The Tempest!

Hey everybody,

I'm back to posting! The Tempest is over! Yay! I mean, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm sad it's all over, but it's nice to have the weight off my shoulders. How did it go, you're probably asking? It was fantastic! Okay, I'm pretty (extremely) biased, but honestly, it really went well. On the marketing side, we had everything together (dates, advertising etc.) way sooner and that was really nice. As a small little theatre company, we're constantly improving and growing and learning, and this was definitely our best production. Hands down.

*The following section is unbiased*
We had a killer company too. First off, we had Nicole, who was a stage manager/lighting/understudy and general on-top-of-everything kind of person. Honestly, five days before opening, we found out that our actor playing Gonzalo couldn't make one of the performances. So we called in Dorothy, who was playing a spirit/mariner and asked her to play Gonzalo for that performance (the Saturday matinee) and in five days, she had Gonzalo's lines solid, all the blocking learned and the acting was all there. And then because Dorothy was now Gonzalo for the matinee, we asked Nicole if she would stand in for Dorothy. At a rehearsal, we went to run through the dance in Act II with Nicole, and gosh darnit, Nicole didn't even need that runthrough, because she already had it all perfect. I was honestly in awe. I've never understudied, but from what I've heard, if you can understudy, you can do anything, because when you understudy, you're not only learning your part, you're learning somebody else's! And for the record, the matinee was practically perfect and Dorothy and Nicole were fantastic! Yay Nicole and Dorothy!
And then we had Josh, who was brilliant as the grief-stricken King Alonso. Josh, you were really great in a really dramatic role! And Calla, who played Ariel, was totally fantastic as Ariel. Lots of energy, but perfect at pulling out the dramatic moments and hope in Ariel. Everybody else was great too, but as they don't have blogs to link to, they don't get reviews. :P
*Okay, unbiased section ends*

But we heard lots of great reviews for the production and I (personally) think we really did it justice. Now, I'm all sad and I miss it.

Anyway, this is getting long, and it's getting late (for me), so I'm going to end it here. I'm going to get back to my daily posting, now that I have more time, so you will actually get a post tomorrow!

-Daniel

My life

After my last post, I took all of my own advice, (which really is good advice, honest)...and promptly got sick. Very unpleasant. Without getting a swab, it's pretty tough to tell exactly what it was, but it's looking like I had H1N1. I had like, all the symptoms. Honestly, I went through the list of symptoms and I had every, single one. Almost funny. Almost. But now I don't have to get the vaccine because I have the natural immunity. Yay?

Anyway.

The long and short of it is that I've missed three rehearsals that I should have been at, a piano lesson, a piano masterclass, a cello class (that I am supposed to accompany on piano), a flute lesson, a voice lesson and who knows what else. So I'm grumpy. Grrr. But I had a good music rehearsal today with the musicians for the Tempest. Actually, with only 3/5 of them, and then I had to play the other two parts on the piano. But it was good, and we went through all the pieces with the script and worked them in where they should go.

That's all for now.

How to avoid getting H1N1

So wow, this H1N1 thing is getting pretty crazy everywhere. Everywhere I look, people are getting sick (even  if it's not with H1N1). So here are my tips for staying healthy. They've all been said before, but they bear repeating and they've kept me healthy so far!

1. Drink lots of water/herbal tea. Lots and lots and lots. It's good for you.

2. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. So eat more then one. And other fruits and veggies. They are also good for you. (Duh)

3. Get exercise, keep in shape. This is also important, as you need to be active in order to sustain a strong immune system. So walking, running, dancing, whatever. We have an ellipticle trainer that I hop on for an hour 3-4 times a week.

4. Wash your hands! Every time you shake hands with someone, before you eat, after you use the washroom, and at least once an hour!

5. Take Vitamin C + Echinacea. And possible ColdFX. That's what I take.

6. Cut down on/eliminate sugar. Freeze the rest of your halloween candy, until the flus have past.

7. Stay warm! Don't let your body get cold or your body will spend it's energy on warming you up, rather then fighting viruses. Put on a sweater, or run around the house.

