So.....

I am sitting in the lobby of the Des Moines Marriott having attended all but the last morning of the Iowa Bandmasters (don't you hate that term?) Conference. It used to be called a convention, but they changed the name to conference so that school administrators wouldn't think of it as a drunken brawl.  Some of the attendees never got the word.

It has been a rejuvenating time of clinics, concerts, and conversations--with a few close friends as well as a  number of people I have not seen in too long.   While I found nearly every concert enjoyable to some extent, this evening's performance will not be counted among them.   Band X is a fine ensemble, nearly as good as any in the state.  So the problem was not in the band, it was in the program.  I listened to the first three works on the concert and left--fortuitously, as I ran into a colleague in the lobby and we went out for a coffee.

The problem with the program (I like the way that sounds) was that I could not make any sense of the music I was listening to.  Although the printed document contained descriptive program notes, I felt that one could have called the pieces just about anything and had the same effect on the audience. In short these were compositions that left one thinking, huh?  Why? What prompted the composer to write such strident, bombastic "music." I was actually developing gastric distress at the sounds I was being subjected to.

Sometimes I think I'm getting old and set in my ways, but dammit, I hadn't purchased a ticket so I felt no guilt in walking out, even though I knew that pleasant experiences awaited me within two of the remaining four pieces.  I just couldn't take any more of it.

Guess it's easy to understand why I won't name the ensemble....