Posts Tagged ‘sforzando string camp’
Haydn’s String Quartet No. 53 in D Major, “The Lark.” Joshua Muzzi – 1st Violin; Calvin Kuntz – 2nd Violin; Tyler Stembridge – Cello; Chad Stembridge – Viola. From Sforzando String Camp 2009′s chamber recital.
This year, even in spite of arriving late to Sforzando, was fantastic. I feel like I learned quite a bit (both musically and spiritually!), met some new people, and in general just had a great time playing music with other like-minded young people.
Over the past five years, I’ve had lots of memories made during that one week of a sudden emphasis on music… I wouldn’t trade the experiences for anything. Every year makes me want to come back next time; every year inspires me to improve in the skills the Lord has equipped me with.
Next year’s camp is tentative right now, due to Marquette Manor Baptist Church going through a bit of a transition time in getting a new pastor. It’s in the Lord’s will, anyway, every year. If He wants it to continue, it will continue.
And next year, if it happens, it’ll be Sforzando’s seventh year. Every year brings something uniquely special… I can’t wait to see what God has in store!
To God be the glory, great things He has done!
Besides orchestra, chamber, history, and theory, there are plenty of other things that go on during Sforzando String Camp.
This year in chapel, Mr. Ron Perkins delivered three messages to campers, each dealing with how our lives as Christians are examples to unbelievers. His source from the Bible was mainly in Ephesians 2:8-10, focusing specifically on verse ten.
His point was that we, as Christians, should be walking in good works (we are God’s workmanship created for good works!), striving to live godly lives. He told about when he was a young teenager and visiting some churches with his dad near where they lived. The thing that made the most impression on his mind was that the kids at these churches — whom he also knew from school — were either no different than they were at school (in a bad way), or were hypocrites (putting on a front at church).
The examples of those kids kept him from putting his faith in Jesus for another nine years. If he had died before then, sadly, he would be spending eternity apart from God in hell — that’s the sad reality. Even though the works of these kids pointed to them not having true faith in Christ, from an outside perspective, they were representatives of Christians. It’s important that those of us who have true faith in Christ be careful in the way we live our lives — not that we can be perfect, of course. It’s about following Christ, keeping our eyes on Him.
Titus 2:11-14 are some verses that Mr. Perkins set forth as examples of what we’re to be striving for: renouncing ungodliness and worldly lusts; living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives; waiting for the hope of Christ’s return; being zealous for good works. When a person becomes a Christian, things begin changing. In my life, desires and motives have been changing, my identity has been shifting, etc. In Mr. Perkins’ life, his lifestyle changed, his choice of music changed, etc. It’s all about a change of identity — identifying with Christ instead of the world we were once a part of.
One of my favorite things during the camp week is having spare time to simply play music with others. This year, we had a few impromptu sessions, during which we played a string sextet, improvised on common folk tunes, etc.
In the minutes leading up to the final Friday night concert, everyone in the room where we put our cases banded together in playing Dvorak’s 9th symphony — most people playing from memory. That was fun! After the concert, Tyler and I, along with another violist, succeeded in playing what was our most complete improvisation yet, based on Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. We affectionately refer to our arrangement as the “Tacobell Canon,” it being in a western fiddle style.
Sforzando is so great because of the people, both campers and staff. The faculty is always willing to help one learn, and campers always get along quite well with one another. Tyler and I both have so many great memories from the years we’ve attended the camp!
Next post coming up: Conclusion.
Music history and theory are the two main classroom classes of Sforzando String Camp every year. History is usually straight forward (there’s not too much complication one can get into with it).
This year, we covered Antonín Dvořák, Joseph Haydn, and Ralph Vaughn Williams. In addition to studying the lives of these composers, we also took a look into the form and instrumentation in the pieces we were playing by them.
Something new I learned about Haydn’s “Surprise” symphony (No. 94 in G Major; in German, it’s the symphony “mit dem Paukenschlag”) was that Haydn wrote it to outdo a student of his, Ignaz Pleyel. It worked. The audience attending the premiere of it at the Hanover Square Rooms, London, demanded an encore after hearing the second movement (which contains the surprise)… Second movements of symphonies are never encored. In symphony form, the second movement (usually out of four) is slower and calmer than any of the other movements.
