Musing About Charles Ives...

So we my orchestra recently did a collaboration with the local professional orchestra, and the piece we played with them was Charles Ives' 2nd Symphony.
I have to say, I was a little more than disappointed. I had been daydreaming about the upcoming collaboration, and when I found out we were playing something that didn't strike me as awesome the first time I listened to it... well, I was all gloomy. And while a part of me still wishes we had played something uber righteous and awesome (like say, Bolero!!), another part of me is happy I got a chance to play this!
To most people, the most notable thing about this symphony is that it ends on the most hideous, dissonant, and ear-pulling-out bad chord. Ever. Now why people think that makes for musical progress is anybody's guess, but I had some fun friendly-debating it with the conductor of the professional symphony, Mr. Max Bragado-Darman.
I asked him how something ugly like that could have merit? I mean, he himself admitted it was ugly! So how could it have merit?
He said that even though that last chord is the most ugly thing ever, it opens up the door to limitless possibilities and adventure. I appreciated the time he took to explain his thoughts on the matter, and in a very non-patronizing way, too! Even though I don't fully agree. Look at what Debussy, Ravel, and many other composers have done pushing the limits of what was accepted in music! And they did it without resorting to hollow noise.
But still! It gave me something to think about, and in a weird way, through that discussion, I actually started thinking more seriously about the symphony!
What I find notable about Ives' 2nd is that it uses many well known American folk tunes, making this a truly American symphony. A contribution to the classical repertoire that we can proudly call our own.
The sometimes clashy nature of how the tunes weave together comes from Ives' childhood. His father was a band director, and often took his son to the park where all the bands practiced. Young Charles Ives would sit and listen, mesmerized by the cacophony of all the bands playing different things at once.
My orchestra only joined the pros on the stage at the start of the 4th movement (that was to decrease the workload on us, so we'd only have to work on two movements), so we had to spend a lot of time backstage listening to the first three movements. For four nights in a row.
So during that time, I was able to notice and appreciate a lot about the music!
Many themes and motifs surface multiple times, and are developed to the fullest in the 5th movement. There is so much amazing brass action, it was dazzling to hear. Ives really knew how to bring out the best in the brass section. It gave me chills to hear!
Contrary to what I was thinking at the beginning of the season, I actually had a ton of fun playing the Ives. I flaunted the little Piccolo & Snare Drum march, double tongued that crazy bit at the end with zest, and (shocking, considering my sensibilities!) even played that last note as obnoxiously as I could. I actually accidently held it too long on the Saturday night concert, and for a second there, I was a soloist. Not the good kind. But it was okay, everyone was laughing. So no harm done!
The lesson here I guess is...
1. Things are almost never as bad as you think they are going to be!
2. Even if you don't approve of everything in a piece of music, it can still at least give you something to think about.
3. Give it a chance! If you stop thinking about the one chord at the end that bugs you for five seconds, you might even find things about the rest of it that you really like! Don't throw out 45 minutes of coolness for three seconds of ugly.

Some Videos of my First Concert LOL

Me and my sister actually found our orchestra on YouTube. Righteous!
Some of them are total blasts from the past, I'm tellin' ya.
These first two are from my first concert way back in 2011!!
Back when we actually had a different conductor. O.o
Also way back when I didn't spaz like an squirrel on meth. Seriously, if only I could find a more recent video, you guys could see what I mean. XD

This next one is part of the Nutcracker medley we did, and out of seven flutes, I was one of the lucky three who got to be a soloist in the Dance of the Reed Pipes! I'm the greasy haired one in the middle. XD
I'm happy I found this video, because I didn't actually get to see the dancer during our performance. Our conductor told us that if he caught us looking at the dancer, we'd be kicked out. But she's really good!

Still Life: Piccolo Contract

I double Piccolo in my orchestra (as you all know, and no doubt beg me to stop bringing up XD), which means you're the lucky member of the Flute section who gets to float between two instruments at your leisure. The conductor was pretty cool with that the first semester, but the second semester, I had a few solos, so he started cinching up on the causal swapping to Flute whenever the Piccolo is on a 1,408,00 measure rest. I mean, I LOVE the Piccolo, but I'd like to be able to do Flute when I have those monster rests. He's not so strict about it this semester (WHOOO!), but I still drew this comic because.

 

:)

If you click on the picture, the text is way clearer.

Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends

Orchestra season starts again tomorrow. TOMORROW! ONE DAY MORE!!!
Ahem. So all of this month, I eagerly anticipated the 26th like this, basically.

This is so wonderful! We're playing Romeo and
Juliet by Tchaikovsky, that totally makes up for
the Charles Ives!

Now that it's tomorrow... I feel more like this.

I really should've practiced the Charles Ives more studiously!!!

Oooohh. Savez-Moi!

So, here's what we're playing!
Junior Youth
La Folia
Romeo and Juliet: Masks, Capulets & Montagues
Danse Macabre (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Honors
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Charles Ives 2nd Symphony Finale (which end with a hideous chord. Boo!)
Vietnamese Folk Medley with Guest Musician on the Dan Tranh!

Storage Room: Auditions

Auditions are horrid. They're the lousy thing you have to go through to get to where you want to be, and I don't like them. I especially don't like the little clipboards that they feel the need to obsessively write down all your mistakes on. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
So then I thought, "Hey! What if they aren't writing down all my sins, but instead something harmless and/or funny?"
Hence, this.

If this is too blurry, then I'll replace the picture.

I AM SO PUMPED UP!

Yep. Me and Libby had our concert today!! I had a solo and I DIDN'T miss my cue (like I did at rehearsal all the time :P), and I was doubling piccolo (Piccolo is awesome) and it was great! Libby did great, she had a lot of spirit, and she and her section were really lovely. Just beautiful! She is such a talented violinist. :)
Here's the list of songs we played....

Finale to Symphony 2 in C Major by Tchaikovsky
This one was very easy, and a lot of fun to play! This piece was performed as a collaboration with another orchestra from a different city. They were really cool to meet! I loved this one part where the 2nd Violins (Read: Libby's Section) had pizzicato offbeats, and they totally aced it!

Violin Concerto by Accolay
Every year we have the Concerto Competition, and this year the winner was a violinist and he played this one. It's a pretty good song, and he was very skilled. It's not really my taste in music, but like I said, the soloist was very good!

Turkish Fragments by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov
Now this was a terrific piece, and definitely one of my new favorites! The first movement, aptly named 'Caravan', really does sound like a Caravan lumbering through the desert. The second movement, 'At Rest', has it all. Beautiful melodies, terrific percussion, and even a really good Piccolo part! I was thrilled and really scared at the same time to play it, because it's so prominent!

On the Steppes of Central Asia by Alexander Borodin
This piece is really something special and amazing. This song is about the Russians discovering Central Asia back in the 1800's. At first, a very Russian melody plays, and then a Central Asian melody plays. But they're apart, so it shows that the two cultures don't quite understand each other yet. Later in the song, the two are played together, and this represents the reconciliation of the two cultures. The music is very beautiful, and has a magnificent swell and decrescendo. Love it.

Symphonic Pictures of Turkmenistan by Nury Halmamedov
Our performance today was actually the U.S. premier of this piece! I really love this. It was written when the composer was only 23, and there are so many different moods and sounds that it's really quite an experience.  I'd write a lot more, but I'm really tired. :) I played Flute/Piccolo for about 4 hours straight today and my shoulders and wrists feel like jelly. XD When our CD comes out in a few months, I think I'll to a full feature of it in a post. It's just not enough to talk about this music! You have to hear it to really get it.

Concerto Time!

Every year my orchestra has what they call the Concerto Competition, which is where you take a concerto, learn it, and play it for a terrifying panel of judgeful judges. If they think you did well (or if you were playing a string instrument!) then you win and get to play your concerto in the next concert.
 Since next year is the last year I can play in the orchestra (it's a K-12 thing), I wanted to give it a shot. I have to concertos picked out to work on, here they are. :)


This first one is Concerto for Flute and Strings in F Major. It's other, cooler name though is The Sea Tempest. I was expecting something really dark and stormy sounding, but this is actually really happy. Still reminiscent of a sea storm though! The running scales at the beginning sound so windy, and all the tiddly flute bits remind me of waves spraying over the side of the boat! Very cool. :)


This other one is the one I would really like to play next year, though it is a bit harder than the previous one. It's actually played on a Piccolo, something I recently picked up, and it sounds so cool on a Piccolo. You can play it on a Flute, but there are a lot of octave jumps, and I think that low notes sound very striking on a Piccolo.