently have Allik, Fisher, and Burge; and Anhalt was at one point the head of the department.
Flute choir performed today, at the Symphonic Band concert. (This is not the band I'm in.) We were competent (barely) but (not surprisingly) musically uninspired. That's what happens when you are not directed... well, very much at all. A final rehearsal was held immediately before the concert. As a result of all that time spent playing and holding up a flute without breaks (flute choir music seems to be very punishing in that way), my mouth went into spasms during the performance and my back hurts like it has not hurt in a long time. Though coerced into it, I am in this ensemble voluntarily (i.e. not for credit). Next year, I'll just have to tell the professor that it causes me too much pain. I'm always physically incapable of practicing on Wednesdays after rehearsals because I ache all over. I will conveniently neglect to tell her that I also don't want to join because it's musically unrewarding. She's quite a good private instructor but she simply cannot control a group poperly.
My follow-up appointment with the sleep clinic occurred today. Their report places me in the "normal" category in every single aspect for which they tested. I'm not surprised, since I experienced none of the usual problems during my night there. (I have to become accustomed to a bed before they start to occur.) From the looks of it, I'm on the fringe of the "normal" range in several cases (for instance, I stopped breathing for about 18 seconds six times during the night) but apparently the doctor didn't think any of them significant enough to discuss with me. He says my internal clock is out and I have phase displacement tendencies. No kidding! I knew that in 1998! The only really significant piece of information acquired through all this of this effort is that it's now been recommended that I buy a light therapy lamp.
I signed my lease today. I sent off health insurance claims for physiotherapy. I replaced a lost memory card and bought a new, more secure case for my digital camera. I also replaced the flash diffuser for my stand-alone flash. I ate two (small) meals despite having no appetite because of a medication I'm taking. A score ordered through interlibrary loan finally arrived (ordered March 9, shipped March 12) and I picked it up. Many useful tasks were accomplished. Unfortunately, none of them had anything to do with writing an overdue essay, long-term take-home exam (basically another term paper), or term paper due Thursday. Notice a pattern? (Hint: I hate writing essays.) Extensions given by professors really don't do me much good when assignments accumulate like this.
For tonight/this morning: I need to finish four concert reports, prepare for a keyboard harmony test, and practice before 10 a.m. tomorrow.
We're studying some really nifty music in Theory now, stuff I haven't encountered (sort of) "in depth" before but have heard plenty about: Babbitt, Carter, Crumb, Penderecki, Reich, etc. The above setting is by a composer at this very school. Today was spent listening two professors talk about their compositions that are on our listening list. It was like Canadian Music Since 1930 class again. This is what I love about new music: you can talk to the composers.
The more time I spend at this school, the more I realize it's a pity I'm not a composition student. It looks like that is the strongest aspect of the program. Student composition concerts are held monthly. Flyers for composition competitions are posted, and I know of students who are entering them. And there are so many (for a program of fewer than 150 students) established composers teaching here too! We currently have Allik, Fisher, and Burge; and Anhalt was at one point the head of the department.
Flute choir performed today, at the Symphonic Band concert. (This is not the band I'm in.) We were competent (barely) but (not surprisingly) musically uninspired. That's what happens when you are not directed... well, very much at all. A final rehearsal was held immediately before the concert. As a result of all that time spent playing and holding up a flute without breaks (flute choir music seems to be very punishing in that way), my mouth went into spasms during the performance and my back hurts like it has not hurt in a long time. Though coerced into it, I am in this ensemble voluntarily (i.e. not for credit). Next year, I'll just have to tell the professor that it causes me too much pain. I'm always physically incapable of practicing on Wednesdays after rehearsals because I ache all over. I will conveniently neglect to tell her that I also don't want to join because it's musically unrewarding. She's quite a good private instructor but she simply cannot control a group poperly.
My follow-up appointment with the sleep clinic occurred today. Their report places me in the "normal" category in every single aspect for which they tested. I'm not surprised, since I experienced none of the usual problems during my night there. (I have to become accustomed to a bed before they start to occur.) From the looks of it, I'm on the fringe of the "normal" range in several cases (for instance, I stopped breathing for about 18 seconds six times during the night) but apparently the doctor didn't think any of them significant enough to discuss with me. He says my internal clock is out and I have phase displacement tendencies. No kidding! I knew that in 1998! The only really significant piece of information acquired through all this of this effort is that it's now been recommended that I buy a light therapy lamp.
I signed my lease today. I sent off health insurance claims for physiotherapy. I replaced a lost memory card and bought a new, more secure case for my digital camera. I also replaced the flash diffuser for my stand-alone flash. I ate two (small) meals despite having no appetite because of a medication I'm taking. A score ordered through interlibrary loan finally arrived (ordered March 9, shipped March 12) and I picked it up. Many useful tasks were accomplished. Unfortunately, none of them had anything to do with writing an overdue essay, long-term take-home exam (basically another term paper), or term paper due Thursday. Notice a pattern? (Hint: I hate writing essays.) Extensions given by professors really don't do me much good when assignments accumulate like this.
For tonight/this morning: I need to finish four concert reports, prepare for a keyboard harmony test, and practice before 10 a.m. tomorrow.
