In Love With These Bedsheets

14/07/20

summer studying challenge 2: have your plans changed at all because of the pandemic?

YUP. i was meant to be at a space program at a university in june which got cancelled, me and my friends were going to go on a cycling holiday on a west coast island, and all in all i didn’t plan on feeling so down lmao!

last night i stayed up until 4am to watch for comet NEOWISE which i saw [first picture, faint smudge just above the tree in the centre] and was completely amazed by :D unfortunately i waited for three hours after seeing it to get a second look, but the clouds were very stubborn :( i am so tired today though lol

25/08/20

adulting is difficult, folks. but also kind of exciting sometimes?

Do you have any ideas on how to improve the accessibility of classical music? Playing the instruments, watching performances, etc.

that’s kind of a broad topic. there’s the issue of classical music not being as accessible to people who have a lower income, younger people, historically excluded ethnic groups, people who want to go see a symphony perform and not get dirty glances for wearing jeans to attend the concert, people who want to clap between movements without getting dirty glances and feeling “uncultured,” and so on. 

I could make a post in detail about all of these particular aspects, and people can feel free to add their opinion on the subject to this post, but I’ll say this:

we gotta stop pushing the idea that mozart was like the best classical composer ever. he was obviously talented and made some good music, but non-musicians think that mozart’s music is what all classical music sounds like and so they don’t feel the need to listen to composers who wrote drastically different musical works but can still be heard in the concert halls. classical music is a broad genre written by thousands and thousands of people over hundreds of years, and today, and we have a more diverse group of composers than ever who are currently writing music. I think that everyone can find at least one piece of classical music that appeals to them, but so many people don’t know this.

we gotta stop intellectualizing classical music. write program notes that make sense and help audiences relate to the composer. tell us that berlioz’s dad wanted him to have a practical job so berlioz got his medical degree and turned around to become a composer, and maybe save the music theory terminology that makes very little sense to the average audience member for your doctoral dissertation. help audiences relate to the music and they’ll be able to understand it better. classical music hasn’t been for the educated aristocracy in years but people keep acting like it is. 

we gotta let people know that anyone can learn classical music. my mom recently told me that she doesn’t have the right hands to play piano and that she thinks reading sheet music would be too hard. you can play piano with small hands and it’s simple to learn to read sheet music, it just takes practice for it to become automatic. you can pick up an instrument at any point in your life. if you have the desire, do it, and don’t listen to some idiots who say you’re “too old” or aren’t fit for it.

we gotta let students learning classical have fun with it rather than kill their creativity and yell at them for their mistakes. I nearly quit piano because of something like this and today I absolutely love any chance I can get to play an instrument. that is a huge shift in perspective, and it’s because I can make mistakes and learn from them without getting shamed, and I have had super encouraging teachers, parents, and peers. 

we gotta show students performances that feature people that we can kind of relate to. a lot of old orchestral performances have orchestras that are just white guys and no one else. show a newer video of the same piece that has at least some diversity. is there a young girl interested in playing bass in orchestra? show her a video of a woman absolutely shredding on double bass to get her interested and show her that women exist in the profession. representation matters. 

we gotta drop the draconian concert hall etiquette. I think going to see an orchestra concert should have similar etiquette to going to the movie theaters. don’t talk during the performance, laugh if something funny happens (some classical music is genuinely supposed to be funny), clap when appropriate (it’s so disappointing when the first movement of a symphony ends with a flourish and everybody is still. it is legitimately uncomfortable!), and wear what you would wear to a movie theater. it’s going to take years for this to happen, unfortunately, but as someone who plays in orchestra, I don’t feel disrespected when audience members clap between movements or wear hoodies. I’m just happy they’re there and that they’re enjoying their time. 

everyone feel free to add your thoughts and experiences. this is a broad issue and it’s something we need to address. 

"The Big Dipper as it is today (left) and as it will look in 50,000 years." Dream of stars. 1940.

Internet Archive

[ one hundred days of productivity: 1/100]

wed 14 august

first day of school! an exhausting and mentally trying day as i found out specific exam results and wasnt particularly happy with some, basically had to physically refrain myself from killing my old modern studies teacher when i found out i dropped 23% from the mock exam. but otherwise i’m enjoying learning new things again, especially maths at the moment because i quite like trigonometry.

a busy week for me, the last week of school before exam leave 🥳 but also oh my god now i actually have to,, do, the exams,, holy shit,,,

21.05.20

maths is even more enjoyable when you do it outside in the sun 🌺🌤 (flowers kept falling from the rhododendron beside me, it felt very picturesque)

13/08/20

first day back at school!! so so lovely to be back, i missed it so much. despite the confusing one-way system i loved being back and seeing my friends & teachers & wonderful school. plus my timetable has loads of free periods this year which i’m super happy about.

summer (even though it’s not my summer holiday anymore lol) studying challenge: what is your favourite ice cream flavour?

raspberry ripple!

29.06.20

today was the first day of my six week summer holiday and i’m already feeling very listless, so here is my plan for getting a big step up in russian. i’ve been loosely learning for a year so i know basic phrases and the alphabet but i want to use this time to really get to grips with it. so i’m posting this here because accountability is important! i’m hoping to fill up these sheets with vocab by the end too.

8th may

this years reading challenge has really encouraged me to read more and it’s been soo lovely! cr: the dream theives by maggie stiefvater