Why can’t our symphony take a hint for a single season and require all music to be happy and something that can be appreciated, require all musicians to smile, and have an occasional encore when fans are in the mood?
Perhaps if the symphony goal was to have us leave every performance happy, they would have fewer financial problems.
Yep … someone really wrote that. But if you read the whole thing you’ll see where he is coming from.
This made me very, very sad. I am no longer happy. I don’t think he should write letters to the editor like that.
And besides, I’d look just awful in one of those foofy gowns…
What a brilliant idea. I think I’ll go paint my oboe peach and dip my reeds in some grenadine syrup. 😉
I remember when a minister’s wife at a former church suggested we all should smile while we play.
Right.
Ha ha… must have been a Lawrence Welk fan.
I do have to admit though that sometimes when I’m up on stage, I’ll be listening and have a very serious look on my face as if I’m angry about something but I’m not really… just focusing I think. Thank goodness I don’t have to smile while I’m playing oboe but that’s something I’ve been trying to improve on when playing harp. Once again, when I’m focusing on playing harp, I’ll have a very serious look on my face and I’ve been trying to do better so that people don’t think I’m mad at them, the music, or my instrument. It actually takes some practice.
It can be tricky, can’t it? We are working so hard, but we are supposed to make it look easy. We look like we are frowning and even angry because we are concentrating. We look bored because we can’t be animated while we sit counting our measures of rest.
I just wish more audience members would spend more energy listening rather than thinking about how we look.
And if that guy only wants happy music … well … he really should just listen to Lawrence Welk!
No one tells a conductor to smile while he’s conducting and if I ever saw one, I would probably wonder what’s up… Haha
Ooh, a smiling conductor? Scary … I think we’d all pass out from the shock. 😉
(Okay, okay … I actually HAVE seen a smiling conductor now and again. Once it was because I forgot an entrance, believe it or not … I still remember that moment, as we were both so puzzled, wondering who forgot to come in, and at about the same time we realized it was ME! At that time he liked me so he just smiled with an “oh well … next time!” look.)