Brian Tung

Brian Tung is from Overland Park, Kansas.

Biography

Archive:
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006

Mr. Barg Deux Ex

At the risk of my life ending unnaturally premature through the iron, yet caring, lethal fist of Sydney, I will now finally write my post about Mr. Barg.

So Mr. Barg came to work with us on Thursday, March 30. Much to the chagrin of Mrs. McCullough, nearly a third of the orchestra was gone due to HOSA and DECA… I’m not exactly sure about the organizations.

But I digress. Well, if you never meet him before, Mr. Barg is a real character. He came in wearing a super bright yellow shirt with an anime samurai/ninja thingy. Anyway, he spent the majority of the time working on Adagietto by Mahler with us. It was a bit difficult to follow for me, because while he directed in four, he swung his arms twice in each direction to indicate eighth notes. It took be awhile to get used to it.

As a clinician, he used rather interesting examples and illustrations to try to explain his interpretation for the music. During the soft, delicate parts he told us to imagine a weak, fragile butterfly perched on our instruments. Any sudden, harsh movements will scare it away. But then for the huge emotional swells… lets just say the butterfly is “no longer with us.”

Along with that idea, he’s big on movement and getting in to the music. While I know some musicians frown upon such excess, I feel it is necessary, for there is no art without angst. ;-) At the end of the rehearsal, he complimented me on moving, and gently encouraged Laruen, my stand partner and concertmaster, to do the same. I think she was on the verge of gouging my eyes out with her bow then. Just kidding, she’s a nice person and a talented player, though she seems to have a rather cold penchant towards me. Still can’t figure out why…

Also on Friday, my ensemble group had a private sectional with him. We worked on some getting some rhythmic discipline and trying to get the right feel of the music. While Bryn felt it was worthless, I felt it was rather beneficial analyzes and coaching he provided.

Oh and an extra tidbit, He was the guest conductor for the Kansas City Youth Symphony Philharmonic that Sunday too, which Savannah is in. She loves Mr. Barg.

There Sydney, you happy now? And can you please call off the hit man, people are starting to avoid me.

Comments (1) | Archive link

Mr. Barg

Comments (3) | Archive link

Prom 2006

Oh, you know that stand partner I met from State that was really really cool, Savannah Windham?

I asked her to Prom. She said yes. And we had a perfect time.

I need to buy our seating audition judge from state a fruit basket.

Comments (11) | Archive link

KMEA State II

Ok, fine, here’s a more detailed account of my 2006 KMEA State Orchestra experience. I hope this satisfies for now, Sydney :P

This year we sent seven people to state

Robert Chen - Violin I
Bryn DeKoskey - Violin I
Lauren Burdette - Violin II
Brian Tung (Me) - Violin II
Elizabeth Musil - Viola
Mallory Jensen - Cello
Brian Kim - Cello

Arrived at school around 7:30 on a Thursday mourning, left around 8:00 with Mrs. Elliot. Dropped by Starbucks (they were out of Strawberry Crème :( ) for a quick snack and we were off. Passed the time by watching a movie Lauren brought, the Count of Monte Cristo. Good Movie.

Arrived around 11 o’clock, after dropping of our luggage and eating lunch we went straight to rehearsal. During the first rehearsal they pulled us out to have us audition for seats. Mallory good a good seat, 4th or 6th chair if I remember correctly. However, the rest of the group, including me, did rather mediocre seating wise.

Can’t say I’m disappointed though, I managed to get coolest stand partner ever, Savannah Windham. While I took a couple hours for us to warm up to each other, State wouldn’t have been ¼ as fun without her. :P We did all sorts of strange and not so strange things in effort to pass the time when we got bored. We even traded violins occasionally. I <3 her violin. T.T Oh, and she’s a sophomore at Olathe East, same school Simon Zhang attends (he was at State too).

Anyway, after the first rehearsal we had some free time. I managed to pick up a T-mobile wireless signal to browse the web with; it costs a little bit of money, but well worth it. After dinner and more rehearsals that was a wrap for Thursday.

Friday was pretty much more of the same. Rehearsal. Break. More Rehearsal. Lunch. More Rehearsal. Break. More Rehearsal. Dinner. More Rehearsal. We also had a mixer afterwards, but I chose not to attend. I’m not that into the rave scene. ;)

Saturday was out last day there. I quick mourning rehearsal was followed by break, lunch, and checkout. Then we all moved over to the Century II building for our concert. The auditorium they put us in had horrible acoustics, but was the only one that can fit State Orchestra, Band, and Choir, so meh. I admit, I fell asleep during the band performance, but I was awake for the choir. Finally we played. We did rather well, though my arm was burnt out from all the practice and couldn’t really keep up during the fast passages.

After that, the girls went home with their parents while we guys went back to school with the Mrs. McCullough. I watched the movie Amadeus on the way back. Once we reached the school, I sent the guys back home.

Comments (2) | Archive link

KMEA State

Savannah Windham-

BEST STAND PARTNER EVAAA! ;)

*I might add more later on... maybe

Comments (1) | Archive link

ok fine...

My name is Brian Tung. I play the violin. It is fun. Have a good day now.

Satisfied now Sydney? :P

Comments (5) | Archive link