| 3/26/99 I was lazy today. Got up late, hung around the house, finally got my ass dressed and went to do laundry around 3. Went to a rehearsal tonight for a piece for Eric's recital. I volunteered to play trombone on one of his compositions--I thought nothing of it, but the other 7 trombonists thought it was pretty funny to see me walking around with a trombone instead of my euphonium. At least 2 of them cracked up when they saw me. I'd forgotten that I haven't played trombone much around this school. After the rehearsal Eric and I dawdled, talking about set theory and octatonicism. We ended up converting the letters of our names into numerical sets and discussing the pieces we could create. I'm sure it's an old, old topic for music theorists, but we had a blast. Goes all the way back to Bach, who loved to use his own name in compositions. B-A-C-H...H meaning B flat. Dozens of other composers have paid homage to Bach by spinning out pieces around this motif. We're all obsessed with our own names, and we have that adolescent urge to leave our marks where we've been...Arnold Schoenberg used the set known as 6-z44 (in Allen Forte's terminology) as his own musical signature in many of his 12-tone compositions: Es-C-H-B-E-G. Scriabin was fascinated with his own creation: the "Mystic Chord;" by the end of his career, he was composing music based upon this chord almost exclusively. All three of the composers I've mentioned were convinced (some more rightly so than others) that they were on the brink of a new system which would dominate the next generation of music. We all tend to harbor thoughts of immortality.... God, where did that "wisdom" come from? While Eric and I serialized our names, I asked him if he wanted to go in on the recital-sequel, since he accompanied me the first time. He was game. I mentioned that I'd be looking to add a piece or two to the program, to fill it out a bit, and he smiled and asked if I'd like to premiere a piece for euphonium and piano. My reaction: "uh, yeah!!" I told him I'd love to. God, I was afraid to ask him to write a piece for me because I thought I wouldn't be giving him enough time. I love new pieces, especially the kind that are all mine! After I kissed up to Eric for a bit (it's always good to make friends with composers--and now I really know why) I went grocery shopping, picked up my last checks from the old job, stopped by Barnes and Noble for a new Wine Spectator. Talked to Wes for a while about the Georgia situation. He was John's conducting teacher for a semester, so he's sad to see us leaving. We share the gossip-bond that people have who never gossip--except with other people who "never gossip." Then I came home and called my parents, told them to make sure the recital's on. Looks like I have a new project. All in all, I feel like I accomplished a lot of stuff today. Never mind that I didn't. I feel like I did.
|