Softly and slowly, a single clarinet is playing the main theme. The piece then gradually builds in volume, from one clarinet to two, and from the two clarinets to the entire string division. It then abruptly changes to a fast theme, the violinists playing the melody and the cellists plucking the accompaniment. At the end of a short upward scale, the piano comes in hot and heavy. And then I jump and gasp for air.
My parents and I are on a road trip to New England, and the first day of driving is not over yet, even though the sun set about an hour and a half ago. We have listened to Sirius XM channel 76, Symphony Hall, for the entire drive today. I suddenly get excited, since Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto just started. While I am certainly a lover of all classical music, I hold this piece in particularly high esteem, since …show more content…
Regardless of my emotional connection with the piece and the wonderful rendering of it by the famed pianist Yuja Wang, I am starting to feel drowsy. Just then, my father, a fanatic of rock, changes the channel to a heavy metal channel, and I no longer hear clarinets, violins, cellos, and pianos, but rather loud, wailing electric guitars, booming bass drums, and hoarse, yelling voices. Since I have been rather sensitive to sudden, loud, and dissonant noises for my entire life, I almost jump out of my skin. The display reads “Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood and the Destroyers.” The song ends, and then another awful one starts up; this time it is “Holiday in Cambodia” by the Dead Kennedys. I cannot tolerate it anymore. I ball my hands into fists and bite my lower lip. My lower eyelids squeeze up. Finally, I cannot hold in the tirade anymore. “Why did you change the channel? I thought you agreed this morning when we left to actually listen to my
My parents and I are on a road trip to New England, and the first day of driving is not over yet, even though the sun set about an hour and a half ago. We have listened to Sirius XM channel 76, Symphony Hall, for the entire drive today. I suddenly get excited, since Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto just started. While I am certainly a lover of all classical music, I hold this piece in particularly high esteem, since …show more content…
Regardless of my emotional connection with the piece and the wonderful rendering of it by the famed pianist Yuja Wang, I am starting to feel drowsy. Just then, my father, a fanatic of rock, changes the channel to a heavy metal channel, and I no longer hear clarinets, violins, cellos, and pianos, but rather loud, wailing electric guitars, booming bass drums, and hoarse, yelling voices. Since I have been rather sensitive to sudden, loud, and dissonant noises for my entire life, I almost jump out of my skin. The display reads “Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood and the Destroyers.” The song ends, and then another awful one starts up; this time it is “Holiday in Cambodia” by the Dead Kennedys. I cannot tolerate it anymore. I ball my hands into fists and bite my lower lip. My lower eyelids squeeze up. Finally, I cannot hold in the tirade anymore. “Why did you change the channel? I thought you agreed this morning when we left to actually listen to my