"Welcome to the Symphony!" concert

What fun!

The youngsters in the audience didn't need much coaxing to come onstage and sit in the orchestra. There were extra chairs left, so some adults could happily join us as well.

We did have a very special "guest conductor" for one music piece - someone chosen on the spot who had never, ever conducted before! She seemed a bit reluctant to take the podium - but maestro told her to count,"1,2" and wave the baton down and up, and away she went, merrily beating time to Sousa's Washington Post March.

The young solo violinist was fantastic during the Poeme for Violin and Orchestra by Chausson. She further charmed the audience by playing an unaccompanied encore, a pretty Irish dance tune.

My own favorite part was when maestro produced a toy lightsaber to conduct the Star Wars theme with!

Oh, and if you are wondering how I did with that difficult passage in Beethoven's 5th, well, it turns out that I actually played most of those notes - not sure if they were at the right time, but...well, I was proud of myself, anyway.

The concert is this weekend - but no pressure.

Even if I don't feel really "ready" at the start of a concert, I play the best I can - and have fun!

The "creative faking" I tried in the lightning-fast 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th just didn't work. Here's another approach - simply look like you are playing a divisi part where you have rests in those measures (grin).

Ah, but the maestro has informed us that children from the audience will be sitting next to us onstage for the thrill of sitting in the orchestra...so that means that a wide-eyed innocent may be at close range watching me mess up. Well, kid, that's why the ticket costs more to hear the professionals downtown - they are playing all the notes! ☺

Actually, I think the children will be so excited to sit inside the music! Adults will also be invited to have this opportunity. Now, that's a fabulous experience that usually isn't offered by any orchestra!

Which piece will they enjoy most?

• Will it be the rousing Washington Post March by Sousa? (Maestro says we will have a guest conductor for this one.)
• Or, will it be the magical theme music from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars?
  
• Are Strauss waltzes more to their style, or Bizet's stirring opera Carmen?
• Do they like scary music, such as A Night On Bald Mountain by Moussorgsky?
• How about an American western flavor - Buckaroo Holiday by Copland?
• Or, will they simply be blown away by the virtuosic skill of the solo violinist during E. Chausson's Poeme for violin and orchestra?

Something for everyone!
And, plenty to practice - I do try to play all the notes that I can, as well as I can, to help make the concert a marvelous experience for all.

"Welcome to the Symphony!" - November concert flier

I finished putting together the flier promoting the November 21 concert, and it's now available as pdf.
If you want to download a copy, CLICK HERE.

At the bottom is one of the new logo designs - not necessarily the one that will be chosen, since the board hasn't made their decision yet. But, the orchestra name needed to be on the flier, so I chose that one as a personal favorite.

At the last rehearsal, we were instructed by the maestro to open our Beethoven's 5th and turn to movement 2. Movement 2!
I was totally unprepared because I thought we were only playing movements 1 and 4! But, apparently, we are going to play a little of movements 2 and 3 as well.
Plus 9 other pieces, PLUS the concerto Poeme for Violin and Orchestra by Chausson (featuring one of the winners of the annual young artist competition).

So, this will be quite the concert!

New logo in process for our orchestra

I haven't got a lot done this week, because I was asked to design a new logo for the Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra. Creative work is, well, work!!! Clever ideas don't just happen. I've been trying different arrangements of the letters M, F, S, O all week, and so far I don't think I've come up with anything all that clever. Maybe a new inspiration will come from somewhere....

Creative faking

There are times in the life of an amateur musician
when one has to accept a hard fact:
Playing all the notes of a certain passage, at the tempo required, is simply beyond one's ability.

Instead of giving up - simplify.

The fragment shown above is divisi (outside plays top notes, inside plays bottom). I'm sitting inside (the side of the stand that is farther from the audience) for this concert, so I should play the bottom notes. They are in groups of three - so what I'll do is choose the first note of each group to play, keeping up with the tempo. Therefore, in the first measure shown, I would play D, F, D, F. Next measure I'll play C, E, D, F. I'll practice the passage using those selected notes. I've found that it works much better to prepare a simplified arrangement beforehand and practice it, rather than trying to simplify "on the fly" during performance.

