Day 449 and 450: Stories

For those of you who know me, you should know that I'm not a particularly large fan of reading. However, over the course of the summer, I noticed that there was a lot of free time during rehearsals and performances, more so than last year. I'm not sure why, but there was a noticeable amount of space that boredom could creep into. I wasn't going to kill my phone battery or completely demolish my brain cells by playing Candy Crush, so I decided to start reading. What I discovered was that if you found something interesting to read about, you could actually enjoy it and learn something in the process. My elders had always told this to me, but I couldn't believe it because I wasn't mature enough to recognize what exactly I wanted to read. Luckily, over the summer, I realized the three topics and/or genres I liked to read: (1) memoirs (2) mysteries (3) anything about musical theater. Upon discovering this, I was able to read about 10 books this summer so far. Some of them include Richard Rodgers memoir, Julie Andrews memoir, Florence Henderson's memoir, two books on the career of Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Enraged Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition, two books on Oklahoma! and The Cat Who Lived High. The last on that list is the 11th in a mystery novel series that my late grandpa got me hooked on. He used to tell me I should read more, and he knew I liked mysteries as a kid so suggested The Cat Who... series. Its a collection of 29 novels by Lillian Jackson Braun. While they are mysteries, they replace the suspenseful drama with witty, playful humor, but still keeping you engaged in the story. I cherish them, especially because of the memory of the man who introduced me to them. Before he passed, he gave quite a few of the ones he owned to me (he always kept them in his car). While I read all of mine electronically on my iPad's Kindle app, I will always treasure those stories. Now that I have discovered the magic of reading and know what books I like, I will read stories forever.

Day 448: Home Food

I love Winchester. Don't get me wrong. However, when it comes to food, the city is missing some key staples that can be found primarily in southeastern states. I'm sure you are already thinking Chic-fil-a is one that we are missing but we are lucky enough to still have that. Thank goodness. There are many places though I can only eat in conyers and while I was home I had to make sure I ate at them before I returned. A few included: Zaxbys, Moes, Krystal, O'Charley's, Milanos, Sonnys, Frontera, and Captain Ds. I was able to eat at most of these. I was very excited that I also got to eat at the fast food restaurant with the best fries that we don't have here. I'm sure you know that that place is checkers. The only thing that makes the fries better is melted cheese sauce on top. It's fantastic. Unhealthy, yes. But comforting home food goodness.

Day 447: Know the Show

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of knowing the audience. Today, this is a public service announcement to the audience to know the show. Don't assume anything about the show you are going to see, otherwise, you might be sadly disappointed. For example, don't go see The Sound of Music and expect to see a live form of the film. The stage show and film are different in several ways. The same applies for Carousel and other popular movie musicals. If you don't know the basic plot of a show, read about it online or somewhere before you go. That way you aren't trying to absorb to much in your one viewing and you aren't completely confused. I went to the fox theater in Atlanta once to see oklahoma and people were talking all through intermission trying to figure out what had happened during the last fifteen minutes of the first act because they didn't know the show. More recently, people came to see The Wiz, and they were expecting The Wizard of Oz. They are NOT the same. The Wiz, simply is a African-American adaptation of the novel with Motown style music. Dorothy is not white, she doesn't sing Over the Rainbow, and she doesn't wear ruby slippers. Not knowing the show can also result in walkouts. If you go to see a show that has thematic material or language that you are uncomfortable with you should find that out especially if you are taking kids. The theater should put out a warning if it's a show with mature content. Be an informed and proactive audience member. Know the show because if you go and don't know you might go.

Day 446: Know the Audience

This is a "funny" story with a very important message. As I said in yesterday's blog post, this summer some friends and I performed at a retirement village. When we pulled into the very, very nice, elite looking place, we noticed that the sign said that it was a Lutheran retirement village. We were then instructed to go to the chapel because that's where the performance would take place. We weren't aware of the two facts I just stated, and there were then some unusual and slightly inappropriate songs for that particular audience. The one song that stands out is "It's Hard to Speak my Heart" from Parade. During the song, a young man is trying to make his final plea of not guilty stating he didn't rape a young girl like he had been accused of. It also sounds relatively morbid in a reflective way. In the context of the show, it works, but it was not appropriate for a Lutheran audience in a chapel. My friends and I were just trying not to laugh at the odd reactions to this song. All of that to say is know your audience. As performers, I've said the audience is important for us to perform well and to have some interaction. However, before getting to the stage, we have to predict or find out who the audience will be so we will perform material the audience can respond to. For example, when SSMT chooses their shows, they consider the audience by taking polls from them finding out what they want to see, and considering the audience demographic. Therefore, the point of all of this is always know your audience so you don't become embarrassed singing a song about rape in a chapel.

