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Musical Ambassadors: Oberlin Conservatory Winter Term Projects Take Students to Washington, D.C. and Panama
Left to right: Mirabai Weismehl, Elbert Tsai,
Michael Fenton, Adam Friedberg
Music had no geographical boundaries in January, 1999, when one group of Oberlin College Conservatory of Music students performed on $50-million-dollar Stradivarius instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, while another group of Conservatory students rehearsed under banana trees in Panama. These are two highlights of recent Winter Term projects that had Conservatory students packing their instruments and sheet music, and taking it on the road.
One group - the Marina Quartet - flew to Washington, D.C., staged two concerts at the Smithsonian Institution (one of these on magnificent Stradivarius instruments), and performed nine concerts at six Washington D.C. schools. Another group of 11 students, accompanied by Tim Weiss, associate professor of wind conducting, headed to Panama for the ninth annual Panama Project. The group worked with a 55-member youth orchestra, offered chamber music and orchestral coachings, private lessons, master classes and performances.
Regardless of location, each project was a 24-hour immersion in music, beginning with early morning classes and performances, and ending with late-night musical activities. In the process, Conservatory musicians gained valuable performance experience in important and unusual venues, and honed pedagogical skills.
WINTER TERM SUMMARIES:
WASHINGTON, D.C.
- The Intensive String Quartet Seminar, offered during Oberlin's Winter Term for the past 15 years, focuses on performance and educational outreach.
- For this second annual trip to D.C., students created a new quartet - The Marina Quartet - comprised of Mirabai Weismehl (Artist Diploma, '00)) and Elbert Tsai ('99) on violins, Michael Fenton ('00) on viola, and Adam Friedberg ('01) on cello.
- The quartet flew to San Francisco, California, where they rehearsed four hours a day and received two faculty coachings per week.
- During a full week in D.C., they performed two concerts in the Hall of Musical Instruments at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, the result of a relationship between the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society (whose director, Kenneth Slowik, is artistic director of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute) and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. For an evening concert, the students performed on historic Stradivarius instruments, generously donated to the Smithsonian donated by Herbert and Evelyn Axelrod.
- Following the evening concert, the Oberlin College Alumni Association hosted a reception at the Smithsonian, for approximately 250 alumni and guests.
- The group also performed nine concerts at six Washington, D.C. schools, including the Duke Ellington High School, St. Albans, the National Cathedral School, the Maret School, the Washington International School, and the Levine School of Music (at both the Northwest and Southeast campuses) where they worked with members of the Public Housing Orchestra.
Michael Fenton, of Oakland, Calif., described the experience of performing on a Stradivarius: "The joy of playing on the 1695 viola was having all the things I struggle with on my instrument come so easily. Sound quality and even articulation virtually took care of themselves, and I was left with this incredible freedom to explore new sounds, to pay undivided attention to the music. Having that experience now leaves me with the task of trying to stretch my musical boundaries on my own instrument.
"The day of the big concert was doubly memorable because I not only had the opportunity to play on the Stradivarius viola, but I also was able to meet the maker of my own viola - Robert McCluskie - who lives near Bethesda, MD. It was fascinating to talk with him and really get a feeling for the continuity between the 1695 Stradivarius viola I played that evening and my own 1992 McCluskie viola. After 300 years, the tradition of instrument making is still alive and well!"
Elbert Tsai discussed the teaching component of the project. "The outreach programs were the highlight of my week. It's a wonderful experience to bring music to people for the first time, and many of these students had never before heard a live classical music concert. The ages of the students ranged from third graders through high school seniors so a big challenge was to reach all members of the audiences. We performed contrasting characters in Schubert's Quartetsatz, and compared different minuets of Beethoven and Shostakovich. We played Bach chorales for the younger ones and left out an inner voice to see if they could identify what was missing."
Tsai added, "The 2nd movement from Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th string quartet drew the most attention. When asked what they thought about as it was performed, they offered chase scenes from films, and images from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. One kid, in learning that the piece was dedicated to the victims of World War II, asked why the music wasn't more passive or solemn. That's a pretty astute question from a 4th or 5th grader. It's fascinating to watch the creative mind of a young child digest a piece of music he or she is hearing for the first time."
THE
PANAMA PROJECT
- 1999 marks the ninth consecutive year of the Panama Project, an annual Winter Term cultural exchange between Conservatory students and more than 130 Panamanian musicians aged 6- 26.
- For two weeks, eleven Conservatory students, accompanied by Timothy Weiss, associate professor of Wind Conducting, worked with two youth orchestras, offered chamber music coachings, private lessons, master classes and performances.
- The group spent one week at a music camp in Panama City - IXV Campamento Musical Juventil - held at the Catholic University. Mornings were devoted to a music preparatory program with children under 12 years of age; afternoons were dedicated to older students in chamber and orchestral work.
- For the second week, Conservatory students traveled two hours by bus from Panama City to a convent in the more remote mountain region of El Valle.
- Conservatory students offered nine performances together, and in combination with Panamanian chamber ensembles and orchestra. Concert venues ranged from Panama City to rural mountain communities, including schools, a university, churches and the Ruinas de Panama Viejo, beautiful stone ruins of Old Panama City.
The eleven Conservatory students of the Panama Project are: Henry Buchtel '01, Rodica Filipoi '99, Benjamin Fox '01, Elizabeth Freivogel '99, Katayoon Hodjati '99, Briana Knull '99, Kyle Lane '01, Joshua Rubin '99, Daniel Stachyra '99, Jennifer Wyatt '99 and Pieter Wyckoff '00.
This
visit was the second trip to Panama for violinist Filipoi,
of Ridgefield, WA. "Perhaps you had to experience it
firsthand to understand how much these young musicians look
forward to our return," she said. "There's an amazing
feeling of appreciation. For example, many families in
Panama City donated time, food, transportation and lodging
for our visit. In El Valle, the man who drives the chicken
truck - "the Pollomobile" - donated his time, his driving
and his truck to get us to rehearsals. We all crammed into
the back of the chicken truck with our instruments tucked
under our feet and sang as we went to rehearsals.
"It's almost overwhelming to listen as a village church bell rings to signal the beginning of a concert and then watch as people immediately come outdoors and head down the streets to attend. Many of these people had never seen instruments like ours. Many had never heard classical music performed live. There's a wonderful feeling of satisfaction in contributing to a larger musical world. I feel like I've done something important in sharing something that I love: music. As a bonus, I've made lasting friendships."
The Conservatory works closely with the National Concert Association in Panama, a non-profit organization that each year provides vital project coordination (scheduling, room and board, performance venues, ground transportation and partial funding).
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