Pachelbel Rant

I completely sympathize! I played bass and then cell for three years in my high school's orchestra. We played the Canon in D every single year, and after the first 15 minues the first year, it was dreadfully dull. When he said, "eight bars repeated 54 times", I already knew those numbers-- they're embedded in my brain for eternity. Of course, he didn't mention the crescendo that's somewhere in the middle. I used to live for that crescendo.

One time, I staged a protest! When we started playing Pachelbel, I got all the bass, cello, and viola players to turn their stands so that they faced the conductor. I was such a rebel. Most amusingly, one of the cello players couldn't do it without seeing the music. After years of playing those same eight notes over and over and over and over, she still needed the music.