A Good February Concert

Yesterday, I had an MYA Concert at Pick-Staiger Theater.  My group played the first movement of Beethoven's First Symphony.  Before the concert, we had a dress rehearsal.  The dress rehearsal didn't go so well.  My orchestra had trouble keeping a stead tempo.  We rushed through the easier parts, and we got lost in the faster parts.  Mr. Pearson stopped conducting sometimes, and just watched us.  The orchestra kept playing without a conductor, while Mr. Pearson just watched us.  It was obvious that we weren't watching him.  I was thinking that the concert was going to be a disaster.

An hour and a half later, it was time for the concert.  I didn't get to hear the first two groups perform because I was backstage.  That's too bad because I heard that the Cadet Orchestra played wonderfully.  Finally, it was our turn to perform.  We did much better than the dress rehearsal, but it wasn't perfect.  It wasn't the best we've ever played, but it wasn't the worse.  I think we can do better next concert.

Sabine Meyer

Recently, I got a copy of Sabine Meyer playing the 3rd Stamitz Concerto.  I really liked it.  When she plays the Stamitz, she sounds so amazing.  I like how cute and chirpy she plays her staccato notes.  Her playing is so smooth, it's like silk.

Sabine Meyer started her career Berlin Philharmonic.  The men in the orchestra resented her because she was a woman, even though the conductor von Karajan thought she was the best.  She played there for a short time, and she had to leave because the orchestra, which was mostly men, voted her out.  After that, she became a full time soloist, and one of the best in the world.  I wonder what the men who voted her out of the Berlin Philharmonic think about her now.

It was unfair that she was voted out, but maybe it was a good experience, because I think she must like being a soloist.  She might have been stuck in the Berlin Philharmonic for all of her life and not realize what a great soloist she could be.

Three Things

I have three things to write about today.

Legere Reeds

Legere synthetic reeds are plastic instead of wood. I tried the Legere reed because my Vandoren reeds were warping in the cold weather. It was so bad that I could barely play a reed after using it for only one day.

I went to my lesson, and I couldn't play on my regular reed or my spare reed. I didn't know why, until Dileep (my teacher) looked at one of my reeds. He saw that it was badly warped. And this was a new reed! He gave me a Legere reed to try instead. It was clear, which was weird. I'd never played on a clear reed before, much less a plastic one.

I loved it. The tone quality was better than my old Vandoren reeds. I could immediately start playing without warming up too much. In the future, I think I'll use Legere reeds. I already had my mom order some from Woodwind & Brasswind.

2nd Seating Audition for MYA
On Saturday, I had another seating audition for my youth orchestra. I went in thinking that I was totally prepared. I had practiced the section plenty, and I could play it at a good tempo. I rarely made mistakes when practicing at home or rehearsing with the orchestra. The audition covered around 20-30 measures of the first movement of Beethoven's 1st Symphony.

Unfortunately, I went into the audition room. I picked up my clarinet, told the recorder my name, and started play. I got to this one part, and I messed up. So I started again. I messed up on the same part a second time, and this was a part that I never messed up on! I started again, and I did the part that I kept messing up and then I messed up another part 2 notes later! It was a disaster. I kept going this time, because I had started over too many times. I messed up again on another difficult section before finished, and this was a part that I had down almost perfectly the day before! I was even playing on my new Legere reed.

I felt so frustrated. Not only did I mess up on a song, but I messed up on a piece I totally knew cold! My mom said that everyone has a bad day and I would do better next time, not to worry. So I'm expecting last chair. I really wanted to make first chair. Oh well, maybe next time.

Interlochen Recording
Today, I made a test recording for my Interlochen audition. Interlochen is a summer fine arts camp in Michigan. It's supposed to be a really good experience, and I'm really looking forward to it. To get a spot in the Intermediate program, I need to record an audition and send it in by the end of this week. I've been working on two pieces: The 1st movement of the 3rd Stamitz Concerto and the 2nd movement of Finzi Five Bagatelles.

Here is a link to one of the pieces I recorded. Lots of improvement since the fall, but still a long long way to go. http://www.youtube.com/user/breuddwydiol#p/a/u/1/6Z69yGAy5DE
This is after 400 hours of practice.

The Haitian Earthquake

The earthquake in Haiti is the cause of major damage.  Hundreds of thousands of people are dead, missing, or injured.  Many of the hospitals have collapsed so the injured can't get treated by doctors.  Haiti is a poor country so many of the buildings aren't strong enough to withstand an earthquake like this one.  There are so many dead bodies that most of them can't be buried.  After the disaster people will face disease, thirst, and hunger and more people could die.

We should help the Haitians by donating blood and by sending them money.  It would be a terrible thing to go through:  family members dying all around you, the stink of rotting bodies, and the dying people's screams.  I feel terrible for the Haitians.  If I had to go through what they are going through, I would probably have nightmares for the rest of my life.  We really should help them.

