We did our monthly pops runout to the Smith Auditorium at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon tonight. \u00a0It’s usually an interesting trip regardless, with the very different acoustics (often described as better than the Schnitz both on stage and in the audience seats) and backstage “amenities”. \u00a0Tonight, there were lots of extras.<\/p>\n
First of all, we had a veritable banshee chorus of hearing aid feedback to contend with throughout the evening. \u00a0I’m always amazed that no one in the audience seems to be aware of this, yet we can hear it with terrible clarity many feet away on stage.<\/p>\n
Next, we had the “loud whisperers” – this was most evident right at the hushed beginning to Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>, which I think distracted our soloist (the excellent Jon Nakamatsu), and certainly distracted those of us on the edge of the stage.<\/p>\n We also had the nearby train whistle that joined in at the top of the famous clarinet glissando. \u00a0Priceless. \u00a0There was also a bit of suspense in An American in Paris<\/em>. \u00a0On the Sunday matinee in Portland, one of the taxi horns was off by a major seventh, and produced some of the most amazing and unearthly sonorities I’ve ever heard, Paris or elsewhere! \u00a0There was a lot of mirthful Facebook postings after the Sunday concert, for sure. \u00a0We were all wondering if the offending horn might have been successfully fixed by the runout. \u00a0Alas, it was, though there were a few knowing glances during the section in question.<\/p>\n Finally, we had various loud thumping sounds (not produced by playing) from the bass section as well as repeated squeaks of one of the stage doors. \u00a0It will be a concert that we’ll all remember at least until the next time we return to Salem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We did our monthly pops runout to the Smith Auditorium at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon tonight. \u00a0It’s usually an interesting trip regardless, with the very different acoustics (often described as better than the Schnitz both on stage and in the audience seats) and backstage “amenities”. \u00a0Tonight, there were lots of extras. First of all, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[3666,3668,110],"class_list":["post-3253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-oregon","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-pops"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-Qt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7503,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/13\/triskaidekaphobia\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":0},"title":"triskaidekaphobia","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is a crazy day, and not only because it's Friday the 13th (gasp!). It's one of those days that I knew was coming, and knew would be packed, but there was nothing I could do about it. This morning I have the dress rehearsal for the Oregon Symphony's upcoming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3087,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/05\/et-cetera\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":1},"title":"et cetera?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"On Sunday, September 6th @ 7:30 p.m., the Oregon Symphony will be doing a most unusual sort of concert.\u00a0 We'll be playing at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, and will be the backing band for Peter Cetera.\u00a0 Should be pretty fun, and I'm looking forward to a world-class corn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "pops"","block_context":{"text":"pops","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/pops-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pc.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/cetera.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3091,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/07\/peter-cetera-rocks-oregon-weather-does-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":2},"title":"peter cetera rocks – oregon weather does not","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We had one of our more interesting (in the Chinese curse meaning of the word) rehearsal\/performance experiences Sunday afternoon and evening at the state fairgrounds in Salem.\u00a0 We were the backup band for Peter Cetera, lead singer of the band Chicago. First of all, the commute down to Salem was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "popular music"","block_context":{"text":"popular music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/popular-music-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"threatening skies as concert time approaches","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/3894993585_4df908d5ed_b-200x266.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3483,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/01\/close-ties\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":3},"title":"close ties","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon Symphony cellists Ken Finch and Justin Kagan sported the exact same tie for our Salem Pops concert last night - what were the odds??","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":950,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/02\/as-the-season-turns\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":4},"title":"as the season turns…","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As of today (May 2, 2008) we have 33 days until the end of the 2007-2008 season of the Oregon Symphony. I can't believe that it's almost over! That sentence can be read either with a sense of relief or a tinge of regret - or maybe both at 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":7505,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/15\/the-other-carlos\/","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":5},"title":"the other carlos","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And I don't mean Carlos the Jackal. I'm referring to our guest conductor this week, the thoroughly enjoyable Carlos Miguel Prieto. We had a very unusual start to our first concert with Carlos in Portland tonight (we played in Salem Friday evening). As the lights came down, who should stroll\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/gallery-18762-300x446.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253","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=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}