CSO

Yesterday I got a text from Jonathan. It said to call Tim. Now here's the background. Tim doesn't call me. Ever. Actually, he did last school year until he saw his phone bill and I don't believe he's called me since. My phone is from Canada so people usually don't want to call me since they'll get charged more and stuff like that. So basically I either call people myself or else people get a hold of me through my sister (who I live with) or they send me texts and I call them back. Anyway, so after I got this text, I called Tim and he asked if I wanted to go to the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera with a group of people. I agreed to and so seven of us went to the symphony last night. It was pretty cool. I haven't been to a symphony (other than our own Southern symphony concert, which I was playing in) yet this year and I've never heard the Chattanooga symphony. They had a Tchaikovsky night. The first piece was Tchaikovsky's Piano Concert #1, which the SAUSO (I'm sure you can figure out what that stands for) played in the Concerto Concert last January. Four of the people in our group had reserved tickets beforehand and were sitting pretty close to the front, but Jonathan, Bryn and I had to just buy tickets at the door and we were farther back. From where we were sitting, the sound was kind of quiet and I couldn't even see the cellos at all since they were in the middle and not on the outside like I'm used to. Usually I mostly watch the cellos when I go to the symphony because I find them most amusing of all the instruments. Anyway, Jonathan saw that the first box on the right side of the balcony wasn't being used and so, at intermission he went up there and asked the people in the box behind that one if anyone was sitting there. They said no and that we could use it if we wanted so Jonathan, Bryn and I went up there. The seats weren't as comfortable as the ones we'd had before, but the view was great. I could see the cellos nicely from that vantage point and most of the other sections of the orchestra except for the brass, woodwinds and basses. Probably the most interesting part of the second half of the concert was watching the conductor. He was really ahead of the rest of the orchestra...so much so that we weren't sure how the orchestra stayed together so well, but somehow they managed. That conductor was soo funny to watch. Usually he used really sweeping, circular motions. Other times he'd stop conducting with his right, baton-holding hand and just conduct with his left hand for a bit. Once in awhile he'd actually stop conducting all together and just stand there staring at a certain section of the symphony, usually the cellos, violas or brass, with a humongous smile plastered on his face. It was certainly an interesting second half. Oh and the piece the symphony played for the second half was the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, which the SAUSO played two years ago. So I had fun knowing the pieces so well, and remembering what was coming up next and the part that I played. It was a very random, last-minute invite, but I'm really glad I got that text from Jonathan from Tim. These are the kind of things I want to remember when I leave Southern.