Psychological colors.
I generally try to keep the monochromatic details of my life out of here and just try to provide you with information on why things people do are stupid. At the moment, I had a good week and I feel like writing about it. I will try to make it interesting by giving it my standard blog "view on things" treatment. No guarantees, though.
People are so very interesting. While often I cannot stand talking to them, I almost always get a kick out of watching them. That's what I love about being normal: I can enjoy everyone else's abnormalities (If you wish to argue this point about me, you are only asserting it).
People of the middle school age seem to be both the most malleable and the most dynamic. While they can be easily told what to do and what to think, if you let them go off and do their own thing they show an array of personality color and dynamics that you do not see in most adults, since they are not afraid to let it out. That is what annoys me about the high school age. Coolness either in silence or in loud obnoxiousness.
Two of the middle schoolers walk up to the music director, Bryant. Give me your pin, they say. One takes it and pins it onto his shirt, then paces around on stage saying, "I AM Bryant Clark! You will listen to me. Sing, Sing now! Sing loud! I AM Bryant Clark, and you shall obey me!". I don't think he got his pin back.
Two others, one dressed up in fake leathers, sideburns and a ponytail as Gaston, and the other a short guy with a bald wig (?) and a stuffed pot belly as Maurice. It looked like a comedy routine. They were walking back in forth on stage in front of the pit telling jokes and making fun of each other for our entertainment prior to the doors opening for the show. Someone asked if they shouldn't be in the other room with the cast getting ready. "Oh!", and they both went off in different directions. Someone else yelled, "Other Way!". They both did a 180 and smacked right into each other. It was better than anything they did on stage that night. The only part that was missing was the "feet running in place" sound effect, and the "car crash" sound effect from the cartoons. If I could have recorded it, it would be on the internet right now.
One rather small little guy was hanging around Bryant. He was talking to him about Ray Charles. Apparently he is a huge fan and has his Ipod filled up with Ray. He walked about the pit, attempting to identify and make conversation about each instrument. When he came around to me he, with confidence, announced that I played the viola . I took advantage of his malleable brain and instructed him to drop that word from his vocabulary. I think I made an effective presentation.
Another thing about middle schoolers is that they got bored easily. This worked to my advantage a number of times, since more than one of them wanted to try out my violin, since they were self proclaimed "experts" in the area. I would start to talk about what the definition of expert is, and how they have never heard an expert until they have listened to a szering recording, and how the greatest loss of modern society is it's lack of the arts and it's substitution for which is a poorly compiled series of repetitive chords attached to an unimaginative beat. After about ten seconds their eyes would glaze over and they would find something else to do. Surprisingly enough, this tactic workers very effectively on people of all ages, adults included, but that is another blog topic all together. (This reminds me of the time at AWANA that I silenced a 10x10 room with 15 excited little kids by explaining to them that the reason why they had to be quiet was because of the tax drain that it was causing on society and how it would deplete social security in an exponential manner due to the influx of massive corporation and lower retirement ages which, in turn, was contributing to the heat-death of this universe. I never before heard such silence from that group in my life)
We (the pit) went to Applebees during the three hour hiatus between Saturday afternoon and evening shows. We got to hear, "Tails from Band Practice" for a greater part of the time. Us orchestra people, who were, for the most part, on one end of the table and outnumbered, didn't know quite how to relate. Band is a very different culture, which I don't know that I will ever be able to comprehend. Again, this is a blog topic all in it's own. On a positive side for them, it does sound like they have a good time being able to march around and do peppy songs and stuff. I take solace in the fact that my instrument doesn't have a spit valve. That alone is enough for me.
Getting back from Applebees, we had about an hour left. I needed to warm up again, having been out in the cool air and not playing for a few hours. I was fooling around with a couple songs, and finally settled on one piece. Having played through half of it, one of the sound technicians came over and asked if he may have a chance at it. I was happy to let him, and he took the violin with his rather hammy hands. He proceeded to play out of tune, but with an obvious knowledge of the instrument. He played very stiffly, gripping so hard that I was on the verge of being nervous. When he stopped, I asked how long he had played for. "Until I was 14", he said. I asked why he didn't continue on. "Well, I was getting beaten up every single day at the bus station in Boston on the way to school...". Good reason.
Making music in a small group like this is great. You can almost get to know a person's personality through their style of playing. Everyone is heard, and everyone has an important role. Even more enjoyable is getting to know faces that I might only see once a year, once every two months, and even every week. Rather than the standard dry tacky and dull, "Hi. How are you?", holding an actual conversation. It makes for a good time. As much of a hassle as it is, I wish I could do it every month.
