Baroque Masters

This afternoon we begin rehearsal for Sundays chamber concert. The concert features music of Baroque era masters such as Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, and Purcell.

We will also be playing the famous Pachelbel Canon in D. Pachelbel was kind of a one hit wonder. The Canon is by far his piece that is performed most often and is especially popular at weddings. When I taught Suzuki violin we often had the students play the Canon for public performances at festivals, shopping malls, etc. I always enjoyed watching the audience as they played because couples would hear the music and start to smile with happy memories. It is a piece that has earned the ire of cellists everywhere because their part consists of eight notes repeated and repeated and repeated until the piece is over. If Dante had envisioned a circle of Hell reserved just for cellists, I expect the punishment would have somehow involved the Pachelbel Canon. That doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy it, though!

The featured instrumental soloist for this concert is KSO's new principal bassoon player, Ellen Connors. She will be performing the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto in A minor. In my nine seasons with the orchestra this is the first time we have had a soloist playing the bassoon. It is a rare opportunity to hear this beautiful instrument featured with the orchestra.

Also on this concert is Bach's Coffee Cantata. When a piece has a nickname, there is usually a story behind it. Sometimes the composers are responsible for the alternate name, but often friends or colleagues coin the nickname. Before I read the program notes on this piece I thought there was a good possibility that the string section that first performed the piece had given it the moniker of "coffee cantata." We don't play for several movements, enough time to go get some coffee. Actually, it is a cantata about coffee. Apparently Bach loved the stuff. The piece shows a humorous side of Bach that is rarely seen.

The Baroque Masters Chamber Concert will take place at 2:30 this Sunday at the Bijou Theater.

Music for Cats

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My quartet has begun rehearsing in preparation for our April 11th chamber concert. It's the most ambitious program we've tackled to date: Bartok 3rd Quartet, Brahms 1st quartet and the Mozart viola quintet. When we rehearse as a quartet we take turns hosting the group in our homes. The first time we rehearsed the Bartok we were at Miro's house. The music is dense and difficult. Rehearsing was slow going. Bartok calls for many extended techniques in this quartet. There are passages played ponticello, or very near the bridge to intentionally create an eerie scratchy sound. There are also many places where we slide between notes. It was while we were rehearsing one such place that we began to hear a strange noise that wasn't coming from our instruments. It was loud and primal. It was one of Miro's cats singing along with the music. Yes, the 3rd Bartok string quartet is a piece that makes cats howl.

I know, this is not a great endorsement of our April concert. After the howling ceased, though, both cats came and sat on the couch right next to the quartet. Usually Miro's cats make a brief appearance to check out the group and then retreat to a quiet corner. They must have been howling in appreciation.

This morning the group will meet at Andy's house to rehearse. We'll see if his cat loves Bartok too.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho....

This week the KSO is back to work after a two-week vacation. I admit I put the viola down for a few days over the break. Today, eyeing the stack of music waiting on my stand, I see that we've got a lot coming up in the next 10 days or so.

This weekend we're playing our first Pops concert of the season. The Piano Man features music from the 1970's, specifically, the music of Elton John and Billy Joel. Now, I don't remember the 1970's. (Actually, I wasn't around for most of the decade.) I do know many of the tunes we'll be playing, though. Elton John and Billy Joel have so many hits it's impossible not to know their music. Both have penned songs that have stood the test of time and remained popular across generations. I love Pops concerts where I've heard all the charts. This is a good one to come see, even if you aren't particularly versed in pop music. If I know the songs, you will too. Trust me. I am the dunce of pop music.

My position on the stage is a prime spot for people watching. (If you've ever wondered if the orchestra watches the audience, there's your answer.) Pops concerts, in particular, are great for audience-watching. The atmosphere at a pops concert is much different than at a masterworks or chamber concert. Pops concerts encourage more audience participation than traditional concerts. Dancing in the aisles is not uncommon, and the audience is often invited to sing along. That just doesn't happen in the middle of a performance of a Beethoven symphony. Maybe it should....

This weeks pops concert will take place on Sat, Jan 9 at 8:00. It will be nice and warm inside the Civic, I promise.

