Sound Art

Today marked the first day of mini term at NCSSM. Mini term is a 7 day period when all classes at the school stop so that students can focus on a single course for this short period of time. This year, along with my friend and colleague Adam Sampieri, I will be teaching a course called Sound Art.

In this course we will be encouraging students to think creatively about how they might use recording technology and their imaginations to create generate works of art in the recording medium.  These works may be musical, poetic, dramatic, journalistic, avant-garde or something completely different.  The idea for this course grew from an experience that Adam and I had working with students last year during mini term.  We were working with students on a musical in development entitled "Coal" and spent one particular day work-shopping numerous songs from that musical with our students.  Adam and I perform together regularly and found that creative process with students to be particularly inspiring. As a result, we began considering ways that we might be able to bring that creative energy to students for the entire 9-day mini term.

Today, we introduced the course to our 28 students. We began with introductions and a brief articulation of each individual's dreams and expectations for the upcoming week. We then took a look at the blank canvas of the recording space and I taught the students about a particular mixing theory that draws on the concept of a three-dimensional space as the recording canvas. We listen to a number of examples and began to encourage the students to imagine this three-dimensional space as they listen to music. From there, we introduced the technology and put a recording system into every student's hands. They then had a small multitrack project to complete. From there we began to introduce the software and methods for exercising their creativity within the capabilities of the software.   In many ways, we were setting the technological table for the creative work of the upcoming week.

It was a wonderful first day and I really believe the students left class excited about the week ahead. Tomorrow, we will begin encouraging them to think about their own recording projects and how they might complete them. Its sure to be an exciting week of technology, creativity, and musicianship. I will keep you posted as we take this journey together.

Peace.

Scott

Mini-term Journal Entries 2012

The following are journal entries from my students on the various concerts and events that occurred as part of Mini-term 2012.
Our schedule was as follows:

Friday, Feb 24-Sunday, Feb 26
Eastern Regional Orchestra hosted by NCSSM. There were 17 student participants from NCSSM.

Today was a pretty tiring full day of rehearsal, 9am – 9pm with breaks for meals. We had seating auditions during sectionals. I ended up with 19th chair, but Connor and I made a deal that whoever got the higher chair would join the lower chair so we could be stand partners. My stand partner moved up to take his seat and we shared the 10th stand together. Dr. MacLeod made a point of discussing seating with us and told us that she didn’t care where we sat; we were still a part of the orchestra and playing the same music as everyone else in the section. She encouraged us to lead from the back, which is what Mr. Laird tells us to do all the time. Dr. MacLeod also made a comparison with math class: does it make sense for everyone to take a test and then put the people who scored the lowest in the back? I’ve always wondered if seating auditions are completely based on how well we play, or if they also take our grade level into account, since seniors won’t be able to go to Honors in the fall.

Monday, Feb 27
UNC Greensboro School of Music, 3 concert offerings
Voice recital, Viola Recital at 5:30, Saxophone recital at 7:30
What else can I say but “wow?” I thoroughly enjoyed both recitals more than I had expected to. The voice recital was very interesting because it included two African American students. I did not expect that at all! Often times, when I think of music majors I think of people similar to myself, but being at the recital made me realize that music is spread across every race, culture, and country out there. It makes me feel so happy to be a member of the music community. The saxophone recital left me speechless. The guy who performed seemed to be a bit shy, but he turned out to be the most fantastic saxophone player I have ever heard. His techniques were masterful and amazing, and it was an absolute joy to hear music from his home country of Turkey. I also really liked the first piece “Balafon” because of how interesting his playing was and how the clicking of his keys added an almost percussion-like feature to the piece. I could definitely tell he enjoyed performing and that he still has deep emotional ties to his birthplace. I was sitting next to who seemed to be his father, and it was great to see the connection he also shared with his son as the musician.

and

Tonight we drove to UNC Greensboro and listened to two concerts: Gisel Wichem on the viola and a saxophone recital. The recitals were both in the same hall in the music building. I thought the hall was nice and set up a good atmosphere but was aggravated how the pews creaked so much. Wichem played songs including four movements from Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. I thought some of the songs were good, but I just couldn’t connect to the music. I could see people all around me nodding off and being disinterested. The saxophonist played songs including Balafon by Christian Lauba and I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Pavel Friedman. Unlike Wichem’s these songs were mesmerizing and everyone was intrigued by the music. I was amazed by his technique in Balafon in the way how he used overtoning to hit the really high notes, something that I have only been able to do for one note, and how he hit the pads so hard it truly felt like the percussion. His use of circular breathing really impressed me with how long he was able to play. In the Turkish songs at the end, I was impressed by his super-fast tonguing and just how much he enjoyed himself up there. I came in expecting the viola was going to be better but was pleasantly surprised with how much better the saxophone was. I felt truly validated by this guy because people had been giving flack for not being a true orchestra player but he took down the viola one-on-one.


