A Christmas discovery

(cont'd: And then on actual Christmas Eve...)

It's worth about $500, but costs $20 each and it's possibly the best find I've had in years. It's the Orchestra Musician's CD-ROM Library!

Late last night I was trying to come up with the easiest, cheapest way to compile all my audition materials for the University of London Symphony Orchestra. What I really should've done was to keep photocopies of the parts I had played or come across at UBC, like the xylophone part for Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon Overture. Fuck. I hate it when I regret not doing something due to a mere lack of foresight. Dammit. In any case, I spent a couple hours looking up the library catalogues of major schools of music in Tokyo, but only found scores and no parts.

Then, on Sheetmusicplus.com, I coincidentally came across a CD-ROM series titled, The Orchestra Musician's Library. The CD's basically contained printable PDF files of sheet music by part, so all I had to do was buy a CD that featured my instrument, the composer I needed, and his entire discography would be accessible. I didn't think such a compilation would be possible!! This was like someone gathering all of my audition parts for me, photocopying them, and handing it to me.

I was, for the first time, glad that these composers have been dead for centuries (apparently copyright law doesn't apply after a certain period?).

The audition materials: I inquired the ULSO because the percussion materials weren't listed, and they promptly replied that percussion was by application only, and I will be notified of what they will expect me to play when I apply in September 2007. Well, as we all musicians know, 9 months is a long time to go without playing, and is (I figured) just enough time to prepare for a major audition. There was no way I was going to wing the audition completely unprepared. Plus, this would give me a good of a reason as any other to start practicing again. I found out via Google that most auditions require 1 keyboard, 1 snare drum, 1 timpani. At higher levels they require an excerpt and a rudiment piece of each. At still higher levels they require specific excerpts for xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, timpani, and 1 xylophone solo and 1 multi-percussion piece. Good thing I found that out because that is a lot to prepare for.

So my selection?

Xylo solo: G.H. Green, Log Cabin Blues
Xylo: Shostakovich, Golden Age Ballet: Polka
Glock: Debussy, La Mer
Vibraphone: Bernstein, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Snare: Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade: Mvt. 3 & 4
Cymbals: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4
Bass drum: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 or Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Tambourine: Dvorak, Carnival Overture
Triangle: Bizet, Carmen Suite: Mvt. 2
Timpani: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4
Mulitperc: Tagawa, Inspirations Diabolique

This, to say the least, could be really interesting..

Merry Christmas! It is the 25th as we speak, and I am blogging. meh.
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Tokyo Parties

(So what did I do the night before Christmas eve?)

Last night I went out to a party with Shiori and our friend Mifumi: a Japanese house party!! When the talk of going to a house party first came up, I hesitated. I knew that house parties in Tokyo weren't really house parties. Images of one high school 'house party' flew into my head. I had gone to only one and never wanted to go back to another house party thereafter that because of what made (broke?) the party: marijuana, cans of beer, and lots of high kids, with the night ending with some passed out in the bathroom, others passed out on couches and anything soft, and still others making out et al in the master bedroom(s). That certainly was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of the night. Despite my hesitation, we decided to go and find Mifumi first and play it by ear.

What I encountered there was something interestingly different from any house party I had been to, in Tokyo and Vancouver. My idea of a 'true' house party usually took place at someone's house and the host would be drunk by the time any of the guests arrived; there might be a keg or two; with enough alcohol and some good music there would be dancing; and most importantly, the night ended with people leaving the house to go elsewhere to drink more, dance more, or make out (more), and rarely did people stay until the next morning.

Well, this particular house party was different in a few ways. First, the house was rented out. Meaning, the host of the party--or anyone else at the party for that matter--wasn't a resident of the house. This was probably the weirdest concept to me. Secondly, music came briefly from a CD player and then was replaced by the more entertaining karaoke machine that people didn't hesitate to use. Thirdly, everything was kept relatively clean. This I liked very much, especially the clean and unsticky floors. Fourthly, I realized that Japanese girls appealed to men differently than did North American girls, mainly in that the fantastical was synonymous with the sexy. Shoulders, cleavages, legs, stomachs--all of these main spots were completely covered by a nice formal dress that underscored their 'girliness' (which is significantly different from the western feminine). Shiori had jeans on and I had a pair of khakis, and both of us wore a white spaghetti strap tanktop. Needless to say, in our uber-casual outfits we felt like bums surrounded by girls who were, for all intents and purposes, dressed formally. When a group of girls joined the party in Santa-girl outfits--with all erogenous zones covered, of course--this was welcomed by a slew of whistling. Shiori and I looked at each other, slightly confused.

Right: Roppongi, party central>
Don't get me wrong: the party was fun. There were two guys dressed in reindeer costumes, alcohol was amply served, and the people were fun, if only to watch. It was the first time in years--possibly the first in my life--to have partied with native Japanese people who didn't necessarily speak English. Although I must admit, I didn't end up leaving my comfort zone too long, as I mainly stuck with people who spoke English and Japanese. When that party began to dwindle a bit, we moved our venue to a club, in Roppongi. In my opinion the Caprice, or even the Plaza was a better club, and they weren't really that great, either. The club was far from being a Celebrities. More like Lola's or Loft.

