Day 251: Mike and the Vienna Boys’ Choir; Idea book
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
251 —Mike and the Vienna Boys’ Choir; Idea book
09-April-1972
(Sonntag–Sun.)
TRANSCRIPT
Practiced a little this morning. Went all right. Not
too bad. (My all right
and
not too
bad are on a higher level
than my writing them in the beginning of this year.)
Saw the Wiener Choir Boys [Vienna Boys’ Choir]. Not
too enjoyable. Too many people today.
Saw Tristan und
Isolde. I really enjoyed it. (I
seem to be repeating myself, don’t I?) Every time I
go to the opera it gives me time to think, and
sometimes I get some good ideas. Today = What is
music? What gives music meaning and expression? How
will it apply to my music—textures, moods, etc. Use
of electronics and multi-speakers. (See “Idea” book.)
REFLECTIONS
Vienna
Boys’ Choir. It’s
difficult to enjoy the Vienna Boys’ Choir with so
many tourists milling about the church during Mass.
It’s a shame. The choir is so good. An iTunes
download will remedy that.
Friend
Mike and the Vienna Boys’ Choir. I am
getting up the nerve to send an email to Mike, my
unspoken good friend and our musical student leader
in Vienna. According to a concert program and his bio
on the Internet, he remained in Vienna for a time and
became one of the major musical directors of the
Vienna Boys’ Choir, including directing them at Mass,
at the Vienna Staatsoper, with the Vienna
Philharmonic, and in concert tours around the world.
How amazing is that! Maybe, I’ll get an interview out
of him. Let’s hope.
Not too bad. Interestingly,
I comment that, although I always say things like
“not too bad,” my playing is probably much better
than it was when I started. For example, not too bad
today is better than not too bad in September. It’s
difficult to gauge progress over time. You lose track
of your baseline—where you started.
Idea
book. Today, I’m
at the opera and thinking about “music.” So
philosophical, young man that I was. It’s good to
think, to be creative, to wonder about new things to
do. Today at the opera, I’m thinking multimedia. I
like it. I mention an “ideas book.” I haven’t found
this. It would be great to see what I was thinking.
New
ideas—write them down. I have
always had ideas—ideas come easy to me. Too many of
them, in fact. In today’s post, I mention an ideas
book. I do that today in 2009. Several years ago, I
started writing down my “business and creative ideas”
into notebooks to get them into written form. I like
to write like this. It’s fun to see ideas and how
they change over time. The next step—execute those
ideas. This is the truly difficult thing to do.
Still, do it. I should follow my own advice.
My advice to all—get some school (marble) notebooks
and write down your ideas. Or blog, or do a journal.
Maybe it will lead to your first book or novel?
John
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