RSOC hosts FREE Outdoor Concert!!

The Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale is putting on a concert to help bring audiences back and raise funds for the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra which performs free concerts in areas that have been affected by the earthquakes and tsunamis.

An overview of the program and participants is available through the Post-Bulletin article linked below.

What: "A Song for Sendai" by the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Peace Plaza, downtown Rochester. Lawn chairs welcome. Rain site: Lourdes High School gymnasium
Admission: Free. VIP tickets, $75, include pre-concert reception and program, video message from Sendai orchestra, appetizers, cash bar and reserved seating. (507) 286-8742. Donations also accepted, with all proceeds going to Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.
 

Read the Article HERE ('Song for Sendai' concert reaches across the sea)

Recital Complete!

Angie's Dances

...if i should fall...

Dreamscape

Modern Classical

me, relieved that the performance went well

so much music that so many people learned!!
(so much viola music that Maria learned!)
so many people that i had to find!

Chris C. Anderson, Eddie Barksdale, Maria Boyer, Kylie Cassidy, Sage Coy, Rob Deitrich, Morgan Deters, Luke Engstrand, Dani Fenske, Helen Goldstein, Zein Hassanein, Heather Holland, Ian Kerr, Jaline King, Angie Misso, Rita Ombaka, Amory Parker, Caitlin Power, Branden Pursinger, Joseph Reed, Lucy Roberts, Lydia Simmons, Laura Specht, Abby Vining, Anya Walker, and Hanna White.

more pix: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150871051533275.526455.598863274&type=1&l=f70ff0cbc8

more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/159631387469017/

RANT: Preparing for my SENIOR RECITAL and GRADUATION

 So, my time at Lewis & Clark is quickly coming to an end, and I'm trying to get all of the insanities for my senior recital in order.  Finding musicians that will work for cookies and have the time to help me has been difficult, and I still don't have a full choir or a marimbist (although Brett Paschal is helping me with that one).

String Pieces

Coming to the end of college brings up a whole bunch of feelings and problems - and waiting to hear back from schools is completely out of my control, and I think I will soon have a control-freak type problem with my recital.  The main problem here is my inability to control players schedules, allowing the conductor of one of my pieces to do his job, and probably not being able to delegate tasks to others just so I can have full control of something.

I am having a great problem getting people to answer my emails so I can schedule rehearsal times...BBBAAHHH!!!  This is happening in 5 WEEKS people!!!!!!!

a piano duet

I have edited all of my scores - they all look beautiful now! - and that was a bunch of busy work.  Highlight the little boxes, hold an arrow key down forever; highlight next set of boxes, hold down arrow key forever.  Once that was complete - move all of the articulations and dynamics and everything to the specific space that it needs to be in because it got moved when you changed from studio view to page view.

On a happy note, I went on a beautiful hike this morning...it made me feel better.

Tryon State Park

Recital Event Information - date/time/place, what & by whom, etc.

Becoming a Conductor

I am taking a conducting class this semester with Kathy FitzGibbon.  While I already knew many beat patterns, I have never needed the other aspects of conducting like left hand involvement, facial expressions, any other communication to make your ensemble express you deepest thoughts through the music.

I have this nodding problem...I really seem to have no control over it.  Kathy films all of our conducting in class, and it's painful to watch my head bobbing up and down ALL of the TIME!!  Then we get to write a review/reflection of how we did and the comments that we got from Kathy and our peers.

Today, I think I may have actually beat the bobbing - I haven't watched the video yet, but I put a LOT of concentration into not bobbing.  It probably helped that the piece was in one and that I was staring down the door-knob in the back of the room.

I love conducting, and when I'm by myself practising, everything seems great.  When I get up in front of our makeshift ensemble, I get really nervous and have a hard time implementing everything I practised.

Some things comes very naturally, others are incredibly difficult.  Hopefully, I will overcome the challenges currently and any more that develop throughout the semester, and someday I will be an amazing conductor!

A New Conductor

Jeff - we haven't seen him this fancy yet

Much to our surprise, this year brought the advent of a new age for the Lewis & Clark College orchestra with the addition of Dr. Jeff Specht to the Music Department Faculty.

Jeff is from Minnesota - like me, YAY!!! - and has studied many disciplines in music.  When he conducts, you can tell he plays tuba, which is kind of funny.

I think Jeff is leading the LC orchestra to a new era of greatness!!!  In two rehearsals I feel we've accomplished more than we did in months with the last conductor.


I'm excited to work with him this year as a player and aspiring conductor (because the more people you play under, the better at reading cues you become and the more examples you have to work with for your own conducting!!)!