ARTEK: Just girls this time

Last week we had a great time preparing a concert for Drew University. In order to fit rehearsals into everyone's schedules, we ended up rehearsing in Princeton, staying overnight there, and then traveling to Madison for the concert. (The ARTEK New Jersey tour...)

There were five of us - all girls. Maybe a first for ARTEK! Laurie Heimes & Barbara Hollinshead singing, Christa Patton on harp, guest Agnes Kallay on cello, and myself. Agnes told us that she'd been playing early music on cello since she was six with her father's ensemble in Hungary. (Maybe she should talk to my daughters. Six!!! And they complain. I didn't bug them to play until they were, oh, at least TEN. I think.)

We had the most wonderful rehearsals in Marvin Preston's beautiful modern home...Japanese inspired contemporary architecture, with a soothing indoor/outdoor atrium. Alan Goodheart (our board member from Princeton) and Marvin rehearsed the part of the audience while we played. Definitely a different dynamic to rehearsing with all girls. We talk, we work, we laugh, we get on with it.

The next day we performed at Drew. Truly a wonderful concert hall. Please, someone, build us one JUST LIKE THAT in New York City! I am impressed because the entire Drew music faculty has shown up for the performance. This is not a usual thing. And, a nice size audience as well, who loved our program. (Well, what's not to love? we sounded great. If I may say so myself.) Oh yes, and several of us have lovely new concert gowns...check them out at our next performance!

Back home late, after dropping off Agnes in Montclair. Too wired to fall asleep right away, so Dongsok & I skip through Dancing With the Stars before crashing. I'm up at 4:45 am to go skate with my synchro ice team...more great women friends. I'm really pleased when I manage not to fall and break anything trying to skate on 3 hours sleep! Later, I'm reading a student-written story about the concert in the Drew paper. Although we got a sensational review, the student must have been snoozing at the pre-concert lecture: nearly everything she quotes about baroque music is 100% backwards from what we said! For example:
Barbara: "We don't strip the vibrato from our voices. Instead we occasionally use non-vibrato as a special effect, more often in the music from the early baroque."
Student: "They strip the vibrato from their voices".
Sigh.

I'm really looking forward to our Baci Soavi concert in 2 weeks. More great music with my wonderful colleagues.

You'd be cranky if you were 200 years old, too

This past week, my friend and colleague Elliot Gardner lent me his antique 1810 Clementi piano for an ARTEK house concert. I had played it in his home and thought, "what a nice instrument! It plays so well!".

When I informed Dongsok about this idea, he said, "How much does it weigh to move it? Does the stand come apart? Will it fit in the elevator?" Um...well, you know...details, details...I responded that I was SURE all of these would work out just fine.

Well. It looks small, but like most anything from the 19th century, even the early 19th century, it weighs a LOT. Oh yes. As in, he picked up his end, and I picked up my end and immediately thought "I am in big trouble". We did get it to the van, with several rests on the way (and it was only 20 feet away). The stand did not need to come apart; happily, it just fit into our van with the piano with marely a millimeter to spare. (And it did fit into the elevator, easily).

Back at my apartment I explored tuning the piano. All those pegs on the right side...a veritable forest. Very very very easy to get lost in that forest, and get the hammer on the wrong peg. I ended up tearing small pieces from my AM News free newspaper and sticking a piece of paper over each Bb. At least I could find a note a lot more easily that way. Putting the rubber mute in between the strings wasn't so hard on the bass notes, but on the higher notes, they were so close together that I had to close my eyes and feel with my fingers as I carefully and slowly slipped the mute from one string to the next. It took me an hour. I haven't taken an hour to tune an instrument since graduate school.

Some really cool things:
1) The piano still has its original key. (nervous, nervous, don't lose it NOW!)
2) it has a neat little folding music rack that works perfectly.
3) I have to admit, I always wonder, "who touched these keys 200 years ago?"
4) it fits a lotta notes into a really compact package!

Some not so cool things:
1) The pedal, when depressed, lifts the dampers. However, it also does something to the hammers, so you can't play very loud.
2) It fits a lotta notes into a really compact package. And if it gets cranky, those hammers start playing the next note as well. ooops.
3) Clearly the piano does not like being moved. There are tiny little wires attaching the dampers...they seeem to have a tendency to start wiggling around & being not where they should be, thereby causing funny buzzy sounds.


I called Elliot for some advice on keeping it working and he says, "well, usually it settles down in a day or so."

Day two. Mr. Clementi still has a some cranky hammers. However, he's staying in tune a bit better. Unfortunately some of those hammers are inching over to the wrong strings. Kind of reminds me of those wise guys in 4th grade who'd try to look over your shoulder on tests.

Day three. We moved the piano to the concert location. Now Mr. Clementi is REALLY cranky. I'm starting to sweat about actually playing the piece. High F has decided it doesn't really want to play. At all. This would not be so bad except that about half of our songs and two of my solos are in - you got it - F major. Yikes. I'm not sure how Elliot is getting any lawyering done at his real job while he fields calls from us. He's a patient guy! And ultimately, he and Dongsok both saved the day. Dongsok spent a half hour with the piano (with Elliot on the phone) and restores the piano to basic playability again. Aaaaaah. Elliot came a half hour early to the concert and likewise in a few minutes has tweaked a few more of the pesky notes & dampers. All is well!

My biggest fear, that the audience would find the instrument "kind of funny-sounding", was not realized. They told me after the concert that they loved the sound (like I do) and really enjoyed hearing it. I had the feeling Mr. Clementi was just the diva waiting all along for the audience to show up whereupon he would stop the nonsense and get down to the business of playing music!


Thank you, Elliot, for allowing me to adopt Mr. Clementi for a few days.

Settling in to a new season

It's the end of September...how different the rhythm of my life is once the concerts, my teaching, kids at school, my skating, and all the other things we do with our lives get back onto track each fall.

We've already had four concerts now on Midtown Concerts. I played French baroque music on September 22. A video of the opening piece is posted. It's not the best vantage point, I admit! But we don't want the cameras to get in the way of the audience. Oh boy, and it was a warm day. As soon as I got out and sat down at the harpsichord, I thought, "way too hot, with this jacket on." But I couldn't quite face starting to strip off clothing in front of the audience...

Immanuel Lutheran, where we play, has turned out to exceed our expectations as the venue for Midtown Concerts. It's close to public transportation (just a block and a half from the Lex Ave 86th St. subway stop), the space is spacious but still small enough to be intimate, and the beautiful carvings on the front wall make a lovely backdrop for our performers. Best of all, the church pastor and secretary, Pastor Greg Fryer and Karen Rombey, attend most concerts, and Pastor Greg tells me how happy he is that the concerts have found a home here.

Even better, for the indefinite future we have been lent a fabulous two-manual Franco-Flemish harpsichord. Built by Dutch builder Titus Crijnen, the harpsichord is owned by Nicholas Bunning, and ARTEK patron who has welcomed us to his elegant uptown brownstone several times for benefit concerts. Not only does the harpsichord sound incredibly beautiful (I'm really enjoying practicing on it) but it also looks stunning. The oil painting on the lid and the extravagant outer decoration are very special. We are very fortunate. Thank you Nick!

I'll be playing the harpsichord again next Wednesday when Boston violinist Cynthia Freivogel plays Bach's C minor Sonata for violin and harpsichord. Can't wait.