The International Band and Orchestra Midwest Clinic

On Friday December 18, 2009 I went to the Midwest Clinic for Band and Orchestra at McCormick Place downtown. My friend Nathan and his mom were going, and they invited me to come. They came and picked me up at 9:30 in the morning. We got there at 10:00 and bought our tickets. First, we wandered around the vendors looking at instruments. There were many vendors. Nathan found a horn stand where he tried every horn there. He especially liked one of the Holtons which he had been wanting to get for a long time, but his mom thinks that it costs too much money. At 11:00 we went to see the Hebron High School Clarinet Choir from Carrollton, Texas. A clarinet choir is when a whole ensemble of clarinets plays together. They had Eb clarinets, a bunch of Bb clarinets, a few bass clarinets, and two contra-bass clarinets. They were amazing! We watched them for an hour. I loved how smoothly they connected their notes and their phrasing was pretty good too.

Next we went to lunch. Nathan and I had a piece of pizza. We couldn't find seats for a while, so when we finally found seats, our plastic silverware had melted on our pizza! After lunch we went and looked at sheet music. I found a song I really wanted: Mozarts clarinet concerto in A major, but it was too expensive. We went back to the vendors and I tried out some clarinets. I tried a Bliss clarinet, the wooden one, which was a lot different than the clarinet I normally use. It felt different in a good way, and it was easier to get used to than my new clarinet, which is a Buffet R13. I got the R13 for Chanukah, and I love it, but I want a Bliss clarinet now too.

After Nathan and I finished trying out instruments his mom drove us home. We wanted to stay to see another ensemble that played in the evening, but Nathan's mom didn't want to stay that long. It took us a whole hour to get home because of traffic. When we got to my house Nathans mom stayed around a talked for a bit and then left. It was a wonderful day. I hope I can go to the Midwest Clinic next year! And I'm going to remember to bring a mouthpiece so it is easier to try out new clarinets.

Practicing 5 Hours in 1 Day!

Today, I started working on the first movement of Beethoven's 1st Symphony, which my youth orchestra is playing.  I think Beethoven really must like oboes, because there are a lot of oboe solos in the piece.

Also, today I practiced for 5 hours for the very first time in one day.

IMEA District 7 Music Festival

On Saturday I went to the IMEA All-District festival. They are the people who put on the solo and ensemble festival and the all-district and all-state band concerts in Illinois. It's for kids who play music in the public schools. Earlier in the year I tried out for it and made it.

On Saturday, I my mom woke me up to get ready for IMEA. I was tired, but excited. I went downstairs, ate breakfast, packed my clairenet, and grabbed my music. I got in the car and my mom drove me to the high school where the IMEA All-District festival was taking place. The building was big and confusing with a bunch of different wings. My mom's strategy was to follow the stream of kids dressed in black pants and white shirts. This led us to the orchestra rehearsal room, which was on the exact opposite side of the school from where the band was rehearsing. I did warn her that we were following people with violas and violins. Fortunately, the school's choral director walked us across the school to the band rehearsal room. When we got there my mom left to find my school band director. I unpacked my clarinet and went to the band room.

The band room was basically a plain room with chairs, music stands, and lots of quotations on the wall.  While I waited for the conductor to show up, I got out my music and practiced the Stamitz Concerto. When he arrived he made a speech about how honored he was to direct this band. He told us to introduce ourselves to the people next to us. I was sitting 6th chair between two 8th grade girls. They were very tall, but they were very nice. There weren't very many 6th graders there, but there were several kids from MYA there.

After that rehearsal, we went to the stage where we were going to perform, and had another rehearsal. The second rehearsal was much longer than the first. We practiced Chimes of Liberty and Nettleton on the stage. Then we went back to the rehearsal room, and practiced again before lunch. We mostly worked on the third movement of the Fanfare Ode and Festival. We had already played about two and a half hours and we were only half way done! I practice a lot at home, so I wasn't tired yet.

At lunch I met my brother Ari's friend Raffi. Raffi plays trombone at MYA in the Concert Orchestra. We ate lunch together. Raffi was playing euphonium, not trombone, because he wanted to do something on his euphonium for a change. We were in the lunch room for about forty-five minutes. We had sausage pizza for lunch, and it was great. I spent the last fifteen minutes of the break practicing the Stamitz Concerto some more. While I was practicing the director, Dr. Cunningham, walked up to me and asked me if I was playing the Stamitz Clarinet Concerto. I said, "Yes!" He told me that I was playing it really well.

After the break Dr. Cunningham told us that we had some really talented players here. He said that he had heard some really great solos during the break. When he said that, he was looking at me, which made me feel really proud! We rehearsed for about an hour and forty-five minutes. That made a total four hours and fifteen minutes of rehearsing. I thought it would be more like five hours but I was fine with less.

Finally, it was time to go to the concert. I was very nervous at first, but I felt fine after a few minutes of talking with my friends. Chatting with the others made me feel more confident. After the junior chorus who performed before us went offstage, it was our turn. We came onstage and got ready to perform. The pieces went off with only a few mistakes, which were all almost unnoticable. We went offstage, turned our music in, and I went to meet my mom downstairs. It was an exciting day.  I had a great time!