Doublereed Archive - Posting 000024.txt from 2008/05

From: mzeztee <mzeztee@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] On-stage warmups
Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 17:38:37 -0400

Hear ! Hear !

On 5/2/2008 12:18 PM, HAROLD wrote:
> so that's where it started!When I played/worked in Germany and played
> in Spain, and toured Euorpe with Israel Phil we didn't have this
> policy!Progress???
> I'm staging my own boycott--if they want to take me out with an armed
> guard so be it!
>
> Many thanks
>
> Harold
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "mzeztee" <mzeztee@-----.edu>
> To: <doublereed@-----.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 1:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [DR-L] On-stage warmups
>
>
>> Hey Harold,
>>
>> A collegue of mine toured Europe with an American chamber orchestra.
>> They started out coming on the stage as they usually did at home. About
>> half way through the tour, they were told by management that they had to
>> proceed the "European" way i.e. warm up back stage, come on to the stage
>> as a group and no warm-up then until the "official" tuning.
>>
>> It makes NO sense and I think detrimental to the quality of the
>> performance.
>>
>> I didn't have this experience when I played for a year in orchestras in
>> Salzburg.
>>
>> more than 2 cents. . .
>>
>> B
>>
>> On 4/28/2008 1:00 PM, HAROLD wrote:
>>> Hi David
>>> Thanks for that...courage is needed.Spoke yesterday to the
>>> Maestrina(woman conductor ) about this problem and she has now
>>> allowed the oboes and bassoons and maybe even clars to come onstage
>>> prior to the others entering.
>>> Maybe we should stage an around the world protest onstage by double
>>> reed players who will only be removed from warming up by helmeted
>>> police armed with machine guns?
>>> If I could only buy all these idiots who think musicians are actors
>>> an airticket to watch and hear the NYPhil, they would all change
>>> their minds quickly. There are actually audience goers--like
>>> myself--who arrive early at their seat to watch and enjoy watching
>>> musicians warming up!
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Harold Emert
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lurie" <> Hi Harold
>>>>
>>>> This is a subject I am quite familiar with. When I got my current
>>>> job in NJ with the Bergen Philharmonic Orch, they used that same
>>>> practice: the players would warm up in one room, then on command
>>>> would all march single file through a cold corridor in a military
>>>> manner on to the stage then take their places in silence, and not
>>>> play until the concertmaster arrived and gave the signal to tune.
>>>> Naturally, at that point the intonation was horribly screwed up.
>>>>
>>>> The first time I observed this happening was at a concert of the
>>>> Moscow Philharmonic in Rochester, NY, where the musicians marched
>>>> on stage in single file, and in a military manner. At the time, I
>>>> thought, oh well, what can you expect from an authoritarian and
>>>> dictatorial society? So I just forgot about it, until I got into
>>>> the Bergen orchestra.
>>>>
>>>> At first, I objected strenuously to that whole procedure, but was
>>>> told that it was "the professional way" for an orchestra to enter
>>>> the stage and then tune. There was a businessman president of the
>>>> board of directors who had instituted the policy, but obviously he
>>>> knew nothing about what tuning was all about. This guy insisted
>>>> that every professional orchestra does it that way, and therefore
>>>> he was right about it, and wouldn't change the policy. When I told
>>>> him that I had just attended a NY Philharmonic concert and they
>>>> didn't do it that way, he merely grumbled something inaudible, then
>>>> turned away and ended the conversation. That was that.
>>>>
>>>> Luckily, this guy's term of office was up that year, after which I
>>>> was able to persuade them to let every one warm up on the stage.
>>>>
>>>> David
>>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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