Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Capitol Quartet Update #3

My apologies for taking my sweet time in uploading this post, it was due exactly a week ago!
-Katie


After two days of blogless granting the Capital Quartet has decided to resume our blogging and keep the rest of the world informed of our Houston activities.

Tuesday was a low key day for us. We had initially planned to attend a Rice bassoon studio recital, but it was canceled so instead we spent the majority of the day at the University of Houston shaping cane, working on reeds, and rehearsing our quartet music.

In our spare non music time we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and gazed in wonder at prehistoric fossils, rare gems, and mollusks. It was awesome. After getting our science fix we walked to a nearby park and enjoyed the sunshine. The nature inspired our bassoon playing, as did the science.

Wednesday was more eventful. We were coached by UT alum TK Dewitt, who is now the second bassoon in the Houston Grand Opera. Working with TK was great and revealed a lot about our quartet. We mostly focused on line and bringing out parts that were more important than others. Essentially we finessed our performance. Thanks TK *thumbs up*

Before our coaching we wandered around a museum-rich neighborhood. Our first stop was the Rothko Chapel, self described as a place of art, spirituality, and human rights. We thought visiting this museum would provide interesting insight to spiritually connecting with our music or whatever it is that “artistes” do. Katie was frightened of the Rothko Chapel though and didn’t stay long. Next we took a stroll through Houston’s photography center. Fun. Finally we took some time browsing through the Menil Private Collection, one of the finest private art collection in the United States.

After gallivanting through museums and bassoon coachings we decided it would be fun to spontaneously go to Kemah Boardwalk… so we did. And we were right, it was fun. We didn’t do anything at the boardwalk other than stroll along the ocean and take in the sights.

Thursday our day began yet again at our favorite spot in Houston, The University of Houston. We worked on our quartet music before jetting over to the Hobbit CafĂ©, a middle earth themed lunchtime getaway. While Katie was disappointed that the food was not authentic Hobbit food we still had a great time. Afterward we rushed over to Jones Hall to be coached by the Houston Symphony second bassoon Elise Wagner. Elise focused on our phrasing and exaggerated musicality. A nice aspect coupled with TK’s coaching the previous day.

After a hard two hours of coaching we vegged out and did some very important shopping at the Galleria.

It was a good day.

-Pearson

Monday, March 14, 2011

Capitol Quartet Update #2

We have finally arrived in the magical land of Houston! It was magical and it was rainy. We almost didn’t make it because of the torrential downpour and strikes of lightening that threatened our drive. Luckily, Katie and I had Pearson, the strong, courageous driver and his trusty Ford Taurus, to guide us through the storm.
After navigating the maze of pavement and anxiety we finally came to rest at our super shwanky hotel, the Alden of downtown Houston. We were quickly beckoned away however by our 2 o’clock appointment with Cheryl and Benny Huddleston. Only to be stopped yet again by the raging traffic of Houston.
“And when we say stopped, we mean LITERALLY STOPPED” –Pearson.

Lady Gaga and Rhianna brought us through the cars and debris to Cheryl’s house where we were greeted by her smiling little





5-month-old son, Benny. For 2 hours Cheryl walked us through the steps of Herzberg style reed making.

She provided us each with blanks and taught us how to scrape and test the reed. We all found this new style of reed making very unique and beneficial. The Herzberg style really stresses the importance of response, intonation and a core-centered tone. I am lookingforward to using these new methods in my personal reed making time.

After leaving Cheryl’s house we were lead by the GPS to a botanical garden… only to find it was a playground.
The little kid park turned out to be quite pleasant and we sun-napped, swung and talked about black-widow spiders. Thanks to our resident quartet black-widow
expert, Katie.
Back downtown again we found an overpriced parking garage and wandered around only to find more overpriced food. We settled on a nice little Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant and filled up
on chicken, shrimp, rice and jugs of Hoisin sauce.

We sauntered back to our hotel rooms ready to practice, relax and take advantage of the 24-hour fitness room. And now we are currently planning our day tomorrow!!! Hopefully tomorrow will find Pearson relaxed enough to drive again. I’m not worried though because he is taking a stress bath tonight.

~Leah


Thursday, March 03, 2011

Capitol Quartet Update #1

So this was our second rehearsal with the Capitol Quartet, and it's super exciting to see how we are coming together as an ensemble. Our first rehearsal I think we were kind of clueless as to what to expect or do, but we are starting to blend and work together.
Finding how the leading role in the music shifts from one person to another is also something I think we started to touch on. Though contrary to popular thought, the leading line isn't limited to the first bassoon part.
The whole idea of contributing your line tastefully to make the whole group sound good, and not thinking of yourself constantly as a soloist I think is so cool. I guess you could call it passing the baton from one bassoonist to the next, and not hoarding it for yourself... so like teamwork. It's so cool. I could say it's so cool all night.

Also, the idea of making "music" out of bassoon quartet music isn't as easy as it seems. As a bassoonist, my personal opinion is that the bassoon isn't always that aesthetically pleasing to the ear all the time. However, the key to making it worth your time is making music out of the line you have with the tools you have. Wow. It takes an immense amount of creativity and attention to detail. Plus, bassoon can't play fast interesting lines like the flute, violin, or clarinet... so that means one more limitation.
Yeah, it's not an easy job but it is very rewarding to do it successfully. I think our quartet is capable of creating truly interesting music through our teamwork, that can rival even the prettiest instruments. We have the soul, they have the good looks... it's all in what you're looking for I guess. (those of you who play pretty instruments.. no offense intended)

Tomorrow we have our COFA meeting where we'll brainstorm ideas for our project, it will be exciting! We'll probably follow that with a rehearsal in preparation for a few coachings we'll have with Ms. Jensen next week.

Ok, time to study for tomorrow's music history quiz... *sigh*

laterz