Tuesday, Feb 28
Duke Music Department “The Music of Bill Robinson”

We researched Bill Robinson, and I had already read his bio – but he a really interesting guy. He a physics professor at NCSU and has had serious arthritis which ended his violin and piano playing. I was expecting different, contemporary yet palatable music for this concert. We all noticed in our program that the tempos were almost a joke (with Allegro con brouhaha and Adagio con queso). The first piece was amazing. I loved the way the melodies played off of each other and it wasn’t based around the normal harmonic chord progression. It toyed with my ideas of tension and release, but they were definitely there. It was also such an interesting combination with a piano, cello and clarinet. Then Bill Robinson talked about his generic music getting a generic response, and that for the first 20 years of his composing career he wasn’t writing for the musicians. When he found musician friends like Eric Prichard and others, and wrote music specifically for them, it really came alive. I found this to be interesting, and I will remember it as I continue to compose because music is really a community. The second piece was great. Eric Prichard was absolutely amazing! I really loved the 2nd and 3rd movements of that piece; they showed off his skill and range. Then the clarinet sextet played which had great sound and communication between these top-notch performers. I thought it was interesting that they restarted the piece for the recording, but the second time, I could really tell that the melodies fit together better. I loved the colors in the 3rd movement of the piece and the 4th movement had great purpose, sound and dissonance.


Wednesday, Feb 29
Duke University, Edgar Meyer Bass Masterclass

The first piece I listened to today, which was written by Edgar Meyer himself, has been the most ear-pleasing music I have heard so far. It was a welcome break from the contemporary/musically foreign (to me) music that I have experienced in the last two days. Edgar Meyer was simply amazing. He has the same passion for playing that he had in 1988 during the bass solo that we watched in the morning. It was inspiring to see him play with fire and love for his instrument. I was amazed at the ease with which he seemed to play. His technical skill was clearly on display, and yet he made it seem very easy. As for the first piece itself, which consisted of a quintet with two violins, a cello, a viola, and a bass, my favorite part was a repeating line between the first and second violins. The second violin repeated the first, and the result was a melody that sounded like it would go on forever. The second piece, which was the “Trio in B-Flat” by Franz Schubert, was of a bit less quality, in my opinion. There was a violinist, a cellist, and a pianist. Although I loved the beauty of the piece and the tone quality of the violinist, the cellist seemed a bit nervous. There were several difficult shifts that he had trouble reaching. Compared to the first piece, the sheer musicality of the second seemed subpar to me.
This was the first master class I have ever attended, and I enjoyed it a lot. I wasn’t sure of the music that was going to be played, but I enjoyed both pieces and hearing Edgar Meyer give advice to the players. I believe this has been my favorite evening trip so far.

and

Today, we went to Edgar Meyer’s master class. I expected for one bass student to perform a piece, and then Edgar Meyer would stop the student and give him or her suggestions. However, instead of one student, there were several students, none of which played the bass. Typically when people are warming up, I don’t pay attention to the musicians. However, they got my attention as soon as they started playing, because the piece they were playing was so beautiful. At first I thought it was variations on some folk song, because folk songs are so pretty. But once I got the program, I saw that the piece of written by Edgar Meyer himself, and I immediately respected him even more. The best part about this evening was listening to the string quartet and Meyer play the piece without any stops. It was also really cool watching him play the bass, because I didn’t know it could do so many things! However, once he started to actually coach the players, it was more boring. It was hard to hear Meyer and the stopping and starting of the pieces lead to me losing interest. Despite losing interest after a while, I’m still glad I went and got to see one of the most amazing bassist in the world perform and coach.


