Tuesday night was our first band practice since our Christmas concert mid-December.  Though it was nice to have the time off, we were all eager to get back to playing again.  We are getting ready for a community band festival held at the end of February.  This of course makes us more nervous because the audience will be filled with our peers – other community bands, people that know music and will be listening with more critical ears than our family and friends.  So we want to have our stuff together.   We have six weeks.

On of the pieces we will be playing is “Danzon #2” by Marquez.  I had never heard it before, but our director sent an email out during the break letting us know, and telling us that we should go find it online and listen.  You can hear it here.  It’s almost 10 minutes long but worth the listen/watch.  This particular version is done by an orchestra, but we’ll be doing a version for a concert band.  I followed along in my music and our version is almost exactly like this one, with a few minor orchestration differences.

Tuesday night it took us 45 minutes to get from the beginning to the end of the piece.  We stopped and started a lot but some sections sounded pretty good even on the first attempt.   And there was a long duet between our first chair clarinet and an oboe player who just happens to be his 10th grade daughter.  They sounded so wonderful, the two of them together, that the rest of us, the entire band, forgot to keep counting and none of us came in after the 14 or so measures of their solo.  The director laughed and lowered her baton,  voicing what we were all thinking; what a wonderful opportunity for this father/daughter duo to play something so beautiful together.  To create something breathlessly beautiful with her Dad…it will be a memory she remembers forever.

That is the beauty of playing in a group like this.  There are several parent/teenager duos in the band and I think they all enjoy the experience of doing something like this together.  I know we enjoy having them with us.  We would not be the group we are without the support of many local musically talented kids.  They fill in our gaps, cover our mistakes and generally don’t treat us like the old farts we are.  Sometimes they remind us of how old we are just by their intense youthfulness.  But generally it’s just fun to have them around.

So, time to get back to the daily practicing.  Don’t want those young whippersnappers to outshine us more experienced players.  They get to play in their high school bands every day.  We have two hours a week.  But then we have less homework to do at night so it all balances out.

I hope.

Husband and I were treated to the Ann Arbor Symphony again tonight.  It was their Beethoven Festival and as always it was wonderful.  They opened with “Fidelio Overture,” the fourth overture written by Beethoven for his only opera.  The second number was Beethoven’s Symphony No 1.  You can read a review of the concert here.

Both were wonderful – the Ann Arbor Symphony plays everything wonderfully – but the part of the evening I was looking forward to most was hearing Anton Nel play the piano.  Born in South Africa, winner of many awards , Mr. Nel is on the faculty of the University of Texas, Austin and teaches piano master classes around the world.  Last night he played the Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor” composed by Beethoven in 1809.

From the first moment I was swept away, in awe of the agility of his fingers.  The movement soars and sweeps with notes coming fast and furious, then becoming sweet and light only to be overtaken by that energizing excess of notes again.  I secretly thought that somehow Mr. Nel must have more than ten fingers, for how could a mere mortal ten produce the sheer number of notes that were floating in the air high above our heads?

If I held my breath in delight during the first movement, I sighed with everyone else through the beautiful second movement.  We were lulled into a  tentative, almost dream-like and soulful world as the fingers quieted, stroking out soft beautiful tones, painting soft pastel moments, soft around the edges and supported gently by the symphony surrounding him.

Then, with no break to warn us, we were jarred awake by the third movement which danced it’s way into our hearts, faster and faster; it was a joyful dance and none of us were allowed to be wallflowers.   The music swept us up and carried us to the end, high on a wave of sound and images.  For a moment, just at the end it slowed and we were almost lulled back to our dream world, and then it all came to a wondrous fantastic joyous finish.

There was a collective gasp at the end and then thunderous applause erupted.  On our feet we all wanted more.  Mr. Nell graciously consented playing two encores;  “Bagatelle” and ending with “Fur Elise.”   The applause was overwhelming and I hope it let him and the symphony know how much we appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the magic they created.

If you live in Ann Arbor you must know what a gem you have in the Ann Arbor Symphony.  And not just in the amazing soloists they bring to your city.  There is an abundance of talent in the individuals that play regularly in your symphony.  The next concert is November 12th.  If you can, schedule it into your life.

Experience the magic.