Jamestown Day 3 -- gettin' nervous...
May. 12th, 2007 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jim_pFirst up today, another three-hour rehearsal in the morning with our faboo conductor. I commented "I never dreamed we'd be getting a free master class with this trip!".
The last piece we're singing on the program is a portion of the 1812 Overture. They're not doing the whole thing, apparently short-attention-span Americans can't sit through the slow part of the piece and want to just cut to the good part. Oh, and we're singing it in English. Damn. I always wanted to take part in a full choral production of the 1812 in Russian (you've never had goosebumps until you've heard the opening section done by a huge a capella chorus...).
The translation for the very final bit (men only, marked "ffff") in the score is "God save our gracious Tsar"... the tune was in fact the Tsar's national anthem. We're replacing it with "God save our sacred land". Just as well... we don't want to give Bush any ideas.
After this was lunch, a couple hours in colonial Williamsburg (not nearly enough, IMHO), then on the bus to an early dinner and evening rehearsal with the orchestra.
So we finally got to see the orchestra. It looks impressive, but for an orchestra of 400 it's very puny in the wind section... I'd say the number of winds is suited more for an orchestra of 150. Makes me wonder just how they put this thing together. They actually couldn't get it together to do the big horn-call in the 1812 Overture, so they cut that out and are starting the excerpt after that. I turned to another chorus member who plays trumpet (I play horn) and said "Maybe we should have brought our horns to help them out".
That the orchestra can hang together at all is a miracle. The core of it is the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and it's obvious that the pros are tutoring the amateurs (I was impressed with how well-synchronized the bowing was, f'rinstance). Still, it was obvious that they didn't have the chance to work on small detail stuff the way the chorus did. We'll see how it turns out.
One thing that positively scares me is the logistics of conducting. Here is a snapshot of the area where we'll be performing:
The huge central structure is the stage where the orchestra will perform. The chorus will be in the bleacher sections to the left and right of the stage.
Problem: How does one conduct such a mammoth ensemble?
Their solution: use three conductors. The orchestra director (in the middle) is ultimately in charge, and there will be one choral conductor on each bleacher section. None of the conductors can see each other, and each ensemble can only see its own conductor. The choral conductors will have a video link to see the orchestra conductor, and they'll effectively be "slaved" to her.
We tried this in rehearsal today, and the results were mixed. There was no video link today, the conductors could all see each other, but we were still instructed to look only at our "own" conductor. This wasn't easy, because the "other" side got the fantabulous conductor I was raving about earlier. The one we got was competent, but (a) had a hard time syncing up and (b) wasn't nearly as clear in his cues or expressive in his gestures. It was real hard *not* to look at The Good Conductor for cues. I think he wasn't sure whether to watch his choral colleague or the orchestra conductor, and I saw his gaze shift between the two as he worked.
We ran through the pieces, and it mostly went pretty well except for the 1812 in my opinion. The chorus enters on the final restatement of the opening theme, after the seemingly-eternal descending string passage. We enter on a pickup (third beat of a 3/4 measure) which makes it harder to deliver a forceful cue. They ran through it twice, and I still didn't feel too sure after that. I wish they had run it through a third time. The choral director wanted a real forceful entrance there, but I think unless we can straighten that out we're going to get some hesitation.
Because Our Imperial Excellency is going to be in attendance tomorrow, the Secret Service is descending and taking control of security for the day. They'll be in control of the Virginia State Police. We were instructed as to how little we could carry with us, which caused some complaining. Me? I figure I can pack light for the day. Everything I need I can fit in my pocketses or my music folder. The guidelines said "No chemicals" among many other things, there was some question as to whether this included sunblock. I figured I'd offer to sacrifice my bottle... I'll put it on in advance and try to bring the bottle inside. If it's confiscated, small loss, if it passes I'll share it.
We have to be awaked, showered, dressed, fed, and on the bus by 0615 tomorrow so that we can get to the park and clear security in time to attend a technical rehearsal at 0800. Just getting in and out of the bleachers is carefully coordinated; each group has a 10-minute time slot to show up, get in, and get situated. Oh and yeah, there's a separate security screening just to get to the stage. Since we enter and leave three times tomorrow, that's three security screenings. Joy.
Our tour guide said we'd be given lunch and dinner vouchers, but "good luck trying to use them" given the time constraints we're under. We're likely to be at the park from 0700 to 2400 tomorrow. It's going to be a LONG day.
If anyone wants to try and see my shining face singing alongside 1,606 of my closest friends, I'm told that C-SPAN will be covering at least part of the festivities starting at noon on Sunday, May 13. Set your TiVos :) CBS will also be airing a special later in the year.
