Verdi and the Mambo Kings

Well, since nobody has asked a question recently, I’ll write about this past weekend’s concerts. Saturday night we were joined by the Mambo Kings for a Pops concert. I thought they were great, though I am biased as I have a soft spot for Latin Jazz. I especially enjoyed their orchestral arrangements. They were fun and interesting to play, not too many footballs. For those of you that are not familiar with the term “footballs” applied to orchestral playing, “footballs” is the insider’s term for whole notes. As in “Man, this concert is nothing but footballs!”. Here’s a picture of a whole note.

I guess they sort of look like footballs. Now, playing a whole note is not the end of the world, we do play them often and nobody gets hurt. However, at times we play music that is pages and pages of “footballs”, inevitably marked fortissimo. Not only is this absolutely mind-numbing, but also physically tiring. So say no to footballs and yes to the Mambo Kings and their arrangements.

Sunday we performed an adaptation of Verdi’s Requiem , The Defiant Requiem. You can read about it by following the link, but in a few words, between 1943 and 1944 prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp of Terezín put together and performed Verdi’s Requiem 16 times. The Defiant Requiem tells their story through the use of film footage, interviews, and narration interspersed throughout Verdi’s work. It was a powerful performance. The music of the Requiem is incredibly moving on its own and combining it with the story of the Terezín concentration camp made it even more poignant. It puts the Requiem text in a different light and meaning.

Obviously two very different concerts but together made for a nice weekend of music making. Next weekend it’s Ravel’s La Valse, Paderewski’s Piano Concerto and Tyberg’s Symphony No.3. In the meantime, how about asking a question to make our blogging easier?!?

P.S. If you were at either of these concerts last weekend, please do post comments. It’s always fun to hear what the audience thought of our performances. And don’t worry if it’s not all good, we are quite thick skinned, we can take it!

Meg’s Question

Hello, my name is Janz Castelo, violist with the BPO, and I will be tackling the most recent installment of “Ask a Question.”

Meg asks:

Are your favorite pieces to play also your favorite pieces to listen to or do you enjoy listening to certain pieces you don’t like playing and vice versa?

Excellent question! Off the bat, I can tell you that playing the viola part to slow movements of Beethoven piano concerti is deadly! They are exquisite to listen to, but to me playing them is dreadful. Honestly, they are exhausting to play. Most people probably think that playing fast and loud is the most tiring, but to me (and most likely other string players) it’s the slow quiet stuff that kills me. In slow playing, everthing you play has to be super-controlled, delicate, refined, etc. which requires tons of muscle power. It’s like holding a yoga pose (think tree pose) for 10 minutes straight! Not fun, especially if your yoga skills are as good as mine.

There are also many works that I feel are fun to play but are not my favorite to listen to. I don’t speak for my colleagues, but to me a lot of Vivaldi falls under this category. Sorry Vivaldi lovers! Feels great to play, lots of up and down scales, fun string crossings, very exciting, but not the music that I like to listen to. Basically, in my opinion Vivaldi wrote some many great works, just not my listening cup of tea.

And just in case not everyone reading this realizes it, many of us actually listen to other music besides “Classical” music. So for me to play the music that I like to listen to I would have to join a salsa band or a Pixies cover band, neither of which I foresee in my near future (if anyone needs a violist for either of these, drop me a note).

Thanks for your question!

Yay, A New Question!

A great question from Pookie:

If you (and any other member of the orchestra who cares to answer) could wake up tomorrow and play any other instrument other than yours, which would it be and why?

Well Pookie, I feel strongly that the viola is the right instrument for me, but if I had to choose another instrument, I’d go with one of the loud ones…probably drum set.

Here’s what some of the other BPO musicians said:

Kyle Covington, trombone: Organ because they are super cool and huge. Or Cello because I would like to play a MUSICAL instrument.

Betsy Reeds, flute: I think I’d like to play the cello.  It has a resonance that appeals to me.

Patty Dilutis, clarinet: I would have to play the oboe. I call it “pain control.” For pieces of music like the Barber Violin Concerto, Brahms Violin Concerto, and all the other incredibly beautiful oboe solos, I would be too busy playing the solos, leaving the pain up to the listener.

Martha Malkiewicz, contrabassoon/bassoon: Funny thing - I used to think about what other instrument I would like to play if I could do it all over again (sort of like the blog question) and I thought I would have chosen French horn because of the warm brass sound of the instrument. At another time I thought I would have chosen viola because of the beautiful mellow sound. I like the interest and the beauty of the middle lines of music.

Anna Mattix, English horn/oboe: If I could wake up tomorrow and play a different instrument it would not be an instrument. I would much rather have a beautiful voice. I am sincerely jealous of those who get to sing the world’s most beautiful music. This desire is also what originally attracted me to the oboe, playing it is as close to singing as I could get.

Amy Glidden, violin: The mandolin and the piano. I really don’t want to play any other instrument in the orchestra because the violin is the BEST!

Sal Andolina, clarinet/bass clarinet/saxophone: Piano, because all of the harmonies are laid out in graphic form for you to see. It would be easier to analyze and arrange with piano skills at your disposal.

Thanks for your fun question, Pookie!