One blessing in disguise that came from being late to camp was that neither Tyler or I had to take the greatly-feared Theory Test. We got to choose which theory class we wanted to be in — and we both chose Theory IV Composing.
Theory is my weakest point in music; I never really studied much of it until beginning lessons with my viola teacher around four years ago. While I can now (slowly) identify note names, key signatures, scale degrees, and chord inversions, I’m still not very good at it. Kinda ironic, since I love to compose music (hence why I chose the composing theory class).
Dr. Seth Custer shared some really good thoughts about utilizing different techniques in arranging and composing. He made the class practical by having everyone do a homework assignment, arranging “Shenandoah” and disguising the melody using various methods. On Thursday, he had four of us (including Tyler and I) put our compositions up on chalkboards, then proceeded to take them apart and examine what we had done.
Him doing that was quite helpful for me, in a couple ways. First, it showed me that there are a ton of ways that composing can be approached. Second, I got to step back to take a look at where I am with my composing skills, and what I need to study in order to improve.
I realized that I tend to be so afraid to overuse a theme, that I jump around way too much. There’s quite a bit of mileage to be pulled out of a musical theme, if one is to think about it and try different things.
Something else I realized is that I need to do more composing on good old staff paper, rather than relying on the computer all the time. Dr. Custer rightly said that a good composer can hear the music in his head.
And the last thing that was really driven home was that I need to dig into some theory topics and really get a hold on the mysteries of how music works. I’d like to start by really trying to get down keys, intervals, modes, scale degrees, etc., and also to diving into learning counterpoint (which I’ve used in my composing thus far, though ignorantly…).
To sum it up, I feel like I walked away from theory class this year with quite a bit. Now, I need to apply it.
Next post coming up: on other aspects of Sforzando.
The biggest aspect of Sforzando String Camp every year is, of course, the orchestra. Campers get their music about a month or so before camp begins, spend that month practicing, then put it together during the week.
The music lineup is always good. This year we had some repeats from previous years, including Joe Mueller’s arrangement of Holy, Holy, Holy (originally arranged for the 2006 camp), Medley on the Cross (medley of hymns about the cross), Vaughn William’s English Folk Song Suite, and Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (No. 94 in G Major). Both of the latter pieces were first performed at the camp in 2005, I believe, which was my first year in attendance. I played violin that year, so it was neat to take a look at the pieces from the viola perspective this time.
As I stated in my previous post, you’ll recall that we arrived at the camp late. Because of this, we missed our auditions… And just as I thought would happen, I was put at the back of the section. I’m fine with that — that’s what the right thing to do was.
It was, however, a huge difference from sitting in the principal seat last year! Trombones were behind me, violins to the right, and timpani to the left… Needless to say, it was hard to hear myself sometimes. It didn’t detract from the experience, though. We were glad to have been able to even be there at all, and I determined to learn as much as I could through the experiences at camp this year.
In a sense, it was easier to be able to do that, since I didn’t have to be über-worried about leading the section. All I had to do was play the music, follow the section, principal, and our conductor (Dr. Brown was back again as conductor!), which freed my mind up to be able to pay attention to my technique. Because of this, I was able to pinpoint some issues with my technique that I’d like to fix or make better through practice in the next few months.
At any rate, rehearsals went well throughout the week, my only real problem being that I was a day behind in becoming comfortable with everything put together. The Wednesday evening concert and service went good, with the addition of a new thing this year for the Advanced Orchestra — an a capella song sung as part of our performance line up for the night.
The Friday night Final Concert, in my opinion, was perhaps one of the best in the six-year history of the camp. The brass and woodwind sections did a particularly good job this year, especially considering that a lot of our music had a lot of reliance on them. These sections are made up of people who volunteer, some of them playing through the music for the first time on that beginning Monday.
Our full repertoire for this year, besides the Haydn symphony and Vaughn Williams suite, included the Prelude from the Carmen Opera (Bizet), and Dvořák’s famed 9th Symphony (“New World”), Allegro con Fuoco movement. It was a fun lineup.
Tyler and I always look forward to the chamber part of string camp, as well. Chamber groups are put together on Monday, given their music, and perform it on Friday morning during a recital.