Thursday, March 1
Wake Forest University “Imani Winds”

Due to the impressiveness of the youtube video that we watched in class, it was natural that I was extremely hyped for the Imani Winds concert. The pre-concert lecture was a great addition to the program because wind quintets are generally not typical groups and need to be introduced. The lecturer kept things interesting and gave a largely holistic presentation about the group. The pieces they played were Travesias Panamenas (Danilo Pérez), Wind Quintet, Op. 10 (Pavel Haas), Quintette en Forme de Choros (Heitor Villa-Lobos), Dance Mediterranea (Simon Shaheen), and Klezmer Dances (Traditional), as well as two original pieces (composed by members of the group) entitled Tzigane (Valerie Coleman) and Homage to Duke (Jeff Scott). I especially enjoyed the mid-concert explanations of all of the pieces. For instance, one that was commissioned for them, the Travesias Panamenas, had a rich history of the struggles of the Native Americans versus Europeans that related to the composer’s country, Panama, in a personal way. Music is all about a personal connection and communication, both which were booming in this concert. Musicians were exchanging glances all the time, even smiling at times; it was quite obvious that they enjoy what they do. A personal touch was added to the concert by including pieces composed by the group, and explaining the history of each piece also enhances this feeling. Overall, the concert was fantastic, well worth the $12 admission price, and a nice relief from modern music.

and

I really sort of had low expectations for this concert because I thought to myself “How in the world can they fill hours of interesting music with just 5 instruments?” The reason I was so skeptical was because I wasn’t really envisioning the different colors each instrument could produce, much less the overall color when those colors were combined. I absolutely loved the concert, and talking with them afterwards was just a blast. This is what Mini-term should be: a chance to do something you couldn’t normally do. Meeting a world-class wind ensemble was just that, and talking to them was just so wonderful.

Imani Winds at Wake Forest

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the Imani Winds play at Wake Forest University. This was part of the Wake Forest “Secrest” Artist Series at the University. What a night of music! The fantastic woodwind quintet emanated musicianship, scholarship, and purpose from the first note to the last. I took 14 students from NCSSM to this performance and can genuinely say that each one of them was thrilled with the performance.

We also attended the pre-concert lecture given by Wake Forest Music Instructor, Eileen Young. She outlined the woodwind quintet instrumentation, history, ranges, etc. and then gave a brief history of the Imani Winds with a few recorded selections as well. The two hour drive was SO worth it.

Having said that, my greatest pleasure of the evening was opening the program and seeing that the ensemble was performing a work by Danilo Perez, entitled Travesias Panamenas, which was written specifically for the Imani Winds. Danilo, you see, is an old friend of mine from our undergraduate years at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Danilo came to IUP from Panama in 1984 and was my friend and musical collaborator as part of the independent jazz group, Jazztet, during those years. He is now among the most influential and dynamic musicians and composers of our time.

Back in the ‘80’s, I remember Danilo to be a fun-loving, sort of naïve guy who could just play the heck out of the piano. He could tear it up on both classical and jazz music and had the most incredible “ears” that I had ever encountered. (By the way, that ensemble had some pretty fantastic mucians in it that have gone on to real jazz greatness, including saxophonist Rich DiMuzio, guitarist Bob Ramsey, and, sadly, I can’t remember the name of our drummer who was equally fantastic. I was clearly the weak link in that band, laying down bass-lines as best as I possibly could.)

Danilo was a good guy from the start. He was so nice to me and everyone that he encountered. I remember one night he was trying to teach me how to play a samba bassline, in broken English, and I just couldn’t get that emphasis on “4” that is required along with the syncopated Latin feel of the style. He never got mad, although I am certain he was frustrated by this violinist that couldn’t get the line on the bass.

I also have really fond memories of ther first time I was exposed to music notation software and real-time entry by playing a midi keyboard. We sat Danilo down at the keyboard and he blasted out what seemed like millions of notes, up and down the keyboard, and we then printed it out. All the while, the 5 or 6 of us in the room were simply mystified by both the technology and the technical prowess of Danilo. Amazing.

Travesias Panamenas certainly did not disappoint last night. It is a musical history of Panama that includes i. The Arrival, ii. Jungle Expedition, iii. The Chase, iv. The Funeral, and v. The Sacrifice. Imani just simply knocked it out of the park. I could picture my old friend though each and every note. It was so familiar and so perfect. It was really a thrill. I was also really happy to see that Interlochen Center for the Arts had a hand in the original commissioning of this work. I am proud to be associated with Interlochen as a conductor for their Summer Arts Camps and equally thrilled that they have supported Danilo Perez and the Imani Winds.

