Today we hopped on the bus for a 6 hours, leaving Cork for Westport. The 6 hours were pretty bad. I was definitely sleepy, but I didn't want pictures of me while I'm sleeping to exist, and I wanted to take in all the scenery (though the Irish countryside has very little variation unless you look closely enough), so I tried to fight off the drowsiness (though I'm sure I dozed off for the last half hour or so). It was made easier because I'm still fascinated by cows and this bus ride brought a lot of cow sightings. Also I really enjoyed how picturesque the countryside looked because here, instead of wood and wire fences, there were stone fences that divided up the grass into squares, a lot like quilt squares. We did get so bored that we played a slapping game that Eric taught us involving cards. So you know the boredom is bad when we have to resort to playing slapping games. However, most of the bus was sleeping for most of the bus ride.
We stopped at Blarney to do some shopping, get lunch, take a bus break (including bathroom stop), and take a picture of the whole MYA group in front of the medieval castle there. Of course, we gravitated towards the instrument section and as wind players, we ended up buying tin penny whistles, some song books, and then playing "The Last Rose of Summer," "Irish Washerwoman," and the "Minstrel Boy" (three songs that we already know because we play them in the Irish Suite). Even though all our whistles were in D, they were slightly out of tune so trying to play all together was a little rough. But we did it and we performed "Minstrel Boy" for Dr. D! (We meaning Alex, Eric, Shawn who is a chaperone, Annika, and myself). The sad news is that the tin penny whistle is banned from every hotel room because our roommates don't want to hear it, and it is banned automatically from buses because hearing that godawful shrieking in such a small confined space when we're all stuck with each other is not pleasant at all.
Buuut, if there's anything worth getting from Ireland, the tin penny whistle is the most fitting item.
We arrived at our hotel and we see these black vans parked out that look a lot like Secret Service cars. People joke that the president is here, and it turns out, Joe Biden is coming! We file into the hotel, get our rooms and unload our luggage, and then later we see more cars come, 5 german shepard dogs on leashes (sniffer dogs) being walked around the parking lot and on the hotel grounds, and apparently, Joe Biden is flying in tomorrow...but we leave this hotel tomorrow! Dang we missed him by a day. It would have been so cool to have been able to see him though.
Our Concert today (#5) was at the Town Hall Theatre Westport. It's our first formal concert in a long time and we haven't played Academic Festival Overture and Misty Mountain and other songs for so long, that rehearsal goes a little rocky, our playing is a little shaky, and we're not that all confident on our ability to deliver a good performance.
So we play Academic first, and it goes fine, perhaps a little rocky because we haven't played it in a long time and haven't been rehearsing these past few days either, and then I suddenly have to go pee. The rest of the program is absolute torture because Dr. D has put in every single slow song we have that doesn't require a singer. So sitting through Barber's Adagio, Mvmts 1 and 2 of Misty Mountain was a struggle, Minstrel Boy" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me" from Irish Suite, Irish Tune from County Derby (aka Danny Boy), Imperial March, and Sousa's Washington Post March was pure torture. And then the audience stood up at the end so we gave an encore. First it was "The Irish Washerwoman," then it was "The Rakes of Mallow," and finally it was "The Wearing of the Green." Yes, we gave 3 encores. MY BLADDER.
But aside from my own personal issues, this concert was very cool. During the Washington Post March, I think the clarinets had some rests, so they used that to clap the beat, then Dr. D turned around and motioned for the audience to clap, and so for the entirety of the song, the audience was clapping the beat and when so many people are doing that in sync, it's a very powerful feeling because you feel the beat pulse through your body. It was heartwarming to see them enjoying the Sousa march. Also I think Dr. D said we were taking all the repeats for that song, but then none of us did (there was a minor almost-trainwreck that happened at a repeat where some people repeated but most didn't), but ah well.
The audience members collectively "ooohed" and "ahhhhed" each time Dr. D mentioned the name of an Irish tune, and it did feel good knowing that we were playing something that they were used to hearing. "The Wearing of the Green" was our last encore and after Dr. D introduced the name, the audience "ooohed" and then when Dr. D raised his baton, the lights shining on us turned green, and we played the final piece bathed in green light. The lighting this whole concert was a little hard on our eyes because our music was dark and when the light was green, everything was neon green but our music was still a dark grey...but nonetheless, it was a cool concert indeed.
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