Day 445: Retirement

One of the day off highlights of SSMT 2015 was playing for a cabaret at a nearby retirement village. Several members of the company compiled a small concert of broadway songs to perform for the evening event. I've been through the retirement home and nursing home circuit before because I used to be the adorable little boy who could play the piano that the senior citizens would just eat up. Because of my experience playing for these places, I noticed a few things that surprised me. Normally, a community event happens in the afternoon, but this happened at 7 PM; I thought that's when retirement villages go to bed. Also, there is normally about five people: the awake one, the asleep one, the late one, the one that leaves earlier, and the noisy one. However, none of these were there. It was not only an attentive crowd, but a large one. It taught me something. Even people at a retirement village have a lot of livin to do.

Day 444: What's up, Doc?

The absolute worst part about coming home to visit is having to go see the doctor. It's not that I'm afraid of them or anything; I've just been through so much medical crap over the course of my life that I've seen more doctors in 21 years than one person should have to see in their whole life. Also, I've seen every kind of doctor. I always joke saying I've seen every -ologist except a gynecologist. I know going to the doctor is necessary, it's just boring, and there are so many more exciting things to do then having your vitals taken and sitting in waiting rooms. At least it's over for now, and it won't be until December that I have to say what's up doc? (Unless I'm involved in some Bugs Bunny show but I don't foresee that happening).

Day 442 and 443: Conductors

Over the summer, I had the great privilege of working with three incredible conductors. I will only mention two now because I'm saving the third for a separate post for reasons to be discovered. These two conductors were Karen Keating and Matthew J. Pool. The former was the musical director for The Addams Family and The Music Man. Matthew was the musical director for The Wiz and assistant musical director for everything else. They both have completely different styles, but they can get the music to sound great and just the way they want it to be interpreted. Watching them give notes to an orchestra is just incredible because of their attention to detail. Matthew was a masters student and has now graduated but I'm sure I'll work with him again someday. I'll work with KK a lot while I'm at SU and I can't wait to continue learning.

Day 441: By Hand

Are you familiar with the experience of going to the doctor and he/she gives you the prescription and you cannot read what it says or even what the signature is? Well, it is a common stereotype that doctors have terrible handwriting. However, there is one thing that's written sloppier than prescriptions and that is music. Because of the meticulous detail that goes into every note, clef, stem, bar line, etc. it's impossible to make it look clean without a ruler. All of this to say, that when you go back and are trying to play music from handwritten scores it is damned near impossible and definitely a challenge. You can complain about it, try to find a better copy of the score, or notice that half the score is computer typed, but none of that matters. You eventually have to realize what Dr. Albert preaches: "it is what it is." However, for your amusement, below is our current musical score. The first two photos are handwritten and the last two are typeset. Note the difference.

Day 440: Wrong Instrument

For those of you who know The Music Man, you will get a kick out of this, but for those of you who don't, I will preface this post.

The finale of The Music Man is the boys band arrives in full uniform, and not having learned a note, when they are asked to play at the trial of Harold Hill, they sound awful. However, the townspeople are taken by the pride for their happy children that they forgive Hill for a happy ending.

The bad music had to come from somewhere because we didn't want the kids to try and play and inconsistent sound come out to where the effect didn't read. The only exceptions are the two people that had cymbals and the bass drum and they just hit them whenever. The orchestra has bad music written in our parts and we are instructed to generally just play terrible. Some people played the wrong notes on the page, some played the minuet in g tune but badly or in another key, some played whatever on their own instrument, but the adventurous ones brought a random instrument and played it to produce authentic awful playing but from a musician to replicate the child. The main people who did that were the people that are studying music education and are having to learn all the instruments. Below are photos of some of our wrong instrument shenanigans.

Day 439: The Vamps

In musical theatre, a musical phrase that is repeated in a measure until the certain cue is known as a vamp. Please note that this is not to be confused with the other definition of vamp, even though the theater has a lot of those vamps too, lol. Vamps can get slightly annoying because of their repetitive nature and Music Man in particular has the two most annoying vamps in musical theater history. I can't really sing or play during the blog post, but you can look up the songs that I mention and you will notice the vamps within the song. The first is during ya got trouble when Harold is giving a long speech and under it the ensemble is whisper singing trouble and the orchestra is playing a boom chick accompaniment. The other is at the beginning of Marion the librarian and has a repeated base line primarily in the low strings and the bassoon. It was such an exhausting vamp that our players had to scatter play it in chunks. Both of these vamps happen several times. The first vamp I discussed we had to play 45 times and the second vamp was 72 times. That of course results in only 80 percent of it being played by the other instrumentalists while I kept the foundation continuously. Vamps are annoying, but an effective and necessary tactic in the musical theater world.

