Classics from the movies

[magid]

Last night I went to a Boston Landmarks Orchestra, with the theme "Classics from the Movies". Due to the unchancy weather, it wasn't by Jamaica Pond, but in a rec room underneath a church instead, which turned out to be good (not being rained on, and wonderful acoustics) and bad (the lighting was horrible, the folding chairs not so comfortable).

The program, however, was really fun, a crowd-pleaser, and done well.

Entry of the Gladiators (Julius Fucik)

Eine Kleine Nachtmusick (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 (Gustav Mahler)

Excerpts from Piano Concerto No.21 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
(re-arranged, since the orchestra doesn't travel with a piano, though a small child in the audience did manage to open the piano at the side of the room during the piece before her father could stop her.)

Beautiful Blue Danube (Johann Strauss)
[intermission]

Two works from Schindler's List (John Williams)

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)

Bolero (Maurice Ravel)
(really, this could be an interesting veil belly dance piece)
[encore]

Second and third movements from The William Tell Overture (Gioacchino Rossini)

I haven't yet listened to the CD I bought, which has Make Way for Ducklings (narrated by Ted Kennedy!) and Peter and the Wolf on it.

Other thoughts from watching an orchestra:
-Holding a violin under the chin to one side looks fatiguing. I wonder if there's any more ergonomic way to play a violin?
-There are so many different shades of brown for string instruments. I tend to prefer the redder browns over the yellower ones.
-Formal/informal: all the men wore black bow ties with their white shirts/black pants, while the women could wear any white top, black bottom combination.
-I wonder if string musicians tend to have more or less incidence of carpal tunnel. Does it make a difference if they type a lot? Does playing a piano a lot help strengthen hands enough so that typing a lot is less of a risk?
-Really, a conductor's baton looks like a perfect wand. It even does music magic.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized that sports would be an arena for RSI too. I was under the (obviously mistaken) impression that it's small movements that lead to RSI, not the bigger movements that take larger muscle groups, like punching.

(I'm definitely getting an education this morning!)

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Punching involves most of the small muscles in the forearm. Good punching involves the rapid application of many fine-grained muscle movements; bad punching involves the rapid application of coarse-grained muscle movements. That's how I know that I am doing it right -- my forearm muscles hurt. There are also wrist issues from the repetitive impact and to a lesser degree elbow and shoulder. Of course, this also assumes that I don't throw anything wild where I impact at a less than optimal angle. Nothing hurts my wrists and arms more than a few punches gone awry.