Posts Tagged ‘premiere’

How Many Rehearsals?

Monday, March 31st, 2014

I’m writing this post just as I arrive home from our performance at the Chicago Cultural Center, premiering Rural Sketches by Igor Iachimciuc with Matthew Coley, marimba (click for more details).

If you were in attendance today, thank you so much for being a part of a lovely audience! I really hope that you enjoyed the piece. If your interest in double bass music is piqued, please join our mailing list to learn about future performances!

One of the most common questions I’m asked about any piece of music we perform or concert we give is “how many rehearsals did you have?” I have to admit, it’s fun to give the answer and watch people’s surprise at it. I won’t be able to see all of your expressions as you read this, but please feel free to leave a comment.

How many rehearsals did we have, with all the performers, for this piece? One. An hour before the performance.

Go ahead, take that selfie of your amazed expression and send it to me…

Now, that’s the “shock value” answer. For a variety of reasons, we had only the one rehearsal, this morning, with everyone in attendance. We had six rehearsals with some subset of the group together. The smallest group we had for a rehearsal is three. Several times we had four of us. Matt drove from Iowa to Chicago to rehearse with us one time, a week ago, and that was the first rehearsal that Leslie B. Dunner joined us to conduct. But only five of the bassists were present for that.

It’s a real testament to the professionalism and skill of all my colleagues that we are able to put a piece together in few rehearsals. But, if I may make a broader point, this is not uncommon for professional musicians. We all work hard at refining our skills so that we can make music with little or even no rehearsal. Just like doctors and lawyers and all kinds of other people, we work hard “behind the scenes” preparing for the moments we get on stage (or in the surgery or in front of the jury). I’m sure that Andy, Doug, Charlie, Josh and Julian spent at least as much time preparing on their own as they spent in rehearsal with the rest of us. Not to mention the years of study to master the instrument itself. Same for Matt. And Leslie — for conductors this situation is even more extreme: nobody gets unlimited time in front of an orchestra to “figure out” how to conduct. Conductors bring years of study and intense personal preparation into every movement of their baton.

Your question “how many rehearsals did you have?” was an innocent one, so I won’t harangue too long, but please, the next time you enjoy a piece of music, remember this. Yes, the musicians put this together in just a few rehearsals. Yes, that seems pretty amazing. But it’s not magic: it’s long hours of private preparation that make it possible. And if you hear about musicians striking for “better pay” remember that the hours of rehearsal that they get paid for are only the tip of an iceberg of practice room time that has brought them to a level of skill that makes those few rehearsals very productive. (End of soapbox.)

Again, my warm thanks for coming to today’s performance, for reading this blog, for being interested in what we do.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Jacque Harper

Stages of Preparation

Thursday, March 27th, 2014

In an e-mail that I sent to my mailing list last night, and in a tweet that I sent a few days ago, I hinted at the stages I’ve gone through in preparing Rural Sketches for its premiere (See March 31 for more on the premiere). Here’s some additional thinking, using the framework I sent in my e-mail:

  • excitement at the idea of bringing something new and cool into the world
  • panic when you see the composer’s first ideas, which all appear completely unplayable
  • scramble to find players capable of it
  • shared relief when you find that the other players think it’s unplayable, too
  • curious intrigue as you find moments in the piece that give you a chill up your spine
  • excitement returning as you find out it’s not impossible and actually is going to be pretty cool
  • realistic acceptance that you need a skilled conductor to guide you over the finish line.

Excitement

Back in October Matthew Coley reached out to me to see if I was interested in co-commissioning a piece. He had a venue in mind for the premiere, and a date. And a composer, for that matter. I said yes. That starts the excitement: A new piece! An opportunity to perform!

Because, that is what all of this is about, sharing something with an audience. I know that sounds like a platitude, but if you’ve never done it, you can’t really know what a pleasure it is to have someone who has listened to you share with you their experience, and to know you brought that about.

