february 18, 2010 08:10am
The Joy of Playing for Children
Gorgeous Sounds Residency
I have been involved with music for over 25 years now; I have performed all over the world, I have worked with some of the world’s most famous musicians, I have had tremendous opportunities with music, yet, I stand humbled and in awe after working with the children of the Columbia Gorge area in the Northeast.
The Vinca Quartet is wrapping up our second visit to the area of Hood River, OR and White Salmon, WA and it’s been a pleasure playing for these communities. What’s so fascinating to me is the curiosity, interest, and enthusiasm students have for music. This is like walking into a wonderful paradise where the views are breathtaking and the audiences welcome us with open arms. It feels wonderful to be able to contribute and share our passion with so many people. And to look out at such young audiences!
I can think of so many concerts where young children have been brought along with parents, perhaps to force the child away from the Television, perhaps because the babysitter fell through. By no means do I mean to imply that this is the only context in which children and teens come to concerts. I know that there are young people out there who enjoy live music concerts, however the aforementioned scene is an all too familiar one.
But not here! In the Dalles, OR on Super Bowl Sunday, right after kick-off, the Vinca Quartet presented a program of music by Schubert, Zemlinsky and Schumann. Primarily young elementary through high school-aged student brought along their parents, who were equally intrigued by this magical musical world within two hours, and packed the house.
Every concert we have played out here has been equally attended by those under the age of 18 and those over it; THIS I have never seen! And the imagination these students have is awesome! One of the exercises we have done with students in schools is to have them close their eyes and imagine that the music they hear is a soundtrack. Then we ask the students to tell us what ‘movie’ is playing on their imaginary movie screen. Playing Zemlinsky’s 4th String Quartet, a piece written in the 1930s, students heard everything from chase scenes, to Tinkerbelle sprinkling a sleeping village with fairy dust, to rats running across the kitchen floor. These students’ imagination and sensitivity to the nuance in the composition would have made Zemlinsky beam with pleasure, not to mention our quartet!
The musical world at large may get a “doom-and-gloom” message once in a while – the infamous Cleveland Orchestra just went on strike – however the power of music is alive and well in the Columbia Gorge. The energy and inspiration the young families here have charged our batteries, invigorated our mission to bring the beauty of music to all people, and lifted our spirits. We are privileged to be able to share our music, and are thankful to all who have made the Gorgeous Sounds Residency possible.
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january 18, 2010 02:45pm
Quartet Spring Training!
Welcome to the first Vinca Quartet blog!
Rehearsing new music, including Beethoven Op. 131, is the best start I can imagine to a new year. It's a very humbling experience, to say the least. When we play music we've known for a long time, we have this strange sensation that our fingers are just moving without any conscious effort. Then we get to experience the fun and addictive part of being a musician: Each time we play a familiar piece, we discover something new in the characters, textures, articulations. It's like reading a wonderful book over and over: oftentimes the context of our lives at the time changes our perception of details in the book.
With a new piece, we feel like brand-new students again: going back to square one, struggling with fingerings, experimenting with seemingly infinite number of different bowings, searching for our voice in this brand new texture, double-checking rhythms, and rehearsing note by note. What ends up being merely seconds of music in performance literally takes hours to prepare in the rehearsal room. Nothing like a little late-Beethoven to make you feel completely fallible and human.
So beginning the year by opening a fresh, clean score is both daunting and thrilling. I'm excited because Beethoven's Quartet Op. 131 is one of the absolute masterpieces of the quartet repertoire. At LEAST once every day I think “thank God I'm alive to be able to hear and experience playing this music. After this, I can die happy." And then I get to say: "It's my job. Best job, ever." However, it has a flip side. Running a continuous 40 minutes, Beethoven's Quartet Op. 131 is the longest non-stop piece of music I have ever played in my life. I have played longer pieces – Mahler Symphonies, operas, etc – but never where I LITERALLY don't get a break. There are no long cello or violin solos where I can take a brief moment to stretch my neck or shake out my arm muscles, and no time between movements to shift my weight and give my shoulders a break – 40 minutes of music. Straight. This overwhelming task is enough to send me to the gym and mix up a protein shake before concerts!
We manage our rehearsals a bit like professional athletes do: we schedule our Beethoven rehearsals when we're at our physical and mental peak of the day, we work every day without fail, we handle very small sections of music at a time and, of course, we have plenty of caffeine on hand.
Bit by bit this epic piece of music is coming together. Going through this process of learning a new piece of music, I always end up learning something new about myself. This time with Beethoven Op. 131, I'm learning WAY more about my stamina than I ever was conscious about before. I really have to pace myself, and especially as performances of this piece approach, I'm realizing that I have to be even better about pacing my energy because, not only is 40 minutes of non-stop music long, but that's only half the concert!
But by the time the spring training for the Vinca Quartet is over, and we're ready to start performing the Beethoven, we'll all be ready to go ahead full throttle. Now off to the gym….I mean the practice room.
Laura
january 05, 2010 10:12am
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