{"id":5021,"date":"2010-07-12T20:38:24","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T03:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:26:08","slug":"tales-of-a-tailcoat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/12\/tales-of-a-tailcoat\/","title":{"rendered":"tales of a tailcoat"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the final chords of Mendelssohn’s mighty Elijah<\/em> reverberated into the Hult Center’s auditorium this past Sunday afternoon, it dawned on me that this was most likely the last performance for my poor, beleaguered tailcoat. Yes, it has come to that time when my trusty companion of many, many concerts must be put out to pasture, and be replaced by a bright, shiny, (and hopefully less stinky) new model.\u00a0 Tux pants are replaced relatively often (at least by me, I cannot speak for my colleagues), but tailcoats can last quite a long time.\u00a0 I bought mine at a place called Leo Amster’s, in Baltimore, Maryland.\u00a0 Not just Baltimore, but Highlandtown, Baltimore<\/a>.\u00a0 Highlandtown is where you will hear Baltimore pronounced Bawlmer<\/em>, and most women call everyone hon’<\/em>, and the neighborhood itself is pronounced Hollantown<\/em>.\u00a0 It was like most ethnic areas used to be before gentrification, generations of families grew up together in the same neighborhood, and there were definite local accents.\u00a0 Anyway, this tailcoat was a used one that had already been retired from the wedding and prom rental scene.\u00a0 Rental tuxes are built like tanks.\u00a0 The fabric (usually wool) is extra thick, and seemingly bullet-proof (also seemingly air tight, much to our chagrin).\u00a0 I think the year I bought it was in 1992.\u00a0 I have no idea how old it was when I got it, but that means that it has been worn by me for concerts of all kinds for 18 years.\u00a0 18 years! Oof!\u00a0 That smarts: my tailcoat is older than this year’s high school graduates.<\/p>\n\n

There are a few things that are amiss with my old tailcoat friend that come about as a result of the work I do.\u00a0 The lapels, for instance, are not of equal size, due to the distortion of the viola pressing into my upper chest as I play.\u00a0 I tried to maintain the look as well as I could by using a safety pin to keep the lapel from retreating too much, but there was only so much that I and my dry cleaner could do.\u00a0 In addition, the right cuff has a worn patch on the hem where the fabric has rubbed against the lower part of the coat below the lapel.\u00a0 This is due to the movement of my arm as I draw the bow back and forth across the strings.<\/p>\n

I have been trying to estimate what amount of music my tailcoat has participated in with me.\u00a0 In my 14 years with the Oregon Symphony, the tails are only worn for the Classical series concerts.\u00a0 We average about 13 per year (given the lower number we did in my first few years in the orchestra), and do three reps of each, and that works out to (plus or minus) 546 concerts.\u00a0 Before that, I was in the Maryland Symphony, and we did perhaps five series a year of two reps, and I played with the orchestra for four years, so add 40 more concerts to the total.\u00a0 It wouldn’t be padding the resume to estimate that in total my tails have seen about 600 concerts of use over the last 18 years.\u00a0 Not a bad deal for an investment of maybe $75 back in 1992!
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After the final chords of Mendelssohn’s mighty Elijah reverberated into the Hult Center’s auditorium this past Sunday afternoon, it dawned on me that this was most likely the last performance for my poor, beleaguered tailcoat.<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1iZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2648,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/06\/news-roundup-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":0},"title":"news roundup","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Stanley Drucker retires after 60 years in NY Phil [NYTimes] Marin Alsop re-ups for 5 more years in Baltimore [Baltimore Sun] Young audiences overrated? [Washington Post] $1 million to Detroit Symphony [Detroit Free Press]","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2507,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/10\/news-roundup-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":1},"title":"news roundup","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Seattle Symphony Starts Music Director Search [crosscut.com] San Diego Arts Groups Suffering Cuts [sdnn.com] San Francisco Symphony Launches Social Network [washingtonpost.com] San Francisco Opera Cuts Millions From Budget [bizjournals.com] Baltimore To Get New Opera Company? [washingtonpost.com] Dallas Symphony Postpones European Touring [dallasnews.com] Baltimore Symphony Musicians Volunteer $1 Million In Concessions\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":2446,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/29\/mid-week-news-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":2},"title":"mid-week news roundup","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Some very sad news from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose Principal trombonist, Steven Witser, died of a heart attack at the age of 48 on Monday night. The Ying Quartet is losing its first violinist, resulting in a quartet that will not be all siblings. The Baltimore Symphony musicians have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"newspaper","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/newspaper-400x312.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/31\/odds-and-ends-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":3},"title":"odds and ends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Some news from the orchestral front this week: The Baltimore Symphony continues to shrink its budget, the musicians are cutting their wages from the 5.7% already conceded to 12.5% for the 2009-2010 season. [Washington Post] Peter Dobrin writes about African-American orchestral musicians in Philadelphia. [Philadelphia Inquirer] The Indianapolis Symphony declines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3555,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/05\/odds-and-ends-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":4},"title":"odds and ends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon Symphony Resident conductor Gregory Vajda conducts a recording of music by his mentor, the composer\/conductor P\u00e9ter E\u00f6tv\u00f6s, entitled As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams.\u00a0 The recording is one of three nominated for the prestigious 2010 MIDEM Classical Award. Conductor Leonard Slatkin has a compelling essay up on his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4284,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/29\/red-tide\/","url_meta":{"origin":5021,"position":5},"title":"red tide","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There's been quite a bit of unfortunate news for American orchestras in the past week or so.\u00a0 Here's a roundup of what I've noticed lately.\u00a0 Fortunately, there is no mention of the Oregon Symphony here - and in fact, ticket sales for next season are very strong.\u00a0 I think that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","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=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}