Letter from Paxson (10/27)
Hello Philharmonic!
Congratulations on completing your auditions this week! I have been reading through the judges’ comments, and they were very impressed by everyone’s playing on the whole. You all should be proud of the work you put in and recognize how much your individual preparation on these excerpts contributes to our shared success at our coming concerts. Bravi tutti!
The work is not done, however, as we enter the closing stretch on our Fall Festival performance. Having run the Schumann, I think we are in pretty good shape – but we still have progress to make in terms of small details. Here are a couple things I noticed overall in rehearsal:
- Woodwinds: We tend to really compress the 16th notes in Schumann mvt i. For style and for ensemble togetherness, it’s CRUCIAL that we keep these from rushing. This movement needs direction and lightness but never needs us to tumble ahead. Take a moment this week to work on these passages (all over!) with a metronome set to the 8th note subdivision.
- Strings: You know which passages you are still not 100% on in Schumann. Please take a moment this week to work those up. Every single instance of the thematic material in this movement needs to have the same articulation and line that you have demonstrated so well in the exposition. You can do it! Keep it up.
- All: The intro of Schumann really loses a sense of line when we shortchange the ends of slur groups/bows. We will rehearse this next week, but please be ready to SUSTAIN, especially at the ends of bows. If we kill the line, the slow intro music really doesn’t make much sense to the listener. This is crucial.
- I’m also concerned about our level of focus last week. I understand that it was audition week and that we are entering the halfway point of the fall semester, but we were too unfocused to get as much done last week as we needed to. You all have done a great job of building a sense of camaraderie in Philharmonic, but we need to be able to switch into “rehearsal mode” more quickly. I appreciate your help with this next week!
Here’s the plan for next Tuesday:
6:45-7:30 Copland (Street in a Frontier Town, Gun Battle, Celebration)
7:45-9:15 Schumann mvt I
We are entering the home stretch for Fall Festival. What a treat to perform this amazing music at such a great concert hall! This is truly one of the highlights of our year together, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. I appreciate in advance your focus and hard work over the next two weeks as we put the finishing touches on the Schumann. I am so proud of how far we’ve come, and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together this year.
Keep making music, friends!