Can a true music appreciator eat at a concert?
*rustle rustle*
Keeping my head in the right direction of the string quartet performance I was at, I peeked at the lady on my right, out of the corner of my eye. Couldn't really see what was causing all that noise.
But wait, was that the smell of chocolate? The rustling sound of the aluminium foil would make sense then. Not to mention the munching sound afterwards. But who on earth would eat a chocolate bar at a classical music concert? Indeed, before the concert had started, announcer had failed to mention "no eating and drinking" in addition to the usual "please switch off your handphones".
It didn't really bug me that much, since my mind was already wandering off to how I should plan my week for exam studying, even though I really ought to be paying attention to the quartet.. they are good.
Unfortunately for my hungry neighbour, there was a neurotic lady sitting just right in front of us. Her huge head was quite an annoying obstacle throughout the concert and I was forced to shift my position till I could see at least 2 out of the 4 performers. It's either that I'm really short, or the seats are just not designed properly. Eventually I decided to sacrifice my view of the cellist and the violist in order to be able to stare at the first violinist.
Anyway, so the neurotic lady got visibly upset by the rustling sound caused by the chocolate. How tiring it must be for her to turn her head round to glare at the lady on my right every time she touched the aluminium foil to break off a piece of chocolate! She must have done that every minute or so, for a quarter of the concert. The neurotic lady's body language showed how disturbed she was over such a small issue ( in my humble opinion). At one point of time she covered her right ear, and scrunched up her body as if to get away from the disturbance. And she turned back and hissed twice " Can you stop doing that !!!! ". When the concert eventually ended, I knew that she was definitely going to express her annoyance, and lo and behold, she did. "I really didn't think that it was necessary to bring food to a concert. It's really disturbing. Really not necessary at all " was what she said, with a disdainful look. I don't know who to feel sorry for... the eating lady ( perhaps she was really hungry and needed to eat something to prevent a gastric upset? ) or the neurotic woman ( she might develop neckache tomorrow), or ME! I just couldn't concentrate on what was in front of me when somebody keeps turning their head around, PLUS the fact that I was able to smell the chocolate breath from my neighbour?!
On the whole, I enjoyed the string quartet performance more than I expected. It made me realise how much I missed playing the violin, even though I never thought I would ever feel that way. My appreciation for the music tonight stem largely from imagining that I'm the first violinist playing all those notes. Sigh. Now I wish that I have the opportunity to continue violin lessons, but it's just impossible. I don't see the point of bringing my violin with me here to Perth because 1) I'm going to annoy my housemates A LOT and 2) there isn't any string ensemble or orchestra here in Murdoch. Unless I try to join the one at UWA since there is at least a music department within the university. 3) I really shouldn't be spending time on improving music... I should be reading more on animal-related information! Being overly practical, I just can't see how playing the violin would help me in my future career. It's just one of the million and one things that I hope to do, but probably won't.
And listening to the music tonight made me feel quite nostalgic. I started to remember the good (and bad) times in SYO, and also the period when I was taking lessons from Alexander Souptel (I just feel tickled when I remember he kept telling me to just get married with some guy and live happily ever after... despite that mcpish remark I know he means well), and all those mornings I always wake up to the sound of my eldest sister practising her violin. It made me miss my family. I still think that my eldest sister's violin playing is the best. :)
Keeping my head in the right direction of the string quartet performance I was at, I peeked at the lady on my right, out of the corner of my eye. Couldn't really see what was causing all that noise.
But wait, was that the smell of chocolate? The rustling sound of the aluminium foil would make sense then. Not to mention the munching sound afterwards. But who on earth would eat a chocolate bar at a classical music concert? Indeed, before the concert had started, announcer had failed to mention "no eating and drinking" in addition to the usual "please switch off your handphones".
It didn't really bug me that much, since my mind was already wandering off to how I should plan my week for exam studying, even though I really ought to be paying attention to the quartet.. they are good.
Unfortunately for my hungry neighbour, there was a neurotic lady sitting just right in front of us. Her huge head was quite an annoying obstacle throughout the concert and I was forced to shift my position till I could see at least 2 out of the 4 performers. It's either that I'm really short, or the seats are just not designed properly. Eventually I decided to sacrifice my view of the cellist and the violist in order to be able to stare at the first violinist.
Anyway, so the neurotic lady got visibly upset by the rustling sound caused by the chocolate. How tiring it must be for her to turn her head round to glare at the lady on my right every time she touched the aluminium foil to break off a piece of chocolate! She must have done that every minute or so, for a quarter of the concert. The neurotic lady's body language showed how disturbed she was over such a small issue ( in my humble opinion). At one point of time she covered her right ear, and scrunched up her body as if to get away from the disturbance. And she turned back and hissed twice " Can you stop doing that !!!! ". When the concert eventually ended, I knew that she was definitely going to express her annoyance, and lo and behold, she did. "I really didn't think that it was necessary to bring food to a concert. It's really disturbing. Really not necessary at all " was what she said, with a disdainful look. I don't know who to feel sorry for... the eating lady ( perhaps she was really hungry and needed to eat something to prevent a gastric upset? ) or the neurotic woman ( she might develop neckache tomorrow), or ME! I just couldn't concentrate on what was in front of me when somebody keeps turning their head around, PLUS the fact that I was able to smell the chocolate breath from my neighbour?!
On the whole, I enjoyed the string quartet performance more than I expected. It made me realise how much I missed playing the violin, even though I never thought I would ever feel that way. My appreciation for the music tonight stem largely from imagining that I'm the first violinist playing all those notes. Sigh. Now I wish that I have the opportunity to continue violin lessons, but it's just impossible. I don't see the point of bringing my violin with me here to Perth because 1) I'm going to annoy my housemates A LOT and 2) there isn't any string ensemble or orchestra here in Murdoch. Unless I try to join the one at UWA since there is at least a music department within the university. 3) I really shouldn't be spending time on improving music... I should be reading more on animal-related information! Being overly practical, I just can't see how playing the violin would help me in my future career. It's just one of the million and one things that I hope to do, but probably won't.
And listening to the music tonight made me feel quite nostalgic. I started to remember the good (and bad) times in SYO, and also the period when I was taking lessons from Alexander Souptel (I just feel tickled when I remember he kept telling me to just get married with some guy and live happily ever after... despite that mcpish remark I know he means well), and all those mornings I always wake up to the sound of my eldest sister practising her violin. It made me miss my family. I still think that my eldest sister's violin playing is the best. :)
posted by Min @ 9:47 PM
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