Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Karaoke Conductor

Tonight I conducted in public for the very first time. One of my duties as a teaching assistant this semester is conducting the largest jazz ensemble at UMD for a few tunes at each concert. I have no idea what I'm doing. I never took conducting, so I'm kind of bad at it, I think. I can't actually tell. Anyway I did it and good or bad, it was kind of fun. I counted them off, waved my arms and pointed at people, and announced the tunes.

This particular band is huge - all the parts are doubled. They have about 12 saxes - maybe more, 6 trombones, 8 or 9 trumpets, 2 clarinets, 2 flutes, 2 guitars, accordian, vibes, piano, bass, drums, and a vocalist. Fortunately for me, a large jazz ensemble usually does not require much in the way of conducting skills. Once you count it off, it kind of plays itself. It will keep going even if you mess up. Just like karaoke.

I love how obvious it is that Spring is on its way and you can tell that even at night. That little white spot is the moon. It didn't photograph nearly as big as it actually was. But at least the trees look kind of cool.

8 comments:

Kristin said...

The moon never seems to photograph as big as it is... Congratulations on the conducting and doing something new!

Cyndy said...

Thanks Kristin - one of these years I'm going to get a tripod and learn how to adjust the shutter speed or whatever so that I can take better pictures at night. Yeah, maybe I'll do that.

e said...

Wonderful new experiences like yours are what keeps our spirits up. Enjoy. I understand about needing more time to take better photos, I'm in the same boat for different reasons.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Barbara said...

I'm glad someone captured that moon. I saw it and wondered at how eerie it looked with the edges so blurry.

I'll bet you make a wonderful conductor. But it's probably a shock to be on the other side of the baton.

rachaelgking said...

Night pictures are always eerie and beautiful, but I imagine it'd take some work/be expensive to get the right kind of equipment to do it. Great shot!

Cyndy said...

e - and thank you for visiting mine! Yeah, I've been having a blast at school this year. It's also a lot of work, but I'm used to that.

Barbara - Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm not expecting to be anything more that adequate at this point.

LiLu - I kind of liked how weird it looked with the flash against the tree trunks. When I was researching my TMI post I came across a really weird nighttime photo of the Capitol that I took a few weeks back. Maybe I'll post it the next time I have nothing to say.

a little sewing said...

oh my, I am bad at conducting too. It has been 18 years since I took a conducting class, but the memory is vivid :-/

Cyndy said...

Well 18 years is a lot more recently than never is. I've got one more opportunity to embarrass myself in this way coming up in a few weeks and then I'll be done! Or maybe I'll take conducting lessons. Who knows.