Thursday, January 19, 2006

Blame All The Typos On My Keyboard, That Apparently Had Its Own Agenda Tonight

Well, they got me.

For the last three semesters, I've been playing in one of BYU's orchestras. One of the laid-back, let's-just-have-some-fun kind of deals, where class is held one night per week for a couple hours, we have one dress rehearsal and one concert, and we're done. And basically, my role was to hand in my info sheet the first day, then come the next week, ignore the seating chart, take my place next to Matt, wave hi to Misty as she pulls another chair up to join us, fake like I was no good while Dr. Katseanas (the head of the orchestra program at BYU) wandered around making seating changes, and I was in the clear for a semester of messing around with occasional pauses to play a note or two. Orchestra was a wonderful time, full of much laughter and plots to leave early, with minimal practicing and minimal concern over lack of practicing.

This is my fourth semester, and this time everything is different. Matt got married over break, so he's off in daydream world with his child bride and not even IN orchestra. So I had no one to sit wth me the first day when I was filling out my info form, and instead of putting down that I wanted to be seated in the very back next to a certain "Matt Ellsworth," I got all crazy and confused and just wrote "anywhere is fine." Anywhere? WHAT?? You KNOW what sorts of problems that opens up.

Which is why I walked in today, with a new conductor and a new system of doing things and no way to just slink into a seat in the back, and found myself assigned to being principal viola. For those of you unfamiliar with how orchestras work, the principal of each section sits at the very front and is kind of in charge of everything, working with the conductor, figuring out bowings, TAKING FRICKING ATTENDANCE EVERY WEEK. And there's no WAY I can just cut out early anymore.

I guess there was no way it could have lasted forever. I'm just sad to see the good times go.

3 Comments:

Blogger Baltazar said...

can you do foggy mountian breakdown on a viola ?

4:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yay for not leaving early! You're too good a viola player not to be first chair, so there. And so how hard can it be to actually take attendance? Besides, the viola section helps hold all the violins together, show them how it's supposed to be done. Remember, "the few, the proud, the violas"?

5:49 PM  
Blogger juxtaposer said...

I DO remember. I still have that t-shirt. Man, we were the coolest.

10:08 PM  

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