The Competition

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Well, we did it. We won. You can watch all our songs HERE. But you wouldn't think that if you looked at our orchestra Saturday night. We looked like someone died. I'll explain:
Thursday the Orchestra left Temecula after one last practice, and headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was nice, but got old fast. I found out after two exhibits that there were embossing stations at most of viewing areas where the little tour books could be stamped. I made it my goal to accomplish the feat of getting all the embossments, and I accomplished my goal. I was proud. It was fun. But as I said, there is only so much to be done at an aquarium. One of the best parts about the orchestra is that we, as a class, are so tight knit that as long as we have a few decks of cards, an iPod, and speakers, we can be left alone for hours. Although we listen to incredibly varying types of music, it all has a similar core because we all know what real music sounds like. Regardless, 4 hours, 2 walks around the aquarium, 1 walk around the docks, 28 games of Egyptian Rat Screw, 15 games of BS, and 1/2 an iPod battery later, we were on our way to Medieval Times. The dinner and show were both incredible. My knight lost,(we were green [the evil one] but the blue knight was definitely cuter) I was called barbaric by my favorite viola player/good friend, and I almost caught a rose from one of the knights. Eventually we made our way to the bus, and on to our hotel.
Hotel trips are always fun with the Orchestra because the nights are filled with tradition. Boys are always a floor above the girls, the doors are always taped to make sure we don't sneak out, and nothing scandalous ever happens. But BEFORE curfew, half the kids are wandering the hallways in pajamas, sitting in front of rooms talking, and, as always, playing card games in front of the elevators. We're all too much of friends to be scandals, and we wouldn't want to wreck the trip by being stupid. There's also a general unspoken rule about not really dating inside orchestra, as a drama reducer. It happens, but it's rare, and weird. When you are in the same class for as much as 7 years, you simply know everyone else too well. It is nearly all of these aspects which separate our trips from band trips.
Friday, after the most annoying Six AM wake-up call ever, we went to the Getty Museum in LA. It was nice, but everyone was strict and distrusting of a group of teenagers. I took more pictures of the gardens than anything else. The best part was when our First Cellist discovered that all of the rough walls were hollowed out to varying densities, and therefore made different tones when struck. There is probably no odder sight at that regal museum than that of fifteen musicians hitting rock walls with open hands. But hey, entertaining is what we do best!
Saturday we had our competition. The Orchestra before us bailed, so we were at our leisure to perform whenever we wanted. Our Director, Mrs. Fuhr, switched the order of the songs last minute, but other then that we sounded ready.
We came. We played. We conquered. Literally.
The adjudicator with the task of critiquing us directly had little to say negatively, and was full of praise. She commented on two of our songs, but mostly just with style tips, and didn't say anything about our slow piece. It sounded like we won, but alas, we wouldn't know for sure until later that night. We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland, and it was incredibly hot and crowded. I have some friends in Orchestra who also take Sign Language, so we were practicing while taking a break, and one of the Disney employees came up to us and signed "Can I help you?". I signed back, "We're fine, thank you" and she smiled and left. It was so awesome! I wonder, do all workers know basic Sign Language so as to better help their patrons? We all went to California Adventure later that night for the Awards ceremony, which took place at 9 o'clock. Turns out that we received Gold, but we tied for first place with scores of 98, 95, and 89 (each of one hundered), and only won the Adjudicators Award along with it. Had we all just tried a little bit harder we could have won everything. But no. We tied. Just as good as the next group. Might as well just call us average. And only one award? It was a let down after making a clean sweep of every category last year. In all of Mrs. Fuhr's history of teaching in Temecula, in all of the six years she has been my teacher, she has won every year but one. That was Boston, and we lost to a Private Music Academy from Canada. We don't talk about that year. Tieing and only one award really was a let down for us.
We didn't get back to Temecula until around 1:30 the next morning. I was so drugged with sleep loss that I hugged two boys goodnight who I normally avoid. I don't particularly remember driving home from the school either...
You know those shirts that say "I_______ and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"?
Well, "I worked my fingers raw for 3 months, lost my voice, got sick, and had my hopes dashed with a certain boy, all on a school trip,and all I got was a little competitors pin. And I suppose bragging rights."

Note: If you have made it this far into the post, please give yourself a pat on the back and a cookie.