Classical Music; Love it or Leave it

I don't know how many households have debates on what music to listen to, but our does. In the end its all classical and jazz. I same my stuff for when DH is out of earshot. My husband is a former classical trombonist, yes, there is such a thing. Unfortunately in addition to having a much larger vocabulary than me, he also knows all things musical. Hum three notes and he'll name the symphony, who was the director when it first debuted and whether it offers an interesting horn line or not.

I on the other hand know all the words to very few songs (twinkle, twinkle, ABCs and Silent Night first verse) let alone the extended tunes for several movements that span an hour's time. So I am submissive, I let him play his "vinyl" which consist mostly of classical and jazz.

The boys don't mind, and honestly I don't really mind. Frankly some of the modern stuff is just annoying, some of the older stuff is beautiful. However, no matter the musical genre, I just don't like loud music in the morning, when I'm busy or when I'm trying to get the kids out of the house. I don't like shouting, "Do you have your shoes on?" in silence or over Mahler, so why not keep it to silence.

This weekend was classical, classical, classical. And for the first time in ages, it made me think, inspired me and overall offered just lovely opportunities. Saturday morning we had tickets (yes, I bought the season months ago, and even unemployed am likely to sign up again next season) for the Little Orchestra Society. I don't mind plugging for them. This is an amazing orchestra that does a series of Lollie Pop concerts (designed for 3-5 year olds, but frankly I think 3-8 year olds and unpretentious music lovers like myself), the Little Persons series (designed for 6-10 year olds, but in our household these are really for the 8 and up as well as my lovely husband) that has existed for like a hundred years. This weekend we were going to a tribute to Abe Lincoln with the Little People's series (Lincoln Center).

O.k., I admit, as does DH, a tribute to Abe Lincoln seemed as lame as you could get by title, and we had no idea what to expect. But going to Lincoln Center with the kids is always a treat. They love being able to go up by the stage, see the lights etc. And the performance is at 11 am and everyone is not expected to be quiet. The performances are 60 minutes on the dot, but tend to be more sophisticated than the Lollie Pop series which has dancing characters involved.

The four year old was with it. Watching and listening. Our little man was along but focused mostly on the stickers, crayons (which roll way down the isle into oblivion) and paper we had with us. There was the orchestra (35 pieces) and conductor, who talks to the kids. But unbelievable they did an orchestration by Copland (one of the few composers who I know by name, modern, did things that sound like western movie sound tracks, and I like him) of several of Lincoln's most famous speeches. While I think it was totally lost on the kids, they had James Earl Jones (yeah, the movie star!) read the Gettysburg Address with the orchestra in the background. AMAZING! DS1 just like that Mr. Jones was on a pedestal why higher than the rest.

They also had this classical violinist, whom my husband says is the biggest thing on the scene, Mark O'Conner, play "fiddling" style music to which DS2 stood up and danced. Again, wow. This is why I love NYC. I'm sure there is music everywhere, but I really got to hear great stuff once I was here.

What annoys me about the music scene in NYC is that people really know everything and I'm a moron. Now, I play a couple instruments, but nothing at a manner that should ever go public. I still play for the boys on occasion. They like it.

Well, we have season tickets for Carnegie (again, bought before I lost my job, but these I'm likely to not renew this year) for the international symphony series, about 6 concerts a season. I have my favorites, Berlin is amazing, Vienna always teaches me something about music, the Bavarian Radio Symphony I think is the greatest orchestra ever. We share a box with six other people, all old, old people. So old that each season I'm curious to see if all the people make it back. There are four old and oddly short folks in our box that have written DH and I off as youngsters, as we are not fully gray. We've been sharing a box with them for six years yet they don't really recognize us. These are the kind of men who call their wives, "their bride". Maybe I'll start calling DH the groom. The other two is a great old "preacher/father" and he always has a friend of family member with him. He's a sweet heart and always asks about the kids. He always discusses the composer and presentation with my husband.

So Saturday, pre-concert we are crossing the street of Seventh Avenue and 57th street, following a group of old people to Carnegie. One of them drops her scarf, and a man bends down to pick it up, and slowly tips over. Like all the way to the ground. While being stunned watching this unfold, DH and I helped him back to his feet before the traffic came up. This is really what I mean by I wonder each concert if our box mates will be there or not.

Well, often DH closes his eyes through the concert. Sometimes I think he nods off, but he denies this. Typically after the first 30-60 minutes I typically get a bit bored. However, Saturday was a bit different, Schubert's Ninth. It was great. It is like he wrote it for the horns and winds then added the strings to accompany. It was also Vienna, which is a great, great orchestra. I was so inspired by the weekend's music I just wanted to write about it.

However, don't think me a snob. I got us season tickets to the Opera, at the Met a few years ago. I thought it would be fun, romantic and educational for me. DH again being an orchestral musician knows all the music and has played in the pit many times. However, I really hated it. I liked two out of like eight performances. I will not be routing for an evening to the opera again, clearly I'm not sophisticated enough.