"They" say that it takes three weeks to make or break a habit. "They" also say that to become good at something one must practice 10,000 hours. I'm going to try the "three weeks" to make a habit of writing. Discipline is not my strongest suit. As a rule I tend to be lazy. Yet here I am: writing today after I wrote yesterday. Will I keep it up? The jury is still out.
Saturday evening David and I attended a fabulous concert at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An all-Russian program with Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The 21-year old pianist Daniil Trifonov performed the Tchaikovsky concerto bringing never-ending applause and some tears. He seemed to be crying while playing.
Percussion is probably my favorite type of instrument. The Rite of Spring is rich with drums, bells, cymbals, and the players were fascinating to watch. One of the women percussionists wore ear plugs when not playing. I saw her taking them off and putting them on again when she would sit down after her part. Must be very loud back there with those huge drums.
It's been a long time since I enjoyed the sold-out concert as much as I did. The Rite of Spring has been one of my favorites since 1979 when I took a course on 20th century music at the University of Illinois at Chicago during my undergraduate years. We learned about Bartok and Prokofiev and Ives and Ravel and so many more. The exams consisted of recognizing a piece of music as well as its composer and year after listening to a few bars. It was hard! But I loved it.
By the way - who are "they" who say things? Anybody know?
They is all of us.
ReplyDeleteSo we should say "we" say. Kinda confusing.
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