Panic

A composer in the 21st Century is challenged to always come up with something fresh. Since recorded music can be heard everywhere and repeatedly, for a modern composer there is pressure to always come up with something new, rather than repeat ideas or even simply polish a good idea through repeated exploration. So Igor’s score naturally includes extended techniques, tricky rhythmic combinations and unfamiliar harmonic language. Now, no performer wants to be Leopold Auer (you are asking yourself, “who?” aren’t you) and refuse a piece as being too difficult. So I wrote back with some suggestions, gritted my teeth and got to work trying to figure out how some of these things would work.

On reflection, of course, it’s not that bad, but that part of the story comes later.

Scramble

A recurring problem for me, finding the players. Chicago Bass Ensemble does have a core group, the folks I like best to work with, but many of them were not available for this particular date. I also held out on filling the final chair or two, wondering if I needed a particular skill set (I was thinking about Stewart Miller or Bill Harrison in the event I needed an experienced jazz player). Of course, holding out got me in trouble as days and weeks passed and everyone I contacted was busy. The good news at the end: I’ve made new connections with Andy Anderson and Charlie Macko, and all six slots are filled.

Relief

The first rehearsal we had, on February 28, was just Andy, Julian and myself. Each of us arrived with our worry spots: “what do you think about this measure, how are we going to do that?” and “do you really think we can take that movement at that tempo?” But it was all good-natured, as is typical of bass players: Congeniality and collegiality rule us. And that shared experience brings a lot of individual relief, as in “I’m not alone!”

Excitement Returning

As momentum built, as we had more rehearsals together (but note: as of this writing, we still have not had all six bassists and the percussionist together in one room at one time), we have started to find those moments where the piece “comes together:” where something coordinates, hangs in, resonates, and dare I say it, something sublime emerges.

(A few of my personal favorites:

  • mm 296-297, in the movement called “Lullaby”, a lovely little pizzicato melody strung across all six basses;
  • the pedal-tone like chords of basses 4, 5, and 6 in the first movement, mm 9-15;
  • mm 252-253 in the movement “Harvest” where all six basses play an aggressive rhythm, that was a fun one to figure out;
  • the end of “Lullaby”;
  • …and at this point I could go on.)

I can’t wait for an audience to hear it!

Conductor

We did realize, however, that as enthusiastic as we were all finding ourselves, there is definitely stuff that doesn’t “just work.” I had casually been discussing this possibility with my teacher Leslie B. Dunner, and the rest of the performers agreed: we would benefit from having a conductor. I wrote a little about this earlier.

Now that we’ve had a rehearsal with Leslie conducting, I know it was the right thing to bring him in. It was a minor shock to go from the very light-hearted, congenial, kidding around, “what are we doing” atmosphere that characterized our early rehearsals to a much more structured format with Leslie truly leading us toward a vision for the piece. But once I got past that, I really enjoyed seeing what an ‘outside’ perspective–i.e. someone who didn’t have to be concerned with where to put fingers and what bow speed to use–could bring to the piece. And honestly, Leslie is an extremely talented composer and conductor. With just a few days study, he really understood the piece.

And so, with just a few days to go before the premiere on March 31, I am excited, panicked, scrambling, excited again . . . and looking forward to it.

Conductor

Sunday, March 23rd, 2014

I very pleased — and also relieved — that for our performance on March 31 we will be joined by conductor Leslie B. Dunner.

As a group, we’ve been doing our best to get ourselves through the piece, but there comes a time when having a neutral party holding the beat is helpful. Here’s an example:

Screen Shot 2014-03-23 at 7.17.07 AM

And another (looks simpler . . . isn’t):

Screen Shot 2014-03-23 at 7.19.07 AM

Anyway, Leslie and I go back as far as my undergraduate days. I studied conducting with him for a term or two (loved it! frantically waving my arms in front of the student orchestra for the opening of Carmina Burana, rescued by my friend Britt Ravnan who showed the strings what I was meant to be doing!) and played in the orchestra under his direction for four years. Basically, I was learning how to play the upright bass with a bow, and he humored me and had me play part of my audition pizzicato . . . but enough embarrassing stories about myself!

