{"id":6134,"date":"2011-04-11T17:27:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T21:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=6134"},"modified":"2011-04-12T02:19:57","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T06:19:57","slug":"random-thoughts-about-orchestral-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/11\/random-thoughts-about-orchestral-life\/","title":{"rendered":"random thoughts about orchestral life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are ten random thoughts on life in an orchestra.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A music director need not live year round in their place of employment to be effective.<\/strong> Really. If they are managed well when they’re in town, they’ll seem to be everywhere at once, and everyone who wants a piece of them will get them. Can we just stop this nonsense about how great it was that Jimmy had a ‘full time’ residence here. He had an apartment at the KOIN tower, and he was gone a lot. It may have been his home base, but he spent a lot of time in Quebec and other parts of the world (including Monte Carlo) during his time with the orchestra.<\/li>\n
  2. Why is it that people in the string sections randomly tune during the A for the winds?<\/strong> I learned in youth orchestra that you only tune when the concertmaster tunes – not before. Do we need a refresher course?<\/li>\n
  3. How come people with hearing aids don’t hear them wildly screeching feedback during quiet portions of concerts?<\/strong> I can hear it from 100 feet away. The best handling of this situation was when Andre Watts was starting to play the slow movement of the Beethoven Fourth piano concerto. He stopped, turned to the audience and said “The person probably doesn’t even know this is happening – if you’re sitting near them, can you just tap them on the shoulder and let them know?” Problem instantly solved. Now we just glare in the general direction from the stage.<\/li>\n
  4. Playing Beethoven symphonies is one of the most rewarding parts of being an orchestral player.<\/strong> I know, those of you in orchestras with twenty or more subscription weeks are probably sick to death of Beethoven, but here in Oregon we get through the cycle in about ten years instead a couple years like you do. Last night’s performance of the Pastoral Symphony was so ‘right’ and full of joy that it reminded me of why I became a musician in the first place.<\/li>\n
  5. The Oregon Symphony has one of the best wind and brass sections of any orchestra.<\/strong> It’s true. They inspire me every day.<\/li>\n
  6. Our orchestra has such a fluency with the Classical style these days.<\/strong> It gets remarked upon by guest conductors every time they come here. Most recently, Michael Francis talked to us about working with the specialist John Eliot Gardiner with the London Symphony, and he said we had a very natural way with playing in the Classical style, much like they’d learned to do there. We’re lucky to have a music director who is at ease in different facets of making music.<\/li>\n
  7. It’s easy to point out a problem, but very difficult to devise a solution.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Sitting at the inside, center portion of the stage for the Beethoven Sixth this week is fun.<\/strong> I like being closer to the second violins and right in front of our stellar wind section.<\/li>\n
  9. William Walton writes really difficult music.<\/strong> We’re playing his Partita next weekend, and it is a finger buster! You thought we had to work in the Nielsen Sixth? This gives it a run for its money!<\/li>\n
  10. Carnegie is only one month away!<\/strong> Yes, on Tuesday, it will be exactly one month until we make our Carnegie Hall debut. It’s so close, but yet feels so far away. It will feel much closer once we start our rehearsal period for that concert. Gulp!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Here are ten random thoughts on life in an orchestra. A music director need not live year round in their place of employment to be effective. Really. If they are managed well when they’re in town, they’ll seem to be everywhere at once, and everyone who wants a piece of them will get them. Can […]<\/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":[3668],"class_list":["post-6134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-oregon-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1AW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3189,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/01\/random-thoughts-for-thursday-evening\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":0},"title":"random thoughts for thursday evening","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"First, I just have to say that the First Piano Concerto of Brahms is even better than I remembered it.\u00a0 I think the last time we performed it was with Peter Serkin, and that was an amazing series of performances, but this time, with Jon Kimura Parker, and with the\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":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3264,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/15\/heat-up-cool-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":1},"title":"heat up, cool down","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the time of year where a curious shift happens: the classical music season heats up, while the weather outside cools down. \u00a0This post in just going to be a hodge-podge of random thoughts, truly full of daily observations, rather than what is usually posted here (not sure what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "recordings"","block_context":{"text":"recordings","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/recordings-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/ir?t=dailyobservat-20&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1467,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/24\/notes-on-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":2},"title":"notes on progress","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking a lot about the artistic progression of my orchestra over the last couple weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 You can point all you want to how the orchestra sounds under its music director, but to me the real test of the artistic growth of an orchestra is how they sound under\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":4700,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/24\/second-night-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":3},"title":"second night thoughts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, I feel like I redeemed myself after my fuzziness on Saturday night, and in general, many things went better for the entire orchestra on Sunday evening than the Saturday opening night's concert.\u00a0 As much as I love the Mahler First Symphony, the work that is capturing my heart this\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":299,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/04\/29\/post-concert-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":4},"title":"post-concert thoughts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight we did our first of two concerts of this classical subscription set. The works were Stravinsky's Concerto in D for string orchestra, Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Stephen Hough. As you might guess, the theme of the concert is that all of\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":"Igor Stravinsky","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/436px-igor_stravinsky_loc_32392u.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2983,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/15\/day-four-in-sunriver\/","url_meta":{"origin":6134,"position":5},"title":"day four in sunriver","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The morning dawned cold (37 degrees) and foggy - not a typical Sunriver morning.\u00a0 They usually are clear and cool (usually mid-40's). The view from our homestay - click to enlarge. The Great Hall was a bit chilly as well - there was a lot of hand rubbing and blowing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_2250","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/3824119529_c7d4620bd9_m.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\/6134","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=6134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}