So last night was a visit to the Ghost of College Past. The Rock and I went to Orchestra Hall to see Concordia's annual Christmas concert. The music department presents several performances to thousands of the Norwegian sweater mafia in Moorhead, then trucks the whole thing down here for two performances.
The concert is very nostalgic for those of us who spent our formative years indoctrinated in Concordia's music program. There are not many colleges who can feature 400+ musicians with stunning discipline, down to the way they step on and off the risers. Besides being meticulously prepared (everything the five choirs sing is memorized), the level of musicianship is really extraordinary. I sometimes take it for granted, but last night I was really struck by the tradition the concert represents. The whole thing is a well-oiled machine, and if it's perhaps a bit too slick and perfect, I'd rather have come from the Concordia music tradition than almost any other college in the country. I'm loving my Hamline experience, but I will always be grateful that my music major was mostly fulfilled at Concordia. My four years there made me the musician I am today.
I was especially proud to see Charlette Moe—a fellow piano major at Concordia and the wife of my goofy college roommate Gordon—on stage as the conductor of one of the women's choirs. She's amazing and talented, and has worked hard through a doctoral program in choral conducting. I hope I can be just like her when I grow up.
One more note: if we were really serious about the war on terrorism, we would send the Cobber choirs into battle. That would be the end of it.
4 comments:
One word:
Weston.
That's all.
It would be lovely to spend an evening in the presence of such masterful musicians. Consider me envious.
I, on the other hand, spent three hours tonight chaperoning a high school dance, which meant listening to what passes for popular music these days (I couldn't understand a word, although I think pu**y came up frequently) and noticing that dancing face to face has fallen into quaint obscurity.
Yeah, when that girl in Superbad grinds into the main guy, a** to his groin, they were just following current dance conventions. Gone are the circles of friends and clumps of kids sort of bouncing up and down. As dumb as those "dances" seemed at the time, they ROCK compared to this new fangled gettin' down.
When one bold senior asked me to slow dance at ten minutes to midnight, I agreed to "sway near him" and headed out into the melee. It started fine, but then an overly ram-bunctious football player tried to sidle up behind me in the aformentioned manner. Yikes! I jumped away even faster than I reacted to the giant gingerbread man blog picture earlier this week.
My biggest moment of shock, however, came when the students cheered LOUDLY for their absolute favorite song of the night: Wannabe, by the Spice Girls. That's the one with zigazig. Cringe.
I spent most of the evening complaining "Isn't that too loud? How can anyone talk to each other? Seriously, I think it just got louder!"
Hmmm. Yup. Turning 40.
Ann
PS Weston, schmeston. Who wants to drive all the way to Iowa (even if it is wonderful)?
Um, Ann? Driving to Iowa is unreasonable, whereas driving to Moorhead is right on the way to . . . ?!
Our beloved alma mater has many, many fine points. Location is not one of them.
Neither, apparently, is the ability to edit its own Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_College_%28Minnesota%29). The Academics section opens with "There are 24 departments includes 78 majors." Perhaps they've eliminated the English major?
On the other hand, I did learn from the Trivia section that "Students often walk around the bell tower rather than through it because of a superstition holding that Cobbers who walk through it alone will not get married, and Cobbers who walk as a pair will get married to each other." Isn't that sweet? I picture young beanie-wearing Cobber couples sharing malteds in the Norm. And no ass-grinding at Concordia dances, no siree!
In case you're wondering why I was reading Concordia's Wikipedia entry, I started out doing some on-line research to figure out who/what Weston was*, and after reading the Luther College entry, I decided to check out Concordia's.
*Am I still allowed to read this blog if I confess that I was never a part of any ELCA college music ensemble? Not that I'm anti-music ensemble. Not at all! Some of my best friends were in choir. I'm very open-minded about that kind of thing!
a fellow cobber, i see. although i should like to add (without insult): before my time, slightly. (and that i'm an 'escapee', not a 'graduate'. :-)
best,
jfl
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