Exhausted.
I’m taking a music improvisation class this quarter, and today was the start of our midterms in the class. There are 15 of us in class, and my professor split us into two groups, and I have to say, I’m so happy she put me in the group she did. Last Thursday, we were supposed to plan our performances for this week, but we ended up just kickin’ it and jamming for a bit, which was so much fun.
Anyway, I was stressing out all weekend about this performance, because I feel like even with my musical background, I’m so… untalented compared to everybody else. Kinda. I dunno. Anyway, writing the paper that my performance was to be centered around was pretty difficult, and I definitely had to dig deep for it, but my professor liked it, so all was well. And then to plan the performance part…
So throughout the quarter, we’ve learned a lot of improvisation “forms.” Class isn’t a huge jam session [slightly disappointing, but what we do in class is pretty darn cool, so it’s okay]; we actually have a lot of structure, but we’re free to improvise within certain limits. Anyway, I finally decided on my performance, but I was still super nervous.
But my group is just so awesome, that even with minimal “directions,” they helped me get my point across perfectly. It’s really amazing how much cohesion we have, especially since we only meet twice a week. So today, I did 14 improvisation “pieces” + my talk, and well… I was basically moving around and singing/playing little percussion pieces/trying to be creative for 2 hours straight. It was the most exhausting class I’ve ever had in my life, but I felt so much closer with my group… Like at the end, when I improv-ed a movement, I knew exactly what one of my groupmates would do next.
I don’t know. I’m just rambling lol but I really find it amazing how working together, even in the form of play, can build such a cool community. I’m so exhausted right now, but in a good way… in a productive way. And I’m really glad that I have music back in my life. That is all.
