by natchaitkin | Mar 10, 2016 | Uncategorized
https://youtu.be/uQVgdyrF6Ts&w=550
In my last post, I talked about the upcoming debut of 4-Way, this Sunday at 2:30 at the Taft Museum. Here’s a video preview, with footage from a recent rehearsal in my living room, a very appropriate setting- much of the great chamber music repertoire was intended to be played in private homes, something we plan to do a lot of ourselves (more on that soon). Hope you enjoy this sneak peak and if you’re in town, please come by on Sunday!
Till next time,
Nat
by natchaitkin | Mar 4, 2016 | Uncategorized
The news these days is full of examples of selfish, destructive behavior – lucky for me, I’m part of something that shows what can be achieved with cooperation and compromise.
Readers of this blog know I’ve been talking for a long time about my dream of being part of a chamber ensemble, and it’s finally happening. Meet 4-Way, Cincinnati’s String Quartet.
With me from left, violinist Sujean Kim, violist Kevin Boden and violinist William Manley. I am so glad these guys agreed to do this – quartet playing is the most gratifying kind of music making there is, and it’s especially so when you’re getting to work with people you care about and respect!
We have been busy rehearsing for our first concert, taking place Sunday, March 13 at 2:30 P.M., in Cincinnati’s beautiful Taft Museum of Art. In celebration of the Taft’s new Impressionist exhibit, we’ll be playing Ravel’s String Quartet, along with Beethoven’s Op. 18 #6 and short pieces by Gershwin and tango master Carlos Gardel.
Readers of this blog know I have little patience for the distance classical music’s traditions place between performers and audience. Central to 4-Way’s mission is removing that distance. The March 13 concert will have the quartet surrounded by the audience (Beethoven in the round) – no matter where you sit, you’ll have a great view of the interplay that makes quartets so compelling. We’ll also make a point of talking to the audience about everything we play, and will present concerts in settings that encourage new listeners to come, like schools, community centers and offices.
We’re also looking for a home – actually, several! In the fall, 4-Way will begin providing free lessons and chamber music coachings to underserved children in our city – we’re currently in discussion with several local schools to find the right place. In support of this essential part of the group’s mission, we’ll be holding fundraising house concerts over the next few months – if you want to host one, please let me know! We’ll also be having a crowdfunding campaign in the coming months – more on that soon.
In the coming weeks, we’ll also be posting stories and short videos from rehearsals, as well as profiles of members of the group, with conversations about what makes chamber music so special to us. All these will be on the quartet’s website, as well as our Facebook page (please take a moment and give us a like!).
If you’re in Cincinnati, I hope to see you on the 13th at the Taft Museum! If not, there’ll be more to come soon!
Till next time,
Nat
by natchaitkin | Feb 18, 2016 | events, Uncategorized
With me from left – Bayla Keyes and Lois Shapiro of Triple Helix, and concert presenter Ruth Haddock, director of the Jefferson Academy of Music. We’re in front of a mural of Alexej von Jawlensky’s “Schokko with Red Hat.”
First off, sorry to be gone so long! I realize that it’s been far too long since I posted, but I do have a good excuse. Many of you know about my dream to start a community-based string quartet, and it’s up and running. We’re called 4-Way (in honor of Cincinnati’s famous chili), and we’ll have a website and PR materials up any day now. In fact, we are rehearsing for our debut concert, on Sunday, March 13 at Cincinnati’s Taft Museum. I will post more about that soon, but today, I wanted to share a story about a recent adventure I had.
As our recent quartet rehearsals have reminded me, so much of playing chamber music is slow, painstaking work – everyone practices their part, comes to rehearsal and hashes out the details of how the music will sound. EVERYTHING is up for discussion – how fast is it going to go; how loud is this section; does this phrase go to here or to there; up-bow or down (there’s a discussion that can kill an entire afternoon!); could we play this section more in the style of a hurdy-gurdy; etc.
And then, there’s the dots. Many notes in a piece of music will have dots on them, and musicians love to sit around and talk about what they mean (usually, that the note is shorter than it could be). This can take all day. There are some rehearsals where I’ve felt “Forget about seeing the forest for the trees, we’re arguing about one pine needle on the ground.”
In all seriousness, all this detailed work is essential to making music, and the back and forth that goes on in rehearsal is actually a lot of fun. But, sometimes I wonder, “What if we could skip all that and fast forward to the fun part?” I had that exact experience this past Sunday.
Thanks to some quick thinking by one of my employers, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, I got a last-minute chance to fill in with a terrific piano trio, Boston’s Triple Helix. Their cellist, Rhonda Rider, got sick and couldn’t make the trip for their concert at the Columbus Museum of Art (luckily, she has recovered).
It was a real treat for me to play with such a high-level group – I felt the way a minor league baseball player must feel when they get called up to the big leagues. Pianist Lois Shapiro and violinist Bayla Keyes, who have played in this group for 20 years, were incredibly gracious and welcoming – I felt right at home immediately.
And of course, we didn’t have time for any of the discussion I mentioned earlier- we had one rehearsal Sunday morning, and the concert was that afternoon. I had played the music before, and the trio of course had as well, and so my job was very easy – just jump in and try to keep up with their interpretation. They had done all the decision-making already – I just got to have fun!
In one way, it reminded me of the very first chamber group I ever played in, when I had only been playing the cello for a year.
My teacher got a call from the School for Strings, a New York Suzuki school – they needed an extra cellist for a string quartet, and she sent me. I was 12, and walked into a group that was made up of 14 year-olds. We started playing a quartet by David Stone (I still remember the opening tune), and I remember thinking, “I have no idea what is going on here, but I’m enjoying it!” From that day forward, playing quartets has been my favorite way to make music.