People are so very interesting. While often I cannot stand talking to them, I almost always get a kick out of watching them. That's what I love about being normal: I can enjoy everyone else's abnormalities (If you wish to argue this point about me, you are only asserting it).
People of the middle school age seem to be both the most malleable and the most dynamic. While they can be easily told what to do and what to think, if you let them go off and do their own thing they show an array of personality color and dynamics that you do not see in most adults, since they are not afraid to let it out. That is what annoys me about the high school age. Coolness either in silence or in loud obnoxiousness.
Two of the middle schoolers walk up to the music director, Bryant. Give me your pin, they say. One takes it and pins it onto his shirt, then paces around on stage saying, "I AM Bryant Clark! You will listen to me. Sing, Sing now! Sing loud! I AM Bryant Clark, and you shall obey me!". I don't think he got his pin back.
Two others, one dressed up in fake leathers, sideburns and a ponytail as Gaston, and the other a short guy with a bald wig (?) and a stuffed pot belly as Maurice. It looked like a comedy routine. They were walking back in forth on stage in front of the pit telling jokes and making fun of each other for our entertainment prior to the doors opening for the show. Someone asked if they shouldn't be in the other room with the cast getting ready. "Oh!", and they both went off in different directions. Someone else yelled, "Other Way!". They both did a 180 and smacked right into each other. It was better than anything they did on stage that night. The only part that was missing was the "feet running in place" sound effect, and the "car crash" sound effect from the cartoons. If I could have recorded it, it would be on the internet right now.
One rather small little guy was hanging around Bryant. He was talking to him about Ray Charles. Apparently he is a huge fan and has his Ipod filled up with Ray. He walked about the pit, attempting to identify and make conversation about each instrument. When he came around to me he, with confidence, announced that I played the viola . I took advantage of his malleable brain and instructed him to drop that word from his vocabulary. I think I made an effective presentation.
Another thing about middle schoolers is that they got bored easily. This worked to my advantage a number of times, since more than one of them wanted to try out my violin, since they were self proclaimed "experts" in the area. I would start to talk about what the definition of expert is, and how they have never heard an expert until they have listened to a szering recording, and how the greatest loss of modern society is it's lack of the arts and it's substitution for which is a poorly compiled series of repetitive chords attached to an unimaginative beat. After about ten seconds their eyes would glaze over and they would find something else to do. Surprisingly enough, this tactic workers very effectively on people of all ages, adults included, but that is another blog topic all together. (This reminds me of the time at AWANA that I silenced a 10x10 room with 15 excited little kids by explaining to them that the reason why they had to be quiet was because of the tax drain that it was causing on society and how it would deplete social security in an exponential manner due to the influx of massive corporation and lower retirement ages which, in turn, was contributing to the heat-death of this universe. I never before heard such silence from that group in my life)
We (the pit) went to Applebees during the three hour hiatus between Saturday afternoon and evening shows. We got to hear, "Tails from Band Practice" for a greater part of the time. Us orchestra people, who were, for the most part, on one end of the table and outnumbered, didn't know quite how to relate. Band is a very different culture, which I don't know that I will ever be able to comprehend. Again, this is a blog topic all in it's own. On a positive side for them, it does sound like they have a good time being able to march around and do peppy songs and stuff. I take solace in the fact that my instrument doesn't have a spit valve. That alone is enough for me.
Getting back from Applebees, we had about an hour left. I needed to warm up again, having been out in the cool air and not playing for a few hours. I was fooling around with a couple songs, and finally settled on one piece. Having played through half of it, one of the sound technicians came over and asked if he may have a chance at it. I was happy to let him, and he took the violin with his rather hammy hands. He proceeded to play out of tune, but with an obvious knowledge of the instrument. He played very stiffly, gripping so hard that I was on the verge of being nervous. When he stopped, I asked how long he had played for. "Until I was 14", he said. I asked why he didn't continue on. "Well, I was getting beaten up every single day at the bus station in Boston on the way to school...". Good reason.
Making music in a small group like this is great. You can almost get to know a person's personality through their style of playing. Everyone is heard, and everyone has an important role. Even more enjoyable is getting to know faces that I might only see once a year, once every two months, and even every week. Rather than the standard dry tacky and dull, "Hi. How are you?", holding an actual conversation. It makes for a good time. As much of a hassle as it is, I wish I could do it every month.
posted by Cyphoid at 5:30 AM
1 Comments:
Ha. I remember that night when you ranted about taxes to a bunch of 7 yr. olds. I was walking by and stopped and I was like, "is he really saying what I think he is??" And then I pretty much laughed the rest of the time...Drew, you are awesome.
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