So, the life of a musician...for me, it's definitely a love-hate relationship. I love music, I love playing music with other people without having to use words, I love we play something really beautiful and it all just clicks for us.
But I also hate long rehearsals, especially when the performing music ensembles here DON'T COUNT TOWARD THE ARTS DIVISIONAL. (WFU has a certain number of diverse classes each student has to take as a part of the liberal arts education.) Supposedly, performance ensembles don't count because there are no written assignments/exams. Well, I'd say that the time commitment (1-5 hours per week per class) is enough to override that, and even if we don't have exams, we have CONCERTS. Sure, maybe taking just one music class shouldn't count. But, like me and many others at WFU, shouldn't taking 4 a semester count? Or at least taking 1 for 4 or more semesters? For me, playing in 4 ensembles is 7 hours of rehearsal a week, plus individual practice is at least 10, usually more in a good week. I just find it mildly ridiculous that so many of us do so much in the music department and the school doesn't let it count for divisional credit.
And at this point in the semester, it's even more time-consuming, with a concert for each ensemble, plus dress rehearsals for each concert. Maybe I'm just ranting now, but the arts in general are just under-appreciated, underestimated, and not seen as important or taking as much effort or talent.
Powering through the rest of the semester. One performance down, four to go.
RL
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