Notes from a Question/Answer with Midori

These are Gwen Gates's notes from the Q & A session we had with Midori. We thought they were worth sharing with everyone, as they are quite good notes!!

• Chamber music preparation requires just as much dedication and detail as that of solo work.
• Once you know about 75% of your own part, rehearse all together as often as possible.
• In today's world, we often look for the fastest, most convenient way to get what we need or want. In music, we need to make discipline and patience, and hard work, a priority.
• There isn't just one correct way to play a certain phrase.
• "I would never ever say that classical music is dead. We're in a very precarious place, but we aren't dying." (Midori's words)
• To inspire your students, be the example of what they should be.
• You're more likely to have a larger influence if you develop a close relationship with your students.
• What to look for in a score: patterns, the obvious (key, meter, etc?), themes.
• Take it step-by-step; don't jump to conclusions.
• Try to find something new in the music every time you read it.
• Find the phrase, experiment with how to get the message across.
• On finding inspiration (easily) - there's no real way. But listening is very important. Think about the composers' language.
• You may experiment and fin that you're wrong, but then you are much wiser.
• "What I learn from my students I also bring to my performance."
• Balancing practicing: never ever take out warmups and exercises. You don't save any time either, it is unhealthy.
• Being warmed up correctly is directly tied to your sound output.
• Scales, trills, vibrato practice - makes playing easier.
• Have a balance between the known and the unknown.
• Solo piece - start from the beginning. Organize patterns and structural designs.
• Pursuing career - stay with a good teacher, no matter where you want to go. Whatever degree you do, in music, there's always business, communication, writing, presentation.
• "The real life of a musician isn't just about playing."
• Classical style - balance clean and engagement
• Her greatest obstacle - she is inspired, yet also scared, by how much she doesn't know, or ever will know.
• Balance frustration with something to help the students own their success.

There were a few more, but nothing you can't find out by using Google :)

Out at the winery

These pics are from the Schmidt Family Vineyards. The students performed there on Sunday, and the setting was absolutely gorgeous. They had a wonderful flower garden, a pond, and a beautiful tasting room as well! Don't worry, none of our students had any wine!

We're having so much fun!

So much that we haven't been able to keep up with the blog. But here we are, writing again!

We had a very busy few days here at the String Quartet Academy. I want to use this time to just post some pictures of the things we've been doing, so this round is dedicated to the Quartets on Every Corner event we held on Saturday the 9th. We setup all the quartets in downtown Jacksonville and had them play their Haydn pieces. All the passer-bys just loved it! It is a fun event that leads all the Britt concert-goers up to the hill for the classical concert that night.

Jamie Laredo and Sharon Robinson Master Class

We had a master class yesterday with Jamie Laredo (violin) and Sharon Robinson (cello) both of whom are playing with the Britt Orchestra on Saturday night! They are both masters of their instruments, and shared some of their extensive knowledge with our camp participants. We got some great pictures of Mrs. Robinson playing the cello with one of the groups! Here's that and a few more!

Pics from Camp

Just enough time for some pictures of the action at camp. We are busy, and getting busier, as we prepare for two big events: the Quartets on the Corners and the performance at the Schmidt Family Vineyard out in the Applegate. We'll have pictures and video of these performances. Until then, enjoy these!

The Dickson Quartet playing for the
Champagne Picnic at Opening Night
of Britt's Classical Season














The Holton-Arms Quartet in rehearsal













Kurt Baldwin, the cellist from the Arianna
String Quartet, coaching the Ekaterina
Quartet.













Maren walking back to rehearsal.













David Gilham, Arianna's second violinist,
coaching the Serioso quartet. They were
actually singing their parts during this picture!!

Master Class!

I am sitting and watching the first SQA master class of the year. These sessions are always so engaging. All the students have to play their Haydn quartet in front of everyone else (including the rest of the students, the faculty and the staff). Once they are done, the Arianna Quartet gives them feedback and pointers on how they should perform the piece.

A particularly telling comment was made today by one of the faculty. He told the students that there is a false assumption of sorts involving playing Haydn; people immediately assume that it is easy. But just because the notes and lines are easy to play by yourself, it doesn't mean it is easy to put into the context of the string quartet, and this is especially the case with Haydn. All the parts have to be together, portraying the same character at the same volume (and so on). If one person is even a little bit off, the whole piece starts to fall apart "like a house of cards."

Anyway, here's some pics...

Day 4 Update

After a full day of private lessons and practice; two cello's to repair, mail deliveries and the String Quartet Olympic Trials, I'm at home ready to send you an e-mail. Students are making new friends and having a great time. Tonight was an evening of rest for the adults to get ready for the coachings that begin tomorrow. This morning I delivered my famous purple talk. Be sure to ask your kids about that when they get home!

The smoke from the fires in California finally blew into our precious valley today at 4:00 so we have some smoky air and brilliant sun sets! Tomorrow we prepare for our performance at the Rogue Valley Manor on Wednesday evening. All ten quartets will dine with the residents and then play throughout the elegant building. Their Haydn movements are actually ready to go and be coached to the next level, already!

Last night Britt treated the quartet and I to second row seats at the performance of Steve Miller Band! Wish you all could have gone too. The kids didn't have a clue who I was talking about when I told them. Joanna, the quartet violists, caught a guitar pick. We were true 70's groupies in a classical sort of style.

