Creative Event: Auburn's Chamber Music Ensemble Concert

            This past Friday I attended Auburn's Chamber Music Ensemble Concert in the Goodwin Recital Hall, which was composed of three separate groups of musicians.  The first group consisted of a bass cello, standard cello, viola (played by my best friend!), violin, and piano. The second group consisted of a an oboe and a standard cello. The third group consisted of two violins, a viola, and a standard cello.  
        While listening the all classical arrangements being played, pondering inspirations, I thought of three separate things. First, I kept imagining different ballet variations that could work with the music being played. I am a ballet dancer, and thus the first connection my mind makes with classical music is ballet movement! This in turn started getting me thinking of possible story scenarios involving dancers and performance productions.  I've always enjoyed writing about dance/ballet, and I definitely think its a case of 'writing what you know', but I hope to one day write an extensive collection of poetry revolving around ballet.  The ballet world has a lot of romantic/idyllic mystery surrounding it (despite the plethora of movies and books written about it), and I like the idea of showing the world what it's really like.  And not in a sensational "struggles of the bulimic dancer going crazy" sense (though I have written that story before), but in a more subtle way that reveals all the true elegance and pain that defines this world and life.
         Secondly, my mind associates classical music (especially of the more dramatic, wild variety) to movie soundtracks.  Thus I started imagining different scenes that the music would fit nicely into the background.  Such as, a movement of music in a crescendo makes me think of someone running or having an emotional breakdown.  A more soothing movement would be good for a pensive car ride. etc, etc. 
         This association sort of led me into the third inspiration. One of the movie soundtracks I was reminded of was "Pride and Prejudice" (with Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen), which had me thinking about whether or not I would ever want to attempt to write a story with a period-setting.  I think it would definitely be daunting, but also really interesting! I love reading period books, so why not try to write one? It would involve a lot of research and would make dialogue tricky, but there's a lot to do when writing'about' the past - you can take that chance to expose some of the struggles of that era, or simply embrace the nostalgia of it all. Plus, I think it would push me as a writer to create a character who lives in a world nothing like my own. 
        Overall, I really enjoyed this concert and got some cool inspirations, all while supporting my best friend and the arts! :)