Day in the Life

Playing in a symphony orchestra is an unusual job. It certainly does not follow the usual business format. We do not have an office to go to every day and we don't clock in and out of practice rooms. Our hours are unusual: concerts start anywhere from 9:30 AM to 8:00 PM with rehearsals scheduled from 10 AM to 8 PM. Our rehearsals are generally only 2-1/2 hours long which leads some people to wonder what we do with the rest of our day.

Well, I can't give you a schedule for every day, but I will give you a snapshot of what today will be like for me. Today is a fairly typical day. We have a rehearsal this afternoon in the Bijou for this Sunday's Chamber Classics concert.

This morning I got up at 6:45. I am not a morning person by choice. If I didn't have to take my daughter to school I would probably sleep later. On days that we rehearse until 10:30 PM or have evening concerts I try to take a nap because otherwise my focus and energy is gone by 9:30. No naps today, though.

Mondays and Thursdays I sit down and write this blog, or, if I've set something to auto-post, I log in to make sure that it posted.

After I finish this blog it will be time to practice. I have a stack of symphony music sitting by my stand that needs attention: this weeks chamber music, the November Masterworks music, Brahms 1st String Quartet, and the third Bartok String Quartet for the April chamber concert. (Yes, I'm already practicing music for April!) Today I will focus on the string serenades for this weekend's performance. I also have a stack of non-symphony music that I'm practicing. Playing for the symphony is wonderful, but it takes some of the personal creativity out of music. My job is to bring the conductor's vision of a piece to life. Even if I agree with what the conductor is asking for, its not MY interpretation. I don't have full creative reign. Practicing non-symphony music regularly gives me a creative outlet and does a lot to keep my technique up. These days I'm practicing violin quite a bit. I find it's easier on the body since it's smaller, and the technique transfers quite nicely to the viola. I'm working on the Brahms violin concerto, the third unaccompanied violin sonata by Bach, and scales. Always scales. Some days I have a stack of music to mark bowings in for the viola section to follow. Happily, I am caught up with bowings for the moment, so I won't work on any today.

A nice perk about working from home is that, well, you're home. I can take 5 minute breaks in practicing here and there to throw dinner in the crock pot, move the laundry from the washer to the dryer, etc.

When I'm done practicing it will be time for a quick lunch. Then I'll pick up my daughter from school, get her settled with the sitter and head to rehearsal. Today we only have one rehearsal. After rehearsal I'll head home and spend time with my family. I may have another look at the music depending on how rehearsal goes this afternoon just to remind myself what I need to practice tomorrow.

So, there you have a day in the life of a musician.

November in a Nutshell

There is a lot going on with the KSO in November!

Last week the KSO performed educational concerts for thousands of area school children. Beginning this week and continuing through the month, small ensembles of musicians will be touring the Knox County Public Library branches for special musical story time presentations. These are always very entertaining. I have participated in story time concerts both as a musician and as an audience member with my daughter. It's hard to say which was more fun. There are many opportunities for the children to participate, from singing along with familiar tunes to playing small percussion instruments. It is a great (and free!) way to introduce young children to live classical music. The full story time schedule can be found here.

This week is also the KSO's debut Chamber Classics Series performance of the season. Sunday afternoon's concert is a concert of string serenades by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Suk. Don't let the parking situation around the Bijou deter you from attending this concert. Once again the KSO will be providing a shuttle service from the State Street Garage (behind the Tennessee Theater) to the Bijou.

On the 16th the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestras will give their first performance of the season. These kids work incredibly hard and their concerts are not to be missed.

Later in the month is the November Masterwork's Concert featuring pianist Benjamin Hochman playing Mendelssohn. We'll also be playing Der Rosenkavalier Suite by Strauss, the gorgeous Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Haydn's 16th Symphony.

Also mid-month is our first Family Concert of the season. Picardy Penguin will be back in a program entitled, "Shall we Dance?" Our family concerts are more like events than concerts. There are plenty of activities for children and their families to participate in before the actual concert. It's a nice way to spend a cold afternoon.

Finally, the end of the month brings two free community performances. On November 27th (aka, "Black Friday") at 6:00 the KSO Brass Quintet will be performing in Krutch Park near Market Square for the City of Knoxville Celebration of Lights. The next day a string quartet will be at West Town Mall playing holiday music.

