Concert!

I'm really looking forward to the concert tonight. Not because I think I will be brilliant -- I will be passable, making lots of stupid mistakes and not-quite-getting the harder passages I've been working on for months -- but because I'm looking forward to playing this music. I love the Delibes dance suite, and I'd never have heard the Gounod symphony if it hadn't been put on this program; they're both fun to play. And I will see friends tonight, which is always wonderful too, especially these days when we see so little of one another.

And I'm proud of how well I've been handling orchestra in the wake of the fibro diagnosis. I've been cutting myself a lot more slack about low energy, clumsy fingers and hand movements, and not being able to pull off what I want to be pulling off. I try, and I get some of it; if I don't, well, I didn't, and it isn't the end of the world. It's more than mildly ironic that in the past when I felt I wasn't getting it I'd try harder, which would just make things worse. Now I understand why.

Dress rehearsal went well enough. The seating arrangement has been slightly altered in hopes of improving how easily the sections could hear one another. It worked for me; I don't know about the other sections. Having the winds behind where the violas usually sit meant I could really hear their lines and cues. The celli and first violins have been pushed back and angled more, too. I can see the conductor a lot more clearly as a result. When we were wrapping up the conductor told us it sounds good, and sounds even better from further away. We were all a bit punchy by that point, and it was very amusing to imagine a sign posted to the effect of In order to obtain the most value for your money, please sit as far away from the orchestra as possible.

If you're just tuning in, or need the reminder:

The Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra presents their Spring 2008 concert tonight, with the theme of French composers and dance music. The programme features:

Overture to The Caliph of Baghdad by Boieldieu
Pavane pour une infante défunte by Ravel
Chanson et aires de danse dans le style ancien from Le roi s'amuse by Delibes
Pavane, op. 50 by Fauré
Symphony no. 1 by Gounod

The concert takes place on Saturday April 5, 2008 at 19h30, and will be presented at Cedar Park United Church located at 204 Lakeview Ave, Pointe-Claire, QC (corner St. John's Blvd). Admission is $10, children under 18 attend free of charge.

The church is easily reached via public transport by taking the 211 bus west from Lionel-Groulx metro, disembarking at St. John's blvd, and walking south to Lakeview (the first street south of autoroute 20). By car, take St. John's Blvd south from either autoroute 40 or 20 and turn right (west) on Lakeview. The church is about three houses along on the south side of the street. There's a parking lot on the west side. Here's a map to help you find your way.

(Originally posted at Owls' Court.)