This year, we were both put into the same group (Quartet No. 3), along with Joshua Muzzi (assistant principal of 1st Violins in the orchestra) and Calvin Kuntz (third chair 1st violin). We were given Haydn’s “Lark” quartet (String Quartet No. 53 in D Major), Allegro Moderato movement.
This particular movement is the one that people think of when they think of the “Lark” quartet. It’s slow, somewhat simple, quite different from the Beethoven I played in chamber last year. Slow and simple can be hard, though, because one has to really work on making it sound good. It’s easy to make a boring performance out of the “Lark.”
So even though it wasn’t necessarily as exciting as if we had been able to do a Mozart or Beethoven quartet, it was good. We got to really work on getting the small details right; getting articulations exact, matching style and sound throughout the quartet, etc.
We feel that our performance at the Chamber Recital on Friday went fairly well. I happened to forget to tighten my bow before we began (a stupid mistake), which threw me off balance for most of the performance… But other than that, it was a lot of fun. We threw in a bit of our own style into it by taking advantage of a fermata (bird’s eye) and turning it into a chuckle moment.
We video taped our performance, so it’ll hopefully be up on YouTube sometime in the next few days; I’ll post it once it’s up.
Next post coming up: on Music History & Theory.
I just got back late Saturday night from a full week, most of which was spent in a suburb of Chicago attending Sforzando String Camp.
This post is the introduction to a series of posts recapping this year’s string camp. If you’re interested in reading about last year’s camp, look through posts tagged “sforzando string camp“.
I say that most of our week was spent at Sforzando… That’s because we got there late. Here’s the scoop:
Saturday, July 25th, my Mom, brother, and I were in Georgia for a cousin’s wedding (congratulations, Benjamin & Danielle!). After the wedding, we travelled part of the way to Chicago, stopped in Tennessee for the night, and continued on our way Sunday morning. We had to be at Marquette Manor Baptist Church (the host for the camp) by around 3:25 PM for auditions.
That’s what we had planned — God had other plans for us. Proverbs 19:21 was something that came to mind after what happened at around 8 AM Sunday morning!
In short, as we were driving (Tyler was driving, actually… I was sleeping), lightning struck our van. No joke! Read Tyler’s description of what happened on his blog.
Our van was dead in the water, two tires and the engine being out. To make a long story short, it was towed and we ended up being in a hotel room during the time our auditions were supposed to be happening.
Our plans had been stopped short, that was for sure. Though we don’t know exactly why the Lord allowed it to happen, we trust that He knew what was going on. We may find out someday that our inconvenience happened so something worse would bypass us.
I’ll admit, it was a bit difficult at first. After all, we missed our auditions, which would determine where we would sit in the orchestra (and also which chamber groups we would be placed in). It was really a matter of putting aside my pride for me — after all, the better the seat you get, the better the player you are. It was actually good to reflect on these things and turn them over to the Lord; it’s so easy to allow pride to be a driving force behind actions in life. It’s good to learn to let it go.
So there we were, stuck. We ended up not getting on the road (in a rented HHR) until Monday mid-morning, the first day of camp.
Even through our trial (which, when I think about it, is really a little thing compared to the things that some Christians worldwide go through everyday), God was good. He provided a place to stay while we were stuck, and a way to finally get to Chicago.
When we arrived at long last Monday evening, we caught the tail end of the Sforzando faculty concert. It was good to finally be there!
As a way of introduction to the next few posts about Sforzando, I should first say that while I took a linear-timeline approach in my posts last year, I’m taking a topical approach this year. I’ll do posts on Orchestra & Chamber, History & Theory, other miscellaneous things, and a conclusion.
Be looking for more posts coming soon!
I get back from one trip (South Carolina and West Virginia), only to leave again… This time, my Mom, brother, and I are headed down to Georgia for a cousin’s wedding. We’re leaving tomorrow, will be at my Grandmama’s house on Friday, going to the wedding on Saturday, and beginning our journey back as soon as that’s over. Instead of coming back home, we’re going straight to a suburb of Chicago — Sforzando String Camp is next week!
I probably won’t be doing much updating while I’m gone, as my iPod will be my only computer I’ll have, and I don’t know what WIFI situations will be.
