Goddamazon: Another Anecdote -- Why I quit playing the cello after thirteen years.
thegoddamazon:
I’m a cellist.
I started playing in 6th grade. By high school, I was playing quite well and had made principle player—or First Chair. Huge deal in the orchestra world.
In high school, the competitiveness in orchestra is confined to skill. I got all perfect scores during the competitions…
Oh gods, that’s horrific! I realize the politics of an orchestra can be rather intense, but this is seriously one of the most horrendous orchestra stories I’ve ever heard. I can’t even imagine this (well no, I can, as I’ve had nightmares very similar to this all the fucking time)… Your section is your fucking family, especially once you get to the university level! There were so many times my ass was saved by my fellow cellists, from getting me rides places to lending me their fucking concert clothes when I’d gotten stranded on campus the night before a chamber orchestra concert while I was still commuting. I’m actually getting really emotionally worked up over how fucked up this is.
I’m so incredibly sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry that these racist, sexist asshats ruined something that meant so much to you. It pisses me off how racist the classical music community still is, especially against black people. I hope that you still play, even if just for yourself. Or if you don’t, that you’ll be able to pick it up again one day. I can’t picture my life without my cello, and I hope that you don’t have to either.
To end on a happier note, yes, the Elgar is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written. That and the Dvorak are probably the only things that got me through high school alive. Nothing gets you through teenaged angst like the raw emotional power of those pieces.
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