{"id":12624,"date":"2013-04-28T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-28T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=12624"},"modified":"2013-04-28T15:33:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-28T22:33:00","slug":"friends-music-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/28\/friends-music-and-business\/","title":{"rendered":"friends, music, and business"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Me,
Me, with Troy Peters, backstage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had one of those rare opportunities this weekend to welcome one of my oldest and dearest friends, Troy Peters<\/a>, to Portland. What made it rare? He is a conductor (as well as a composer and educator), and he led the Oregon Symphony through a program of light classics and on the second half, the debut collaboration of Oregon-based indie band Blind Pilot<\/a> with the symphony. Even though I am obviously biased, I think he did a fabulous job. It was just so special to get to go out to dinner with Troy and his wife, Anne, and talk about what has been going on in each others’ lives, both inside and outside of our careers.<\/p>\n

There is always that friction of one’s ‘old’ life and one’s ‘new’ life in such encounters – much like going home to stay with your parents as an adult, for example – I found myself feeling and thinking things that have been long out of my experience as the professional orchestral musician that I’ve become, things that were grounded in my time as a very nerdy and unsure of himself violinist in the Tacoma Youth Symphony eons ago. It made me realize just how much of that person I do still carry around deep inside myself now, over 30 years on (!), and how that influences how I do what I do to this day.<\/p>\n

Life as an ‘artist’ is often laden with baggage from the past. It’s because we spend so much of our time evaluating ourselves. We are constantly criticizing our playing, both on its own and in comparison to our peers. We are constantly wondering if we’re doing the right thing at the right time. If we have a steady gig, we are questioning if we have stayed in the same place too long. If we don’t have a steady gig, we’re agonizing over how to either win one or how to string more smaller gigs together to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

Now, as I reach what is pretty certifiably middle age (45), I begin to wonder when my decline will happen. Is this the best I’ll ever be, in spite of my best efforts? Will someone tell me when I start to really suck? Would I want them too? How did this happen? I went from being in my twenties and seeing a life stretching into the vastness of age, and now I’m in my mid-40’s and I feel like I can see all the way to the end. This is not good!<\/p>\n

But we all find our ways to manage. Troy talked about how much he feeds off of the energy and enthusiasm of his many students in the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, where he is the music director and conductor. Similarly, I find inspiration and revitalization in the form of the Oregon Symphony’s younger members, who bring with them new perspectives, tremendous musical training and instincts, and the sheer vitality of youth.<\/p>\n

This season will be my 18th with the Oregon Symphony. Only two years ’til 20. I have no idea how many more seasons are in store for me here, but I do know that they will always be interesting, and I aim to experience them with a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had one of those rare opportunities this weekend to welcome one of my oldest and dearest friends, Troy Peters, to Portland. What made it rare? He is a conductor (as well as a composer and educator), and he led the Oregon Symphony through a program of light classics and on the second half, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[3323,3348,3187,55,3668,3079],"class_list":["post-12624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-blind-pilot","tag-mid-life","tag-musician","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-troy-peters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3hC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/10\/interview-with-jennifer-higdon\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":0},"title":"interview with jennifer higdon","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you who don't know Jennifer Higdon, she's one of America's leading composers. Over at NewMusicbox, there's a great interview with Higdon, as well as a video short that features some of her works in performance as well as additional interviews. She studied with Ned Rorem at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "composition"","block_context":{"text":"composition","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/composition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/cover_257x205.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":374,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/06\/26\/adventurous-programming-and-why-you-should-care-about-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":1},"title":"adventurous programming and why you should care about it","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has recently named those orchestras and organizations which were selected to be honored for \"Adventurous Programming\" during the 2006-2007 season. I also have a connection to a couple of those groups honored, which I'll talk about after the jump.Here are the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7684,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/21\/these-kids-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":2},"title":"these kids today","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I got a link to this video in my in-box today, and it made me smile more than a little bit. It features the varied talents of the members of the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio, which is led with style and expertise by my long-time friend, Troy Peters (who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fun"","block_context":{"text":"fun","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/lUhs6fq401E\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/01\/18\/musicians-on-the-bus\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":3},"title":"musicians ON the bus","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Cameron R. Neilson - theseenphoto.com. This is a bus in Jackson, Wyoming. The musicians on the bus should be familiar to Portland area concertgoers: they are the string players from FearNoMusic and the Oregon Symphony. From left to right they are: Erin Furbee, In\u00c3\u00a9s Voglar, Adam Esbenson, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":120,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/11\/19\/daniel-bernard-roumain-violinist\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":4},"title":"Daniel Bernard Roumain, violinist","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Vermont Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Troy Peters, has been consistently innovative over this tenure - and here is a prime example. Violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain plays his Voodoo Violin Concerto No. 1 in a performance from September of this year. Enjoy! link","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3294,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/26\/a-new-way-to-look-at-the-oregon-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":12624,"position":5},"title":"a new way to look at the oregon symphony","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"After our last classical series concert, the orchestra stayed for an extra 30 minutes to get an important job done: it was orchestra photo night.\u00a0 Every few years, a new portrait of the orchestra and its music director is taken.\u00a0 In virtually every other year, the photo is a standard,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RCO001_VanBoxteljpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/RCO001_VanBoxteljpg-400x322.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}