The year of our Lord, two-thousand-and-eight, has simply flown by.
It’s amazing how quickly it’s gone by. And ya know, it’s kinda funny… While I was in the year, it always seemed like I wasn’t getting anything done at all. But in retrospect, it’s been like a whole bunch of little things that have added up.
A disclaimer before I go further: I’m not writing this post trying to boast or brag about what I’ve done during the year… I’ve done very little compared to a lot of people, and what I’ve done isn’t spectacular. I simply would like to look back over the year and reflect…
The year’s beginning feels like it’s been ages ago, yet as if it was just yesterday, in some ways. Almost a year ago, the idea for Precious Treasure was conceived… It’s so hard to believe it’s been that long!
Amongst other things, here’re a few events that happened this year:
The Live Animal Christmas Play video was being edited and finished, through February.
Bounty was produced as a part of ChristianFilmmaker.org’s 24 hour contest.
I bought my first computer.
The short documentary, Shell Bluff, was produced.
My family and I got to see Joshua Bell rehearse with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra.
Tyler and I attended a Christian filmmaker’s get-together in East Peoria.
Precious Treasure was produced.
StembridgeMill.com got a new look.
We took a visit to the Windy City!
Dad finished restoring his Ford 8N tractor.
Tyler and I participated in our fourth Sforzando String Camp.
For the first time ever, I went away from home by myself for more than a few days; I was DP on a short film in Iowa.
I voted in my first ever presidential election.
A bunch of guys I know (my Grampa, two uncles, and a cousin, namely!) got together at a submarine veteran’s memorial service.
The DiMaria guys and us visited Patriot’s Point in South Carolina.
This year was my second time to participate in National Novel Writing Month.
I was privileged to play in the Baroque Festival Orchestra last semester.
It was a busy year, for sure! Looking back, I was also kinda surprised to count how many short movies I’ve been involved with this year…. Here’s a list:
Shell Bluff (Co-producer, co-director)
Father Who Art (Director of photography)
Dialtone (Pre-production script critique)
Found (Composer)
Family Court (Creative consultant)
(Title Unknown) (Sound effects, digital effects artist)
It’s been a busy year (I think I said that already… =P )! And through it all, the Lord has been faithful and good. His blessings are abundant! I’m looking forward to seeing where He leads in the New Year… It’s my desire to go into it trusting Him and being led by His Spirit.
Thank You, Lord, for another year from You!
- The Aftermath.
Perhaps “aftermath” really isn’t the best word to use. At any rate, after a solid and wonderful week of playing viola for God’s glory, learning, and connecting with others, I’m back. Back to the routine of life at home. But now, I must decide what to do.
I have two choices: continue on with my music as it was before String Camp (pretty much just practicing viola for lessons), or continue onward with my music utilizing what I learned during the week and with the realization that God, the giver of my skill, has given it to me to be used for His glory.
My choice is to move onward with my music and develop it and branch out, building my skills and using them for the glory of God. Already I’ve begun finding some things that I can do outside of my lesson materials, along with my delving into the world of composing.
Something that I’ve been considering and praying about is joining the Baroque Festival Orchestra in Chicago; Mr. Drostan Hall, the conductor (and the viola sectional coach), told me that he’s in need of violists and would love to have me join them. In spite of the fact that it would be a three-hour drive (one-way) once a week during the Fall/Spring, I think that it would be a very good opportunity, and would like to do it very much. So I’m praying and thinking about that right now.
The week at Sforzando was a great week, perhaps the best week of String Camp yet. It was full of blessings and surprise, of joyous fun and hard work, of performing and learning. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, and will always hold dear the memories that I’ve made at Sforzando over the years. By God’s grace, I look forward to more years of Sforzando String Camp, hopefully being able to begin helping with the camp itself in the future.
And now, as I draw this rather lengthy account to a close, there’s only one thing that I can say. Johann Sebastian Bach is a very great inspiration to me; he wrote many great works of music that, even though they really had no popularity in his day, have withstood the test of time and have gone down in the annals of music history as being part of the greatest of the greats of all music written. Bach, most well known in his day for his church organ and choir music, not only knew how to write sacred music well, but also “secular.” It didn’t matter what he was writing, for he wrote everything with one purpose in mind: to glorify his Creator.
