WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022, MY MUSICAL JOURNEY CONTINUED

 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022, MY MUSICAL JOURNEY CONTINUED

This week I’m writing about my musical journey

The band music frequently was transcriptions of orchestra music.  It seems like I played most of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals (Sound of Music, South Pacific, Oklahoma), and many of the more famous John Phillip Sousa marches.  

I had quite a collection of classical cassette tapes (remember those?).  I remember getting Franck’s Symphony in D at a flea market for 50 cents.  The Madison library had some classical compact disks and I listened to Anton Bruckner.  Note - Bruckner symphonies are LONG - some about an hour.  I heard all but symphony #6 and one day in the car listening to a classical station, I heard something that sounded like Bruckner - but I didn’t recognize it - and it was the elusive symphony #6.  (The last minute of the second movement has some delicate chords).

I had heard about Gustav Mahler but managed to avoid his music until a trip to New Jersey where I found a cassette tape of his symphony #1 - the “Titan”.  That made me a Mahler lover.  The final movement of the first symphony is so intriguing (you can skip the first three movements, even though they are great too).  

The second Mahler symphony is the “Resurrection” symphony, with opera singers and a choir still shivers up my spine.  I’ve heard the Sioux Falls Symphony play Mahler’s First and the Austin Symphony play Mahler’s Six (the “Tragic” symphony).  The Hamden Symphony Orchestra (that I played in), played Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (and it was a little too advanced for our group!!!).

I pretend to be a tympani player when I listen to the finale of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.  I love Stravinski’s Firebird Suite and the finale is beyond words as the Firebird (at least musically) dies in the next to last section and then the finale starts with a simple French Horn solo where the Firebird comes back to life in a glorious, dynamic finish.  (If you listen carefully and if it is a good ensemble, the tuba has one note that sets things up).  

Mussorgsky's Picture at an Exhibition is good, and the finale - The Great Gate of Kiev is a “must listen to” piece.  

I have a playlist on my iPhone of my classical favorites with so many great pieces - I call it my “upbeat classics{“.  I would listen to that playlist while riding the bus to the University of Texas campus - it always gets me in a good mood. 

My favorite composer's list changes a little - but not too much.  Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Sibelius, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Grieg, Bruckner, Prokofiev, and others. 

When I moved to Connecticut (in 2000 and the internet was real), I found the Hamden Symphony Orchestra rehearsed and playing on my campus (Quinnipiac University).  There was a tuba player already so I joined him and borrowed a tuba from him. (He seemed to own a lot of instruments!!).

After a few years, I (finally) bought my own tuba.  There was a trade-off - my wife got a 25K quilting machine and I got a 2K tuba.  At age 75, while I might like a new four rotary valve Miraphone tuba, that isn’t in my budget and sometimes I am (unfortunately) going to have to retire from tuba playing (maybe when I reach age 100).   My case is falling apart (I’m trying some stopgap things to keep the case functional).  Some of the slides don’t slide.  My tuba needs a bath. Note - so I blow air into the tuba to get sound.  My breath has saliva - and brass instruments have “spit-valves” to release the saliva.  You can imagine having saliva in some areas of a tuba - dark, damp, warm - growing all kinds of bacteria.  So, yes, periodically a nice bath to clean out the pipes!!

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Currently, I’m playing in two groups - the Central Texas Musical Arts Orchestra.  Our fall concert is in two weeks and we are playing Broadway standards - Oklahoma, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Hamilton (I’ve never seen or heard Hamilton so that is new to me), and the Sound of Music.  

The other group is the Brushy Creek Brass Band and we play at the Walburg German restaurant for Oktoberfest.  We play two sets - the first is traditional German music and the second is more big band music (plus maybe YMCA and Chicken Dance thrown in).  No pay, but we can eat dinner free and have free beer!!!

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But, I am not one-dimensional (barely) in my musical tastes.  In my car, I have Sirius XM radio and I listen to 60s Gold, 70s Gold, and the Beatle Channel.  On my Pandora account, I have playlists for the late 60s / early 70s music as well as classical.  And, for most of the rock music, I know the lyrics!!!

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I am amazed when I look at my musical background - from fifth-grade trumpet playing to seventh-grade tuba playing.  And now sixty-five years later, I’m still playing music - and I still love listening to music.  I’ve commented that I don’t have a television (but a friend gave me one and I connected it to free stations), but there are only a few days I don’t have some music in my life.  

From Psalm 100 (KJV):

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

I hope my playing is more than just a joyful noise - and that it is pleasing to God and to people!!!

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LOVE (and Music) WINS!!

Karen White, October 5, 2022, ©