BPO Pinups

Although we all now call Buffalo home, the BPO has musicians hailing from all over the world.  Jacek Muzyk, BPO Principal Horn, is from Poland and he travels home several times a year to teach and perform.  This past year he brought along Alex Jokipii (trumpet) and Jonathan Lombardo (trombone) and the three of them took Poland by storm.   The result was a lot of great concerts, and (lucky for us) this AWESOME CALENDAR!

I present to you, the blaring boys of the BPO brass section:

Mr. April, Alex Jokipii

Mr. July, Jonathan Lombardo

Mr. September, Jacek Muzyk

Hee!

Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra Side-by-Side

Each year, the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic team up to create a gargantuan One-Night-Only orchestra concert extravaganza. The concept is pretty self explanatory: The two orchestras combine, with the students sitting along side the professionals. The Side-by-Side is a pretty established tradition with orchestras, and I played in a few myself as a student. This is a pretty fun opportunity for the BPO to play with some up-and-comers, and the up-and-comers to get a glimpse of the glamorous (ahem) life of the pros.

I really enjoy the side-by-side because the orchestra is so incredible huge. When you combine two full sized orchestras, you end up with quite the musical beast and the novelty is totally fun.

The students are always very well prepared and ready to work. I actually make it a point to be a little silly on side-by-side day. I think in some ways, the side-by-side ends up being a bit of a role reversal, with the students striving to be well behaved and professional, and the professionals enjoying the contagious youthful energy.

This year we played the third and fourth movement of Mahler’s 1st Symphony (with a great bass solo performed by Sam Suggs. We were all incredibly impressed), and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome”. It was an ambitious program, but the kids were up to the task.

One of the other things that is fun for the BPO musicians is the opportunity to sit next to our students. A lot of BPO players teach extensively, and the side-by-side is a great opportunity to see and hear our students in action.  Here are some shots of BPO musicians and their students:

Thanks for another great side-by-side, Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra members!

First Questions!

Hooray! We got a few questions from a reader named Andi!

Let’s just dig in, shall we?

1. Kate, what do you like most and least about being in the BPO?

Hmm. Good question.

Well, I’ll give you the bad news first, I guess. Everyone has their little annoyances at work, and the BPO is no different. My current least favorite work issue is that during performances the stage is often hotter than the sun and drier than the desert. I’m not kidding. I don’t know how we manage to survive. (Can you tell I’m prone to exaggeration?)

As for my favorite thing….I think I can speak for all of my collegues when I say the thing we all like the most about playing in the BPO is having the opportunity to play music for a living. We all went into music because we love it passionately, and we worked very hard to get here. This job is the culmination of years of hard work and passion for music. On a more personal note, the thing I love most about playing in the BPO is the strong sense of community within the orchestra. Almost every musician moved to Buffalo specifically to play in the BPO. Starting a life in a new city can be difficult, but I think the orchestra members do a really nice job of welcoming people into the fold, and helping them get adjusted. At the risk of sounding cheesy or trite, I really feel like there is a family atmosphere within the BPO.

2. I am beginning violin student, who happens to be an adult. I started 14 months ago and am struggling with rhythm and note length ( making eighth notes sound like eight notes and not quarter notes and so forth) - do any of you have ways of teaching rhythm to adults that vary from methods used with kids? Also what advice do you have for beginning music students?

I think with students of any age, when there are rhythm issues, the most important thing is to make sure you are really secure with the rhythm before you try to play it on your instrument. Think about it; playing the violin is hard, and so is counting rhythms! You’re going to have a lot more success if you tackle one thing at a time. Try putting your violin down and clapping the rhythm. Try counting it out loud. It’s vitally important that you understand the rhythm before you add the technical challenge of playing it on the violin. The other major piece of advice I would offer is to invest in a metronome. Metronomes don’t lie. Often the problem isn’t with your rhythm, it’s with your pulse. A metronome will straighten out any pulse issues that might prevent you from really nailing the tricky rhythms.

As for general advice for new music students, I highly recommend playing with other people as soon as you feel ready. It’s hard to stay motivated when playing is a purely solitary activity. I really fell in love with the viola when I started to play in string quartets and orchestras. If you are a violinist, and you have a friend who plays cello, try playing some duets! (Incidentally, the Buffalo Public Library has an excellent sheet music department. There is nothing to lose by checking out some music and giving it a whirl.)

Thanks for your questions, Andi! I hope these answers were helpful/entertaining.

As always, if you want to comment or you have a follow up question, please do so by clicking on “comments” below.

Welcome to Our Blog!

Hello, friends of the BPO!

My name is Kate Holzemer, and I play the viola in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. I am so excited to announce the new blog of the musicians of the BPO, “Let’s Go BPO”. We hope to use this blog to share our experiences as professional musicians, but more importantly, as a way to connect to you, our audience.

I will be updating this blog about once a week, and I will answer your questions as they come in. Hopefully once they see how easy it is to blog, more and more BPO musicians will join in and contribute to “Let’s go BPO”.

There are a few ways you can participate in this blog:

1. Read it! (Duh)

2. Comment. At the bottom of each post, you can leave a comment. Don’t hold back. Let us know what you think!

3. Ask a question. At the top of this page, there is a tab labeled “Ask a Question”. Click on that tab, and leave a question in the comments. I will do my best to answer every question I receive.

I guess that’s all for today! Thanks for visiting, Let’s Go BPO!