Letter from Diane (2/17)
Hello Camerata Con Brio,
First of all, a shout out to our students involved in our Chamber Music program, especially Megan, Luella, Irene and Ethan, who played at our GTCYS teachers’ open house on Sunday afternoon. These four did a great job representing GTCYS and highlighting our chamber music program. Way to go!
We got some great work done on the Shorey piece at tonight’s rehearsal. This piece is coming into focus and the many emotional layers built into this music are gaining meaning and momentum. Having Wu and Madelyn there was insightful as Wu gave us more context into the piece and Madelyn added her amazing voice to our part. Wu’s encouragement to really lean in to the emotions of the piece–especially the denial, depression, and anger sections will be important as we continue our work.
At the end of the rehearsal, I think many of us agreed that getting the Dvorak ready for our March 8 performance is presenting more challenges than we anticipated. That said, I think we should take this off that program and save it for our last two performances of the year–our April concert and the Spring Festival at Orchestra Hall. This decision will not only give us more time to get the Dvorak to a high level of performance, but it will also give us more time to devote to the other pieces on our program.
So–onward we go! Please engage fully with your GTCYS 10 this week!
YOUR GTCYS 10 (and more than 10 if you have it!)
Celebration: Practice this piece this week. I’m serious! You should come to rehearsal next week ready to play with the confidence and swagger that this piece demands. It should not sound like you are sightreading!
I Got Rhythm: Two things here. First of all, we need to go FASTER so that our audience can actually dance to it. There are few things more musically awkward than trying to dance to a tempo that is mismatched! Put your metronome on at quarter note=180, then play it again feeling it in cut time with your metronome set at half note=90. I’m guessing that when you feel it in two (half note at 90) your phrasing and sense of tempo will feel better.
Second thing is that if you would like to take a solo in the improv section, you should be ready to play it next week. If you are a string player, there is a solo written out in your part. You can either play that or make up your own solo. Flutes and Oboes, if you are interested in looking at the written-out solo, please look at the violin 1 or 2 part which you will find in the music dropbox on our members page. Low brass, you can do the same thing by looking at the cello part. Again, you can either play the written out solo—or even better, make up your own.
Pirates: Keep practicing your challenge parts on this. You know where they are!
Shorey: Please take a few minutes to listen to this recording Start at time stamp 5:57 and go until 16:00.. Notice how this group is much smaller than ours so it is easier for them to achieve a good sense of balance. Let’s continue to work on dynamic contrast and paying attention to the parts that need to be protected.
A reminder that I will not be at rehearsal next week, but you get to work with the amazing Mr. Mollick! Only two rehearsals left before our concert, so make every minute count!
Work hard, have a great week, and always live your life Con Brio!