'To think that it took an actor and a Jew-boy (Judensohn) to revive the greatest Christian music for the world' is what Mendelssohn said after reviving Bach's St. Matthew Passion. He was an important figure in reviving Bach's music, and it is evident that there was much of Bach's influence in his own music. This kindof brings me to a point that Bach really is a strong foundation for any music writing, no matter what era you're in. And I think it's all related to counterpoint and the fundamental rules that a composer must follow, even up to Vaughan-Williams when he's tearing our souls apart with his dissonance. It's all so beautiful.

Since i know that you, Dr. Copeland, read my blog entries, this is actually for you... and for anyone else who is interested.

First off, great performance, I thought yesterday, but I also thought Dr. Baird was right when she said our pianos need to be soft. When you get soft, it really captures the audience's attention (as much, if not more than fff moments). The concept of contrasting dynamics is important for music making of all forms, and I think if we learn to harness that aspect, we will be that much better. I do think we need to be excited about our concerts, but I think Copeland is dead on when he says we need to "learn to focus that energy in other ways," because our performance was in fact too exciting for control. Again, this is my opinion. Please comment if you agree/disagree.

Secondly, I've been listening to The Single Singers rendition of Jingle Bells. Whoa, they sound really really good. Great recording Dr. C. One question, though: they're singing (seemingly) purposefully straight-tone. I really like this style for this song. What do you think about it, and do you think we should try to emulate that style? ...They almost sound like a professional pop group of some sort. Let me know about all that. :)

jinga da jinga ding... jinga da jinga ding (got that in my head now).

Piano concerto no. 4. Listen to it sometime. Get your soul pwned once again by the genius.

I'm not too certain about how I feel about our performance of the music last night. I do know, however, how I feel about singing with other great singers, under a wonderful director. There are moments when I'm in choir and I feel like my body isn't even there and I'm not standing on earth. At that moment, all my thought is bent on the music, which is the most important thing in the world to me. The music is all that there is. (This moment happens to me a lot when I listen to ochestras playing huge serious works.) Then when it's over and he cuts us off, I wake up and think: wow. what just happened? was I dreaming? and suddenly I realize maybe I just had a little bit of heaven.

I hope we talk on Monday about how the concert went, because I thought we were quite bipolar with our singing. Some things were just perfect, and other things were absolutely bad. And I dont know why. It's very strange. I do know that Bach rushed like a waterfall because we were all way too excited about singing it that we forgot that we have to actually still be thinking. The other things that happened are just a mystery to me (deep river... uh, what happened?). All in all, the concert was fantastic. The audience loved it, I loved singing it, all we need to do now, i think is get our head into the game next time. well, that and not sing bach by memory :)

Being sick depresses me, but I'm sure that's normal. Missing school depresses me, and that definitely is normal.

I threw up all morning and after I was done with all of the substance to throw up, I just dryheaved til finally I went to bed for a couple of hours. Yikes. I'm sure you all wanted to hear about that. Oh well, it's my lj. k thx ttyl

I missed the one choir day that I really wanted to go to, as well. I missed the Bach. Crap!

I'm praying that we're going to pull the Bach together and give an amazing performance on Saturday. I'm also praying that I am going to be able to sing on it! There's a schedule conflict with a football game that I must attend, and I might not be able to go to the concert at all! I'm still waiting to see if I can do both somehow. Not sure how that's going to work out.

I'm gonna go get better for tomorrow now.
Thanks for playin.

Okay, so one Bach scholar thinks that Bach's second wife Anna Magdalina not only copied a lot of Bach's music, but also composed a few of his pieces, including the Six Cello Suites. I thought that was very interesting. Here's the story if you're interested:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/04/24/bach-wife.html

So I've been getting a lot of "why don't you post anymore, Chris?" and my answer is this: The last time I wrote on Live journal, the consequences were dramatic. God knows, I don't need more drama in my life. The things that I feel most passionately about cannot be talked about, because all the things that I have to say are extremely negative. So, this is why I've not posted in such a long time. I'd though about writing, but then I realized that it was a bad idea. Instead I now just talk to my closest friends to vent and confirm that I'm not crazy. Live journal is supposed to be a place to just go out and say to the world how you feel about the things that matter to you; unfortunately, that cannot happen. As a "professional" in the field of music, I know that it's not necessarily always about what is right and what is wrong. It's also about political bullshit that has nothing to do with the music nor the performance.

On another note, Sergei Rachmaninoff pwned everyone's soul with some Symphonic dances.

Okay so all those musicians out there listen up: if you've not heard Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 1, it would be to your benefit to get a copy. It's pretty awesome. I'd never even heard of Bruckner. I know him now.

The greatest game of all time:

http://hallpass.com/media/wrath.html