Music News

First, news of my saxophone exam:

I PASSED!! :)

If you'd like to congratulate me, you can do so at this site. :> Thanks! As for taking it to the next level, well, it depends on how easy it is to get my hands on a saxophone, and whether the people around me will be willing to hear me train my diapraghm up to respectable levels. (I think the answer to that would be not many!)

That being said, I'll stay loyal to my dear old violin for now, especially since I've found a new place to bring her. It's called the Philharmonia Britannica - a long name for an orchestra with a playing history of about 3 days now, but for a new orchestra I think we have a lovely sound! We played an evening of Mozart music Saturday night (as advertised on the e-flyer I put below) after 2 rehearsals on Friday and Saturday, and the results were pleasing.

We played, among others, the Piano Concerto in C, and Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter". The soloist for the piano concerto was a Christopher White from the Royal Academy of Music, and he played with a clean and precise air without being too mechanical, and was melodious and innocent enough for Mozart's writing. The Jupiter was amazing as well, soaring columns of forceful melodies interwoven with graceful themes and harmonies, racing to a majestic ending (and by racing, I mean exactly that, as we set the timing too fast for the last Presto movement and I ended up fluffing a lot of the running notes. sigh...). Apparently, Woody Allen's character in his film "Manhattan" lists the 2nd movement of this symphony as one of the reasons why life is worth living. It IS a very peace-inducing piece. All that music and more was interspersed by an actor, complete with period costume and white wig, playing Mozart and reciting from various letters he wrote.

Most of the players are somehow involved in the music field, either playing and teaching, or recording, etc. so it was quite interesting to mix with them and catch little glimpses into the London music scene. And they're all rather nice - the 2nd violin lead always had a sparkle in his eye when he played or turned to instruct us back desks about the music, and the conductor and leader had a friendly rapport which extended towards the whole orchestra. As for the non-musical people, we come from all walks of life - there's an IT programmer, RAF pilot, secretary in a Harley Street establishment (luxury clinic hehe), etc.

All the same, it was nice to come back and remember that I'm not part of that rat-race for music gigs and recognition, but rather a medical student, striving for knowledge to cure. It's good to take time away from things after all, to set your sights right again on the things you want. I'm definitely looking forward for my little pocket of artsy time out again, some time in August/September! Look out for more news here.