I’m only at my university campuses one day a week: UCSC is Tuesday and SCU is Wednesday. Speaking of the colleges, I have found free wireless access near both campuses! If you are in California go here and look for your city. So anyway … back to the subject at hand … I am noticing something that just has me pondering: some male instructors will wear jeans. I haven’t seen one woman wear jeans. And I wonder — is it because women dress “better” or is it because we believe we are only taken seriously when we dress nicely, and men don’t worry about that? Me? I don’t wear jeans because I feel like I’m not really taking my work seriously when I do, but I do wear jeans when I’m at an orchestra rehearsal of any kind. And I certainly take that work seriously. Hmmm.
And no, not all of the men wear jeans. I’ve even seen a few ties, although that’s rare. After wearing a tie for a while — I’ve been through both a tie and a hat phase, believe it or not! — I can understand why men don’t really like to wear ties. I don’t blame them!
I wonder if California is unique to jeans being worn by (mostly male) professors and instructors. Fill me in, folks! And does it matter what we wear?
I’m still glad orchestras wear black. There is little thinking involved when I dress. I’m very good at not thinking. 😉
I have a couple of interesting concerts coming up. First, Symphony Silicon Valley has a concert that features a good amount of jazz. (Ellington and Amram are there, and yes, there will be sax.) I’m sure this would be an excellent concert for high school jazz kids to attend; I’ve heard some of them say they hate symphony concerts and I suggest they give this a try!
Then it’s on to a recital at the UCSC recital hall. It’s primarily French music with one American thrown in (so far) just to show that the French and the Americans can just get along. It’s also mainly oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano but, well, there’s also a trombone work. You see? We even allow a brass player to share the stage with us (although the woodwinds will be taking a rest while he plays. We may get close … but not TOO close! 😉 (I’m just joking … honest! Heck, I married a trombone player. I still speak to him. But, then, he’s an awfully good cook so why would I want him to leave, eh?) I always enjoy playing Ibert, Poulenc and Françaix. Ibert is light and fun (the trio I’m doing, anyway), the Françaix is a challenge and great to be working on, and the Poulenc … well … Poulenc always leaves me puzzling. The second movement might be considered fairly “schmaltzy”, but I always feel as if Poulenc is pulling a fast one on us; it seems to me he’s playing around with our emotions and then saying “Heh. Just kidding, you silly people!” That’s how it feels to me anyway. I don’t know if others feel that way. His trio for oboe, bassoon and piano is a wonderful work. Definitely worth a listen. Plenty of winking going on in that work, if you ask me. I do hope we get an audience.
A note on Music Quotes: I hope some readers enjoy the music quotes I put up here. I did think I should mention that I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. Some I puzzle over. Some cause me to change my mind about something. Some I disagree with. Some are The Truth In One Fine Sentence. I put them up hoping they cause you to think as well. And if you want to argue, then, by all means, start a discussion!
Now was this a true pattyramble or what?! I haven’t done one of these in such a long while. I knew it was time.
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