Day 438: SSMT 2016

On the last day of SSMT which as you now know I did not need to be there for we are told the season for the following year of SSMT. They hoped to make the announcement public to the closing performance audience. However, they were unsure of one of the shows due to copyright complications. However, they were able to tell the company three of next year's shows because they haven't announced them to the public I cannot in good conscience reveal them on my blog. However, as a fun guessing game I will reveal the composer of each musical and you can try and guess what the show might be. The shows are as followed:

1. A thrilling classic by Steven Sondheim

2. A timeless hit by Learner and Leowe

3. To be announced

4. A non Disney Alan Menken hit.

When it is announced to the public and the third show is revealed I will post a new blog about SSMT 2016 but for now have fun guessing!

Day 437: Sound of Music Sing-along

As I said in a previous blog post, I was going to reveal the real reason why I wanted to come home early from SSMT. That reason was the sound of music sing along. It is a huge event that happens every other year at the fox theatre in Atlanta. When it does not happen every other year they have a grease sing along, but who would want to go to that? It's not a traditional sing along where people sit like bumps on a log and refuse to sing. The first thing that happens is you walk in and receive a goody bag as if you are leaving the dentist. An emcee comes out and gets everybody excited and interactive about the event. He also explains what's in the bag and hosts the costume contest. (People come as nuns, Von trap children, Maria, or even car parts). Finally, he explains things to do during the movie such as hand signals for Do Re Mi and saying hiss whenever you see or hear the baroness and boo when you hear or see the Nazis. At the beginning of the movie we were told to crescendo and accelerando shout Julie then when she turns yell sing Julie sing. Some people even stood and did the turn. People were very interactive with the film just as we had been instructed to be. People waved the flowers from the gift bags during the Edelweiss song and even erupted party poppers during the long awaited kiss. I had a blast and hope I will be able to do it every other year in the future. Below are photos of the goodies and selfies from the event.

Day 435 and 436: Home

I'm really under the weather and tired this weekend so I'm going to keep this post simple instead of going over the top sentimental. This post can really be written in one sentence.

"There's no place like home."

Day 434: The Return

I don't know what it is, but something about riding in the car is so relaxing and can result in me sleeping for hours. I guess it's a good thing I slept most of the way home because it's a comfortable ride. I'm so big that it's hard to find a car that I comfortably fit in and how to sit in order for my legs not to go through the chair or my head through the roof. Also, it doesn't help that the majority of the car is loaded with my stuff. However, size and twelve hour drive problems aside, I got some great rest, and when I wasn't sleeping I was reading and was able to read 17 chapters in my book. After 12 hours, 612 miles, a long summer, and dealing with a terrible cold I see conyers open up before my eyes and my house in the distance.

Day 433: Finale

As I hope I have conveyed, this summer has been a blast. I've made a ton of new friends, learned some great shows, added new credits to my résumé, created amazing memories, and just had an incredible time. I hope that I will be able to be involved again next year.

Tonight, I actually saw The Music Man and realized again how great the show is and how awesome our production was. We had an amazing cast, crew, orchestra, sets, lights, props, etc. It was all just phenomenal. After the show, I bid my farewells to our conductors, my co-pianist, the choreographer, and several cast members. Today, we also packed, and tomorrow, we will return home.

Day 432: Last Show

Today, I played for my last performance of SSMT 2015. As you've read, our last show was The Music Man and had only one piano part in the orchestration. Therefore, Olivia and I had to alternate the performances. To avoid the confusion of switching among a weekend, it was decided that I would play the first six shows and then Olivia would play the last six. Also, this made it possible for me to come home early for a very special reason. (I'll get to that in a later post). It was a very bittersweet, sentimental performance because it's always hard to leave a show and especially a whole summer season. However, mom is coming up today to bring me home to visit. We will be seeing the show from the audience tomorrow before we leave so it will never be the last show.