Our Mini-term session comes to a close today. In coming days, I will be sharing some of the journal entries that our students will submit to me as they reflect on their week of performance and concert attendance. It sure has been a great week. Teachers – be sure to take your students to great concerts. I have been so enriched by the discussions that these events have generated among my students and I know that their lives have been enriched as well.

Peace.

Scott

Mini-term 2012

Hi all!

We have finally hit one of my favorite times of any school year at NCSSM. That is, of course, Miniterm. Mini-term is a 9-day short session when all other classes stop and students are able to take a single, intensive class for that period of time. Many students use Mini-term as an opportunity to travel, do intense research, or explore topics that they otherwise don't have time to pursue. I the music department, that is also the case.

Coincidentally, the NCMEA Eastern Regional Orchestra is held on the weekend of Mini-term. So, I offer an Eastern Regional Orchestra course to the orchestral musicians at NCSSM. As part of this Mini-term course, students that are selected for ERO can prepare for and participate in the event as part of the course. Since there are 5 days of the course following the event itself, we have some time to do some fun orchestral activities as a group that we would never have the opportunity to pursue otherwise. So, each night this week, my 12 student and I have been attending concert performances around the central part of North Carolina. All of the performances are on college campuses (we will spend time at Duke, UNC-Greensboro, and Wake Forest University) and are, for the most part, free to attend.

On Monday evening, we attended three wonderful recitals at UNC - Greensboro. These included performances by violist, Gizen Yucel, saxophonist Peter Salvucci, and vocalists, Andria Williamson and William Britto. All three of these performances were exceptional, bringing variety and virtuosity to the table. My students were particularly impressed with the virtuosity of Salvucci as he concluded his performance with an encore of four Turkish folk songs with a guest percussionist.

Last night, on Tuesday evening, we headed to Duke University for a concert of the music of composer Bill Robinson. (http://billrobinsonmusic.com/) Bill is a physics professor at NC State University and a fantastic composer. It was great to hear the likes of Eric Pritchard (Ciompi Quartet) and Bonnie Thron (Principal cellist, NC Symphony) and others perform his Grand Serenade, Ananda Sonata, and Clarinet Sextet. What a great experiences for our students. They heard fantastic contemporary literature, saw magnificent virtuoso performers, and witnessed a clinic on exceptional chamber music technique and performance. All of this was done in the fantastic setting of the Nelson Music Room on Duke's East Campus. Students had the opportunity to talk with performers and composer following the program. How cool!

Today, we will be heading to a masterclass by bassist extraordinaire, Edgar Meyer. I can't wait to let you know about it tomorrow.

Peace.
Scott

Big Experiences during Mini-Term

This week, the North Carolina School of Science and Math is in the middle of our annual Mini-term. Mini-term is a 7 day period when all other classes stop (we are actually between terms right now) and students can take one class, really focusing in on that topic for the 7 days. This year, there are students traveling to Spain, Belize, and a bunch of places around the world. There are students doing magnificent research that will lead them to big-time science competitions in coming years. There are other classes focusing on film, medicine, finance, languages, aviation and other interesting topics. I even ran into a student that is building a surfboard as his mini-term project. Too cool! The Mini-term week has always been one of my favorites because it really is a chance to focus on one thing or to try something new for the first time. It truly embodies all that we are as an institution at NCSSM.

My course for the week, along with my colleague, Phillip Riggs, is entitled Eastern Regional Orchestra. It happens that the NCMEA Eastern Regional Orchestra Festival is during the weekend in the middle of Mini-term, so it is a natural that we would incorporate it into a class format. My students that audition for, and made it into ERO had the opportunity to take the class and really focus in on the event of the weekend. Last week, on Thursday and Friday, the participating students had all day to work on their parts to prepare for the weekend event. By all accounts, they felt good about their re-seating auditions and they really befitted from the time to prepare. Then, from Friday evening until the concert on Sunday afternoon, they fully participated in the 13 hours of rehearsal and related events. The event was a big success and all seemed to be very happy with their part.

