Rosie

I'm playing Monti's Czardas now... very gushy and mysterious.

When you feel guilty when you're enjoying the symphony, instead of analyzing it for modulations, form and chord progressions

...when you have a Strad poster in your dorm room (Brothers Amati viola, c. 1620...) ...when you have soundpost setters in your dorm room ...when your instrument cases take priority over books on your dorm room shelves

... when you refuse to take a class required for your major because it meets during your orchestra rehearsal ... you can't keep a constant speed while driving because you're tapping your foot ... when you're walking down a sidewalk, you try to take "triplet" steps within the "duplet" cement squares, just to practice rhythm ... when you're on a dinner date, you'll interrupt conversation by pointing at the ceiling, cocking your head and saying, "This is Dvorak, we played this my junior year..." ... likewise for movie soundtracks ... you've said, "Flight of the Bumblebee is so cliche for movie soundtracks"

So, it's not impossible to get into grad school for conducting, with just a BA in music? Thats good news--thanks for your input, everyone.

Hey all-- I'm 18 and in college, probably majoring in music. I know I don't want to be a violinist (not enough inherent skill or desire to compete) but when I think about conducting, my heart flips. I'm afraid to commit to a music major because I'm at a liberal arts school where the music dept. is just sort of average, and the classes they offer are few and not very exciting. But oh, i would love to conduct. Are any of you conductors? How did you get into it? How did you know you were interested in conducting? Where did you go for your undergraduate degree?

Can't see the pics, but I am sure you have a wire mute. Yes? Don't feel stupid, lots of people cn'tfigure them out. Bring it back to the shop with your fiddle, and they will show you how to do it. Howver, you might as well just buy a tourte mute. They are easier to put on and they do not strip strings like the wire ones can.

Today in rehearsal I was getting really mad because we were playing a piece with confusing rhythms and I couldn't tell which beat the conductor was "on" because I could only see his conducting pattern from the side ( I am 1st vln 3rd chair). I could tell when his arms were down and up, but because I was looking at his profile it was hard to see the beginnings of measures without totally looking up from the music to figure it out. He was getting mad because my section didn't play on the right beats. Would it have been rude to ask him to move his platform back a few feet so we could see what he is doing?

We're doing Sibelius Symp. no 5 and right now it sounds horrible.

I (being female, of course) prefer to be called concertmaster. -Mistress just seems wimpy, or unnecessarily feministic so I stick with the original title. In big orchestras, is the gender-specific title used as a rule? What do you prefer?

Probably isn't a bad idea. No offense to anyone (I've been known to play a guitar or two in my time) but I still think frets are for wimps. :-) But more power to them.

Bake your teacher some nice bread - Anadama or similar.

I've used my International publication with piano accompaniment for many a concert... I think the Double secretly haunts most music halls...

Wow. Sounds great - wish I lived close enough!

Anybody heard of it? Know anyone who went there?