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| This is on of the models I'm seriously considering. It's a Fabio Bredo and has exquisite tone. |
Incidentally, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" is not actually in the stage production of Grease but was added for the movie. Any theatre company that uses it has to pay extra royalties for the right to use it. I'm not sure the theatre company with which I'm temporarily affiliated is getting its money's worth in paying the royalties, since all you hear is blaring saxophones unless I take extreme measures as I did tonight. The saxes might just as well be playing something like "Go Tell It On the Mountain" or "La Cucaracha," and there would have been no royalties for either of those songs.
The director says he's cutting the saxes totally out of that song. I'm not sure how he plans to accomplish it unless he physically takes their instruments away from them, because the "orchestra" conductor is going to tell them to play, and for that matter to blare away just as loudly as they've always done. Luckily I have a large voice in the range needed for that song.
I've continued playing the keyboard part on the Sandra Dee reprise. That's probably why the conductor hates me so much. Hell, it's not my fault that I have a degree in piano performance and am more skilled than the lame pianist he found. It's as though he went to some school of music and requested their most mediocre student. And she's actually being paid!
We have three more performances. With God's help, I might possibly live through them. Tomorrow I have no classes and I have the night off, too. I must study, but I plan to do some heavy sleeping as well.
This is some theatre company's version of the Sandra Dee reprise. Her voice is nice enough except that it sounds too happy, and she overacts and is too happy at the end. I, the under-actor of all times. probably should not criticize those who overact, but I'm doing it anyway because she's just too damned happy. I would have included the Glee version (better singing and acting) except they skip the middle lyrics just as the movie does.
If you would have not been there and the original person or someone else played Sandy, they would have had a bad piano player. So tell the guy (I forget what he is called) that he owes you even more. Tell the director that since he said the saxophones won't play, if they do, you will wait for them to stop before you sing. And like I have said before, enjoy yourself. Instead of being the under-actor, be the perfect actor. You have heard the saying-- "Practice makes perfect." I asked a guy once "How do I get to Carnegie Hall." He said "Practice, practice."
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of waiting for the saxes to stop playing before I begin to sing, and I'm going to do just that. Thank you very much for the idea!.
DeleteThe dean most definitely owes me big time.
I've heard bits of whispering that stop when I enter an area backstage, and it seems to involve collecting money. It'd traditional for the director and producer to be given gifts by the cast, but no one seems to be hitting me up for any money, so I suspect I'm being included in the gifts. (Usually it's the male and female leads who are responsible for collecting the money, and no one has asked any such thing of me.) If I'm correct. it makes me feel good to know that the rest of cast appreciates that this has been a major sacrifice on my part, and that there's not a whole lot in it for me. I'm not looking for any sort of stage career, not am I even trying to build my name and reputation locally. I just agreed to help out when thy needed a Sandy on incredibly short notice.
It's almost over... and then you can go back to being just another med student.
ReplyDeleteGod. how appealing the idea of being just another med school student sounds. If someone had told me I'd feel that way before, I might have blown the person off, but not anymore.
DeleteI understand that musical gigs will always be there, but I'm telling my adviser that no one - no matter how important he or she may be -- can count on me for certain for ANY event, and I have practiced saying in front of a mirror, "I sincerely appreciate your thinking of me for this, but it's not something I can take on at this time." And until I have major time off, I'll NEVER take a lengthy gig again -- acting (which is REALLY not my thing; I'm limited to extremely flat roles, and it's only my singing and dancing that carries me through even those), accompanying or ANYTHING. Some things we must learn the hard way.
I believe the dean is already being given a hard time by other deans and admin even higher on the food chain than he is. The falling asleep on the cadaver story may have given me notoriety, but it's done the same thing about ten times over for the pushy dean and his wife. (She sent me flowers as well as brought flowers to me on stage on the night she saw the production, which was thoughtful enough, though I would have much preferred the money that the flowers cost her. I suppose that might have been considered tacky by many, but from my standpoint, it's never tacky to give a med student money for anything as long as it's not in exchange for sex.
And still I have a new violin for which I have to look forward this weekend. I'm just praying that whatever model on which I decide is in stock, as I don't want to wait around for an order. If it comes to that, I may travel to the city, which I'd prefer not to do, in order to make the purchase outright on Saturday.
Incidentally, my next major purchase will be a cello. It has the sound God intended for musical instruments to have, in my opinion. Cello and French horn, that is, except I've had my fill of brass instruments and would much rather take on another string. That can wait until maybe next year, and I'll see if I can make a few subtle hints to my Godparents. If not, I'll buy it myself. I'll buy used, as cellos are outrageously expensive, but for around $600 to $800, I can get a decent used cello. If by chance I become some sort of master of the instrument, I can think about upgrading when I'm through school, internship, residency, and fellowships, and am earning a real salary. Meanwhile, a nice used cello will suffice quite nicely.
Then I suppose I'll need to complete the trilogy with a viola at some point, but they're not quite so costly, and I can wait several years for that.
I've made plans for a whole lot of money that I have yet to earn (though technically with grant money and savings, I could go out and make every one of those purchases tomorrow if I so desired. It's just that, as little common sense as I'm often alleged to have; I do have enough to know that draining my accounts for pricy musical instruments right now would be a stupid thing to do.
