Klarinet Archive - Posting 000965.txt from 1998/12

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] AN OVATION OF A DIFFERENT COLOR
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 01:09:31 -0500

Since the talk is about about ovations, here is a story that appeared
before.

Most everyone knows that Wales is in the United Kingdom (England). If
they didn't see the movie "How green was my Valley" when it first came
out, everyone must have seen it shown on the reruns.
Anyway, Wales is a beautiful country. Noted for their voices and famous
choirs.

Wales is where the Toronto Symphony went for a concert. Cardiff. In a
nearby Cathedral. An old edifice.
It was cold in there. We sat in our overcoats, thats how cold it was
inside.
Luckily, I played Tschaikovsky V and thus didn't have to change
clarinets during the concert..
We always played encores, wherever we went.
The encores were Brahms Hungarian dance #3, Strauss pizzicato polka.
The beauty about these encores was that our conductor, Seiji Ozawa
would choreograph the conducting.
Even if you were deaf, you could imagine what it would sound like.
The sequence was always the same, at the end of the big work: we would
take a bow. Seiji would run off and on a few times and we would start
playing encores.

After all, the audience is appreciative.

In this Cathedral before the concert, the Pastor held forth a little
speech and asked the audience to show their appreciation for the playing
by standing up. No clapping.

Guess what? After the Tschaikovsky , the audience stood up and there was
no way to play an encore.
The only way they could have an encore is if the audience were to stand
and sit, stand and sit etc.

So we got our standing ovation but didn't have to play an encore.
An early night off!

Avrahm Galper
TONE TECHNIQUE AND STACCATO
THE UPBEAT BAERMANN MELODIC SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS
http://www.sneezy.org/avrahm_galper/index.html

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