I finalized my class schedule this week. I'm officially taking a class in independent record production, and auditing the introduction to producing an engineering class. The class I'm officially taking is really small- there's about a dozen of us- so even though the coursework is more challenging (it has homework, the other one doesn't) it seemed like the right choice. This was completely reinforced by Tuesday's class, where in our into class a boy showed up and made a huge scene. He was an hour late! You'd expect him to try to sit quietly in the back. Instead, he inexplicably unpacked a snare drum, and paste anxious around half of the classroom, until finally the professor asked him to sit down. He kept interrupting the professor to "ask questions" that were really monologues, about everything from the producers who've cheated him, to his amazing dedication and all-consuming belief in his abilities, to the fact that the mayor of Boston apparently recruited him? Oh yeah, and also, he is a Macedonian popstar.
Obviously his reliability as a narrator is questionable, so I look forward to finding out more about him, like his name. But he was definitely a character and I am excited to have him in my class.
Also this week I took a three day trip to a friend's wedding in New York. Because I didn't have to come back until Monday morning (sabbatical bonus!), I got to see two shows on Sunday. My college acquaintance Stephen's play, The Humans, won the Tony for best play this year and all I 'd been hearing was that it was the best thing since sliced bread. Having finally seen it, it was excellent, but I think I preferred his previous play, Sons of the Prophet. However, the highest compliment I can pay is that the play was nearly 2 hours long, and it didn't even occur to me to check my watch once!
I also saw school of rock, the musical. As a musical, it is not very good. Most of the songs are forgettable, and you can see the movie for $8 so why would you pay almost 100 to see what is in most ways exactly the same? The answer is that although the play has some flaws, the difference between watching kids put on a rock concert on your television and being at the rock concert, live, is just as powerful as the difference between listening to a CD I'm going to any other rock concert. Except 1 million times more heartwarming and adorable. So yeah, I loved it.
And it was interesting to watch and think about how the journey of the main character embodies a journey of the artist. What let's Dewey go from zero to hero is that working with the kids inspires in him both generosity (he quickly realizes how talented they are and puts that center stage) and passion (he starts actually working really hard to teach them) and give him a sense of self. Knowing who he is helps him to see who they are and bring them out. I'm pretty sure those are some of the biggest keys to success in the arts that there are.
Also, we finished the new webpage for drama! I am very proud of it, it looks awesome. www.bigelowdrama.weebly.com.
Week two: I'm getting the hang of it! But definitely haven't hit my rhythm yet.
