Copy and paste.

http://www.everygoodboydeservesfruit.com/2006/05/24/in-this-essay-i-plan-to-divulge/

I wish the essay were that easy.

My music graduation concert was tonight. I personally had nothing performed, but I was there to help out (more than most, it seemed).

I accepted a lift home. In the car I came up with a quote, perhaps my best composition yet.

“There is a time to shut up, and that time is most of the time.”

If you live by that, life is easy.

I joined our community’s elite to witness the best our little town could summon up last night at the latest concert given by the Wollongong Symphony. To make my opinion of the event crystal clear, I’ve decided to bold the major issues.

Arriving late, mostly because who in their right mind starts a concert at 6pm, I was standing outside Door 6 of the Entertainment Centre as the orchestra struck up their first piece, Also Sprach Zarathustra. I was talking to one of the staff when I hear a loud applause after about 30 seconds. “So you mean they aren’t playing the whole work, just the bit that everyone recognizes?” Fantastic. The second piece began. It was, as the compere later recounted “John Williams’ Star Wars Suit” (sic).*

The program continued to push the boundaries and present rarely heard high art pieces, like the 1812 Overture, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and as our able compere described, after a moment of sheer terror and whythehelldidn’tireadthisbeforeiwalkedonstage “Pro-ko-Five’s Peter and the Wolf“. No one else seemed outraged that Pro-ko-Five copied significantly from the more often performed Prokofiev.

Add to this “fireworks and special effects” that were actually just lights so bright I feared I might have an epileptic fit**. Oh, and the Japanese soprano, who apparently Wowed the people around me with her renditions of Ave Maria, Nessun Dorma and ALW’s Muzak of the Night.

The orchestra performed better than the first time I saw them, but there were still plenty of horn flubs, messy string passages and the like. The massed choir was a bit lumpy and could have done with a conductor of their own, because they sure weren’t following the orchestra’s conductor. One gentleman with a rather obnoxious voice seemed to be right in front of a microphone and insisted on singing badly most of the night. I’ve done the massed choir thing before and having some old man come along and sing whatever he feels like when everyone else has done the hard work is pretty annoying.

Certainly, though, my favourite point of the evening was at the reception afterwards when more Japanese artists were performing on Koto and Shamisen. The faces of the “music lovers” was gold as they listened to the performers playing “Waltzing Matilda”, but thinking it was traditional Japanese music. It was so Christopher Guest I could hardly contain myself.

* I actually wanted to double bold this sentence, but it wouldn’t let me.

** I actually was diagnosed with mild epilepsy and do suffer strange things when I see ultra bright light.

Today was the final class day of uni for the year. It was also my last class of my music degree (just the music side of things, don’t worry - I’m still dedicated to the ongoing persuit of knowledge, and as such, should be allowed to catch buses at half fare).

Sitting in the labs working on the compilation DVD this morning, I had a graphic from our graduation concert poster on the computer screen. An often vague peer said “Oh, I heard them advertising our concert on the radio the other day.” I asked him which station he was listening to, but he didn’t know. “They were playing classical music.”

“Uhhh… That was me.”

“Oh.”

I wonder if I do put on much of a ‘radio voice’. I don’t think so, but it could be subconscious.

In other news, I worked in exchange for money yesterday, the first time in quite a while. Tutoring has started up again, so that’s a little bit of change to let me catch buses places and what not. This could not have come at a better time with uni commitments easing off (I still have assignments and what not to do). Yesterday I also found myself in a bit of a pickle as I spent my last few cents (plus a whole heap of Kit’s) on food so I wouldn’t collapse somewhere, but that left me without transportation home. Thus, I must sincerely thank Kit and Zoe for investing crucial capital into my transportation fund, getting me home safely. Kit, I owe you $1.75. Zoe, I owe you $1. All debts will be repaid in full.

This is not the email you want to recieve at 5:03pm on a Friday.

Hey Tyson,

It has been a devastating afternoon.

The email then continued to describe a list of technical problems that have now arisen on a compilation DVD I was working on since 8am this morning. It seems the computer has been unable to burn a disc or a disc image of the completed project and some student’s files are now missing. At least the guys made me laugh through the tears of agony and dispair.

Looks like I’ve got my Monday planned!