Oh, and really cool news. A friend of mine in Ashland happens to be an Oscar winning documentary film maker and she is going to shoot a short film of this year's camp, but next year she's going to shoot a full documentary from auditions to the last kid on a plane. I'll be writing a grant to cover her fees and make this possible. Jeanne came today and began filming and was struck by many things, chiefly the teaching and the incredible machine we put together to make this all work. We'll share a snippet once we have one.

We're having a great time!

First Pics!

Here a few pics of this morning's rehearsals. More to come soon!

At the dorms, in the Mac Corner















Waiting for a ride...













Rehearsing Tchaikovsky


























The Night Field Quartet playing Haydn

We are blogging

Well, we did it. We created the official Britt Institute String Quartet Academy blog! You may applaud now...

Soon, we will have pics, videos and more details about camp. In the mean time, here's the info from the first days of camp:

DAY ONE
What a day. We have picked up the 32 students staying in the dorms and they are safely delivered to Baker Hall. We had quite a day at the airport. United surprised us by not putting the first set of students luggage on the carousel, and there we waited and waited. Two more flights of students arrived and still no United luggage. We loaded up two of the three vans and then I went to the United counter, where they have you wait in line to report no luggage, and 30 minutes later got to the counter and said, "We're missing luggage for three of our students." They said, "Oh, then it's not here then." To which I replied, "The girls mentioned they saw it being taken out of the plane, maybe you could take a look and see if it's somewhere?" She looks at me like I'm nuts and goes to take a look and I'll be darned if she doesn't find all three girls luggage right there! Finally we could load up the third van and head to Ashland. We got the kids settled, met some parents, went and picked up the rental cello, got some more kids settled and then the kids who were here headed to dinner while one of the counselors went back to the airport for one of the last two pickups.

The girls from Washington, D.C. arrived on time, but WE were late. :( The St. Louis kids were the last to arrive at 10:45 p.m. In the meantime, Arianna String Quartet's violist arrived, but not her luggage. United has no idea where it is! But Joanna sure is taking it all in stride. We're mostly hoping it arrives before her concert on Sunday.

In the meantime, I'm wondering about the other 9 students who live here and are eagerly awaiting Friday morning. Tomorrow morning we will be sure to introduce everyone to each other.

Local parents: tomorrow we will access our van situation - being sure we have room for all cello's and students and offer any room we have remaining to Ashland students who need a ride to Medford.

On some mornings I will be able to provide that ride. We'll know more tomorrow and make a plan before the end of the day about Monday.

Tomorrow night we take the students to opening night of Britt's classical season. The Dickson Quartet from Battle Ground, Washington will be providing music for the Gala Opening Picnic. Throughout the 17 days students are here, various quartets will have opportunities like this. If local students could bring a blanket to share for lawn seating that would be wonderful. I'll bring as many as I have.

We will also try to remember to talk about car pooling before the students leave tomorrow. I'll be leaving directly after camp, taking the Dickson's to the hill. the dorm students will return to the dorms for dinner and then head to the hill. I will give students their tickets to get into the concert before they leave camp tomorrow. Students should enter at Gate 1, by the box office and then look for the rest of us.

We have very strong etiquette rules and guidelines about attendance at concerts on the hill and while I expect no problems with this group of students it always helps if parents help reinforce that there is not talking or giggling or fooling around during the concert. We, the staff, all sit with the students, so we'll be keeping a close eye on things.

Each day I'll send an email home reporting on what is happening and soon we will have a blog for you to visit to see video and pictures!

Thanks for your support of our program by entrusting us with a piece of your children's music education. I look forward to the next 17 days with delight and anticipation.

DAY TWO & THREE
On the weekends, we barely have time to run to a computer and write an update, so this morning I'm throwing some words on paper before we begin taking various students to church and then attend the Arianna String Quartet concert.

Yesterday was a great day of acclimation. Students rehearsed. We're going to have to tie the Holton Arms Quartet down for an hour, so they get some rest. They were in the music building at 8:00 a.m., took a break for lunch, then I found them there again at 2:00 and I'm guessing they stayed until dinner! There were quartets all over campus, rehearsing. Music was wafting from the dorm rooms. The local students were at home or coordinating rehearsal time at the dorms; students had walks in downtown Ashland, caught a movie or grabbed a nap. It was a great day.

We attended the concert at Britt last night and Alison Balsom, trumpeter from England, was stunning! Half of the students were provided reserved seats and the other half sat on the lawn. Our amphitheatre seats 2100 and has 700 reserved seats and 1400 lawn/picnic seats. The orchestra sounds particularly wonderful this year. Maestro Peter Bay will work with the students next week on their orchestral piece - so it was great for them all to experience his conducting last night from the audience.

Today at 3:00 we attend the concert and then the students have their last night for a while to rest their bodies a bit before the grueling week ahead.

An important note; the final recital is NOT at the church any longer, we were lucky to get back into the Recital Hall at SOU. They were closing the hall for August to replace the seats but forgot to order the seats. Their mistake and our fortune!

Same times, just different location.

We love these kids already. This is a tremendous group. Old friendships have been renewed and new friendships are being formed. The alumni have told the new students about the "awards" I give at the end, so I'm keeping notes! Best essay, best outfit on the hill, most vivid purple (I'll explain that later)..........

We're having a great time!