I ran over 93 miles this month, can you believe it?  (Probably).  Which met my goal, so that’s awesome.  Today was more of a run/walk/sprint type of thing as running for too long was hurting the back of my ankles.  Oh, note to readers:  if you own running tights with a zipper on the back of the leg, it’s possible after running in them for a long time that zipper will have left a painful mark/scab on the back of your ankle.  And then if you forget and wear them again a few days later, it will continue to hurt.

Now I’m sitting around drinking some coffee before I get a haircut and then teach.  With the coffee comes some speculation…

Every time I meet with Mike (my trainer) he asks me what my plans for weekend are.  Even if it’s Tuesday and the weekend is seemingly a bit far away.  I know it’s because he is simply making conversation, but sometimes I feel like I need to have an interesting answer or else he’ll be disappointed in me.  (Yes, I shouldn’t care.  And it’s not as if he has that many interesting weekend plans either.)  However, this weekend I do have exciting plans.  Chris and the rest of the symphony started rehearsing for the upcoming Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring) movie performance, which I am going to see this weekend.  (If you are a regular reader, you already know this.) 

Before the movie there is going to be a display of some “artifacts” from the movie in the lobby.  It should be quite the evening! 

I think this is part of the future of orchestras.  As a classical musician I am always concerned with showing other people how great the music I love is.  One of the biggest venues people have to hear orchestral music is through movie soundtracks, and (in my opinion) the best movies have great, orchestral soundtracks.  Some movies use classical music which has already been written(think of Also Sprach Zarathustra in 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Barber’s Adagio in just about everything) and other movies (more likely) require new music.  Anybody who wants to poo-poo on this style of music needs to remember that even well known classical composers such as Shostakovich and Phillip Glass wrote for the movies.  And I would think that Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven would have been movie composers as well, if they were asked and if it put food on the table.  Besides which, just like music can be for entertainment, so are the movies, and sometimes movies are even considered art as well.

My point (I guess) is that firstly, movie music can be played in a concert hall, and secondly, that the “common man” can appreciate classical music if he appreciates the movies.  I read today (sadly) that the Syracuse Symphony’s season has been canceled.  My heart goes out to the members of that orchestra. 

My heart goes out further to the negative people who wrote in the comments who, like far too many people in the world today, can’t see a future full of hope and brightness, full of music and laughter, and perhaps, full of love and peace.  Instead they see the world as a place where only a few can, or SHOULD succeed and the rest are left to wither and…what breaks my heart…how can anybody be okay with this?  I saw a billboard last year that said “had enough of hope and change?”  I believe it was encouraging people to vote against the democrats…and I thought…wow.  How can anybody ever have enough of hope?  Hope is part of what makes us different from the animals.  Hope is what keeps us going.  Hope is why we pass on knowledge to the children.  Hope is why we strive to make the world a better place each day.

ANYWAY.  I know I went off on a little bit of a tangent there, but I wanted to get that off my chest.   I have been increasingly frustrated with the news of the world lately, but HOPE keeps me moving forward and continuing to do what I can in my life.  And that means teaching violin, running, attending concerts, playing weddings, enjoying time with friends…and that is what I will continue to do.

I wanted to end on a lighter note   I love despair.com.