So now, with thankfulness to my Lord and my God Who has given me musical skills to use and build, I say with J. S. Bach, who always signed his manuscripts with three words:
To God alone the glory!
- Day 06. Friday.
Today was the big day. Not only would our final concert be coming up in the evening, we also had a chamber recital to play for, in which we would exhibit the chamber music we had worked on since Monday. Since it was to begin promptly at 11:00 AM, our second time slot of the day was for chamber rehearsal. The first was a class on instrument care.
Working through polishing our string quartet with the help of our instructor, Mr. Allen Probus, we worked on getting everything together and flowing nicely. The last two rehearsals had to really count in order to pull everything together so that it was proper, realizing that we had had only five days to work on it.
I think that chamber is perhaps the most fun part of String Camp; it’s challenging but lighthearted, allowing for experience in playing with others, getting to know more music and more people. All too soon, the chamber recital had arrived.
But first, there were the Pre-Twinkles, the children attending string camp who weren’t quite ready to be in the Beginner Orchestra, or had never even touched an instrument before. It’s always fun to watch them, remembering back to when I first began… almost 11 years ago!
Before too long, it was time for the chamber groups to start playing. First off was the violin trio, then on to the string quartets… Mozart, Haydn, Hart… and then Beethoven. We were the last ones to go.
Every year, my string quartet (they’re numbered, and I’ve always been in String Quartet No. 1) has tried to be unique and a little different. Some of the ways we did that this year were to wear formal concert dress, move our music stands in until they were pretty much touching (that helped us to be able to watch each other better), sitting with the viola on the outside (many times it’s the cello that sits on the outside), and playing our quartet up to speed. A couple years ago in my quartet we played Beethoven’s Opus 18, No. 1, and I thought that was the most fun quartet I had played. But after playing the No. 4, I have a new favorite string quartet!
We thoroughly enjoyed every note of playing together (except for the notes that we missed, or rather, I missed…), and I know that I felt a bit sorry that it had all come to an end so quickly. Five days, while moving slowly, flies by very quickly, unfortunately.
Well, onward with the day we went, eating lunch (it was pizza day!), then heading to the auditorium for our final rehearsal before the evening concert. We worked on polishing the pieces we would be playing, and enjoyed once again being under the directorship of Dr. Gustafson on his Fantasia for a Celebration.
All too soon we had to leave to go eat supper and prepare for the concert… but not before having some time of “fiddling around” with friends. I found out that the Orange Blossom Special makes a very interesting cadenza for Telemann’s Viola Concert in G Major, and also that I’m not very good at playing third cello in a cello quartet (I was playing on the viola; even if I had been playing a cello, it wouldn’t have sounded any better).
It’s amazing how fast time moves when you’re having fun. Only five days before, we had been finishing up auditions and theory tests in preparation for a week that had just gone by. And now, here we were at the final concert.
It was enjoyable being able to sit and listen to what the Beginner and Intermediate orchestras had worked on during the week. I found it especially amusing when… well, let me explain.
Mr. Allen Probus, the conductor of the Intermediate Orchestra, allows for challenging during the week; that is, for members of the orchestra to challenge whoever was in the seat in front of them. Several challenges happened during the week, and one was quite notable. There was only one cello in that whole orchestra, a little nine-year-old kid who liked to call everyone “Bob” (or “Bobette,” if she was a girl; he did, however, call me by my name after being my “Folder-Carrier” one morning while waiting for camp events to begin for the day).
He decided that he would have some fun. So he challenged Mr. Probus in conducting. Apparently, there was a bit of treachery involved, as Mr. Probus couldn’t be the judge of the challenge, since he would be in it. That being the case, the boy held his contest with Mr. Probus one morning, each conducting the same section of music, and he won with a majority of the votes.
Obviously, Mr. Probus couldn’t just let him conduct the whole concert, so the boy settled for conducting the slow movement of a Vivaldi concerto. It was hilarious during the concert…. he had to stand on a step stool to be able to see over the orchestra. Mr. Probus also wasn’t without his handicap, as he had agreed to play on this boy’s cello (which had to be smaller than a half-size…). It was a funny sight, indeed!
