If you could tell kids who are debating whether or not to join band one thing, what would you say?
Why the hell would you join band when you could join orchestra?
YOU GUYS. ORCHESTRAL PORTAL.
IT’S LIKE THE WORLD DECIDED TO GIVE ME EVERYTHING I COULD EVER WANT MUSICALLY TODAY.
I AM CRYING AGAIN.
GODDAMMIT.
I seriously think someone out there is messing with me.
What “bad” habits have you gained from your conductor when it comes to music?
Eight years of Amabile can make it pretty much impossible to break out of certain Amabilite habits. I don’t know that this is necessarily “bad,” per se, but it sure is inconvenient:
In my choir, we had this thing where you were expected to raise your hand when you knowingly made a mistake. It was basically so that Brenda (our conductor) knew that you were aware of what you did wrong so that we wouldn’t have to stop and fix it. It made rehearsals go by really quickly.
The problem is … I am not in Amabile anymore. Yet I still do this, and no one else in my choir does. This means that I will occasionally raise my hand and people will ask me if I have a question and I’ll be like UM, NO SORRY OKAY BYEEEEEEE …
Even worse? I also do this while I’m in orchestra. AND AS IT TURNS OUT, IT’S KIND OF HARD TO PLAY VIOLA WHEN YOU’RE RAISING YOUR HAND IN THE MIDDLE OF A PIECE.
I swear, I am cursed to be Forever Amabiled.
What notes do you write into your music? Is it messy? Clean? Normal?
I’m a big believer in writing notes into music. I really, really hate it when people just don’t do it because they want to leave it extra-super clean or whatever. That is not the point of sheet music. You’re using those pieces of paper to learn a piece.
So I write a LOT of notes, but I tend to have fun with them. If I screw up on something that’s already been noted, I start writing things like “DON’T COME IN HERE OR I WILL FIGHT YOU” or “ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO FAIL AT THAT AGAIN????” I also tend to draw ridiculously elaborate eyes when I need to remind myself to look up at the conductor. Sometimes my notes do get messy because I’m getting really aggravated and making giant circles and x-ing out entire parts, but my hope is that whoever gets my music in the future will have a lot of fun reading through my ridiculous notes.
What is your favorite song you’ve played in band orchestra/choir?
For orchestra, my vote is always going to go to Whitacre’s “October” (with Sibelius’ “Finlandia” at a close second). That piece brings … so many feels.
Choir is a hard one because SO MANY SONGS, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. I’m thinking it has to be a three-way tie between Bart’s “Blessing,” Daley’s “In Remembrance,” and every piece written by Stephen Hatfield ever.
That is as close as I can get to choosing.
| Song: Saya's Loneliness |
| Album: Blood+ Original Soundtrack 2 |
| Played: 119 times. |
“Saya’s Loneliness.”
Probably my favourite track on the Blood+ soundtrack. Well, today, anyway.
I know damn well it’s practically March.
None of you can stop me.