Stressbusters

Being a musician is a stressful job. We don't have people's lives in our hands like heart surgeons or government officials do, but when we have a bad day it's witnessed by a hall full of people and gets written up in the newspaper. (Don't misunderstand: being a musician is also an incredibly rewarding job which makes the stress worth the pain.) Stress affects different people in different ways, however, I have noticed that musicians tend to use their creativity as a weapon against their stress. We get the musical sillies.

My first season here my viola had an unfortunate accident. We were rehearsing in the pit when something flew in from the audience side and smacked my viola while I was playing. It was quite the jolt, knocking all my strings out of tune, collapsing the bridge, and even cracking the sound post and belly of the instrument. It was horrifying. I was devastated. What did we do? We made a movie about it, of course! With a cast and crew entirely made up of KSO musicians and their families, The Brown Viola premiered that summer and made the rounds at several parties and music festivals. It's a strange experience to be in Michigan for non-musical reasons and have a complete stranger recognize you as “that girl from The Brown Viola.”

Last week was crazy for my quartet. I am exhausted today and I didn't even play on the Bernstein Trio yesterday! I can't imagine how Andy and Edward are feeling this morning. I dedicate this bit of musical silliness to my fellow quartet members. We survived, y'all!

WDVX Performance

My quartet performed live on WDVX today. I was intimidated going in to today's radio performance. As I recently admitted, I am not very well versed in any music aside from classical music. I had never attended a Blue Plate performance and wasn't quite sure what to expect. I shouldn't have worried, because everyone was super nice and very helpful. We had a blast. The quartet started the show. We played a few selections and then Lucas and Jennifer Barnett took the stage to perform some of the songs they will play at the chamber concert on Sunday. Jennifer is an amazing soprano. She also happens to be the Director of Education and Outreach for the KSO. I especially enjoyed the song Amore by William Bolcom. Very humorous.

You can't exactly see it in this picture, but the thing that most impressed me was how many microphones we had on stage. We each had our own, plus there was another one to speak into.


Andy and I:


Jennifer:


Thanks to Stephanie for taking pictures today!

Chamber Week

With three concerts in the next seven days, my quartet has a busy week ahead. On Thursday we will join Austin East High School's orchestra for their “Taste of Music” concert / fund-raiser. The symphony has an ongoing partnership with AEHS. Since the beginning of the season, five KSO musicians have attended rehearsals with the students. The goal is to mentor the string students on a continuing basis. We help them master technical aspects of the pieces that are being rehearsed as well as give them an idea about what it is like to be a professional musician. My quartet started it's rotation through the side by side program in January. I have enjoyed getting to know the students as well as their teacher, Mr. East. He does an incredible job with them.

Earlier in the day on Thursday the Principal Quartet will be performing live on WDVX's Blue Plate Special. I'm both nervous and excited about this performance. The quartet finalized our repertoire choices this morning: an excerpt from the Barber string quartet we're performing on Sunday, a Dixie tune, Ashokan Farewell, and a tango. The really neat thing about this performance is that you don't need to be in the WDVX listening area to tune in. They stream their broadcast live on their website. If you can't make it to the studio for the performance, tune in on the radio or web at 12 pm ET on Thursday.

Finally, on Sunday the Principal Quartet will be performing the entire Barber String Quartet (which includes the famous Adagio for Strings) on the KSO chamber concert. The concert features American chamber music with a variety of instrumentations. In addition to the Barber quartet there will be a piano trio, a series of songs featuring soprano Jennifer Barnett, a woodwind quintet, and a piece for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and string quartet which was written by Timothy Cooper, winner of the Knoxville Symphony's composition competition. Don't let the parking situation deter you from attending this performance: the KSO is providing a free shuttle service from the State Street Garage to the Bijou before and after the concert.

A Composer with a Pulse

Mark Harrell plays horn in the orchestra, but this week he has been sitting in the audience listening to us play a piece that he composed. Lucas is a champion of modern music, so it's not unusual for the KSO to perform pieces by living composers. This week has been different because Mark has attended our rehearsals and given the orchestra instruction on how he wants his piece to be played. Working directly with a living composer can be very rewarding or very frustrating. I always find it somewhat intimidating. Some composers get quite cranky when the live product doesn't exactly match the performance in their head. Mark is pretty easy-going, so it has been a joy to have the opportunity to work with him this week. I enjoy playing his music. He writes pieces that are easy to listen to. They are tonal and he generally follows conventional form. I also appreciate that the parts he writes for strings are idiomatic to the instrument.

