Monday's Funk, performed by the MSO

Today was a frustrating day. One of those days where you feel a grand sense of underachievement, and you're not sure if it's just you that is caught up in a thick grey cloud of meso-productivity. Some humans enjoy days where not much happens and they 'chill out'. I don't. I am my mother's daughter. And yet I gather these kind of days have never risen in my energetic Mum's 56 years. 

But if I hadn't had such a low energy day, in which my work attempts seemed futile and greater life 
quandaries started to surface, I wouldn't have aimlessly stopped by my sister's friend's boutique this evening. I was at a loose end and I thought she might be up for a chat. If I hadn't had such a day I wouldn't have bought the beautiful Francis Leon dress from her shop. And I certainly wouldn't have ended up at a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performance tonight. Some days have to be bad in order to turn good. 

It has been a while, perhaps a couple of years, since I've seen/heard orchestral music live. What an eighth bloody wonder of the world. I need to do this once a month. Does any other art-form promote such a state in it's audience? When I see an orchestra (sans any vocalists please), I am drawn in to the present so sharply, yet my mind is also happily swept far away. 

nice dangly bits at Hamer Hall

Tonight I observed the conductor. I wondered why one might decide to be a conductor. And where do they buy their special conducting sticks? Couldn't you just use a knitting needle or chopstick? Did this conductor eat Vegemite sandwiches? Did this conductor feel appreciated by the orchestra and that he was 'value-adding' to their performance? Or was he riding an exhilarating wave, where such self-judgements don't exist?

The music took me to the past... to summers, to clear nights. It took me to the future and brisk winters. It made me think about love, about being carefree. About having children. About that house I used to live in, in Brisbane.

The music made me think about the great documentary Pianomania I saw a few years ago. The music gave me exciting new ideas. It brought me hope. It brought me joy. Romance. Contentment.

I thought about the many individual performers in the MSO. The different days that they'd each had. What was going through their minds and the different ways they expressed the same piece of music. I observed the different conditions of their instruments. The different types of black shoes they were wearing. Who was intense, and who was nonchalant.

Thank you MSO for helping me get my life back on track tonight.

Live music. It's bloody brilliant. I'll remember you next time I have a glacial Monday.