Being the least experienced player in that group was great for me, and over the years, I’ve had the chance to be the low man on the totem pole a few times, both as a student and professional. Sunday’s concert was a nice reminder that there’s always lots to learn from great colleagues, and I’m looking forward to doing more of that with 4-Way in the weeks and years to come. As I mentioned, I’ll have an update from our rehearsals and more information about that March 13 concert soon.
In the meantime, to Bayla and Lois from Triple Helix, presenter Ruth Haddock of the Jefferson Academy of Music, as well as my ProMusica bosses, Executive Director Janet Chen and board president Steve Keyes – thanks for a great time!
Till next time,
Nat
by natchaitkin | Dec 16, 2015 | Uncategorized
In my last post, I wrote about my trip to the Flint School of Performing Arts, where, in addition to teaching, I had the wonderful experience of playing pop-up performances in various settings across the city, including a homeless shelter and a farmers market. This video is from that day, expertly produced by Kyle Sanchez of Mayberry Media.
At the beginning of the video, Glenn Wilson, the director of Communities First, Inc., the Flint non-profit which presents the Culture Shock program, sums up the whole experience perfectly – we touched many people from different walks of life in a beautiful, surprising way.
There are a lot of reasons to admire the work Glenn and his wife Essence are doing at Communities First, providing affordable housing and other vital services to Flint residents in need. What I especially admire is how committed they are to including the arts in their work, and that they see the experience of going to a concert or seeing a beautiful painting as an essential and necessary part of human existence, not just something nice for the fortunate.
Their commitment to this doesn’t end with Culture Shock – Communities First partners with the Flint Symphony and the FSPA to bring their clients to performances, often for the first time in their lives.
Being part of great work like this was more than enough reason for me to make this trip. But as an advocate for an art form which, frankly, needs a lot of help, I also want to highlight the reaction of Susan Borrego, chancellor of the University of Michigan at Flint, who came to the performance at the school’s student union food court. It is a perfect endorsement of bringing great music to new spaces – here it is again:
https://youtu.be/I8nlVw-b6Cs&w=550&start=61&end=81
Thank you, Sue, for putting it so perfectly – I hope the music world listens!
I would love to help more orchestras and concert presenters fill their seats with new listeners by going out into their communities with Bach and Boombox, especially when there’s a chance to bring great music to the underserved. I hope partnerships like these between arts organizations and community development groups flourish everywhere, and I’d like to help. If you have a place in mind, please let me know, and we’ll get started!
Till next time (and probably next year!),
Nat
by natchaitkin | Nov 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
The city of Flint, MI has had it rough for many years, and, unfortunately, usually makes the news for bad reasons. From Flint native Michael Moore’s film “Roger and Me” to the recent stories about lead in the city’s water supply, Flint’s image is not in the best of shape. However, I recently had a chance to spend some time there, and I met some remarkable people who are working hard to engage and enrich their city, and sharing great music is integral to their work.
I went to Flint as a representative of CCM Prep, where I teach – the school has an exchange with the Flint School of Performing Arts. This was a return visit for me – I played occasionally in the Flint Symphony as a student at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor’s about an hour away).
The FSPA campus is spacious and well kept up – a stark contrast with nearby neighborhoods full of boarded up homes and empty lots. What was great was seeing how connected to those neighborhoods the FSPA is, and how integral to the city the arts are.
Throughout my visit, the halls were full of kids going to lessons, rehearsals and dance classes, many of whom receive financial aid to make their participation possible. Kudos to FSPA director Davin Torre and the board for making their school a real part of the community – it’s a model for all arts groups!
My visit included several “cello-centric” events, including workshops with adult and younger students and a cello choir. I always enjoy working with other cellists – we’re a happy, social bunch who enjoy getting together to talk shop. The part of the visit I want to focus on here, though, was a series of short pop-up performances I gave of Bach and Boombox around the city, as part of a program called “Culture Shock”, presented by local non-profit Communities First, Inc.
CFI is run by two Flint natives, husband and wife Glenn and Essence Wilson, who left the worlds of business and engineering, respectively, to devote themselves to serving the neediest in their city. Their commitment to their work is abundantly clear, and its impact equally so. And they don’t mess around – we hit six locations in less than three hours!
The mini-tour resembled something out of a Marx Brothers movie – three cars would pull up at a location, we’d run in with cello, boombox, sign and film crew (CFI is producing a short video about the day that I will share when it’s up), and fifteen minutes later, run out and take off like NASCAR drivers after a pit stop.
We began our mad dash at Carriage Town Ministries, a homeless shelter a few blocks from the FSPA. Glenn spoke at each event about art’s central place in CFI’s work – I was particularly touched to learn that CFI’s affordable housing projects include art galleries! I share Glenn’s belief that the experience of enjoying something beautiful is essential for all -nowhere was that more evident than here, and it set the tone for the rest of the day.
We went on to visit a senior center, a charter school and a farmer’s market – you can see more photos here. At each location, we were greeted with a variety of reactions – indifference, puzzlement, and, thankfully, sometimes great enjoyment. At the food court at the U-M Flint Student Union, I had a great conversation with a woman next to the Subway about how hearing Bach there made her want to go to a regular concert (orchestras, take note!) – turns out she’s the chancellor of the University!
This whirlwind day was a great reminder of why I do what I do – it also was a reminder that I need a lot of help to do it! So, much thanks to the many people who made this visit possible – Glenn and Essence Wilson, Davin Torre, Brandon Cota, FSPA’s cello teacher (and my Culture Shock tour driver!), Ina Yoon and Jeffrey Price, FSPA faculty and my hosts, and CCM’s Assistant Dean John Martin and Prep Program Coordinator Amy Dennison- let’s keep shocking people with culture!
Till next time,
Nat