Day 431: Final Review

Here is a link to the review of the final show. Shout out to all the people at DC Metro of the Arts for the great reviews in their paper and website.

http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2015/07/24/the-music-man-at-shenandoah-summer-music-theatre-by-valerie-s-okeeffe/

Day 430: Final Photos

As I have done with the other shows, here is a link to the blog post and countless images of our show. Huge shoutout to Charles King for being our great photographer this summer.

http://ckingphotography.com/the-music-man/

Day 428 and 429: Final Opening

Seventy six trombones are marching into the Shenandoah summer music theater this weekend to present the final show of their season: Meredith Willson's The Music Man. (That sounded like the first sentence of a newspaper article). Anyway, as you just read we have no opened up our final show of the season and while we are all exhausted we are having a blast because the audiences just love this classic, feel-good musical. Yes, it's long, yes the story is simple, it has simple characters, standard tunes, but underneath all of the simplistic charm is a show with great depth about a town that really is in trouble of becoming mundane, eternally stubborn, and in a sense, lifeless. We get to bring the show to life and hopefully we can make the audiences look like the townspeople below in excited anticipation for next year's season and more performances of The Music Man.

Day 427: Exit Music

Now it's time for part three and my final post of my orchestral theater music series. After the bows are complete and the curtain has closed, the orchestra plays what is called the exit music. It's basically like a church service's recessional or postlude. It punctuates the show with a musical exclamation point. However, most people turn it into a comma because they don't listen to it. Granted it's for you to walk out of the theater to but I'm never completely gone by the end of it because so many people are trying to leave. Therefore, I always clap to acknowledge the orchestra not just for the exit music but for all the music they provided that evening. They are saying goodbye to you, so it's polite to say goodbye back or at least wave. We've been lucky this summer to have a lot of people hang around the pit and listen to the exit music applauding afterwards. We really appreciated it. Now going to the pit isn't always necessary (after all it is exit music, not linger to the pit to chat music) but always acknowledge because live music from the orchestra is just one more element that makes a night at the theater magical, so from overture to finale and beyond be a great audience and always listen to the music.

Day 426: Entr'acte

This is part two of my theater orchestral music series. The Entr'acte is a fancy French term that literally means between acts. In simple terms, it's the act two overture. I've also seen it called Act Two Opening, Act Two Prelude, or one show I did called it the underture which I thought was particularly clever. Like the overture, it's usually a medley of songs from the show. Nowadays, they usually don't exist, or in revivals they are considerably shortened. I'm not terribly opposed to this because I've noticed that the Entr'actes are often longer than the overtures and play the same songs just in different keys with different transitions. However, I'm also a big believer in keeping the integrity of the original so it becomes a gray area. The Entr'acte has mainly become a time to ensure that people are back in their seats and letting people who ignored the bell or the flashing lights straggle in before act two begins. However, like I said with the overture, if you're in there and seated, don't talk. The Entr'acte is part of the show to and the orchestra works hard to prepare and perform it.

Day 425: Overture

Over the next three "days," I'm going to write about the three main orchestral pieces of a traditional musical. In the golden age of musicals, and even occasionally a show today, a show begins with an overture. A show could technically begin with an overture, prelude, or prologue and I'll explain the difference later but for now I'll focus on the overture. The overture is an orchestral work that is played at the top of the show before the curtain rises. The traditional format is a medley style, or a big combination of songs from the show. Some people find the long, boring, and downright pointless. While there is truth in that at times, they shouldn't be cut because the integrity of the work should be respected. Also, it gives a chance to showcase the orchestra because back in the day, orchestras were huge with generally about 25 people and full string sections. I think that's why people are starting to eliminate overtures when writing new shows or reviving old ones because the orchestras don't bring them to life like they once did because they are so small and usually sythesized by several keyboards. The main point of the overture is to set the mood of the show which is why some people believe that the medley approach doesn't work. A lot of people think a prelude or prologue is more effective. These are still primarily orchestral but they generally are more relevant to the show and sometimes feature something happening on stage. For example, Hairspray starts with a prelude as Tracy wakes up and it leads right into the opening song. Carousel and west side story begin with prologues which set the scene and provide a lot of exposition through dance with orchestral accompaniment. There are times like in The Addams Family or She Loves Me where the overture doesn't necessarily play songs from the show but plays music that establishes a musical genre and setting which some believe is the only effective overture. Either way, I always tell people as a rule of theater etiquette, the overture is part of the show too. There might not always be stuff happening on stage but the orchestra works hard on it, and frankly, you paid to hear it (it's a musical) so sit back, relax, and listen to the music. Also, applause at the end of the overture is always appreciated.

Day 424: Wrong Show

In summer stock tradition, there is a phrase that's more common than hold, lights on, or even places. That phrase is "wrong show." Since we are working on four different shows over the course of two months and often two at a time we have a lot of songs, dances, and dialogue in our heads especially the actors. As the pianist, I just play whatever score they place in front of me. Anyway, whenever a song is mentioned, a line quoted, or dance style transferred, someone will shout wrong show. It sometimes even becomes a game to see how many times you can reference one show while rehearsing another. It might seem silly but it's how we keep all the info in our brains and have fun.