8. And get lots of sleep!

Honens

So, about a week ago, I had the great fortune to be able to go the Esther Honens International Piano Competition. Actually, I had great company too, as I went with my wonderful mother and my great friend Josh. Hey, speaking of Josh, why don't you hop over to his blog and remind him that he hasn't posted since March and that he should get back at that?

Anyway.

In short, it was just fantastic. Totally inspiring, and very exciting. It's an international competition, and the level of performance is incredible. We spent almost the entire time listening to concerts by the quarter-finalists, or master classes taught by the jurors to Alberta piano students, and heard a lot of great music. We all got kind of music-ed out. Wait, no, forget that. That's not really possible. But we did get a little exhausted from sitting in the performance hall just listening. By the end of it, my fingers were just itching to touch the keys. I couldn't wait to get home and practice. But yeah, very inspiring, and hopefully I'll be able to go to the next one (in three years from now).

Honens: Coming soon

Splish, splash, sploosh, phwoosh, blubblubblub... That's the sound of my creative juices happily flowing along. Why are they suddenly flowing along?
Because I just got back from a really great, inspiring time at the Honens Piano Competition! I'll have a post up about it tomorrow.

I love Rachmaninoff. And Britten.

Stephen Hough (who is a fabulous pianist/composer/writer and one who I really really think is brilliant) posted on his blog today about composers and how some of them just click for people. You can read the full article here.

He says:
"Perhaps it’s like friendship, we just like certain people and not others; we resonate with certain composers; we are touched by the cracks between their notes; their music has a ’smell’ with which seduces us, leading us willingly into submission beyond analysis or logic.  A composer we love is one where we treasure even the dross, even as we recognize that it is dross. "

I can certainly say that's true for me. For me, two of those composers would be Rachmaninoff and Britten. From the very beginning, their music just enticed me: the textures, the harmonies, the moods, just the very sound. I just like them. It really is just like friendship: you just like certain people, for reasons that you may or may not be able to pinpoint.

What composers (or musicians/artists/bands/singers) do you like? Or heck, let's not limit it to music. What artists (in the visual art sense) or actors or dancers etc. do you admire and respect and just click with? And why (if you can pinpoint it?)

Answers!

So, people asked me questions! Well, two people anyway. Yay, this is fun.

So here are my answers.

Kathleen asks:
"What did you cook for breakfast this morning?"

Well, this morning, I had scrambled eggs and salsa rolled up in a tortilla. It was delectable.

Anonymous asks:
"Have you read every Shakespeare play? And which (ones) are your favourite(s)?"

and also

"How long do you usually practice your instruments?"

No, I actually haven't read them all of them. Out of the 37 plays that are expressly credited to Shakespeare, I've read 26 of them. And my favourites? Hmm. These would be my top ten in NO particular order.

1. Much Ado About Nothing
2. A Midsummer Night's Dream
3. Twelfth Night
4. Timon of Athens
   
5. Othello
6. The Tempest
7. Titus Andronicus
8. Hamlet
9. Richard II
10. Richard III

(Honourable mention: All's Well That Ends Well)
 So that's my top 10 (well, 11)

As for how long I practice my instruments: I practice piano daily for 2-3 hours and flute for about 1 hour. And then I usually don't "practice" singing per se, but I just usually sing while I go about my daily life. So I practice all day. Ha ha. :)

So, that was fun! I think we should do that more often, maybe, say, once a week. It's fun, because you suggest what I should blog about (see? It's just a plot to make you come up with my topics rather then me!)

Talk to y'all soon.

Questions. questions anyone?

Hey everyone,
I'd like to try something a bit different. I'd like you to ask me a question. It can be about anything: goofy, philosophical, religious, about me, musical, political, etc. And I'll do my best to answer it to the best of my abilities. It'll be fun.

So post a question in the comment section below!

Music Monday: The Golden Compass

Hey all, so my pick of the week is Alexandre Desplat's score to the recent film adaptation of The Golden Compass (Can you tell that I think Alexandre Desplat is a brilliant composer? First Benjamin Button, then this)

Anyway, the following Youtube video has some clips from the score (along with some film clips). Pay special attention to the very first clip. It's gorgeous. And listen to his instrumentation. Very mystical and mysterious. Love it!




Hey, today on the radio, they played a piece from the soundtrack of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button! I was very pleased.

