Friday, 04 November 2005

"Clippitty-Cloppetty-Clippitty-Cloppitty-Clip-Clop!"

It's time to put all this Xanga fodder actually on the Xanga itself, albeit a little later than the Major General Music intended due to a number of reasons, most of which involve him getting tagged by the Angela and thus having to respond to that first, being incapacitated by sickness, and downright business. But, this time has now come!

The Major General Music spent his previous weekend at archrival Calvin College for the ACDA (that's the American Choral Director's Association for all you non-music people) conference for the state of Michigan. It closely resembled the Michigan Music Educator's Conference the Major General Music attended, although smaller because it was limited to just the ACDA, whereas the previous conference involved almost every letter of the alphabet that is "M," including ACDA, MENC, MMEA, MSBOA, MSVMA, and the like. In any case, this conference had plenty of interesting moments like the last one. Here are the most notable ones:

Before the conference even begins, we get caught in traffic. After the interesting discussion of field placements, methods classes, realizing that Peter Van Dutchyname and Silly Music Girl and the Major General Music will be taking Middle School and Secondary Choral Methods and learning to teach teenagers how to sing. This renders the group late for the conference, unable to attend the Masterclass with the English Choirmaster and instead slide in conspicuously late to the literature reading session instead. Of course they choose to sit behind the Michigan State choral director who can sight read better than a machine.

Following the reading session, the trio journeyed upstairs to the exhibitions area which included a booth for Hope College. Upon arriving, they discovered Dr. Pirate, the Hope choral director who threatens the three with their lives if they do not attend the next session with the English Choirmaster. The friends take the cue and leave the booth for the next session.

Peter Van Dutchyname and the Major General Music fleed from the premises for a short time to forage for their lunch. Their meanderings along the streets of Grand Rapids in Peter Van Dutchyname's car led them to the Mall of the Woodlands. Having not been to Grand Rapids in awhile, neither of them remembered which end contains the court o' food. Incorrectly guessing that it is located next to Sears, the two ended up walking the mall's length to the food court, meeting up with three fellow Hope music students and quickly devouring an overpriced lunch.

The pair returned to the college named for John Calvin for the Conducting Masterclass with Dr. English Choirmaster, who is imparting his wisdom at Yale. There the Major General Music officially declared him to be whacked-out.

Following the sessions with the strange conductors, Peter and the Major General journeyed to the main auditorium in the middle of the Calvin Fine Arts Center for a concert showcase featuring several groups from the state of Michigan. Peter in particular enjoyed the concert so much that he dozed off, did the falling asleep twitch, which drove one of his elbows straight into the Major General's ribs, and then woke up.

After the concert, Peter and the Major General Music departed once again for the Mall of the Woodlands for a quick dinner. Discovering they have some extra time before the concert with Ensemble Amarchord, the pair of tenors wandered the mall for awhile. Their first stop was the store featuring all the products sold by the Apple Computer Company. Peter and the Major General chortled at the laptops and desktops and all the people flitting around in search of the elusive iPod.

Following that, the two tenors made their way to Brookstone, where they encountered nifty little gizmos and knicknacks. However, the most interesting part of that window-shopping experience was encountering the second assistant manager who was very excited to see two Hope College students. Apparently he met one while he was drunk. Peter and the Major General Music made a rapid exit and then laffed at his job title, wondering when he may be the first assistant manager.

While wandering the mall's main walkways, the two musicians fumed about the Christmas decorations already placed before Halloween even had a chance to breathe. They then attempted to look for something to throw through the giant Christmas wreaths, to no avail. Then Peter once again mentioned to the Major General Music his amazement at the children's play area, designed like a breakfast plate with giant hard plastic fried eggs, bacon, waffles, toast, and sausage. The Major General Music once again chortled at Peter's fascination.

The two ended up in Waldenbooks, where they discovered a clerk with enormous hair, some obnoxious Westminster chimes, and another who acted like the Major General Music had saved the world from a nuclear disaster. She wished the two a good night and the Major General Music unleashed Brian Regan, replying "You too!" She lit up brighter than a mole of Christmas trees.

Before departing for the concert, Peter and the Major General Music took a detour to the main restrooms. There they discovered a very dignified-like man talking into a hands-free cell phone as he both conducted his business at the urinal and conducted business over the phone. The Major General Music, being forced to stand closer to the strange cell phone man because of Peter's clever move to the farthest urinal, was very unsettled by the whole ordeal.

Returning to the institution of learning, the two took in an excellent, high-quality, amusing concert by the German men's singing group, Ensemble Amarchord. Peter enjoyed it slightly more, being a member of Twelfth Street Harmony, the men's ensemble at Hope College. The two also enjoyed a new inside joke, sung by the ensemble in the first half: "Clippitty-Cloppitty-Clippitty-Cloppitty-Clip-Clop!"

The next day, Peter and the Major General Music made their way again to Calvin College in the company of Silly Music Girl, Sweet Soprano No. I, and Goofy Soprano No. II. The friends discovered much about Sweet Soprano No. I, most notably that she jumped off the enormous boulder in front of her house simply to wear Popples bandages and she recounted the tale of falling down the stairs at a very young age and creating a dent in her head that is still noticeable even today.

Saturday was all-around a less productive day. The same English Choirmaster led the sessions and kept working with a choir from Western Michigan University on the same song, with pronunciations similar to the Swedish Chef's. The other amusing point was the girl who was in charge of tuning. Instead of having a pitchpipe like any sane chorister, she carried around a tuning fork and struck against any convenient nearby object, such as a chair or her own head in some cases. By the end of the second session, Goofy Soprano No. II, Bubbly Pianist, and the Major General Music were drawing cartoons poking fun at the conference.

All in all, it was a productive experience! The Major General Music acquired many much free choral music from the conference, which was his favorite part.

Comments(5)

Yay for free stuff!!!! I'm glad you learned a lot (even if Saturday was less productive).

I had lots of fun last night (too bad I can't win at nertz). The fork has... yeah anyway.

dorothygale27

Popples? I remember popples. I had one a long-long time ago.

chickenlittle27

I never had a Popple. I think that makes me glad.

Major_General_Music

I think that if you knew the funness of Popples you might be sadden by your loss not glad.

chickenlittle27

Its been a while since you posted last.

chickenlittle27