Musical musings

Last night, Mom and I went to see the Houston Symphony perform. It was a “salute to educators” show, and so there were students performing with the symphony itself. I was in orchestra in high school for 3 years, and early on into the performance, I found myself reminiscing more about my time up on stage as part of the full orchestra, than in paying attention to the performance right in front of me.

I realized a few things about participating in music at that age – some have probably carried forward to today, and some probably wouldn’t happen these days anymore.

A bit of background, first.

I was a decent player, but not really the outstanding type that you’d hear getting solos. That said, however, I was more than eager to stand out in other ways, and that manifest, for me, in learning multiple instruments. I started out with flute in 6th grade (the time that band students typically get started and chose an instrument around here). I do not know why I chose flute as my Mom had played clarinet and my Dad played coronet. Anyhow, flute was all I played until my sophomore year of high school. That year, things took off in new directions. I marched on the drumline that year (cymbals) instead of as a flute player, I learned piccolo for concert season, and I joined the orchestra as a wind instrumentalist (full orchestra was completely extra-curricular, band was a graded class for me), and started playing in the pit orchestra for musicals as well.

My senior year, I moved from marching cymbals to bass drum (a bit of a promotion). That same year, in orchestra I volunteered to learn oboe, because there wasn’t an oboist in the orchestra. So, at concerts I had three instruments in my lap! It was cool, and I felt unique in that respect. Only percussionists dealt with more instruments than that in the course of a performance.

I have a feeling that times have changed, and that kids now would not be permitted (much less encouraged) to try that kind of experimentation, or stockpiling of instruments in the lap. Occasionally you’ll see the piccolo player with a flute, but even now, one or the other is driven home as a “specialty” and switching between the two as common as it once was. Houston is a city rich in musical competitiveness. Heck, just a few blocks away from our house is the elementary school Ivy will attend, and they have an internationally-touted marimba band (for 5th graders! Those kids are 10!). There is lots of drive to be the best among all but the rattiest of schools or school districts, and often, I think, to the detriment of experimental students like I was. I did well enough and was permitted to sample along the way. I spent another 5 years in band in college, and learned a few more instruments (about 8 in total… half of them I’d be willing to perform in public on), but those days, I fear, are ancient history.

As I drifted in and out of paying attention to the performance, I noticed that I had difficulty picking the students out from the seasoned pros, all the way across. Of course, grey hairs or baldness are dead giveaways, but the final performance of combined orchestras was about half and half.. and I tell you what, I would be stretching to get 1/3 of them labeled from the 20-rows-back I was seated. That’s a compliment, I’m sure, to the students who were up there doing their best to advance future careers and to become one of those seasoned pros, but it seems to me like it is an environment that chokes out musical experimenting.

Back to high school… when I started (1983) the trend then was to march Spanish stuff like Chuck Mangione tunes, and commercial pop (we did the love song from Superman, some Earth, Wind and Fire and even Barry Manilow on field!). There were multiple shows during the season, including a “patriotic” show, where we formed an outline of the US and played American the Beautiful. Over the course of a marching season (Fall semester), we learned and performed 3-4 different shows, including the one we competed in around October or so. These days, there’s one show for an entire season, and it is probably chosen a couple years in advance. Drill, drill, drill, drill… perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. Do not deviate, focus 100% on this performance that culminates in UIL and hopefully pushes up through everyone else to state competition in late Fall. Uber competitive.

Concert season was and is the same. I’m not sure if “Christmas” (or whatever the ISD-endorsed term is anymore) concerts are given by the bands, orchestras and choirs anymore. That was a highlight for me for 3 years – playing Leroy Andersen classics 3 or 4 times for different assemblies was a sign that Christmas break and midterms were not far away. We were up on stage wearing Santa hats, having fun, cutting loose a little bit, and testing our young improvisational chops… conspiring to add more than 2 “stingers” to the end of Sleigh Ride, unbeknownst to the Mr. Vaughn, our director. I’m not certain that would fly at all anymore.

Back to the concert… it’s funny how tiny little slices of things you see, hear, smell or touch can open the floodgate of memories. Somewhere in the 4th movement of the first piece performed there was a piquant but terse strain of tight French horn dissonance that resolved itself in a manner where the listener would participate by mentally (or maybe physically) sucking in the breath and then releasing it, thinking or saying “ahhhh.” This immediately brought to mind a similar couple measures from my very most favorite orchestra piece, the first movement of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony in B minor. I was back in 12th grade, running through the same sections over and over and over again, feeling the melodic colors swirling around and filling the spaces in the rehearsal room a little more each time we went through it. For those who’ve not participated in orchestra or band, it’s difficult to convey the sense of “collectiveness” that coalesces when a musical body “gets it.” It’s definitely a case of the sum of the whole being greater than the parts… it’s almost like a musical organism all of its own – much like those jellyfish type creatures that are actually a collection of discrete animals each which serve a different biological function (locomotion, digestion, defense, etc.) When you’re in the middle of it, it can be very enveloping.

And that envelop can outlive the experience itself by quite a bit.

As I sat there in the theater, I began thinking about how many folks I knew from back then (1983 – 1987) and still keep in touch, mostly through Facebook. Some have on to be professional musicians, some never pulled an instrument out again after high school graduation, some dabbled like I did, for years afterwards.

At any rate, it was a time of my life and a series of concerts and performances that were good and good for me, and promoted in me, the willingness to try things out that I was “interested in” – regardless of whether they would take me anywhere or continue to be of interest. I hope that Ivy has the same desires to try things out like that (whether it’s musical interest or not), and I hope the schools ARE receptive to that, as well.

Many thanks to those who lead the way, and do those who were experiencing those days with me!

Here are links to a few of my favorite pieces from high school band and orchestra:

And two I never got to perform, but always wanted to: