School Orchestra Performance: Amateurish & Cringeworthy

[turbo]

I was giving them my time just as much as they were giving me a performance. The way I see it, I filled up a seat that would have been empty. (There weren't many people there).

Besides, just because it was free does not mean a damn thing. You're performing for others. If you stink, you shouldn't perform for others. Even if you pay people to listen to you, they still have every right to complain.

How much time did you invest in rehearsing for your part in the "performance"? How much effort and talent did you invest in your side of the "performance"? Give me a break! I worked my way through college (in large part) by playing frat parties, private parties, and commercial gigs, and it's pretty infuriating to watch some rich petty dilettante venting about the quality of some free publicly-available performance that he/she had invested no time/effort/talent in. Sorry, Cy. Can't give you a free ride on this one.

If you didn't enjoy the performance, you should have walked out quietly and discretely, and done something else. Your poorly-framed complaining denigrates the efforts of your fellow students and reflects poorly on you.

Learn to play guitar and sing, if you want a challenge. Come back in 10-20 years and prove that you can approximate the talent of the kids that you are putting down in this thread and I might pay attention to you. When I was in HS, kids my age were paying cover charges to get into clubs where my bands were playing, and I was still playing wind instruments, singing, etc, in intramural or regional events in addition to the weekend paying gigs.

You are acting immature and spoiled. I'll bet that a lot of the kids in that performance were pretty skilled and well-schooled, but were drowned out by a body formed by a very generous admission-policy.

 

[Cyrus]

How much time did you invest in rehearsing for your part in the "performance"?

Irrelevant. I'm not giving a performance, and I am not in a college level orchestra.

How much effort and talent did you invest in your side of the "performance"? Give me a break!

Obviously, I am not performing. So what kind of question is that?

I worked my way through college (in large part) by playing frat parties, private parties, and commercial gigs, and it's pretty infuriating to watch some rich petty dilettante venting about the quality of some free publicly-available performance that he/she had invested no time/effort/talent in. Sorry, Cy. Can't give you a free ride on this one.

I don't see what your side jobs in college has to do with the discussion. These students ant doing a side job here to make money. I don't see your point. PS, why do you always bring up money when you talk to me. You should work on this insecurity.

If you didn't enjoy the performance, you should have walked out quietly and discretely, and done something else. Your poorly-framed complaining denigrates the efforts of your fellow students and reflects poorly on you.

Their performance was poor. That reflects on themselves, and on me, as they are part of my school. Crap is crap, I calls em as I sees em.

Learn to play guitar and sing, if you want a challenge. Come back in 10-20 years and prove that you can approximate the talent of the kids that you are putting down in this thread and I might pay attention to you. When I was in HS, kids my age were paying cover charges to get into clubs where my bands were playing, and I was still playing wind instruments, singing, etc, in intramural or regional events in addition to the weekend paying gigs.

Again, no. I am not the one putting on a performance. What does your friends in HS have to do with this discussion?

You are acting immature and spoiled. I'll bet that a lot of the kids in that performance were pretty skilled and well-schooled, but were drowned out by a body formed by a very generous admission-policy.

Ok, when the conductor can't even stand infront of an audience and talk about the song being played, I am somehow 'immature and spoiled'. Hmmmmmmm....not buying it. Like I said, I've seen the best in the world perform. I don't expect them to be the best in the world, but there are SOME things I expect them to know better.

Side: I attended a dinner held by NASA to meet the crew of the STS-125 space shuttle. It was a suit and tie event. I was given a free seat as a student and got to meet people from NASA. It was professional the whole way through. Dont see me complaing about that, do you? Why not? Because it was professional and the people had class. The people in that room were the best of the best, including the head of NASA. It was very enjoyable.

The reason I stayed is because of the selection of the songs. They are wonderful songs. I stayed out of resepect for the composers who wrote it.

 

[moose]

Come to UA... we've got some better orchestras than that.

 

[slugcountry]

Most of your complaints seem to stem from your perceived lack of "professionalism".

Um give me a freaking break - if I go to an orchestra its for the music, not for pretentious pomp. If you've got legitimate complaints about the quality of the music (which is FREE and coming from AMATEURS) that's one thing - but complaining about a lack of uniforms? And talking to each other between pieces?? woop di freaking do - if I go to an orchestra and they blow me away with their music I wouldn't give a damn if in between pieces they actually acted like people and talked =\

 

[Cyrus]

- I don't consider college students in a college orchestra as 'amateurs'. I would assume they want to be professional musicans one day.

- I don't 'perceive' professionalism, I know what it is because I've seen it.

- My high school band had uniforms.

And talking to each other between pieces??

I never even said this. I said in the intermession they went off the stage and into the crowd.

-I wasnt blown away by their music, and their lack of professionalism made things ten times worse than they could have been.

Heres a thought, save up about 100 bucks, buy yourself a ticket to a professional orchestra, and see how people behave there. You might learn something about class.

 

[Moonbear]

- I don't consider college students in a college orchestra as 'amateurs'. I would assume they want to be professional musicans one day.

I already explained this way back in the thread, but you ignored it. The concert might be free because they are NOT aspiring musicians, just a group of students who ENJOY playing their instruments as a hobby who have formed an orchestra. One should not expect professional quality. Even if they are performing arts students, they will be of different levels in the orchestra...the seniors may be drowned out by freshmen who still need more experience performing for an audience to get critiques and learn to improve.

- I don't 'perceive' professionalism, I know what it is because I've seen it.

- My high school band had uniforms.

Uniforms don't define professionalism. Again, I brought this up earlier. Not every orchestra or choir has uniforms or dress codes. It depends on the conductor. Besides, orchestras are NOT marching bands; there aren't "uniforms" for orchestras. If you want them all to wear tuxes for their performances, get out your checkbook and send them a donation so they can afford them, otherwise quit complaining.

I never even said this. I said in the intermession they went off the stage and into the crowd.

What is wrong with them mingling with the crowd during the intermission? It seems you have a very narrow experience with orchestra performances and expect them all to be done exactly as the few you've seen. I think it's a nice idea for the performers to get to mingle with the crowd a bit so people can meet them and learn more about their ambitions, etc.

-I wasnt blown away by their music, and their lack of professionalism made things ten times worse than they could have been.

Again, at a university level, they are still learning to be performers, sometimes you just have to fill seats. It's not like a professional orchestra where people get paid and they can recruit the best performers from around the country or world.

Heres a thought, save up about 100 bucks, buy yourself a ticket to a professional orchestra, and see how people behave there. You might learn something about class.

I don't need to spend $100 to know something about class, and tend to find that the pretentious people who think they can buy class are the ones most lacking it.

Your ranting is akin to someone complaining about their college football team not performing like a pro team, not having the same pretty uniforms, and not having the best coaches. Of course they don't...the top players/performers will get selected for those professional groups, but at the college level you're still selecting from your local population. Does UMD even have any sort of reputation for having a good school of performing arts? I haven't heard of it.

 

[Moonbear]

Taking a quick peek at UMDs music websites, here is the group you listened to if it was Monday night's performance:

UM Repertoire Orchestra — The University of Maryland Repertoire Orchestra (UMRO) is a unique all-campus orchestra open to music majors and non-music majors alike, as well as UM faculty and staff. The ensemble performs three full concerts per academic year, as well as occasional performances at the university-wide celebration of Maryland Day. Led by two members of the graduate conducting studio, UMRO meets for rehearsal twice per week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Repertoire varies based on instrumentation and consists of works for chamber and full orchestra.

http://www.music.umd.edu/ensembles/orchestras

It is NOT their symphony orchestra that is composed of music majors aspiring for careers in music, just as suspected, it is a group of people who just like playing music and do it for fun, not for a career. You cannot expect that to be the same level of performance. It's more like church choirs where you can get really great choirs some year and others you just have to take whoever is willing to volunteer and they can sound pretty awful.