I would share some embarrassing stories about Leslie Dunner to balance out this post, but I haven’t got any. He’s a consummate professional as a conductor (as opposed to the stories you hear about temperamental and emotional conductors, at his angriest I have seen Leslie stamp his foot. Once.), and he taught me the meaning of the word “nosh.”

I’m really looking forward to working with him, even briefly, again after many years.

 

Monday March 31, 2014
12:15 pm
Chicago Cultural Center

We will be premiering Rural Sketches for Marimba and Six Double Basses, newly written (the laser toner is still warm!) by composer Igor Iachimciuc.

We are the guests of percussionist Matthew Coley on the Cultural Center’s Classical Monday series.

 

 

Rehearsing for a Premiere

Thursday, March 13th, 2014

This is just a super-quick reflection on what it’s like to rehearse a brand-new piece.

(I’m referring to our upcoming premiere of Igor Iachimciuc‘s Rural Sketches for Marimba and Six Double Basses.)

It’s challenging. For over a week, I’ve been fretting about my part, and about the piece in general. Is it too hard? Do we have enough rehearsal time? Will the players I’m working with be up to it, and will they take it seriously? Did I make a huge mistake in commissioning a new work by a composer I don’t know well?

I won’t say I’ve been losing sleep over it, because I haven’t, but it’s been a source of worry for me. I want the performance to go well. I want Matt Coley to be pleased he chose to collaborate with me/us. I want people who attend the performance to be impressed by the idea of six bass players as an ensemble (I’m not imagining that this performance will be an springboard to the big time, but it is likely to be the best-attended performance we have given).

All that worry!

And then in rehearsal, I’m with my colleagues, and we’re kidding around, and commiserating about how hard this bit is or what did the composer think he was doing when he wrote that, and we’re playing the piece, and getting through some spots and falling over on others, and finding the moments we love to play, and I’m having a good time because I’m really in that moment and I stop worrying and just get it done.

It is now the next morning. I still feel pretty good. If I can just get enough practice time, and everyone else does too, this will go okay. I’m still worried, but less so. And I think that’s just about right.

March 31, 2014, Chicago Cultural Center

Monday, February 24th, 2014

Monday March 31, 2014
12:15 pm
Chicago Cultural Center

We will be premiering Rural Sketches for Marimba and Six Double Basses, newly written (the laser toner is still warm!) by composer Igor Iachimciuc.

We are the guests of percussionist Matthew Coley on the Cultural Center’s Classical Monday seriesRural Sketches will be second on the program.

The Chicago Cultural Center lists this on their Classical Mondays page, but doesn’t give much detail. The link from that page goes to Matt’s schedule, but he’s such a busy guy, he doesn’t have time to write much there.

For this concert:

Conducted by Leslie B. Dunner

Rural Sketches by Igor Iachimciuc consists of ten movements:

  1. Morning
  2. “Tsurca” game
  3. Bycicle in the field
  4. The flock
  5. Forgotten well
  6. The story of the old man
  7. The dialogue at the gate
  8. Harvest
  9. Lullaby
  10. Wedding pass

Matthew Coley will also be performing a number of pieces for solo marimba, I believe. The noontime concerts at the Cultural Center usually last just short of an hour. Perfect lunch diversion for those of you who work downtown.

As always, this page will get updated as details emerge!

March 1, 2014: we had our first rehearsal last night. Working on a brand new piece is always a challenge, and this one is no exception. But getting together with one’s colleagues is a great way to find out what will be hard and what only looks hard. Our rehearsal last night revealed that a lot of this only looks hard. And it promises to be fun to play!

March 10, 2014: the score is finished, ten movements in all. More rehearsals this weekend.

March 23, 2014: added Leslie B. Dunner as conductor.

March 31, 2014, (early morning): clarified links to Chicago Cultural Center, noted that we’re second on the program.