Eighteen measures after the slow movement of the Vivaldi concerto had began, it ended, and things were put back to normal in the Intermediate orchestra. As soon as they had finished, we watched a short video that was a tribute to Dr. Gustafson’s life and ministry, which was very interesting.
After a seven-minute intermission, it was our turn. We opened with Haydn’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in B flat Major, a gorgeous piece that was performed by the harpist, Julie Mueller (accompanied, of course, by us). Every year there’s always a piece for a soloist with the orchestra; last year it was Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C.
Following the Harp Concerto came a movement from one of Bach’s most famous works, the third Brandenburg Concerto. It’s a lively Allegro movement that moves along very quickly… it’s my favorite of all the Brandenburg Concerti.
The six concerti are often considered to be perhaps the peak of not only the Baroque period in music, but also in all of Bach’s compositions. He composed them for the Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, who, upon receiving the concerti, promptly had them not played. Thankfully, he had them filed away in the royal library, where they remained in pristine condition until they were rediscovered in the 1800′s.
Besides being my most favorite of all the movements of the Brandenburg concerti, I had even more fun playing it using my 18th-century style Baroque bow. It’s construction is a bit different than a regular modern bow, in that when it is tightened, it is convex rather than a concave shape. It plays differently due to this. Since Bach had originally composed the concerti for use with that kind of a bow, I think that it was easier to play with it, but especially more enjoyable.
The Brandenburg was originally composed with nine parts: three violins, three violas, and three cellos (plus basso continuo and harpsichord). We only had seven, the three cello parts being melted down into one part.
Do you know what the word “concerto” means? To strive alongside of. Let me give you a mental picture: we had eleven violins on the first violin part, five or six on the second violin part, five or six on the third violin part, and seven cellos on the cello part. That leaves seven violas, divided by three. And during one first viola solo in particular, that left two violas striving alongside twenty-two violins (plus two or three instructors who were also playing in the violin sections), seven cellos, and five other violas. That was fun!!! My stand partner and I sawed away on our violas with all of our hearts, making sure that the audience got to hear our little moment to shine (it’s not often that violas get anything significant like this!).
We moved onward in the concert to the Fantasia for a Celebration, which Dr. Gustafson conducted himself. It was a grand experience to be able to play his composition under his directorship.
One of the tunes that he wove through the piece was a fife and drum corp piece, Chain Cotillion, which he found in the historical library of Williamsburg. The way he wrote it into the Fantasia was in such a way so that as you are listening, you can almost see the ghost army of Colonial soldiers marching through a distant fog — cheerful, but a bit mysterious, as a vision of the past.
Our concert wrapped up with a well-known Viennese song by Johann Strauss, Sr.: Radetsky March. It’s a stirring piece, full of Austrian patriotism and bouncy rhythms. Dedicated to Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, it was written in 1848, and was first performed for an audience of Austrian soldiers.
They liked the march so well, that when it came to the last chorus, they all began stomping and clapping their hands, and the tradition has stuck. Not only has this tradition been continued, but the piece has become part of the tradition of the Vienna New Year Concert, Neujahrskonzert.
The very first time I ever heard this song was actually on none other than… my Dad’s cell phone. Yep, it was on it as an alarm tone. I can’t remember where we were on vacation, but every morning we woke up to Radetsky March being played by an extremely fake sounding orchestra. As can be imagined, I tended to not like it anymore after that, and when I found out that we would be playing it for String Camp, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. But, after listening to some recordings (and after rehearsing it with the orchestra for the first time), I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoy the piece, from his festive march strains to its very Austrian-sounding trio section.
Oh, and just as a tid-bit of trivia, Radetsky March is always played on all flights for the Israeli airline El-Al, prior to take-off. Just a randomly interesting fact.
Thus, our final Friday Concert was concluded with much happiness, but also some sadness as it was the last few moments of an awesome week. We had made friends together, played music together, learned together, encouraged each other, for the past six days. One week is never enough.
So, as the adrenaline began wearing off, we wandered around the auditorium (I say “we,” but I guess that I mean “me”) talking to various people. I was able to get Dr. Gustafson to autograph the first page of his Fantasia, talked to some friends, exchanged email addresses, etc., etc., etc., until it was finally time to head back to our host’s house and hit the sack.
