VYOA Blog

I’m very excited for the spring VYO concerts.

This week’s VYO rehearsal went well; the orchestra is gradually sounding better as everyone practices their part and grows more comfortable with how the pieces sound. As part of the upcoming May concerts we are playing An American in Paris by George Gershwin; we will also play this piece when we are actually all Americans in Paris during our concert tour in France in July. This is an awesome piece, with great melodies, intertwining counter melodies, and an incredible enthusiasm inherent to the music.

Like the Ravel Piano Concerto we played with Sammy (Angstman) in the fall, the Gershwin is definitely influenced by jazz. One trumpet solo in particular has a cool groove. Gershwin also admired contemporary French classical composers. When the younger Gershwin asked Maurice Ravel for some composition lessons, the story goes that Ravel replied, “Maybe I should be taking lessons from you.”

This piece has difficult spots for everyone in the orchestra, but this week everything started to flow together into a cohesive work, becoming cleaner and clearer. Mr. Peters always tells us to play like we mean it… We often hear, “I’d rather have you be wrong and strong, than right but inaudible.” It’s great advice. Following it is really important to making a great sound, but also to having a good energy in the orchestra. This Sunday I could hear that people were paying attention and playing with conviction, and it had a big effect on the music we were making together. If we keep this up, we will have superb concerts in May.

–Suzanne Calhoun     (Photo: Stina Plant)