The thing that is on my mind today, however, is what we have done after the event. You see, we have had another 5 days in the class and I want to be sure to provide a great learning opportunity for all of these wonderful students throughout the Mini-term. So, class has continued all week with a scheduled concert event each day. We have attended concerts at 4 different colleges or universities in the area with a mind toward experiencing some new things in the field of music as listeners, rather than as performers. The students, then, are asked to journal on their experiences and reactions as we move through the week. I have asked them to address the following points as they journal following the concerts:

1. Their expectations prior to the concert
   
2. Music Selection/Themes of the concert
   
3. Instrumentation
   
4. Composers that were represented/historical context
   
5. Their impressions of the performing space
   
6. The performance itself
   
7. Their thoughts/impressions following the concert
   
8. How did each performance relate to your experience with music and performance?
   

What a week we have had! We have attended some extraordinary performances that were thought provoking and enlightening in a variety of ways.

On Monday, we attended a concert at Duke University called "Goethe in Song" that was sponsored by the Music and Germanic Languages and Literature Departments. This thought provoiking performance focused on the texts of Goethe and the many ways that those texts have been used in the German Art Song. The performance included songs by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Hensel, Wolf, and Clara Schumann. Some of the Goethe texts included Erster Verlust, Mignon, Das Veilchen, Ganymed and Dammrung Senkte Sich von oben. There was a magnificent lecture accompanying the performance by Nicholas Rennie of Rutgers University and the performers were Sandra Cotton, mezzo-soprano, accompanied by Ingeborg Walther, piano. This concert embodied all that we represent at NCSSM. It was interdisciplinary, scholarly, thought provoking, and challenging. I couldn't believe how fortunate we were to have stumbled on this lecture/performance as part of Mini-term.

On Tuesday evening, we attended a delightful choral concert at Meredith College in Raleigh. This all-women's school has a wonderful music program and we knew it would be a delightful departure from the heavy programming of the concert on Monday. We were certainly not disappointed! The women of Meredith gave a wonderful performance that included a little bit of everything, from a couple of heavy pieces, to a whimsical pop octet that performed, among other things, For the Longest Time, by Billy Joel, to works by Copland, works from around the world, and others. The groups were polished and graceful. The evening was set in the campus chapel and it made for a perfect venue for the performance. It was everything that a choral concert in that setting should be.

On Wednesday, we headed to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to see their resident faculty string quartet perform. The members of the string faculty there are friends and trusted colleagues and I was excited to hear them perform as a group for the first time. Known as the McIver Quartet, they are Marjorie Bagley and Fabian Lopez on violin, Scott Rawls, viola, and Alex Ezerman, cello. They performed Three Pieces for String Quartet, by Stravinsky, String Quartet No 3, by Jacob ter Veldhuis, and String Quartet no 1 in A Minor, Op. 7, Sz. 40, by Bartok. The performance was magnificent. Certainly, the students' musical horizons were stretched by the contemporary sounds of the works. But, the level of virtuosity demonstrated by the quartet was stunning and the performance was accessible to all in a variety of ways. The kids were floored by the performance and the mood was certainly upbeat as we traveled home late last night.

This evening, we will be heading to Elon College to hear a performance of the Phoenix Piano Trio. They will be performing music by Joseph Haydn, Joaquin Turina, & Marc Eychenne in what I know will be a great evening. I am truly looking forward to another concert tonight!

As I reflect on the week, am so appreciative of the opportunity to teach in this setting. I feel like some real leaning has taken place this week. Our students have been stretched and challenged a bit. They have also been entertained and enlightened. It is so enjoyable to spend time with NCSSM students in a more relaxed setting as well. They aren't nearly as stretched and fragmented as they are during the regular terms and we actually have time to enjoy each other's company. I have had time to offer advice on other things, too, like what to wear to a concert or "how many goodies at the reception following a performance is it appropriate to take?" These things are important. I don't always get to have that impact on these kids and I really welcome it. I have also really enjoyed the opportunity to simply attend concerts. In the context of my busy life, it just doesn't happen too much.

In coming days, I will share some of their journal entries here on my blog. They, of course, will be kept anonymous. But, I want to share with you some of the depth of their experience. In the meantime, I am looking forward to another great concert this evening.

Peace.

Scott

Miniterm 2010

Hi all.
Here at NCSSM, we just completed our annual "min-term." It is a 9 day, short session that permits students to focus on a single subject in an "in depth" manner. This year, I sponsored a course entitled "Eastern Regional Orchestra" The students that enrolled for the course were involved in the NCMEA Eastern Regional Orchesta, which I hosted at NCSSM this year. A few of the students were not able to perform in the group for various reasons and helped me with all of the administrative details throughout the weekend. For the first 2 days of mini-term, performing students were able to practice the literature to be performed and prepare for their seating auditions. The event itself, ran from Friday evening through Sunday evening. Then, for the remaining 5 days of the course, we attended a variety of concerts, watched numerous DVD's of famous symphonies, and studied the history behind the works that we were witnessing. The following are excerpts from the journals that students kept throughout the mini-term. I asked them to write thoughtful entries about the work they were doing and the music they were witnessing. I think you will agree that the expectations of the assignment were met with flying colors!

