November 28, 2020 - December 19, 2020 - Rounding Out the Orchestra - Hee Jin Yoon (Harp), Brad Dutz (Percussion), George Ko (Piano), (And as a Special Treat) 4 Part Harmony
Virtual had allowed us to properly plan. Creativity and storytelling, leading to strings, to winds, to brass, and then to...
Four part harmony. Which I taught as a Thanksgiving gift for the four kids who came. It was the first time, but not the last, that I added composer Cadence's photo to the "What is a Cadence?" slide.
Come December, we landed on the rest of the orchestra.
I really didn't know how a virtual session with harp would go. But, of course with Hee Jin, it was smooth sailing. Though we could not feel the vibrations of her harp, she brilliantly demoed it and all the effects including the spoon. It always amazes me how this unassuming harpist can produce such a dynamic and rich sound. Always hire.
This would be the first of many sessions with Brad Dutz. Karen brought him aboard. Our advantage here is that Brad is a composer as well as a percussionist. And while he was able to demonstrate the many instruments in his shop, the real reward was hearing how he thought about composition. He talked about shaping percussion and how he strategized around ranges when he orchestrated. Whenever he is mentoring directly on a composer's piece, he adds so much thoughtfulness to it. Because percussion is not the first, second, or third instrument most kids learn, they always walk away mesmerized after getting notes from Brad.
Karen and Brad would record the Bach Cello Suites as an improvised viola/percussion duet as a "we have nothing else to do" pandemic project.
I should have done the piano session. It's not because George Ko was bad. He wasn't. In fact, he was loaded with stories. But I knew what I wanted the kids to see: srumming, harmonics, dropping a chain on the strings, playing it with a thimble. George is a Steinway artist with a piano provided by Steinway, and there was no way any of that was happening. I was smart and had gone to my parents' house with their beat up baby grand and did the demonstrations that pretty much ran the gamut of George Crumb's "Makrokosmos" effects.
And that, my friends, was the end of 2020. We were only half way through the COVID cohort.
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