The other unusual piece we are playing this week is Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes. This is a group of nine short waltzes with a chamber choir. The waltzes are often performed by choirs, but hardly ever with orchestral accompaniment. In preparation for this concert, many of my colleagues (including Maestro Richman) searched for a recording of the Liebeslieder Waltzes with orchestra and nobody could find one. It's too bad no one has recorded them because they are absolutely charming.

The next four days are packed with concerts for the KSO. Tonight and Friday the larger orchestra will perform at the Tennessee Theater while the chamber orchestra will perform at the Bijou on Sunday afternoon. The programs are different but share some elements. We will be playing Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes at all three concerts. The chamber concert will also feature Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.

Don't Know Much About History

I have a confession to make. I don't know a whole lot about the background of the pieces we play. Music history has never been my great love. My interest is captured more by the music itself and less by the reasons and composers behind it. I have found, though, that I enjoy the rehearsal and performance process more when I know about the pieces. As usual, I didn't know a whole lot about the pieces on our upcoming quartet concert so I did some research. I know that there are program notes available for this concert written by a much better writer than myself, but I thought I'd share some of what I've found anyway.

Smetana is not a terribly well-known composer. His most-played composition is Ma Vlast (My Country) which is a series of tone poems for orchestra. Of these, his greatest hit is Die Moldau which depicts a river. Smetana's first string quartet is also programmatic and is subtitled, From My Life. Youth, love, drama, Smetana gets it all in there. He even manages to musically portray his battle with a persistent ringing in his ears and subsequent loss of hearing. In fact, Smetana was completely deaf when he wrote this string quartet.

If Puccini had found the fountain of youth, 2008 would have marked his 150^th birthday. To honor this event we will play Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums). In Italy, chrysanthemums are associated with death and funerals. Puccini wrote Crisantemi upon hearing of the death of an Italian nobleman. I am aware that playing a piece that was meant for a funeral is an odd choice to celebrate someone's birthday. Given the tragic nature of his most famous operas (La Boheme: people die. Tosca: people die. Mme Butterfly: people die. Turandot: people die.) I think Puccini would be pleased by our choice.

Preparations

One of my favorite aspects of my job is that I have the opportunity to play chamber music on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, I love playing in an orchestra. It is a tremendous experience to sit on stage in the middle of all that sound. In orchestral playing, my job is to do my best to help bring the conductor's vision of the piece to life. Whether I agree with that vision or not is irrelevant. Chamber music is different. A string quartet consists of four musicians with four different ideas about how the music should be played. We come to the music as equals, almost like having four conductors.

This season the Principal Quartet has two new violinists in Edward Pulgar and Sean Claire. I have known Edward and Sean for awhile and was excited to play with them. I was a bit nervous, though, when we had our first rehearsal at Sean's house and I spotted several swords above the fireplace. All string quartets have their disagreements, and the Principal Quartet is no exception. I was happy to sit near the fireplace that rehearsal. I wanted to be close enough to have the first choice of weapon just in case things got ugly. In reality, our rehearsal went as they usually go. We played, we discussed different approaches, we played again, we debated, and we then decided as a group which approach to take. No swords involved. A little disappointing, actually.

Even though our rehearsals are on the tame side, I am really excited about our collaboration. I have been looking forward to this upcoming concert since we settled on the program last winter. I love Smetana's first quartet. It has one of the juiciest parts for the viola of the entire string quartet repertoire. It is also one of the most difficult parts for the viola of the entire quartet repertoire. This is a piece where it would be useful to have more than five fingers on my left hand, but it is definitely worth the work.

Our concert on Sunday will also feature one of Mozart's later string quartets (K. 499 in D Major) as well as a short piece by Puccini. I know I'm horribly biased, but I think it will be a fantastic concert.

Chamber Classics Concert
with the Principal Quartet
Edward Pulgar, violin
Sean Claire, violin
Kathryn Gawne, viola
Andy Bryenton, cello
Sunday, November 9, 2:30 PM
Bijou Theatre
Tickets: www.knoxvillesymphony.com | 865-291-3310