It happened: this year I was charged with working a 2nd day for the Certificate of Merit program. The threat always looms that if you enroll 10 or more students in the annual C.M. proceedings you may be scheduled for 2 or even 3 work days.
A couple weeks ago I worked for an entire day as a theory test room monitor and today I hosted 2 honors recitals and was a "helper" for a 3rd. I don't really buy into these honors recitals and that makes it difficult for me to act as a leader of them. It's all too starchy and stiff for me.
The kids are great musicians, no doubt. With every one of the performers I listened to today, one conclusion was clear: these are exceptional music students. But after hearing 2+ plus hours of solo piano music it wouldn't matter if Ludwig van strode through the doors and performed his "Tempest" Sonata. My ears were fatigued, my head was saturated.
As recital host I was asked to read opening and closing remarks from a written script. I attempted to quickly extract the bullet points of said remarks in order to speak more off the cuff and be more than a drone onstage.
Unfortunate that I had to cancel students who I normally see on the weekend, but fortunate that I can walk about 3 blocks from my home to the Castro Valley Performing Arts center. I lost income, but I didn't pollute the air with my automobile. Little victories.
The grand piano in the Auditorium at the Arts center is remarkable. It produces a winning, warm tone. The grand piano in the smaller Exhibition Hall is not so delightful; that instrument sounded shrill and dull at the afternoon recital I hosted. It didn't help that this Hall (aka "room" - it's the size and shape of a regulation school classroom) had an incessantly buzzing light fixture or P.A. speaker or something. That was a drag: a sub-par piano accompanied by a droning industrial noise. These children deserve better!
The defining image of my day of work: many male students entered the building wearing heavy winter gloves on their hands. I hope they're not developing a complex about their hands so young, but it seems they're already traveling down that road. They looked like mad geniuses, aware of something beyond the understanding of common-folk. "It's 70 degrees outside, why are they wearing gloves?" Right - they're pianists. Budding Glenn Goulds, for better and worse.
Jesse
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