Being retired I have to think of creative ways of filling the day. Being on a fixed income makes it more of a creative pursuit. Fortunately, this being New York City there are plenty pf low-cost things to do. Some are even free. In the past two weeks I’ve seen three movies for half price, gone to the Goatham opening day in Riverside Park, and attended a “Relaxed open rehearsal” at Lincoln Center. Today I scraped and painted a couple of ancient lampposts in Riverside park- but that’s another story. “TK,” as they say in publishing.
The movies I know about because I look up any senior discounts that are available in my sphere of activities, and AMC theaters have a senior discount. Matinee showings are 25% off every day.
Some theaters do a Tuesday discount, so you can look for that if you’re interested. So, with my senior discount I was able to see “Touch” for $7. I paid $9.95 last week to see Kinds of Kindness because I bought the ticket online and had to pay the service fee- something I won’t be doing again, knowing there’ll be plenty of seats available for the 10:30 or 12:30 show. There were five people at the showing of touch I went to. I was the only male. I went to the 10:30 for Kinds of Kindness because it’s almost 3 hours long.
Before seeing Touch last Tuesday I went to an open rehearsal at David Geffen Hall. I thought that would be empty too, so I was surprised at the amount of people not working at 10am on a weekday morning. I found out about the open rehearsal because I get regular emails from Lincoln Center. I did not know what to expect, but it sounded more interesting than the third hour of Today.
I’ve always loved classical music, since the first time I heard a chamber orchestra when I was in the fourth grade in P.S.270. Not as much as rock music, but enough to know something about it and appreciate it.
Tuesday’s program was to be a rehearsal of Beethoven’s 6th symphony, the “Pastoral.” As a rehearsal there would be stopping and starting, and comments. Sounded like fun, to see behind the scenes, so I reserved my free ticket online and showed up early.
As I went in, I was offered either noise cancelling headphones, or a rainbow-colored silicone bracelet called a “fidget.” I had no idea what a fidget is, but it’s smaller than the noise cancelling earphones, so I took that. I wondered why anyone would wear noise cancelling earphones to a music concert and why they were even being offered. I figured out what to do with my fidgit once I sat down.
I went in and found a seat near the stage in the orchestra and looked around. I expected mostly older folks like me and was surprised to see quite a lot of younger people. Some made sense-groups that looked like day camp kids or school groups, and young moms with their babies or small children who want to get out of the house. The orchestra was tuning up, as more and more of them filed in wearing everyday clothing- shorts, T-shirts, sneakers and the like.
Presently a woman took the stage and outlined the program. The one interesting thing I heard, beside that I might hear people talking aloud or moving about was that the auditorium was a “no shushing zone.” “If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, please feel free to go out into the lobby and sit. You can come in or out anytime during the rehearsal.” I wondered who would come to a classical performance to talk aloud and move around at will.

When she was done, she introduced Jonathon Heyward, the conductor- a young man in a blazer with a nice mass of curly hair. He gave new meaning the expression “longhair music.”
Once he took the podium it was all business. The orchestra launched into the piece and played without interruption for the full length of the symphony, 16 minutes or so. Save for a crying infant in the row in front of me it went well.
After they played, there was discussion on the stage, I have no idea what was being said but there was a lot of gesturing and scribbling on the music sheets, much nodding and acknowledging. Then they’d play a minute or two of a movement, stop, discuss, repeat. It was interesting but I really wish I knew what they were saying. After ten or so minutes, they launched into the piece once more in its entirety. Then more discussion and rehearsing, and the woman with the crying infant finally left.
They played the piece one last time in its entirety, and after watching and listening to the snippets I appreciated how it was all tightened up and came together.
It was interesting to note that since most of the musicians were in casual attire I was able to watch closely as the muscles of their arms flexed and rippled as they played their instruments. All you can really see are the strings from the orchestra section, I could see a bit of the bassoon peeking out, the bell of the French horn in the space under someone’s elbow. I did have a good view of the flautist all the way in the back.

In the bathroom after the show, I could see why they were loaning out noise canceling headphones. A good part of the audience was either autistic or mentally challenged young people. I’d put my fidget on as a bracelet and took it with me. I would have given back the headphones, of course. Then I went to the movie conveniently located a few short blocks to the north of Lincoln Center and caught the 12:30 movie. It was a good Tuesday.
So, if you have nothing to do, and don’t want to spend it staring at either a computer or television screen all day, look for free or inexpensive things to do online. Then get dressed and get out there!