So beendet meine erste Woche der Schule. Und es war schrecklich. Aber ich möchte nicht schlechter Deutsch schreiben. Deutsch töten mich.

(So ended my first week of school. And it was terrible. But I don't feel like writing/typing bad German. German kills me.)

My passion for Deutsch is waning... Blame it on the fact that I've almost no one to practise on, and that a certain German... well, shan't go much further, else I'll be sued for defamation.

Far and wide, the biggest bummer which happened this week was the promotion of underqualified personnel over the heads of more senior and qualified people. This is proving to be a rapid setback to orchestra morale, and is probably the worst decision that guy has ever made to date.

I mean, this little girl is year 1, barely speaks a word of English, doesn't socialize with people, has no orchestra experience, and he makes her principal cellist over the heads of three year 3 (and one year 2) cellists? Granted, she's a fantastic soloist, better than all of us, but she can't even count properly. As an orchestra cellist she is so-so. As a section leader she is... totally underqualified.

People who pay attention during orchestra rehearsals will quickly realize who is the true principal cellist... who was doing all the work, giving humongous cues because our dear leader can't count, practising the orchestra parts late at night in school (I have witnesses to this), working out bowings (to my section: stop following her, fools, and start following ME instead), listening out for mistakes, getting scolded by the German for her mistakes...

There's a difficult passage in the Dvořák symphony (if I recall it's figure D in the first movement) which we did on Wednesday. Because I spent quite some time practising it on Tuesday night, I was playing confidently whereas my section... faltered... faked... whatever you choose to call it. Whereupon the German turned to me and said something like this:

'You're so intelligent, can you be more intelligent when you play cello? If only you had her (guess whose) technique, that would be so great...'

I seriously feel sick.

Today (Friday) in particular, I was so angry with him I could have picked a fight... We were sight-reading Sibelius's Valse Triste (which I have played before during my debut with NUSSO), and I told my dear stand partner not to rush and to look at the conductor, but he said, 'No no, she's right.' Bloody f... never mind. He also hollered at my friend for a mistake someone else in that guy's section made.

Thinking back, I'm actually quite surprised at how angry I managed to become. Is this really me? I honestly don't know. I originally wanted to take him aside and berate him for his lousy decision-making, but calmed down during lunch with my friends. (The vocalists. I love you all, guys... =D)

And yeah, just a word edgeways about the great friends I have... Thank you all for rallying behind me during this time of great stress, unhappiness and general emo-ness... 'M', thanks for making me happy this afternoon and sorry you had to listen to me rant again. 'J', thanks for standing behind me through this. I'm not angry with you. Ever. 'R', thanks for being my buddy. 'D', thanks for the MSN chat, and I'm really glad we feel the same way about things.

Together we shall prevail.

History to come soon.

Labels: orchestra