An Ithaca concert

Amidst the frenzy of grading papers, various delays due to snow (Sydney and I are both a bit sore — so much for thinking ourselves young and fit!), we did get to our classical concert last night. It was really good! The Orlando Consort, an early-music quartet from Britain, serenaded us in the beautiful old Sage Chapel on campus. It was WONDERFUL to hear an early music group!

However . . .

When Sydney and I chatted during intermission, he was seething about the squeaky-boot problem: everyone had trudged in through the snow, wearing snow boots, and so everytime someone shifted position, the boots and the slick wooden floor treated us all to a loud sqeak. Pair this idea with the fact that it’s a large, resonant wooden building with no sound-absorbent fabric, and you can see how such sounds could interfere with the music upfront. In the second half I, too, became distracted, as the elderly guy in front of us moved from one distraction to another: boot-squeaking, muttering to his wife, flipping through his program (and rustling the pages), holding up his glasses to see if they were clean, and even, toward the end, humming! Sydney was fuming, and I was absolutely bewildered. Though this aspect was not the most important, it certainly had Sydney riveted and gave us something to discuss when the concert was over!

Erin