Carnegie Hall

I played in my high school band before so I was very familiar with orchestral music. The level that Ms. Mutter played at the concert however, was beyond what I expected. I really enjoyed Four Seasons by Vivaldi and spent probably the whole time figuring out what season the orchestral was playing at the moment. I think I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the performance because I had a stomachache during the middle of the performance. I guess in a way, the music helped to soothe that pain. Regardless, I was really captivated by the music. The speed that the notes were played was so unbelievably fast. I found myself daydreaming what it was like if I had chose to learn how to play the violin instead of the flute. I think if I had learned to play the violin, I would have respected Ms. Mutton even more because then I could fully grasp the perfection of her violin playing.

I also like how I was able to differentiate Ms. Mutton’s violin playing from the rest of the orchestra’s violin playing, as if her playing stood out from the rest of the orchestra who were also playing perfectly that night. To be honest, the music really led me to daydream. Would I even call it “daydreaming?” The walls and stage of Carnegie Hall became very dreamy and warm through my eyes and I swear it wasn’t because I was falling asleep—I was very much awake. The music kept me at the border of Dreamland and reality; it was as if I wasn’t even there anymore but I was certain that I still was sitting in the very cozy, tightly packed row. I was actually expecting many memories to flood into my mind as I heard it was something music sometime did to you. I was a bit disappointed however when memories didn’t come to me and that my mind was blank throughout the whole performance except the thought of the constant pang of my stomach ache and thoughts on food I was going to eat when I got home.

I also found myself trying to absorb in all the music because I would never be able to witness such a phenomenal performance again. My middle school band teacher always told us stories of Carnegie Hall and to my surprise, it was exactly as I pictured it—the colors of the walls, the ceiling, the velvet seats, even the orientation of the musicians, (Exactly as I imagined it.) I never once researched how Carnegie Hall looked so I was very surprised at how accurate my imagination was; So the whole experience seemed very much like déjà vu. I could never imagine myself at Carnegie Hall but there I was, sitting in the majestic building, listening to a world-class violinist play. It seemed very surreal. Thank you professor Natov for taking us there. I will never forget the experience.