Simplifying difficult passages enables an orchestra musician of lesser ability to still contribute to the overall sound, and look confident onstage.

Ok, so I can't sight-read

Another one of those rehearsals where I played very few notes, oh well. It's my own fault this time, I had the sheet music all week (Beethoven's 5th) and I should have been working on it - well, I did, sort of, but not nearly enough. No sir, not nearly enough.

Some will say the lack of sight-reading ability is due to the fact of having been an adult beginner (I was 39 years old when I began cello lessons). My answer to that is: I did learn a little note-reading as a child, and wasn't a musical prodigy then, either.

Some will say it's from not practicing sight reading new music. Well, I don't know, I've seen a lot of music in the past ten years since I've been playing in a community orchestra, and I used to think it would get easier over time, but it hasn't.

And, some will say sight-reading ability is a God-given gift. Well, now, I do agree with that one. And, since I've been blessed in so many ways, it would sure be unnatural and downright greedy to covet one little thing that I didn't have.

I just need to work a little harder to learn the music, is all.

Work and play

Somehow it seems more fun to practice my own "compositions", than to practice the music I'm supposed to be working on for orchestra. By the way, I have started my next original piece, which will be for unaccompanied cello. I wonder if Bach woke up at night thinking, "I should use an 'F' there instead of 'D', it will tie in better with the previous phrase..." - which is what happened to me last night. Well, I do take my creative work, humble though it is, seriously!

I've discovered that I can crank up the playback sound on the Forte music notation software to "electric guitar", and what I have so far for my next piece actually rocks! I'm thrilled :-) Not that my teenage to twenty-something sons will find mom's music on their "Guitar Hero" video game anytime soon, LOL.

It was obvious at last night's rehearsal that I really need to get to work on the concert pieces, even though I've played most of them before. My favorite part of rehearsal was during one of the very few "easy" sections of Buckaroo Holiday by Copland when Maestro said, "Listen to the celli, they're doing it right - try to sound like them." And I was one of the only three celli!

My very own "Opus 1"

Yes indeed, I wrote an original piece of music! A duet for 2 cellos, which I have entitled
"Attitude Adjustment"

If you would like a copy of the sheet music, click here.
It's free, just please give me credit for my creative work.

About the piece:
The first part is very sad - downright depressing! I was thinking about humongous burdensome chores, such as cleaning out an old house when it needs to be sold; all its happy memories reduced to a pile of useless clutter.

The 2nd part is lively and cheerful - the attitude changed to gratitude for the happy memories, and looking forward to a bright future.

By the way, my musical education is limited to cello lessons taken as an adult, so cello parts are all I know enough about to write. I used Forte Music Notation Software to write this piece.

Starting to prepare for the youth concert

Here's what we (musicians of the MFSO) been given to work on for the Fall Youth Concert, to be performed on November 21:

• Harry Potter Symphonic Suite - Music by John Williams, arranged by Jerry Brubaker
• Symphonic Suite from The Lord Of The Rings - Music by Howard Shore, arranged by John Whitney
• The Empire Strikes Back Medley - Music by John Williams, arranged by John Whitney
• Star Wars (Main Theme) - Music by John Williams, arranged by Charles Sayre
• Buckaroo Holiday (from "Rodeo") by Aaron Copland
• A Night on Bald Mountain by M. Moussorgsky, adapted by Henry Sopkin
• Procession Of The Nobles (from Mlada) by Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, arranged by Merle J. Isaac
• Fifth Symphony by L. van Beethoven, Op. 67 (we are probably only doing 1 or 2 movements)

We also still have all our music from the summer concert, and may be playing some of those as well. So, plenty of music!

This concert will be dedicated to the students of the Hamilton Sussex School District.
It will be our first concert on our new home stage at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center!