New music

Today is Concert 4 of the 2005 International New Music Festival of our city’s Symphony Orchestra. RG was one of ten volunteers from his school to perform in tonight’s concert. We all went to see him perform. And yes, that included R. Iian’s dad has been very generous in giving RG a ride to the rehearsals with Iian.

The concert, which was titled “Why Did I Go To That Concert?,” started at 7:00 p.m. The kids brought some candies and gummies with them. We couldn’t really bring any food and drinks inside the concert hall. There were bleachers on the stage. Before the concert started, the emcee invited anyone who wanted to sit on the bleachers. There were quite a few takers. The emcee interviewed the composers before each performance. There were also poem readings. I enjoyed one, which was actually a letter written to a brother in British Columbia. It was about the weather here in Manitoba and mosquitoes wearing toques and long scarves. I found it really funny. The old folks behind us also laughed. RC later remarked, "Why were they laughing? The jokes were not funny." Well, you see, RC did not get the jokes. There was a poem about love, since we're now in the "love" month. The jokes were of adult theme.

After about the third performance, I found out why it was titled the way it was. I asked myself the same question. I didn’t get the music – it was just noise to me. For instance, the first performance was titled “Roosters in Love.” The piece was, you must have guessed, the sound roosters make. Some of the pieces used the instruments for purposes other than playing notes, i.e. blowing through the tubes or tapping the saxophone. It’s probably what “New Music” is all about. A new or innovative way of producing music. I almost fell asleep during the performances. Thank goodness for the intermission. We were able to get up from our seats, stretch and walk a little, and feel refreshed.

RG performed on the last piece, “Sound Off,” which was originally written to be performed on two sides of a Montreal Street. To imitate this, the groups were separated between the stage and the second balcony. RG’s group was on the stage. The groups were composed of bands from a few high schools, universities and colleges. RG played his saxophone. This is the reason we went to this concert – to see RG perform.

RK slept through RG’s performance. We woke him up when the concert was done at around 9:30 p.m. He cried and was cranky. He complained that his leg hurt while we waited for the bus. We got home just before 11 p.m.