Wallitner Weekly 35

Hello everyone!

A lot of productive things happened these last two weeks

I didn’t do enough stuff the week before last to justify writing a weekly. So instead of wasting time rambling to fill out a whole newsletter, I didn’t send on out. I am trying to get better at not forcing myself to do too much and thereby diminishing the quality of what I put out. But I do enjoy writing these weeklies.

Some of you may have noticed, I changed the color of the website. I liked the blue, but it didn’t seem professional enough for what I am now trying to accomplish with this site. I got the idea of the new color from the ties that my groomsmen will be wearing. A dusty blue. I think this color makes the writing on the website much more legible.

I did a lot of wedding stuff these past two weeks with my fiancee. We ordered the ties for the groom party. We ordered the bathrooms. We printed maps for how to get to the venue and where to park. We re-evaluated the budget. We’re still on track which is nice considering we overspent in a few places. Overall, it was a very productive week and I am still looking forward to getting married!

I am writing a piece that I am actually quite nervous for. Its a trumpet solo for my dear trumpet playing friend. He is getting a doctorate in trumpet performance so he is VERY good. He had to propose the project to a faculty member at his school and I received word today that, “We have full support to do exactly whatever we want.”

I am the kind of writer that does really well with restrictions, and this piece appears to have no limits. I am terrified, but also incredibly excited!

I’ve got lots of plans for next week too!

I want to phase out the “Virtual Ensembles” section of my website and transition towards and “Editions and Transcriptions” Section. As per the, I want to start a publishing company, plan. This is not to say that if the world shuts down again, I won’t do virtual ensemble videos. I just don’t need it taking up space on the website anymore.

I also hope to get business cards in the next week. There is a conference coming up that I am audio teching for and I think it will be a great networking opportunity. Now I just need to write a bunch more music and poetry so that people will have something to look at on my website.

Those words, from me, are yours now.

I really need to stop watching Dr. Who…

There is a scene in Dr. Who where a character says, “I love you”. And she gets the expected response of, “I love you too”

The part that struck me, at too early in the morning, or way too late in the evening depending, was what she said after. She said something along the lines of: No, not in the automatic sort of way. Not in the hanging up the phone kind of way. Not like that at all. I will never say those words to someone else again. Those words, from me, are yours now.

I know I got that last sentence right because I wrote it down immediately upon hearing it. Maybe it was all the wedding planning that made it stick out to me so much. But I had never heard of the concept of the L word talked about in that way. Words are some of my favorite things. I really enjoy what people do with them. I literally lease mine away to people sometimes. But the idea of giving them away fully like that had never occurred to me.

Imagine a world in which words actually behaved that way. People say some poetic nonsense, myself included. What if you actually could not L word someone else because you gave those words away. Its almost kind of cruel. “Sorry mom and dad, but my fiancee stole those words from me a long time ago, you’re out of luck.” No that wouldn’t work out well. But its a pretty thought. I adore (Can’t say the L word anymore, I gave it away) the idea of that level of commitment too. My imagination tends to run wild with these sort of things. Like there has to be a hierarchy of words to use. The L word has the most value, reserved for only the one closest to you. Then there would be a series of lesser words like “like” or “admire”. You could be “infatuated” but not “smitten” but certainly not in L.

It’s kind of funny. People say the darnedest things sometimes. I wonder how difficult it would actually be to maintain giving away a phrase like that. I feel as if I've done a decent job so far, but Im writing so I have more time to think. It’s a funny little thought experiment.

I say all of these things to draw attention to the dramatization of words. Shakespeare wrote a sonnet on a similar subject. Basically, people say the darnedest things when they’re in like with someone. They talk about eyes as blue as the ocean and lips red like rubies. And he points out that, No actually they aren’t. And you’re just saying that.

Sonnet 130 reads:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

I really really really like that poem. Because it draws attention to how poets are just liars that sound cool. Except of course when I do it. Because I mean it. Those words, from me, belong to her now.