I don't have a desire for a Mercedes or BMW (or, God forbid, a Bentley or Ferrari) or even a really expensive house. I can afford to spend the money I'll eventually earn on musical instruments. (They're investments as well.) I already own a parlour-sized grand piano. It's a Kawai, which isn't the very best, but it will do nicely for the time being (one of my mom's four grand pianos is a Kawai) and mine is a lovely instrument. Relatively few individuals in my age group who are not the children of people like Hulk Hogan or the Kardashians own their personal grand pianos of any make or model, and mine is a fairly upscale one as Kawais go..I like the sound and touch of all Kawais that are upscale enough not to have plastic keys. (They use faux ivory. It's not legal in anything but third-world countries to use real ivory for much of anything, and with good faux ivory, the manufacturers can make the entire white key in a singe piece of faux ivory, as opposed to splitting it where the narrow piece meets the wide piece, as must be done with bona fide ivories. Also, the faux ivories do not yellow with age.. They have all the positives of real ivory and none of the negatives, the most obvious of which is that elephants are not being killed so that their tusks may be used to make piano keys.
DeleteWhen the big bucks roll in or when my Godparents decide to kick in with a huge gift, such as after I graduate from med school, I'll get a Steinway, but that's likely quite a few years down the road. My grandma has told me her Steinway is mine when she's either gone or is in a home where it will not fit comfortably. She's made this clear to all her offspring as well as to their offspring, and she's told my grandfather that if she predeceases him, he'll need to buy another piano himself if he needs it to take up the space; Most of the rels are less than pleased about the matter; but the will is drawn up solidly, and it's also not as if there won't be any cash going in the direction of the rest of them. Most of them would probably just sell the piano anyway. Grandma's piano is a marvelous instrument that's been cared for very well, and just the idea that it was hers makes it worth more to me than its extrinsic value, but I want my grandma on the planet and in comfortable surroundings for as long as possible. I'd much prefer to have her than her piano any day. When the time comes, however, I'll make room for it no matter where I'm living.
I've made plans for a whole lot of money that I have yet to earn (though technically with grant money and savings, I could go out and make every one of those purchases tomorrow if I so desired. It's just that, as little common sense as I'm often alleged to have; I do have enough to know that draining my accounts for pricy musical instruments right now would be a stupid thing to do.
Furthermore, I like the idea that if my parents ever got really mad and cut me off financially. I could make it through most of the way incurring few if any debts at all. It's not that they're ever really likely to cut me off, but I like the idea that once I get the major account under my control, my parents cannot use money to control me in any way. My parents mostly haven't been bad in that way, though recently there have been issues, but I've heard of many cases where money was used by parents as a way to get their kids to choose the course in life they'd like their offspring to follow. My parents will not have that option where I'm concerned. (For whatever reason, Matthew and I agree that they would never push him around in such a manner.)
I still don't know if I'm getting sick [THINK :POSITIVE, I know] but I am beginning to feel more like myself again.
All will be well!
I am excited as a little kid to have you thank me for my idea. But now you got me wondering. What would you do if you were given $100 million? Tell me!
ReplyDeleteYou are taking time away from your study to do these shows. But first you spent time studying during the summer while others did not. Also don't forget that you are smarter than these others so that gives you an advantage. Also you said that you wished that woman would have given you money instead of flowers.
ReplyDeleteWell you know something about the law. Is there any law that says that she can't do both? If they are planning to pay you some money because they love you and appreciate what you did, can't she give you give into that pot also. That would be more tasteful than just paying you. I would not be surprised if her and her husband put in at least $400.
It was not long ago that the priest did not pay you what you deserved to get paid, yet you got from the people a lot more. So love pays better than what you deserve. Now maybe we are both wrong and you won't get paid anything. But you still get the good karma.
I love going to yard sales. I went to this yard sale of a Buddhist woman. She kind of annoyed me. Why? She wanted to give me things without me paying for it so she would get the good karma from it. Now I wanted the good karma from the transaction so I kept trying to pay her. What would the world be like if all people were like that.
My aunt goes to yard sales and buys toys that can be tidied up and fixed up. She has a storage area for the. When she hears that someone has been stolen form or had their belongs destroyed in a fire, she has toys to give to the children in the family.Se could afford to buy new toys and does in a real pinch, but, she gets more satisfaction from taking something that did not look clean and new and making in look that way through her own efforts. The local law enforcement an fire departments know about her, and they call her when there's such an emergency so that she can help. She has clothing, too, but she buys that new on sale because she feels like if a child, especially one who is school aged, has gone through major loss or disaster, the very last thing that child needs is to be given clothes to wear that are obviously hand-me-downs, though if she can make gently-worn clothing look new, she does and then uses it. She also hand-sews dolls and quilts for children for the same purpose..She could just go out and buy these things, and sometimes has to, but for the most part gets so much more pleasure from doing this from the fruit of her own labors.
DeleteI was good friends with this owner of a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. He had such good tasting food that I ate there every week when I drove the cab on the weekends. He was Chinese even though he was from Singapore and loved Chinese people. His restaurant was in Philadelphia Chinatown.
ReplyDeleteOnce he ran into a stranger that was a Chinese woman. He was married and had 3 kids and she was not young. She asked him about a bus that went to where she lived that was several miles away and he did not know. I was driving my cab right by at that time and said hello to him.
He said to her that he would pay me to take her home (around $10). She would have none of it. She even pushed him in a friendly way. So he had to use his wit to get her to accept the ride. So he said he was trying to help his good friend out by giving him work. So then she accepted. Before the Communists took over, China was mostly Buddhist. This guy's whole life was like that, he loved helping people.
I mentioned this before. Mother Teresa took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. But she was super rich in love. She felt much richer than Donald Trump. She even won the Nobel Prize of Peace. If you could feel what she felt, you would give up your life and take on her life to only serve God by serving other people.
There is an old saying "Money can't buy you happiness." Just ask Donald Trump. Is he the happiest person running for president? But love of people will get you a lot of happiness. Wasn't that the moral of that movie It's A Wonderful Life with James Stewart?
I don't worship money, but i do like having enough access to it to be able to buy nice musical instruments. I also like having enough so that if /i see someone else in need, I can offer help.
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