Balloon boy etc

My goodness, how far are we willing to go for fame and attention? Have you been following the saga of  "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heene? Just google it and you'll find loads of hits. Obviously, I don't know the family, so it isn't really fair for me to make judgements, but it appears that this family is willing to hide their son in the garage attic and fake his danger just as a publicity stunt. Goodness me. What has our world come to?

I haven't posted for 10 days. I don't like that. I'm going to post soon. But not right now. Because I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

Quote

A man's dreams are an index to his greatness.
-Zadok Rabinwitz

I like this quote. I once went to a conference and heard a very wise man speak (actually, I'm fortunate to have had that happen to me quite a bit). One thing that he really drove into our heads was in the importance of dreaming big. Like really big. Bigger than is realistic, bigger than is practical and bigger than you ever think is going to happen. It's important to dream really, really big. Because if you don't push yourself and think big, you ain't going to accomplish anything.

Britten violin concerto

Hey y'all, sorry, I left you cutting your toenails for a while there. (If you haven't the foggiest notion what I'm talking about, see the last sentence of my last post).

Gah, recently, I've been finding myself busier and busier. I had my first rehearsal with my musicians the other day, and so it was a cool experience hearing my music live! It went quite well, the minor glitch being that I found out that one of my musicians, um, can't read music. Which makes it a bit tough. But surely we'll be able to figure something out. I also found out that I have some more pieces to write for the show, but there's just three or something, so it's no biggie. But I'd like to rework a few of the pieces. The first piece, which opens the show, just isn't strong enough. It hasn't anything to do with the musicians, they're doing fine, just musicially, it's not strong enough. So I'm going to rework that and it'll be good.

As for your music suggestion:

Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto.

Gosh, there isn't enough I can say about this concerto. It's a masterpiece. You'll likely have to listen to it at least 10 times to really grasp it (I know I did), but it's just amazing.

Here's the first part on Youtube.



Oh yeah, that's another thing. To really appreciate this concerto, I think you have to listen to it from the very beginning all the way through. It's a full journey. Really. By the end of it, I always feel different. Calm, but changed, because it really is this huge scope and you go through this whole range of emotions.  And it isn't music to vacuum too. You have to put your whole mind to it. I'm not sure what else to say about it. This concerto really touches me. Not sure if it will for you. But this piece is (honestly) on my top 5 favourites ever. It's been there for quite a while, and I'm quite sure it'll stay there.

Life. Random.

I don't know what to blog about. It's troubling. And so now instead of the wonderful, thought-provoking, inspiring, genius post that I'm sure you were expecting, you just get a post about me whining about how I don't know what to post and how annoyed I am with myself that I haven't posted for the past couple of days.

I was going to be at scout camp this weekend, but we cancelled it because practically everyone was sick. I wasn't though. I'm determined not to get sick. It's just not an option for me at this point. So I've been taking echinacea, Vitamin C and Cold FX, washing my hands obsessively (oh look, Daniel's doing something obsessively, gee, what a surprise), and drinking lots and lots of tea. I always drink lots of tea, but recently I've been drinking at least 5 cups a day and at least that much water. So far, it's been working. I've felt a couple symptoms, but I've fought them off.

In other news, I have my first voice lesson of the year tomorrow! I'm veryveryvery excited to be back at voice lessons. Huzzah!

Aaaannnd in other news....

Well, there isn't any other news. Sorry. I'm sure I'll have some for tomorrow. So just go and drink some tea, or cut your toenails. Or something.

Bye.
-Daniel

I donated blood!

Yay! So, a few days ago, I turned 17, which is the youngest age that you are eligible to donate blood! So this morning, I went to the blood donor clinic and donated! It was pretty neat, and actually quite fun. They prick your finger with these funky awesome high-tech poking devices first, that make these awesome clean, quick, painless cuts and then they take a drop of your blood and test it for iron by dropping it in this blue liquid. If it sinks, then your iron is good, if not, you can't give. After a couple failed poking tries, we finally got it to work and my iron was good, so I could give blood. Yay! It took me about 7 minutes for my body to pump out 500mls of blood, and I felt fine through the whole thing. And in 56 days, I can donate again. Huzzah.