The Rite of Spring

I really should’ve done this entry last night, when the memory of it was fresh. Oh well.

The biggest assignment for Music class, aside from the exams, is playing in front of an audience, as well as watching others play. Ms. Mac gets both of these done essentially for us by assigning us a place in the school’s bi-annual concert.

That concert was last night. After school ended, I listened to some music, then took a nap. My mum drove me to the school, and we arrived right on time.

I met up with Rob, and we talked for a bit, then were called to the theatre. I was stressed at first; very few people from my class was here. As time passed, more people arrived, to the point where I believe we were only missing one or two people.

The room grew louder. Our school band has around forty-seven people, and they’re all very social. The choir has around thirty, I believe, and they’re the same way. After a few minutes, Jared (student body president and lead trumpet) started talking about how Ms. Mac would be here shortly and that they had extra stand lights.

Ms. Mac then entered almost immediately after, and we were given a somewhat positive talk about how the concert would go down. Around 6:30 (20 minutes before curtain), we set off. I immediately set up my sax and played a small scale.

After a few more minutes, Mary-Therese set up, and so did John Paul. Chris appeared around then, and I talked to him for a bit. I saw people tuning, and Jared was in the guitar storage room tuning his trumpet, so I waited for him to finish and I tuned myself. I started out flat, then sharp, then I got it just right. Afterwards I tuned Mary-Therese and we found John Paul and tried to tune his. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t play in tune; he was constantly playing flat.

Time was passing. We were due to line up. We did, and I felt somewhat giddy. I had a solo in the second piece, and I really didn’t want to screw it up.

The guitarist finished his solo and the audience was applauding. That was our cue. We walked somewhat silently on stage. I placed my music onto the stand and waited for Ms. Mac to count us in for our first piece, Ahrirang (if that is how it is spelled).

We began to play. Oh, how sloppy it was. It really, really did not sound together. I tried to keep my eyes on Ms. Mac for the correct timing, and I think I was in time. My notes seemed to line up correctly.

She had a very nervous smile during the entire first piece. After we finished, the audience gave a very warm applause. We really, really didn’t deserve it.

I turned my eyes to the second piece: an 8 bar piece comprised of a simple riff with rests in between. Some of us had been assigned to play during the rests (I was third). What we were to play was up to us. I had a set of riffs fresh in my memory for playing.

We started to play. After Nicole finished her flute solo, I calmed myself a bit and started the first fingering. The riff ended. Wouldn’t you know it: notes actually came out of my instrument! It felt so natural. After my solo, I played the 8 bars another 12 times. After everyone finished, the trumpets continued to play before stopping after a bar.

Ms. Mac had a REALLY nervous smile now. We didn’t know what the reception would be like. It turns out that the audience loved it, and we received around ten or fifteen seconds of applause.

All the stress left me after that. All I felt was disappointment. I put away my saxophone and sat in the audience with my mum. A few more acts performed, then the audience was called for intermission.

We met up with Chris’ dad and grandparents, then went to the lobby for a quick snack. Around this time, Christy and Mary-Therese laughed at me because I was the tallest out of all my family at the time (my dad was still at work at the time). Then Karina came and said hi, and Nicole informed me what the body count was (I had asked on Facebook beforehand).

The signal to return appeared: a piece from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. My family left, and I was alone with Chris’ dad and grandparents. I took a seat in front of them, and the second period class played. Before this, Mary-Therese had spoken of how Christy walked in on them playing while squeaking at random times. It turns out that that performance was a fluke. They were absolutely amazing. It just made us look worse.

Many more acts followed, and I really can’t remember them all. None of them really stick out; they were well performed, but I was daydreaming through a lot of it. Actually, the choir was a standout. I don’t know why the choral pieces do, but they blew me away even more than the second period class. If I were to purchase a CD of the performance, it would be solely for the choir. I honestly would not mind their performance being in my collection for further listening.

The show came to a conclusion after the band played a medley of The Lord of the Rings, which turned out being around 7-15 minutes. Ms. Mac said thank you to everyone involved, and in return, the seniors of the band bought her a tree. (Read that sentence again.)

Chris’ dad, grandparents, and I left the gymnasium the show was in and set off for lovely Beamsville. During the ride, Chris’ dad gave a colourful talk about the show, with off-colour remarks on the segments involving “Mozart’s magical flute” and how he didn’t go to see an opera. I didn’t either, but I didn’t mind them.

Then somehow the talk shifted to Chris’ love life, and how he tried to get Chris to invite Meghan over for “band practice”. I explained that Meghan probably doesn’t like younger guys, and maybe Chris just isn’t interested in her. True, Chris doesn’t seem to have an interest in anyone, but it’s Chris’ decision.

Then he shifted to my love life and I confided in him that which I don’t wish to write about right now. He said I have the right idea on how to talk to women and I should talk to his son more about these kinds of things.

Afterwards, we arrived at my house and I set off to my room. I listened to some music and went to bed around midnight.

It was a good night, overall.