{"id":13486,"date":"2014-07-10T23:59:14","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T06:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=13486"},"modified":"2014-07-10T23:59:14","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T06:59:14","slug":"musical-performances-city-parks-for-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/10\/musical-performances-city-parks-for-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"musical performances: city parks for the soul?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a warm afternoon here in Portland – the beginning of what promises to be a pretty lengthy heat wave (there was a ‘heat wave advisory’ declared today for the weekend and beyond). I spent the early afternoon working on the Dies Irae movement of Verdi’s Requiem for Saturday’s rehearsals at the Oregon Bach Festival. In need of a practice break (tangent alert) well, more than a practice break, really, I’m in the midst of some typical mid-life emotional messiness, and there is a lot of stuff competing for my attention in my brain these days (end tangent), I decided to take a walk around my relatively new NW Portland neighborhood.<\/p>\n

I tend to avoid NW 23rd street like the plague – at least on nice days in the summer months, it’s overrun with tourists and teenagers, and stupidly long lines at the Salt & Straw ice cream store – instead, I head even more north and west to Wallace City Park for my strolls. It’s kind of amazing what a nice park can do for one’s outlook on life. In a quiet neighborhood, a\u00a0park can be a focus of energy that needs to be expended. In a bustling neighborhood, a\u00a0park can be an oasis of calm. Wallace Park is a bit of each of these. During the work week, the park is often quiet and serene, the perfect place to read a book, eat a picnic lunch, or just catch some rays in the outfields of its baseball diamonds.<\/p>\n

\"wallace
wallace park | photo: charles noble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, on this particular day, as I wandered to the park, I felt a sense of calm returning to smother my earlier agitation. Seeing people relaxing, hearing the birds singing in the trees, and hearing the dogs barking and playing in the dog park, it was a balm for the soul. Nothing profound – but just what I needed at that time and place. So, too, can a trip to the symphony. A hard day at the office, family drama and illnesses, dentist appointments gone wrong – they can all be subsumed by the experience of entering the concert hall. The frenetic activity of the lobby, greeting old friends and fellow patrons as you go to your seats, and finally, the sounding of the tuning ‘A’ that ushers in trips to places that most of us can only imagine. While I spend most of my time within the orchestra, rather than listening to one from the audience, I was reminded today of how essential that special, sacred place is for us – even in our on-demand 21st century media-dominated lives. It’s why I do what I do – I derive so much satisfaction from knowing that I’m providing something that’s often much more than mere entertainment. It’s an admirable calling, and one that I’m glad to answer year after year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a warm afternoon here in Portland – the beginning of what promises to be a pretty lengthy heat wave (there was a ‘heat wave advisory’ declared today for the weekend and beyond). I spent the early afternoon working on the Dies Irae movement of Verdi’s Requiem for Saturday’s rehearsals at the Oregon Bach […]<\/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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[],"class_list":["post-13486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3vw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13567,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/24\/lazy-post-procrastination-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":0},"title":"lazy post, procrastination edition","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a bit too long since I've posted, and while there has been quite a bit that I could have written about, I've just been too busy to get around to it. So, in the meantime, here's a pretty photo of a new-ish coffee joint that I visited yesterday:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "coffee"","block_context":{"text":"coffee","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/food-drink\/coffee-food-drink\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"click to see full size version","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_9557-500x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4298,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/31\/nw-horn-orchestra-this-saturday\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":1},"title":"nw horn orchestra this saturday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what came into my inbox today: French Horn Enthusiasts; Our Fourth annual show. Don\u2019t miss it! The Northwest Horn Orchestra rides again On Saturday, April 3rd at 8:00, The Northwest Horn Orchestra will perform at The Old Church, 1422\u00a0 SW 11th, in downtown Portland. Maestro Dave Bryan and eighteen\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":7964,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/19\/defiant-requiem-screens-at-portland-art-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":2},"title":"defiant requiem screens at portland art museum","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"DEFIANT REQUIEM Trailer from PARTISAN PICTURES on Vimeo. The film Defiant Requiem will be presented this Sunday (October 21) as part of the NW Film Center's 2012 Reel Music festival at 4:30 p.m. in the Whitsell Auditorium of the Portland Art Museum. It looks like it is a gorgeously produced\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":17820,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2020\/03\/11\/coronavirus-hits-nw-arts-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":3},"title":"coronavirus hits NW arts hard","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I will update this page throughout the coming days as I learn of additional postponements or cancellations. Running list of Portland-area cancellations and postponements. UPDATE: 3\/14\/20 10:00AM Basically, everything is canceled, and if it isn't, it's being live streamed. UPDATE: 12:13AM Oregon Governor Kate Brown announces all schools will close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2180,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/19\/247-beethoven-rehearsal\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":4},"title":"24\/7 beethoven rehearsal","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Crane, Howie Baggadonutz and Thomas Lauderdale have been organizing an event called 24\/7: 24 concerts in 24 hours featuring many of Portland's best musicians, all commemorating the seventh anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq.\u00c2\u00a0 This marathon concert event will take place in the atrium of the Wieden+Kennedy building,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"24-7_logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/24-7_logo-200x126.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1281,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/16\/beta-collide-white-stag-friday\/","url_meta":{"origin":13486,"position":5},"title":"beta collide @ white stag friday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're free on Friday evening, head over to the historic White Stag building (70 NW Couch St, Portland, 97209) at 8 p.m.\u00c2\u00a0 beta collide, the new new music ensemble formed by flutist Molly Barth and trumpeter Brian McWhorter, will be presenting a concert featuring works of Berio, Applebaum, Brown,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/sockmonkey.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13486","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=13486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}