Jr. SYMS Concert & Other Stuff « John’s Musical Life

Jr. SYMS Concert & Other Stuff

First of all, to all my readers (ha!) sorry I haven’t been posting as frequently as before, It’s summer, so I’ve been in Maine, where there are no computers.

So, we went to my brother’s SYMS concert (he made the Johnson concert and jazz band. I’m so proud… *sniff*). They played Mazama, Clouds that Sail in Heaven, and A Galop to end all Galops. They were all great, especially for musicians that young. I’d have to say that like Mazama the most, the percussionists really pulled it together on that one, as it required everyone to play a single staccato note at the same time, but no one was late or early! It surprised me! I was like “sweet!” Oh yeah, there was also a tornado warning, which required everyone to go into the cellar. My dad, brother, and I just stayed above ground and watched the lightning. :-)

Other Stuff ~ Unattended, my origami shelf has kind of died, it’s now populated with car keys, hearing aid batteries, science museum passes, and nail clippers. So I’ve started and Origami Stairwell, where I’m hanging origami around our stairs. I’ll upload a photo when I don’t feel lazy.

I’m struggling with the Marathon problem that I have to do for my AP Chemistry summer work. I think I set up the equation properly but I’m still getting a g/mol ratio below one, which obviously isn’t right…

This summer I’ve been listening to way more music than I usually do. Here’s the list of what I listen to, and when I listen to it:

Classical (if I feel “clear”)

Bruckner
Mahler
Vivaldi

Brass Band (if I feel tuba-ish)

Grimethope
Empire Brass
Innovata
Canadian Brass
Black Dyke
Youngblood

Low Brass Solos (if I feel very tuba-ish)

Roger Bobo
Patrick Sheridan
Arnold Jacobs
Roland Fröscher
Harvey Philips
Gene Pokorny
Øystein Baadsvik

Rock

Dream Theater (if I feel anything)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra (if christmas is coming)
Pink Floyd (if I feel mellow)
Metallica (if I feel rebellious)

Techno

Infected Mushroom (if I feel philosophical)
8-Bit People (if I feel nostalgic)
Weeble’s Stuff (if I feel crazy)
OC Remix (if I feel nostalgic)

This reminds me of an article I saw on Wikipedia:

Navaras/Nauras is a Sanskrit word that, when broken down, refers to the nine (“nava”) emotional states (“rasa”) that are exhibited during music, drama, and the visual arts, the experience of which bring about a state of transcendental bliss.

The nine different states are as follows:

Love – Sringaram

Comic – Hasyam

Pathetic – Karunam

Furious – Raudram

Heroic – Viram

Terrible – Bayanakam

Odious – Bibhatsam

Surprise – Adbutam

Tranquility – Shantam

I will leave you with this picture to think about. It’s called Body Modification

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm and is filed under Band Camp, Musically Random, My Non-musical Life, Performing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Endangered Tuba

The Tuba is one of the largest brass instruments in the world, with an adult male reaching upwards of 4 feet in height and 60 lbs in weight. Tubas are an endangered species, because most have been beaten to death by the "Horn Denters". There are now believed to be less than 10000 tubas left in the world. The Horn Denters usually join band because their parents forced them to. Thus they are very angry fellows and like to take out their anger on tubas. If a tuba is strong enough to survive this ordeal and eats enough pedal tones, then it will go on to become a 6/4 adult tuba. They survive in band rooms, concert halls, and are sometimes lucky enough to gain a "tuba player", who will help the tuba thrive and teach them how to sing.

The Poison Tuba

Although they are not considered to be poisonous, the saliva from a Tuba contains deadly bacteria. This saliva is so toxic, that 0.006 mg of its venom will kill a flute. The spit is initially very painful due to its acidity. The patient will immediately feel tingling around the mouth and tongue, facial muscle twitching, nausea, vomiting, profuse sweating, salivation, and shortness of breath. Patients may rapidly develop agitation, confusion and coma associated with hypertension, metabolic acidosis, dilation of the pupils, and generalised muscle twitching. Death results within the hour from progressive hypotension or possibly raised intracranial pressure resulting from cerebral oedema.

The Three Valve Tuba

An F and Eb tuba can only gain valves by finding the valve tree. The sacred Valve-Tree can only be found in the center of the black forest. This forest is guarded by several grand pianos, and one master piano called the Bösendorfer. To reach the sacred Valve Tree the tuba must sneak into the Black Forest and discretely make its way through the underbrush. If a piano hears the tuba, it will be tortured with a barrage of C7's. If the tuba can fight off the pain they it may try to light the piano on fire with its valve oil or, if it a particularly tough tuba, scare off the piano with a barrage of pedal tones. Once the tuba reaches the Valve-Tree it must face off against the Imperial Grand, the Bösendorfer. The fight has never been seen by humans, as the tuba and piano move too fast, but it is generally understood that the Bösendorfer will let the tuba pass if it is worthy. The tuba then heads down a small dirt path and reaches a tree that has valves just like a cherry tree has cherries. The tuba steps under the golden valves and faces up. Immediately there is a blinding flash of light and the Tank Fanfare is heard ringing across the forest. If you listen closely enough, you may hear the newly valved tuba playing the melody. The tuba is then escorted out of the forest by several pianos, and is sent off on its own. The tuba will no longer be bothered by the horn-denters, and will be respected by the other brass instruments for the rest of its life.

John’s Musical Life