Glasnevin Musical Society Concert

On Saturday John and I went to the Glasnevin Community Society Concert at the National Concert Hall after having dinner with a couple of friends. We went because Cot was singing in the choir. Ci and a couple of other friends went as well. The concert was called "30 Years of your favorite Melodies." They had a lot of opera on the program and four "soloists." These four sang most of the concert. What I would like to know is this: who has opera songs as their favorite melodies? Can opera really be considered a melody? I wouldn't think so. They are operas. Maybe songs, but catchy things are melodies. Show tunes are melodies.

Anyway, during one of the first songs, the first singer comes out. She wore a fluffy orangish red ball gown. During her song, one of the string musicians (don't know what instrument it was other than not a violin, fiddle, guitar, or bass) turned the page of his music and it fell on the floor. Right next to the lady singing, almost under her dress. So he tried to bend down and get it but of course couldn't reach the music. He ended up reading the music off the floor and turning up to the conductor periodically to make sure that he was in time. So, he kept looking down at the floor where the music was being shadowed and almost covered by the puffy dress and then up at the conductor and back down. It was quite amusing.

There was another musician who I watched a lot during the show because at the angle I was sitting at, he looked like a guy from Star Trek. All the musicians had lights for their music stands. Well, his light looked like a black rectangle and was at eye level when I looked at him. He looked like the guy who wears the funny glasses. I was amused by him also.

During the concert, I also noticed that everyone had perfect posture. They sat away from their chairs, but had perfect posture. How do they sit that perfectly for three hours? Also, when the featured singers sang, sometimes it looked like they moved planes of their bodies. For example, when one guy moved his arm, another body part moved in an apparent effort to balance his body out and maintain a perfect line. It made him look like a stick doll to me at times. The others didn't seem quite as stiff. The soprano actually looked like she was enjoying herself. The others looked like they needed a good massage, or a stiff drink.

I really enjoyed the music that was not opera. I wish that the chorus had sung more because I also liked that better. Maybe because it usually wasn't opera. Now, I don't have anything against opera. I just need the visual cues of the set and costumes and acting in order to understand what it going on. Listening to slow melodramatic music in a language that I don't understand gets a little tiresome after a while. Oh wait, I was saying what I enjoyed. I liked the more upbeat music like Gershwin and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Oh, it was also interesting that two people left during the concert. They were sitting up front even. The conductor introduced a slave song from America as a Negro spiritual. During this song, two black women left. I am not sure if it is correlated but I would suspect so.

I am really glad that I went to the concert. I got to see C the OT in a pretty dress and had a night of higher culture than the drinking and pub music I am used to. Ci only texted her Andy once during the concert. She hadn't seen him since the weekend that we all went out but she assured me that the date went well and there has been lots of texting and emailing happening. What happened to phone calls? Seeing each other? Is this real or virtual dating?