We had our first SSV rehearsal tonight for the set. The conductor is Gregory Vajda. I enjoyed him the last time he was here conducting, so it was nice to see him back.
But the ears …. ahhhh, the ears!
Have you ever seen a flute player do that thing where he or she blows but not hard enough to get true notes? Instead it’s this sort of airy sound. Then the flutist also sings, and you can actually hear multiple notes? Well, when the orchestra is playing softly I hear that kind of sound in my ear, and it’s as if those notes in my ear go up and down with whatever the real music out in the real world is doing. Same thing happens when the conductor is talking to us. My ear reacts to pitches, and seems to create it’s own little music. It’s a very strange thing, and rather distracting. But I’ll just say, for now, that it’s “interesting”.
I’m a wee bit frustrated, but I’m attempting to have the attitude of “I will live with this as long as it is here and make it work.”
But do expect some whining along with that attitude.
We got through all of the Shostakovich, and did the first and last movements of the Beethoven. I have a bit more work to do on the former — there are a huge number of very fast notes in some of the movements! — but really it’s not a very stressful set, so it’s a perfect one to help me get my bearings as I learn to cope with this tinnitus.