The last piece we're singing on the program is a portion of the 1812 Overture. They're not doing the whole thing, apparently short-attention-span Americans can't sit through the slow part of the piece and want to just cut to the good part. Oh, and we're singing it in English. Damn. I always wanted to take part in a full choral production of the 1812 in Russian (you've never had goosebumps until you've heard the opening section done by a huge a capella chorus...).
The translation for the very final bit (men only, marked "ffff") in the score is "God save our gracious Tsar"... the tune was in fact the Tsar's national anthem. We're replacing it with "God save our sacred land". Just as well... we don't want to give Bush any ideas.
After this was lunch, a couple hours in colonial Williamsburg (not nearly enough, IMHO), then on the bus to an early dinner and evening rehearsal with the orchestra.
So we finally got to see the orchestra. It looks impressive, but for an orchestra of 400 it's very puny in the wind section... I'd say the number of winds is suited more for an orchestra of 150. Makes me wonder just how they put this thing together. They actually couldn't get it together to do the big horn-call in the 1812 Overture, so they cut that out and are starting the excerpt after that. I turned to another chorus member who plays trumpet (I play horn) and said "Maybe we should have brought our horns to help them out".
That the orchestra can hang together at all is a miracle. The core of it is the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and it's obvious that the pros are tutoring the amateurs (I was impressed with how well-synchronized the bowing was, f'rinstance). Still, it was obvious that they didn't have the chance to work on small detail stuff the way the chorus did. We'll see how it turns out.
One thing that positively scares me is the logistics of conducting. Here is a snapshot of the area where we'll be performing:
The huge central structure is the stage where the orchestra will perform. The chorus will be in the bleacher sections to the left and right of the stage.
Problem: How does one conduct such a mammoth ensemble?
Their solution: use three conductors. The orchestra director (in the middle) is ultimately in charge, and there will be one choral conductor on each bleacher section. None of the conductors can see each other, and each ensemble can only see its own conductor. The choral conductors will have a video link to see the orchestra conductor, and they'll effectively be "slaved" to her.
We tried this in rehearsal today, and the results were mixed. There was no video link today, the conductors could all see each other, but we were still instructed to look only at our "own" conductor. This wasn't easy, because the "other" side got the fantabulous conductor I was raving about earlier. The one we got was competent, but (a) had a hard time syncing up and (b) wasn't nearly as clear in his cues or expressive in his gestures. It was real hard *not* to look at The Good Conductor for cues. I think he wasn't sure whether to watch his choral colleague or the orchestra conductor, and I saw his gaze shift between the two as he worked.
We ran through the pieces, and it mostly went pretty well except for the 1812 in my opinion. The chorus enters on the final restatement of the opening theme, after the seemingly-eternal descending string passage. We enter on a pickup (third beat of a 3/4 measure) which makes it harder to deliver a forceful cue. They ran through it twice, and I still didn't feel too sure after that. I wish they had run it through a third time. The choral director wanted a real forceful entrance there, but I think unless we can straighten that out we're going to get some hesitation.
Because Our Imperial Excellency is going to be in attendance tomorrow, the Secret Service is descending and taking control of security for the day. They'll be in control of the Virginia State Police. We were instructed as to how little we could carry with us, which caused some complaining. Me? I figure I can pack light for the day. Everything I need I can fit in my pocketses or my music folder. The guidelines said "No chemicals" among many other things, there was some question as to whether this included sunblock. I figured I'd offer to sacrifice my bottle... I'll put it on in advance and try to bring the bottle inside. If it's confiscated, small loss, if it passes I'll share it.
We have to be awaked, showered, dressed, fed, and on the bus by 0615 tomorrow so that we can get to the park and clear security in time to attend a technical rehearsal at 0800. Just getting in and out of the bleachers is carefully coordinated; each group has a 10-minute time slot to show up, get in, and get situated. Oh and yeah, there's a separate security screening just to get to the stage. Since we enter and leave three times tomorrow, that's three security screenings. Joy.
Our tour guide said we'd be given lunch and dinner vouchers, but "good luck trying to use them" given the time constraints we're under. We're likely to be at the park from 0700 to 2400 tomorrow. It's going to be a LONG day.
If anyone wants to try and see my shining face singing alongside 1,606 of my closest friends, I'm told that C-SPAN will be covering at least part of the festivities starting at noon on Sunday, May 13. Set your TiVos :) CBS will also be airing a special later in the year.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 01:47 am (UTC)We spent four days in Colonial Williamsburg and it wasn't enough.
The best part was getting to tour the current archaeological excavations (at the time they were excavating the theatre sections) and touring th archaeology lab. Oh almost forgot we got a tour of the first mental hospital in the country whose intent was treatment rather than just confinement. Scary place.
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Date: 2007-05-14 03:33 pm (UTC)