We stayed out until 4 in the morning, which I hadn't done in a while (Vancouver clubs closed at 2am at the latest), and by the end of the night (early morning) I comfortably sat on a bench by the dance floor with a glass of amaretto on rocks. I was used to doing this with Alicia, and it was too bad she wasn't there with me to enjoy the view. By that hour I noticed that there were lots of African Americans dancing with Asian girls. As these girls were skimply dressed, I felt kind of at 'home', which was also a weird realization. The man dancing in front of me had small holes in his sweater, as if it were used to extinguish cigarette lights. Two men approached me and I told them politely that I would rather sit there than dance with them, and they were politely offended. There was even a man at least 50 years old, hitting on a girl at least 20 but no older than 25--this was disturbing; he must have a lot of money, I judged, from his clothing. Girls here, I also observed, had no clue how to dance. They awkwardly shifted from left to right, and the hardcore ones who wore shorts and midriffs and fishnet stockings and black hooker boots danced in a overtly sexual way and could not be considered to be, in any sense of the word, attractive.

I'm exhausted.
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Consumerfest!

"I heard that Christmas isn't really big in Japan. It makes sense because it's not a Christian country," my friend recently commented.

Well, actually, take this: if Christmas were a multinational company like Starbucks Coffee (it might as well be), it would make a good portion of its total annual profit from Japan (Starbucks does). Despite the lack of an apparent Christian culture, Santa-day is a major festival--a consumer festival. Much like in North America, red and green decorations begin to adore the streets, shop windows, staff uniforms, gift wrappings, and whole sides of department stores (the Japanese mall) starting the beginning of November. Baby-faced idols and models--male and female--begin to wear white fluff and Santa costumes and their faces are posted up on pretty much every legitimate building facade. Major downtown areas like Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku are bright with LCD Christmas lights, and LCD Christmas lights only because a few years ago there was an activist movement that condemned the bright, old-school Christmas lights for their contribution to light pollution and hurting the trees.

At the time I couldn't help but notice that as the night went on, the activists' paper banners condemning Christmas lights could only be recognized via the glow from the neon banners above.

Tokyo is not like Vancouver, in the way that it is unlikely that one would come across any major churches downtown or anywhere else. There are, to be sure, some substantial Christian populations here; believe it or not there are missionaries floating amongst the crowds. But, they are hardly seen. Candle services and masses on Christmas Eve/Day are only attended by the most stringent of Christians. Oh, but you can't forget about the street preachers. These street preachers are holding large white pickets in major downtown areas that say, in black font, such heart-warming stuff like "God knows the truth" "Reconnect with God" and my favorite, "You are a sinner." One or two men are often talking into a megaphone, claiming how sinners will die and those who reconnect with God will live eternally after Judgment Day. They are not shy to insist conversion upon 'sinners' walking by and through them, carrying bags from GAP and Gucci. "Be saved by God," they insist. Most people just laugh.

Christmas is huge here. But unlike in North America, it is very rarely a family occassion, but rather, a couple's occassion. If you're single during these two days, it is just another reason to drink your head off and forget about keeping your liver and kidneys. Families with young kids will most likely do the family version of Christmas, and the aged population will just sit at home and not do much but watch TV, but the majority in between eats, drinks, sings, buys hugely expensive gifts for their partners, and gets laid. People who didn't have sex on Christmas Eve were probably just too drunk or too drugged out to perform. People who didn't do any of that were probably working. Funny country.
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The L.S.E.

Need I say more? To whomever spends their precious time reading my blog, I am now one step closer to having a pint in London (not that I could ever finish a pint, let alone half)!!!

MSc Global Politics, baby.

*I dance*
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41st President of the United States

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures. But as you can see from the photo, the Secret Service certainly didn't stop first graders to sneak (?) a shot via his camera-phone! The handful of people who were allowed to carry a camera on them into the Ricketson Theatre were mostly journalism-related, professionally or via the school (you can see more pictures if you follow this link). Every so often you can hear the ring-a-ling of kids' phones snapping a shot of their former President. Well, I didn't get photos but it doesn't change he fact that I was literally 2 feet away from a former leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world.

He spoke mainly of very broad topics in a humourous, approachable manner; of values and goals, motivations and aspirations--rightfully appropriate topics for a middle school crowd. The appx. 100 high school students and teachers' civil rights were trampled on by a declaration earlier in the week, which prohitibted us from asking questions or commenting on anything during the President's speech. Don't ask me why this was done, because I haven't a clue.

An old man, this former 41st President of the United States. I sat in the third row from the front, and observed that there were signs of age and years of experience in the way he talked, the way he stood, the way he gazed over his microphone, and especially in the way he would turn and look at his wife, the former First Lady, or, in the President's words, "the silver fox."

I never thought I would ever meet a former 'world leader'. In combination with Herbie Hancock from last week, I've had some unexpected events pop into my life this past month or so. I guess you could never tell what happens in life.
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"H.H."

Dear Canadians, I bet you thought that "H.H." was an abbreviation for Helly Hansen.

Very wrong! It's HERBIE HANCOCK!!

Herbie paid a nice visit to the high school yesterday afternoon and worked with the jazz kids. He did a lot of improvisation work, getting the kids to listen and feel for the keys rather than depending on a conductor. He seemed thoroughly satisfied with what the kids had been working on, and recognized immediately that the piano player was a hardcore classical pianist. (Oh Sean if only you were here to rock the show!!) I had to leave with the swim team for practice, but from what I hear of the rest of the afternoon, it went well! Such a pleasant man! (more pictures on my flickr)
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