An Invitation…

OK, I know you’re out there…I can’t hear you breathing, but our blog people let us know how many people look at our blog. We’d love for you to leave some comments! For example, consider these questions:

Anyone check out the Red Violin this past weekend? Anyone seen the movie? Was anyone there on  Sunday for the drama of the broken violin string? I had never seen that happen before. In fact, I’ve only broken one bass string in my life, and that was because I put it on the bass wrong. It was crazy-I was playing along, and suddenly, I felt the tempo dissolve. I looked up, and there was Maestro, score in hand pointing out a spot to our soloist. This is normal for a rehearsal, not so much for a concert.

The Berlioz was fantastic. I felt both performances were a bit different and had many great things about each one. I just hope I get to play the piece again within a decade. Music students study this piece a great deal in college, but I was shocked at all the little details and features that had escaped my notice (in other words, I found out I don’t know nearly as much about this piece as I thought).

The Chamber Orchestra starts their Four Seasons concerts tonight. Alas, I cannot go, but I wish I could. Vivaldi is one of my favorite composers, the Piazzolla is a fantastic piece, and I don’t know the Tchaikovsky. These are the ingredients for a can’t miss concert for me. You should check it out, and if you do, send us a comment!

-Posted By: Braxton Ballew, who has just realized that with all the talk about String Breaking, I should probably travel with an extra set in my case for the next 7 years or so.

Reactions and Anticipations

Does humor belong in music? Peter Schickele, AKA PDQ Bach thinks so, and as I performed for the first time in a cowboy hat (and I would bet, not the last time, as these things tend to happen) last Saturday with the Greenville Chorale, it was hard for me to disagree. Not that I did in the first place: I do my best to remind myself that music is far too important to be taken seriously (there’s an old Viennese saying that I stole that from). I got to meet Professor Schickele at the University of Georgia a while back-he was in town for a concert, and graciously stopped by to talk to the composition class. In addition to being extremely friendly and possessing an encyclopedia-esque knowledge of music, he’s very, very funny (as one would think), but in a very deadpan, dry, and matter of fact way (perhaps maybe what one would not think). Add the chance to perform the Haydn Lord Nelson mass, a work that has been on my “wish list” for some time, and all the ingredients are there for a great evening.

I think.

See, it is very difficult for me to tell how things are going while I’m playing. For me, I’m doing my best to let the music express itself, and play my role in the delivery from page to the audience. I went home very happy, which could mean the concert went well, but I might change my mind once I hear a recording. Which further emphasizes the imperfect nature of recordings: sometimes the emotion of the moment does not translate well, if at all. But I thought the chorale sounded magnificent, especially the two madrigals, and I agree with Sherwood-I think the GSO gets better every time, and every concert is a step forward on the path of refined artistry.

So now we’re on the eve of our next Masterworks, and I can hardly wait. Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique has also long been a “wish list” piece, and again all the ingredients are in place for a magical evening (not the least of which is virtuoso violinist Rachel Barton Pine. Hopefully, you’ve all checked out her preview video. If not, prepare to be amazed.). So I’m looking forward to this concert with an almost night-before-Christmas-anticipation. Just like I was last week, and I hope history will repeat itself. Well, maybe except for the Cowboy hat. There is always after the show…

And speaking of after the show, let me know how it went, will you?

Posted by: Braxton Ballew, who does not have a brother named Rex.

A day in the life of a musician

So what do we do when we’re not on stage performing?  Some might wonder what the typical day of a musician is, my instant answer (at least in my case) is–”There is no typical day”.  In addition to performing most of us have one if not several other jobs that we do.  For instance, I play horn with the Greenville Symphony (as well as others in the southeast), teach horn at a local college, and am also the librarian for the symphony.  My days can range from busy to downright hectic depending on what all is going on that week.  Finding time to practice, locate specific versions of music, teaching, bowing string parts (anyone want to sign a petition for free bowing???) all play a part in my day.  (as well as collapsing on my couch at home with my dog in front of the tv)  There is time for fun in amongst all that though, a friend at the office pointed me at this site and I frequently go back and visit.  Next to Maestro Tchivzhel, I think this is my next favorite conductor.

Posted by:  Christina Cornell

GSO Musician Thoughts on Recent Concert

Having performed the opening concert in our chamber orchestra series, I came away feeling each performance got better and better and better. I say better three times because we performed the concert three times. Although my instrument was not involved in Don Quichotte by Telemann (which lets you know I am not a string player), I thoroughly enjoyed listening from backstage. The string section reached a level of togetherness that is higher than our norm. Congratulations to them. Our guest artist David Gross was wonderful, especially Sunday’s performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Finishing the program with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 was the icing on the cake.

I am proud to be part of this orchestra. GSO is not only my orchestra, it is your orchestra and our orchestra. Greenville, SC is moving forward in a positive way and the GSO is one of the institutions leading the way.

posted by Sherwood A. Mobley

I can’t believe I’m actually blogging (and why the GSO is important)

The first time I heard that blogging was actually becoming somewhat of a popular phenomenon, I was sitting in my hut in Africa listening to the BBC World Service on my short wave radio.  Now a few years later, living back in the world of electricity and internet, I’m posting one for the Greenville Symphony. 

 The first entry on this blog, posted by my friend and colleague, Dr. Bo (Braxton) Ballew, somewhat jokingly referring to the GSO’s remarkable leap into the present, carries with it more truth than you may realize.  Orchestra’s live and die under the retrospective glance of tradition.  We live because we perform what many consider to be the greatest music ever written – principally the 17th, 18th and 19th century orchestral cannon.  We die when we fail to realize how to disseminate the message of their greatness in an ever changing technological landscape.

Some rashly state that what’s old is old so let’s stick to the contemporary instead of what was written hundreds of years ago by dead Europeans.  The past was simply the building block for what’s being created today.  There is truth in that paradigm, but, alas, little practicatily, because contemporary orchestral music intimidates people and the audience is too small in communities like Greenville to make productions possible.  It intimidates people because loving and understanding the music created today requires a significant amout of exposure to, and education about, what led to its creation, which is, fortunately, the music the Greenville Symphony plays at every concert. 

Listening to orchestral music is an education.  Sometimes simple, elegant themes appear in pieces that everyone knows and loves, but other times there are much more complicated themes that one can’t simply walk out of the theater whistling.  That music must be paid attention and actively listened to in order to extract its elegance.  That’s not easy, and in this world of two and three bar pop tunes that repeat every twenty to thirty seconds, it can even be offputting to some for music to demand that level of rapt attention.

 The closest comparison I can think of is classical litterature, but Shakespeare, Ovid, Molliere, Steinbeck and Hemingway aren’t going anywhere.  They will always remain in classrooms and taught to children because their value is unquestioned.  To an untrained reader this can be very difficult material, and to a certain extent that’s why it’s taught.  The goal is to teach children how to think critically and analytically and to understand the written word, which will carry you successfully through life.  In that regard Harry Potter will most likely not find its way into syllabi in the same way that Jay-Z probably isn’t too often performed in band class despite their entertainment value.  My point is simply that “Classical” music is absolutely no different in this regard than classical literature and yet it is being wiped from our school’s curricula despite countless studies citing its cognitive benefits.

So here we are, back in the 21st century, and it’s becoming clear that if people are to be educated about music it is up to orchestras to do it.  What I’d like to discuss with those of you who read these postings, is what the Greenville Symphony is doing right, what we’re not and how this old, beautiful and important music will continue to fit into our lives today and in the future.