So what else have we done?

My life does not revolve around being pregnant. Okay, it does, because everything I do has to be negotiated around the temporary addition to my torso as well as the added weight it has brought, but what I mean is that there's more to it than doing baby stuff. I'll prove it.

We went to hear the North Carolina Symphony in the grassy area in Southern Village with some of our friends. We all brought our own dinner and a treat to share, and we watched the concert on blankets and lawn chairs. I really enjoyed the concert. The concert had a movie theme. All of the pieces had been played in a movie. Here's the program, with some of my comments:

1. Richard Strauss: Fanfare from Also sprach Zarathustra, op. 30 (from 2001: A Space Odyssey)
2. Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, Movement IV Saltarello: Presto (from Breaking Away)
3. Johan Strauss, Jr.: Wiener Blut, Waltzes, Op. 354 (from The Great Waltz) (The director explained that Wiener Blut means Viennese Blood and it's supposed to mean that the piece has the energy that you only find in Viennese Waltzes)
4. Amilcare Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda (from Fantasia--remember the part where the hippos, ostriches, alligators, and elephants are dancing around? The director was also kind enough to let everyone sing, "Hello, mudda. Hello, fadda. Here I am at Camp Granada" . . . so that people could get it out of their system and enjoy the piece {I appreciated that he said nobody was allowed to sing along while the symphony played.})
5. Richard Wagner: The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure (from Apocalypse Now, and also the Bugs Bunny episode where Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny are dressed in togas and hats with horns like the Valkyries--the only one I remember where Elmer Fudd actually got Bugs, and of all the responses he could give he cried like a baby about it)
6. James Bates: Western Opener (a medley of themes from several different westerns--we came home and watched The Magnificent Seven because I remembered from this piece that I still hadn't seen it)
7. Henry Mancini (arranged by Custer): A Tribute to Henry Mancini (a medley of several different songs by Henry Mancini)
8. Robert Wendel: When TV Was Young (a medley of several different theme songs from TV shows of the 50s--everybody loved this one and a bunch of people danced or sang along. I recognized most of the songs, but RT said he only recognized one--he didn't grow up watching TV).
9. John Williams: They were out of time, so the crowd had the option of hearing Superman March (which was on the program) or Star Wars (which was the encore)--most people seemed to want Star Wars, so that was what they played.

The reason I put the whole program on here, besides that I wanted to comment about several of the pieces, was so that you could see the order the pieces were played in. I think the order was intentional. At the beginning the pieces were classical art music, even though they had been played in movies. Most people wouldn't recognize them from movies. In the middle of the program, the pieces were still classical music, but they were very familiar to the people in the audience (Dance of the Hours was from Fantasia and the basis of a very annoying song about Camp Granada, and Ride of the Valkyries was used in a well-known Bugs Bunny cartoon). The last few songs were pretty much pop music (although I think Star Wars is great music). By arranging the program in this way, the symphony was able to keep it entertaining for the audience. At the beginning everyone was a little more capable of appreciating the great classical music, and at the end when they were a little more tired they still had a great time because they were hearing fun, familiar songs (which were still good music). Pretty smart.

It had been a while since I had gone to hear a symphony concert. I love listening to really good musicians in person. A recording just can't do it justice. The North Carolina Symphony had a really good sound. It was so nice to just sit there and feel the energy and beauty they put into the pieces. Being an oboist myself, I felt like I couldn't get enough of the oboes--they did such a nice job. I haven't had an oboe to play since we left BYU (they had some really, really nice ones that I could borrow for free), and I've really missed it. Someday I'll be able to come back to the oboe again. For now I love to hear good oboe music. I also realized how much I miss playing in a symphony. I got to play the oboe with the Magic Valley Symphony (a community symphony in the area of Twin Falls, Idaho) for a couple of years when I was in high school, and I really loved it. I think I'd rather play in a band or symphony than do an oboe solo.

I also remembered how annoyed I am that some music has been cheapened and ruined because it's been overused or parodied. There's the William Tell Overture, for example--everyone can sing it and even make up parodies using the tune, but I've rarely heard a group play it as art. And of course there's the Dance of the Hours, which nobody can listen to anymore without thinking about Camp Granada. I do appreciate that we've had some fun with those songs, but they will never be the same for me.

One thing I appreciated about the symphony was that even though they were playing fun, familiar songs, they didn't let that ruin their sound. Even in the fun songs at the end they still played with good tone and used dynamics. I remember my band director always had a hard time getting us to play with good tone when we were playing pep band music or arrangements of movie music. As soon as people realized they were playing something familiar they stopped thinking about playing good music. I guess that's what made the NC Symphony good, and my high school band just a high school band.

It was fun to watch a concert in a casual atmosphere like this, rather than in a formal setting like an auditorium. People brought snacks, lawn chairs, and blankets and had a fun time. It was actually much more family friendly than a regular concert. It was the sort of thing you could bring your young children to, because if they were a little wiggly or cried a little bit you didn't have to feel mortified like you would in an auditorium. I intend to keep this sort of thing in mind so that I can still occasionally enjoy a concert while the children are small--and maybe it will help them to appreciate good music.