Maine All State Music Festival
The Maine All State Music Festival concert was held yesterday at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine. I went to it, because my nephew Josh was singing in the chorus. His senior year, so this'll be his last all state concert.It was an interesting concert - and an interesting day - on a variety of levels.
Interesting, first, because two of the three conductors were musicians who live and work right here in Maine. I don't remember ever seeing that before. Typically the conductors are people from "away". But I'm not complaining. I think that was good, especially since the orchestra conductor was my old violin teacher, Anatole Wieck, who I hadn't seen in years.
I used to have lots of fun imitating his Latvian accent and repeating some of his more humorous stories and jokes, but my mother told me I had to behave myself. *sigh* Mothers!
The band part of the concert was good, although none of the music was music I knew, and the loud clashing drums and cymbals made my nephew Daniel put his hands over his ears and cringe. (Daniel doesn't like loud noises!)
Last year I remember walking away from the concert thinking that the orchestra part of the concert was the best part - in fact, I was almost stunned by the fact that there were only a few short moments in their entire concert that reminded me I wasn't listening to a professional orchestra.
I hoped that this year they would be as good, or even better. I don't think they reached that level, but they were still quite good. They started out with George Enesco's Roumanian Rhapsody, which I thought was a brave choice. Typically, I've found that in high school orchestras the woodwinds are usually the weakest link (my apologies if you play a woodwind!
) and the Roumanian Rhapsody begins with a long section with solo and duet woodwinds! The players did a remarkably good job with that, with just a couple fumbles for notes, and solid tone throughout.Then in the Rimsky-Korsakov piece (Cappricio Espagnol), several students had the opportunity to shine with short solo passages. The concertmistress was exceptionally good, with a solo passage containing both double-stops and harmonics - neither of which are easy to do under pressure. But she handled them with grace, confidence, and clarity. Bravo for you!
But the chorus was my favorite part this year. And not just because my nephew was one of the basses. They had a really lovely sound. I think for most people the concluding number (Bridge Over Troubled Water) was the favorite, but my favorites were "Lily Of The Valley" and "Amor de mi Alma", which were just a sweet and lovely sound.
They also did Edward Tyler's "The Catriona Madrigals" - a series of madrigals based on some poetry by a sixth grade girl. What a novel and clever idea!
Well, what else is there to say? Oh, after the concert we went out to a Japanese restaurant in Portland. I'd never tried Japanese food, never had sushi.
It was okay. Nothing to write home about in my book, and not something I'll go out of my way to have again. I said I thought the food was a bit bland - Debbie assured me that it was "subtle flavoring". I say, "subtle flavor" is just a fancy way of saying "bland".
Posted On May 22, 2005 at 4:22 AM
On May 22, 2005 Doug wrote: I decided to add in an extra comment, just in case some of the people involved in organizing the All State Festival stumble across this page...
I was very pleased that this year you cut down the amount of time speechifying at the beginning of the concert. However I think that 14 minutes and 43 seconds (yes, I really did time it) is still far too much time for the festival organizers to spend thanking one another and saying the same things over and over.
Remember that this concert, this festival, is about the students, not you.
And it certainly isn't about the politics of "Learning Results" and "No Child Left Behind"
When a concert is scheduled to begin at 3:00, and the first note (not counting the horn blowing of the organizers
) is sounded at 3:32, there's something seriously wrong...And, for the record, even if we don't get a chance to publicly express it, we all - parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, teachers - appreciate all that you do to make this festival possible for the students!!
On May 23, 2005 JoShUa TwItChElL wrote: Many times during the rehersals before the concert, our conducter, Dr. Peter Bagly, woudl be razzing on us for many things. one thing that he always got on our case was our diction. he made a little rhyme to make up for that.
Two toads terribly tired trotted along the road
Said toad number one to toad number two
It is hot and I carry a load
Said toad number two to toad number one
Why don’t we return to the pond
Said toad number one, it’s a splendid idea
Of walking ive never been fond
So they turned in their tracks and they hurried away
And quickly returned to the pond
In all this, he made the point that the most mispronounced word in the english language is "and". After he had us repeat this, he made us take a vow.
When the vowel is forte (loud)
The consonant must be forte (powerful)
When the vowel is piano (soft)
The consonant must be piano (mild)
Dr. Bagly was one of the best conductors I have ever been under. he really knew how to make us listen, even if we are only listening to the room.
However, I do think that it is kind of not cool to make us think that the concert is going to get out at 5:00, and then not get out until 6:20 (i think). Some people had to work after the concert, and after getting home I had to go right to bed, because I had to get up at 4:00 in the morning the next morning to go to work!
All in all, though, it was a very well done concert. I especially appreciated the fact that there was only one concert, and we didnt have to finish at 9:00 like previous years. Also, singing in Merrill Auditorium was a great privilage.
Doug Replied: Yeah, I remember the times I got to play in Merrill Auditorium - very exciting; it's such a great place, such a nice atmosphere. Once I was doing an audition backstage, and they let me warm up on stage - quite an amazing thing to stand in that empty auditorium and play the violin, and listen to the way it reverberated around the auditorium!
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