Klarinet Archive - Posting 000249.txt from 1998/11

From: Oliver Seely <oliver@-----.EDU>
Subj: [kl] Alumni orchestra and auditorium dedication
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 18:38:33 -0500

I'll relate a joyous experience I had this afternoon. At 10am alumni and
students representing seven decades of graduating classes (from 1936 to 2001)
gathered in the auditorium of Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA,
for one rehearsal before the dedication concert to rename the auditorium
for Nicolas Furjanick and Rolland Sandberg, two beloved band/orchestra
teachers
from the early 1940s to 1986. The orchestra was made up of professionals
and amateurs who live in many different parts of the U.S. but who have such
sweet memories of one or the other of those two men that they flew in and
drove to be present for the dedication ceremony. More than 80 alumni
musicians made it!

Four notable alums who couldn't make it: Dick Waller, clarinetist, in
Cincinnati (his brother David DID make it, though), Marge Clark, flutist
once with the Montreal Symphony, Akira Endo, conductor, (you folks in
Pittsburgh tell him we missed him) and Linda Sue Marks, percussionist (I
think that she's still playing the marimba in Cleveland.)

Our concert was short and, as might be expected for an eclectic group
of musicians gathering for a one-day gig, made up of not difficult pieces:
The last spring by Grieg, Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, the last selection
of Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and Finlandia.

I've always wondered how the clarinet solo in the Vaughan Williams piece
would sound if played just slightly raucously -- a bit like the solo in
El Salon Mexico, but not so obvious. It's good that Dick Waller didn't
show up or I'd never know -- still, I'll have to wait for the CD to find out
if it worked, or, egads, maybe I'll have egg all over my face!

Most of the amateurs who showed up to play really DO keep up their musical
skills. It was most rewarding to sit with musicians who deliver crisp
attacks and who, after one play-through, come together in tune and give the
impression of having played with each other for a long time. I wasn't
prepared to experience that. The first bassoonist sat next to me and he
had a fabulous mastery of the instrument, as seemingly all of the trumpets
who were in tune and right on the beat. It was a thoroughly enjoyable
afternoon which I can be sure I'll never have another chance to repeat.
Literally, a chance of a lifetime!!

Oliver

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