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Music Rehearsals in the Covid era

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Posted on September 21, 2020 at 20:28:11
Chris from Lafayette
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 I've reduced my participatory musical activities down to about zero since early March, and even when I get requests for piano accompanying, I try to dissuade the requester - even in the cases of high-school seniors needing accompanists for their college admissions applications. On the very rare occasions when I've agreed to do a rehearsal / coaching session, the situation is very unusual compared to the way it used to be pre-Covid. For one thing, as you might expect, we're all wearing masks. For another thing, we've got all the windows in the house opened. And for a third thing, the accompanist (yours truly) is on the inside of the house, while the accompanee (is that a word? I mean the cellist in this case) is on the outside.

Last Saturday, I agreed to have a rehearsal / coaching session with a young cellist with whom I'd worked before - a wonderful girl from a wonderful family. (And I just love her teacher too!) It's always a pleasure to interact with them all. Ms. CfL was on hand to take some pictures to show what it's like to undertake music rehearsals (at least at our house!) in the Covid era:



Doing my accompanying work - inside the house (with our cat in his basket on top of the piano!)



The cellist on the outside, with her mom recording the session - the cellist's father is obscured by a tree!



You can see dad just a little bit better in this picture - at least one leg anyway!

I'm thinking that this could be kind of a "historical" record, showing what the conditions for certain kinds of music study were like in 2020!

 

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Ingenious!, posted on September 22, 2020 at 04:25:34
andy evans
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 Interesting Yamaha piano - is it electric-acoustic? Not as tall as a usual upright.

 

RE: I think I'll practice the David Concertino out on my deck today and see how the neighbor's react., posted on September 22, 2020 at 04:50:14
B. Scarpia






View YouTube Video

 

The Yamaha is an N1 hybrid piano (real physical grand action inside - otherwise it's digital/electronic), posted on September 22, 2020 at 12:07:34
Chris from Lafayette
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 The N1 is the bottom of the line in Yamaha's "AvantGrand" hybrid series. We've had it for about five or six years. I love it, because it never goes out of tune - unless I set it for mean-tone tuning or something! ;-)

 

That's exactly what I'm worried about!, posted on September 22, 2020 at 12:18:13
Chris from Lafayette
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 Neighborhood peace and harmony isn't necessarily preserved by having one's music rehearsals outside - although the cello usually has a mellower sound than the trombone does! ;-)

BTW, could you answer a question: why does it seem that trombonists always want to avoid playing my favorite trombone concerto of all, the one by Rimsky-Korsakov (Concerto for Trombone and Military Band)? The most recent trombone concerto I've played/accompanied (about five or so years ago) was this one by Launy Grondahl:








View YouTube Video

 

Looks like that window angle..., posted on September 22, 2020 at 12:47:59
krisjan
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 ... is precisely set to send the first reflection sound of the cello to your ears (and visa versa for the piano sound). ;-)

 

RE: Looks like that window angle..., posted on September 22, 2020 at 13:22:31
rivervalley817
 but the cat is placed there to soften it

now you see how pen lasers can disrupt room treatments

this audiophile stuff is hard!

regards,

 

Looking at that first picture. . . , posted on September 22, 2020 at 13:32:17
Chris from Lafayette
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 . . . I'm now beginning to feel that the angle of the piano light may have been off a bit for optimal SQ (in addition to the considerations which rv mentioned)! ;-)

 

Great set-up!..., posted on September 22, 2020 at 15:00:33
musetap
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 I'm impressed how you improvised such a comfortable looking, practical and SAFE solution without even leaving the house!

As far as disturbing the neighbors, so long as it's during the day they shouldn't get too perturbed I would hope.

Steve (our SF symphony oboe playing neighbor across the street) has been VERY consistent with his 7:00 PM solo concert each night.

Depending on his repertoire, it's usually not very disturbing and frequently very, very wonderful.


"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

That arrangement was actually proposed by the parents, posted on September 22, 2020 at 17:17:23
Chris from Lafayette
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 I'd told them of my concerns, but this set-up seemed fairly safe. (Thanks for your comment, BTW!) Ms. CfL uses a similar set up when she has her flute lessons: she's outside while the teacher is inside, but the outside for her flute lessons is in the backyard at the teacher's house, rather than the front yard.

I also wonder about how all the repetition goes over with the neighbors - basically, we spent 45 minutes on one five-minute piece, mostly to be sure that the counting and the rhythmic subdivisions were secure with a piece which does a fair amount of speeding up and slowing down within its short span (Massenet: Meditation from "Thais" - usually heard on the violin).

 

RE: That's exactly what I'm worried about!, posted on September 22, 2020 at 18:29:24
B. Scarpia
 You mentioned the Rimsky a few years ago. I had never heard of it before that but in your honor I downloaded and learned it. It's quite easy, too easy for an audition piece, unless you're Christian Lundberg and can add an inward two and a half with three twists to the cadenzas. Likely why it's obscure.

The Lundberg as well as an outing by Joseph Alessi are on You Tube.

 

in 300 years it will be an "original instrument", posted on September 22, 2020 at 19:14:14
oldvinyl
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 Auto tune too?

How is the action feel? Same as regular mechanical keyboard?


Enjoy the music.

 

Would think that your neighbors..., posted on September 22, 2020 at 22:24:33
musetap
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 (unless also musicians), would likely enjoy hearing some live music.

Most "civilians" do and aren't critical of such.

As far as any repetition goes, the ones really paying attention should appreciate the concurrent... improvements!

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

Well, that's certainly possible - thanks for the encouraging words! [nt], posted on September 23, 2020 at 00:23:51
Chris from Lafayette
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The action is absolutely the same as far as I can tell, posted on September 23, 2020 at 00:27:13
Chris from Lafayette
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 As for original instruments, I'll let them all sort it out then! ;-)

 

RE: Digital instruments, posted on September 28, 2020 at 14:13:40
desertorganist
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 Yamaha seems to be doing a LOT of work on their digital instruments to make them feel and sound convincing and be satisfying to play. The big manufacturers of digital organs, Allen and Rodgers, still have a long way to go before their instruments are truly convincing. Out of the box, an Allen takes a long time to set up, because every stop needs many adjustments to relate properly to every other stop, and even then, as the ensemble gets bigger, the sound gets thinner, distinctly "electronic."

 

RE: Feline rehearsal assistants, posted on September 28, 2020 at 14:16:01
desertorganist
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Location: Southwestern U.S.
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 I like the cat in his basket.

Our cats seem to like music also, and they don't object when I play something over and over and over because I need to get it into my fingers and feet. One will sometimes try to "help" me, too.

 

Our cat is now an older gentleman, posted on September 28, 2020 at 15:37:41
Chris from Lafayette
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 He turns 19 and a half in a few days. He's blind in one eye from glaucoma, and has arthritis, but he still seems to possess his communicative (at times even feisty!) personality. He's been such a loving creature over the last nineteen years.


(Sitting in his planter of onions in 2004)

 

And HIP historians will be quick to point out that there's still no "vibrato" setting. : ) nt, posted on September 28, 2020 at 16:43:31
jdaniel@jps.net
 .

 

I always assumed you had a 12' Grand. And a Chandelier. nt, posted on September 28, 2020 at 17:41:46
jdaniel@jps.net
 m

 

Isn't it funny how reality can often disappoint, compared to the imagination? ;-), posted on September 29, 2020 at 00:34:50
Chris from Lafayette
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 Since our house is actually smaller than many apartments, that 12' grand would have to be squeezed in pretty tightly! ;-)

 

Do you know that for sure? [nt] ;-), posted on September 29, 2020 at 09:27:08
Chris from Lafayette
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