Peace,
Scott

Today I began to appreciate our guest conductor more. Last night, I felt like it was harder to communicate with him in comparison to conductors in the past. I know that, especially after coming to NCSSM, I try to have good eye contact with conductors at Honors and ERO, but it wasn’t really happening. Sometimes, I didn’t even feel like watching him even helped. But today, things started to piece together. We actually started sounding better than yesterday. I particularly liked his method of “matching” our bows. We got a much better sound as a section this way, and it’s definitely something I’ll use in the future. I also really enjoyed how even when he talked to a certain section about one particular section, the whole orchestra could learn from what he was saying.

I also liked our lesson on sostenuto. I liked the idea of always having this strong tone, but just adjusting the bow speed according to the kind of note or sound we wanted (for example, just changing bow speed but maintaining that tone). I felt like our whole section sounded better after learning about this technique.

Tonight we went to hear Tuskegee University’s Golden Voices Choir at Duke Chapel. It was a wonderful concert! It had been a few months since I’d been in Duke Chapel, so I was once again blown away by how beautiful a place it is. And the choir further magnified that beauty. Every time the choir finished a piece, their voices lingered in the air, filling the room with the last remnants of the music. I feel as though I could have listened to that sound alone for hours.
In all honesty, one of my favorite parts of the concert was watching the director, Dr. Barr. It was so interesting to see him truly leading the choir. With his gestures, he was able to control dynamics, tempo, phrasing, etc. Every eye in the choir was directed toward Dr. Barr, and I could hear his motions directly translate into the sound being produced. I believe it was this unity, this attention to detail, that made the music so powerful.

Our concert was really, really fantastic. The Hanson was so moving, and the theme has been stuck in my head all day. And the audience apparently liked William Tell a lot. The cello soloist messed up a little in the beginning, I know I messed up on my English horn solo (even though we both had done better in rehearsal), and for some reason my tongue was feeling sluggish once the Allegro Vivace (after the English horn and flute solo ended) began…but at the end, even before the conductor had cut off our final note, the audience was cheering and standing up. It’s the first time at a concert like this one that I’ve seen such a great reaction. Usually, despite how good the performance is, the parents stand and clap mostly because they’re parents, but I felt like today, they were ordinary, enthralled audience members.

I remember playing the last page of the William Tell. It’s when we begin accelerating, and everyone is loud and exciting and teetering on the edge, but not quite falling. It’s moments like those that make me love symphony orchestra so much, and playing overtures like William Tell so much. The brass and percussion sounds just surround you, like a tsunami wave of boldness and brightness. The strings in front of you are doing something insanely fast, while the bass players to your left are rounding out the bottom with their strong, deep sound. And even though the piccolo is about to tear apart your eardrums, even though you can’t really hear yourself because your instrument is totally lost among the countless other instruments, you feel like you are part of something so much greater, something that thousands of musicians before you have experienced with that exact same piece of music. I’m waxing poetic, I know, but it was definitely a concert I won’t forget.


While listening, I got a strange impression of the performance. We sat towards the back of the concert hall, and the orchestra was on the small side. As a result, all of the pieces sounded small and relatively soft. In a way, I felt a bit of a distance between myself and the performers. I guess I am used to hearing orchestral concerts by large ensembles that fill the concert hall and surround the listeners with sound. That this performance gave an impression of smallness and didn’t fill the hall made me feel like I was a part of another world; I didn’t feel like I got into the music much. I think there are two types of listening – active listening and passive listening. The first is what happens when I am really engaged in what I am hearing and I feel like I am a part of what I am listening to. Passive listening is what happens when I feel like I am a disconnected observer in a different world. In all honesty, my experience at this concert was more passive listening than active listening.

Today started off with a messy rehearsal. I felt discouraged by the fact that I did not have a good audition, but I understood that it was my fault for not practicing all of the music. Our conductor put the most effort into the Steel City Strut. By the looks and reactions of everyone in the room, I could discern that I was not the only one who struggled with this particular piece. The orchestras rehearsed from 9 AM until lunch. When lunch time arrived, I met up with some of my old Governor’s School friends and had a wonderful meal at Bali Hai. We took advantage of every second together and got back just in time for sectionals. The person in charge of coaching the cello section did not come on time and we wasted almost half an hour. I was beginning to feel irritated, but she finally arrived, and we began rehearsing right away. When we got started, my opinion of her changed almost right away. She was very efficient and had great strategies planned out. We worked quickly and her way of coaching got our heads to click. The improvement we made in less than an hour was mind-boggling. I was amazed by how much we accomplished in the little time we were given. Another break was given and I stocked up on some snacks and refreshments. Rehearsal resumed at 3:30 and I thought the orchestra was a hundred times better than what we started with. Instead of working on just getting the note and rhythms, the conductor actually began to work on dynamics and details. She said that we played too loud, as if we were “smashing baby chicks”, and that made my day. Things were looking much better and I began to feel a little better about everything. After rehearsal was over, I took a nap to rejuvenate myself and went to the pizza dinner. The food was great and I met many new people. The final session of rehearsal for the day resumed at 7 PM and continued until 9 PM. By this time, everyone was exhausted and sick of the music. It was a long day of music from 9 AM to 9 PM, but it was worthwhile. I gained a lot today and also had a great time with friends. I went to bed feeling happy and excited for the next day.

Today was a very long day. I have participated in many other clinics such as All-District, All-State Jazz, and so on, but this clinic seemed to last all day (which it did). I guess what separated this clinic from all the rest was that there was a considerable amount of resting for the brass sections. When we were asked to play, we asked to play in a really unusual style that I had never played before. Always I had been told to properly attack the note and be in time, but what he asked us to do was really follow the sound and not so much to the beat. We were to have a “horizontal” style of playing in that our phrasing and rhythm would stretch over the sounds of the strings, which was necessary for us to be coinciding. After a few trials and error, I think the brass really adapted to this style of playing and made the sounds of the ensemble sound that much better. We were all watching the tips of the string player’s bow to visually watch the beat and play off that instead of counting in our heads. I think this was one of the most valuable things that I will take away from this experience, as I will be able to apply this style of playing to future works with the orchestra.

Today, we took our trip to the Ludwig drum factory!

I found it interesting how so much of the work was still done by individual people rather than automated robots. Like the guide said, they aren’t exactly mass producing many generic products, so that plays into it. Still, it was touching to see local people putting on the parts and working on each portion of process by hand.

Even though I don’t play drums, I felt like I got a real treat going to the factory. It was amazing to see how much detail and care was put into creating each part of the drums, from treating the veneers in the climate-controlled room to the gluing and painting process. Like Mr. Laird mentioned to us all, it was interesting to see how all sorts of sciences contributed to making these drums. Right now, my plans are to continue with a degree in either general chemistry or chemical engineering, depending on which school I end up attending. That said, the science behind the glue and paint was particularly interesting to me (I found it really interesting that they used UV light to activate photoreceptors in the paint to finish the painting process!). Chemistry appeals to me in that its involved in everything, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear. All sorts of things you’d expect to be pretty simple involve lots of chemistry… and these drums have a lot of chemistry behind them too! It was awesome seeing the science involved in creating these drums.

The piece we studied today during our afternoon meeting was called Fantastic Symphony by Hector Berlioz. I really enjoyed this piece because it was interesting to imagine during the different movements what the conductor was thinking as he wrote it. The article definitely made the piece a lot more interesting because we knew the background story. I also noticed how in the beginning of the article it mentioned that Berlioz was “suffering from unrequited love for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson” and then later in the article when describing the Shakespearean actress it said “by this time had become his wife.” I couldn’t help smiling at those details.
The concert we attended was a graduate recital of Yooju Han. Although I do not personally play the flute, I had a fantastic time listening to her performance. The first piece, Sonata in G minor “La Lumagne”, Op. 2, No. 4 by Michel Blavet was interesting because of the interaction between the flute and the harpsichord. I was looking forward to hearing Peter Schickele after hearing that he was an interesting composer and I was not disappointed. I loved the performance that they gave of having Yooju Han play off stage on the left and then off stage on the right and then in the dark in the middle of the stage during the piece Spring Serenade. She was very talented.