Hello, all,
Here's your required listening for the weekend:
(This video looks a bit funny because the video is a smidge ahead of the audio. Also, there's a brief hiccup in the video a few minutes in... pay these things no heed!)
This piece has been stuck in my head recently.
Tchaikovsky originally wrote this piece as a movement of one of his string quartets. This means that this piece was part of a group of relatively short pieces that form a collection generally called a "string quartet." Note that the word "quartet" refers to the fact that there are four musicians in the ensemble (two violins, a viola, and a cello), not to the number of movements (sub-pieces) in the larger work. By technical / dictionary definition, a "string quartet" is just a four-person ensemble (the instrumentation of which varies historically, of course), but the term has long since taken on the meaning of a suite written for such an ensemble.
Anyway, the movement turned out to be a big hit, and Tchaikovsky arranged it a few years later for solo cello and piano (or string orchestra).
The piece is known as the "Andante cantabile" movement. Musicians translate "andante" as a tempo marking indicative of a "walking" tempo -- it's not slow, but it sure ain't fast, either. "Cantabile" means in a singing style, or "singing-ly," to construct an adverb.
I discovered this piece because I randomly found a bass transcription of it in my sheet music collection. I'm not sure if I'll learn it and perform it for anything, as the arrangement isn't centered in a very soloistic register for the bass... which is almost indubitably the reason I had a hard time finding a recording. (I might try getting funky with the key, though; we'll see.) After spending a couple of hours scouring Baylor's electronic resources directory and the internet at large looking for a bass recording of the piece, I presented my quest to a friend who immediately suggested YouTubing it. I hadn't really thought of that. There was no bass recording, but we did find this (and other) recordings. For a dramatic (and awesome) string ensemble recording, check out this link:
What a melody! I hope it gets stuck in your head a little bit, too, so that you may carry it around and enjoy it throughout your day.
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(This segment of this post was written a few days ago in a state of extreme tiredness. Please excuse any odd linguistic choices.)
So, I attended a lecture earlier this evening. The event was held in a spacious room inside the Honors College. I, however, am not in any of the Honors programs here, and I do not live in the Honors College building, so my campus ID card does not grant me access to said building. I was a typical nerd in junior high and high school, and I did all that that implies -- good ol' academic competitions, calculator programming, computer science / programming, over-extensive AP testing... Been there, done that, still wear the t-shirts. (My TICalc.org profile still exists, too. Should you have a need for a Hearts scorekeeper for TI-83+, fret no more.) As high school ended, though, I knew I had to make a choice between music and math/science. Reasoning that I would miss music more than I'd miss math and science, I chose the music path. I do believe that this was the correct choice to make... but believe me, I do miss math and science. As a non-Honors student, lacking the unique flavor of academic rigor that those Honors kiddos taste every day, I tailgated my way into the building with a faint, faint worry of being a fish in a foreign pond. I don't know too many people in the Honors College / programs, but I've seen a lot of them around. Upon entering the lecture room, I grabbed some seats to help establish a Brooks College (that's my home!!) base near the front. The room filled shortly afterwards, and the lecture began.
An hour and change later, my legs were feelin' it from the harsh limitations that the chair in front of me placed on their degrees of freedom. I was also past the point of tiredness, somewhat hungry, and almost cranky. I stood up to stretch my legs and look at the crowd in motion around me.
Generally, I'd say that I tend to be fond of crowds. Blessed with the bird's-eye view that I have, navigation is never a problem, and I like the feeling of being part of something big. It's like going to a midnight movie or book release, when you're able to tune into and sync with the energy of everyone else there. Having said that, though, you should know not to expect me, upon being released into a crowd, to go around and try to learn everyone's name or extract the life story of whatever hapless bystander I run into first.
So, after briefly contemplating the scene, I drifted towards the refreshments table at the back. That's when... it happened. Dun-dun-duuunnnn!!!!!! (Mind ye not my midnight melodrama.)
I started running into people I had seen before. I saw a girl whose name I had forgotten, but I knew she was in the School of Music with me. I chatted briefly with her and her friend (I didn't know his name either), until I finally gave in and asked if she could remind me of her name. She kindly did, and asked if I knew her friend. "No," I replied, and in perfect unison with the Mystery Man, I added, "But I've seen you around a lot." Mystery Man immediately called jinx, and all traces or hints of potential grumpiness gone, I laughed with them. Moments later, I joked with strangers about where the line for the refreshments table was (or wasn't) and who was cutting in said line, and soon after that, I was spontaneously aiding a group effort to determine what exactly the mysterious, carbonated, non-water punch-like beverage was.
In these brief moments, I experienced something that I do not often feel nowadays -- something from an earlier time in my life. I have my dear friends, of course, who I love very much, but this was something different... a unique flavor of camaraderie, but more than just a feeling of general chumminess -- it was like an instant identity. It was like meeting an old friend, or a whole bunch of old friends all at once.
At times like those, I miss math, I miss science, and I miss being around people who feel the same way.
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I love, value, appreciate, enjoy, and am thankful for my training as a musician. I am proud of the choice that I made.
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