Friday, October 28, 2011

Newsletter #8 (10/28/11)

Newsletter #8 sent 10/28/11

(Google Calendar is on our website www.titanorchestras.com)

Contained within...
1) Link to see pictures of the orchestra
2) Thank you, parents...
3) Wreaths 'n Poinsettias
4) Christmas Tree sneek peak
5) Symphony pieces - for symph students
6) Explanation of Listening Assignment
7) Sectional schedule for Nov + Dec
8) Titan Auction - items requested, want to attend?
9) Check out this video... (Prelude from Bach)

1) Link to see pictures of the orchestra
Photographers Evan and Melissa Roth took beautiful pictures of our orchestras and a few students. To view his gallery (and purchase photos if you didn't already) click this link below:

http://smu.gs/uj8ZVi

2) Thank you, parents...
... and friends, neighbors, family, etc... we're so glad you came to the concert! It was great to see so many people in the audience! Video and audio of the concert will be on our website in the next few days.

3) Wreaths 'n Poinsettias
The order form packet for this popular fundraiser is due today (Friday Oct. 28)! My apologies for announcing that there was another week - I was a week behind in my own mind... thinking that the end of October just had to be next week. :)

Students will receive $8 per item sold into their student account (remember, the 2013 trip will be announced in December...) and each student will receive one raffle ticket per item for a pair of Snoball tickets ($50 value).

Packets turned in after 2:30pm today will not be accepted - unfortunately.

4) Christmas Tree sneek peak
Yes! Thanks to some incredible parents, we will have this fundraiser again this year - Douglas Fir AND Nobles!!! Delivery too (for an extra fee). Students will receive information on this fundraiser in the next week.

Pick up (or delivery) with be the first 2 weekends in December - and the fee structure is such that students will benefit greatly from this fundraiser!

5) Symphony pieces - for symph students
We have exciting new pieces for this next round of Symphony. We have 3 performances we'll be working towards: the Nov. 16 Eugene coaching, Winter @ West (though that will likely only be Chamber students with a few Sinfonietta students added, if schedules allow), and a concert January 19. Here are links to the music we sight read on Thursday:

Slavonic Dance #1

Slavonic Dance #8

Glinka Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla

Frescobaldi Toccata

6) Explanation of Listening Assignment
This weekend all students have been given an assignment of listening to classical music from a live streaming source (radio, digital cable TV, online station, Pandora) for an hour and writing a log of what they heard, when they heard it, what and where they listened to it, and their reaction to what they heard. This assignment optimally happens over the course of 1 hour - maybe while doing other homework? Our local radio station (Portland) is 89.9 www.allclassical.org - please enjoy listening to music often!

6) Sectional schedule for Nov + Dec
Here are the schedules sectionals for Titan Orchestra and Sinfonietta (Chamber sections arrange their own sectionals based on weekly schedules):

Titan Orchestra Violins - November 3 and 30
Titan Orchestra Violas - Nov 9 and Dec 8
Titan Orchestra Cellos - Nov 17 and Dec 15
Titan Orchestra Bass - Nov 18 and Dec 16

Sinfonietta Violins - Nov 4 and Dec 2
Sinfoinetta Violas - Nov 10 and Dec 8
Sinfoinetta Cellos - Nov 18 and Dec 14
Sinfonietta Bass - Nov 18 and Dec 16

8) Titan Auction - items requested! Want to attend?
Parents - Titan Auction is just around the corner and we still would love to hear from you regarding any services, large or small auction items or gift cards, or stays at vacation homes you can donate to the orchestra program to help make this year's auction better than ever! We have still have room at our 4 orchestra tables if you'd like to attend this sit down dinner on Nov. 19 with the Mardi Gras theme. Please email parent Geoff Winkler for more information: geoffwinkler@gmail.com

9) Check out this video!!
Baroque cellist Anner Bylsma has recorded the Bach Cello Suites both on CD and live video. Here's a video of his playing the popular Prelude to Suite #1 (that our cellists and violists have read and played)...

http://youtu.be/wmbIgVSyLQA

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading all the way down to the bottom of the newsletter. This newsletter, along with all others, will be posted on our blog at www.titanorchestras.blogspot.com - accessible off the website at www.titanorchestras.com too.

Musically yours,
~Ms S

Monday, October 24, 2011

Carbon Baby (about a cello)

From the Toronto Star 10/17/11

VIDEO: Shauna Rolston and her carbon cello

He’s known as Carbon Baby and he’s the sturdy delight of cellist Shauna Rolston.

The sleek, black, modern-looking cello is such an integral part of Rolston’s performances that composer Douglas Schmidt has recently written a special work for the cellist and her instrument titled The Devil’s Sweat (a “carbon concerto” for carbon cello and orchestra).

