new.challenges
With the new year and each new concert we have new challenges, and those new challenges come from new things—such as music that isn’t too familiar to us. That turns each concert into a journey of learning, gathering insight on the stories behind the music, but there’s something that a lot of people like to emphasize in this group: fun. The music might be serious and of course we should take our playing seriously but we should never lose sight of the fun.
Today we had a rehearsal for our upcoming concert and as the various sections were rehearsed (where details worked and tidied and new focus points found), It was hard not to notice a few smiles as certain passages came together. Not just from Maestro, but from section players too.
There was a point in the rehearsal where Maestro pointed out to us that Dvorak was one of those people that was able to make happy music out of a minor key, telling us a story that transformed the way we looked at the music: it was of a maestro working with a different orchestra that, while they rehearsed Dvorak’s 8th Symphony, noticed that the brass came in with a very profound and dignified entrance to the Fourth Movement. didn’t quite have the right frame of mind. Politely, he pointed out to them that, “Dvorak never called us to war, he called us to dance.” :)
And that transformed how they played the symphony, and that holds true for us as we take on Dvorak’s 7th Symphony. Perhaps we focus so much on playing serious classical music that we forget this is also quite fun. It’s actually quite refreshing to have it pointed out—we hope you can see it too :)
There are two concerts coming up: one in Federal Way at the Centerstage Theatre Arts Conservatory and our regularly-scheduled concert, “The Giving Tree”, at Meany Hall at the University of Washington. Come to one of the concerts (or both!) and have some fun—we’re quite excited to share it with you!
In any case, from all of us here at the Seattle Philharmonic: a most happy new year to you and yours :)
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