Commissioned by Esprit Orchestra, it will have its premier at their Oct. 19 performance at Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

“It sounds like a cello,” says Rolston, “but there is still a difference.”

Lighter and more durable than wooden cellos which are susceptible to moisture and temperatures, it is claimed that Carbon Baby could be dropped from an airplane and suffer no ill effects. (Its inventor Luis Leguia reportedly tied it to the top of his car, took a long drive, and then left it in a field for a week to test it.) However, Rolston’s much too fond of her instrument to try anything like that and she buys it a seat on an airplane when she travels.

A child prodigy in Banff, Rolston got her first pint-sized cello at the age of 2 and was performing at 4. When she was 12, she obtained wooden George, “who was born in Paris in 1824,” she says.

“I grew up with George, he was fantastic,” says Rolston, 44, in her studio at the University of Toronto where she heads the strings department.

He was her favourite for many years but, in 2002, she commissioned David Wiebe to build her a wooden cello which she calls, David.

Five years ago, she became intrigued by the new carbon-fiber cellos being made by Luis and Clark and dedicated herself to “really, understand the instrument, to understand it as I would a regular cello.”

Affordable (by string instrument standards) at around $7,000, the black cello is impervious to the weather which can wreak havoc on wooden instruments, she says. So she retired George and David to climate-controlled closets and took Carbon Baby on the road.

“I travelled many years with George around the world and the humidity really affected him. It was good for him to have a rest.”

While the carbon cello sounds just like a cello should, says Rolston, “it’s like the sound is surrounding you. Pianists who accompany me say they can hear it behind me while, with a wooden cello, the sound is more out front.”

The only wooden parts of Carbon Baby are the sound posts and the bridge, says Rolston, adding this cello is not better than a wooden one, “just different.”

There is a deeper resonance she says, demonstrating with her carbon bow and is slightly smaller than a wooden cello. It is so shiny she can see her reflection on its surface and discovered recently that a light on the cello send a blinding glare in the direction of a member of the audience.

She keeps it clean and shiny with Windex, something that you can’t do with wood.

Bringing in a new instrument has helped “keep every aspect of what I do fresh,” she says, adding she is often playing old favourite pieces by Elgar and Beethoven.

However, Schmidt’s composition is very modern, she says, adding this is the third time he has written a composition specifically for her. As the title implies, “It is certainly edgy, not a melodious work.”

Schmidt, interviewed from his home in Germany, became intrigued with writing a piece for the carbon cello after Rolston let him play Carbon Baby.

“I was amazed at how lively the sound is. I hope I beat everyone to be the first to write a concerto for it.”

He’s planning to be at the performance which will be the first time he will have heard the concerto played by an orchestra

In fact, the piece was originally going to be called Carbon Concerto but was renamed Devil’s Sweat to fit in with the evening’s program theme “Stirred So Much.”

“I feel a lot of edginess on the planet, people are unsettled and feeling unsafe,” says Schmidt. “It’s also about communication. The more devices we have, the more we feel isolated.”

There’s no sense writing a lullaby for Rolston, he pointed out, “Shauna’s got real presence. I wouldn’t like to write a quiet piece for her.”

Or Carbon Baby.



http://www.toronto.com/article/701421--classical-music-gets-carbonated

Friday, October 21, 2011

Newsletter #7 (emailed 10/21/11)

Newsletter for week 7

Contained within...
1) Concert info for Tuesday
2) What to wear?
3) I'd love to have my picture taken...
4) Student rehearsal videos will be online
5) West's Subway Competition link
6) Need some help for Middle School All City
7) Check out this video!!! (how to move when you play)

Click here to see the rest online:

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=1426fa87677f90ab1a2fe9856&id=fb6d583eed&e=111bd7de1e

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Newsletter #6 - emailed 10/13/11

Here's the contents of the newsletter this week:

Contained within...
1) Hayloft concert tomorrow night
2) Sectional makeup - this Wednesday!
3) Symphony's going on a field trip... Nov. 16
4) Concert in just over a week... details...
5) Check out this video!!! (Smooth Criminal)

Click through to read...

Newsletter Week 6, sent 10/13/11

Monday, October 10, 2011

Friday, October 7, 2011

Newsletter #5 (10/7/11)

Please follow this link to view our current newsletter in your browser:

Titan Orchestras Newsletter #5


Newsletter #5 sent 10/7/11
Contained within...
1) Wreaths and Poinsettias fundraiser begins!
2) Sinfonietta TOUR Date added - 12/9/11
3) Great music theory website...
4) What are grades based on?
5) Check out this video!!!