He was exactly the same as you remember him - sweet, effervescent, and unbelievably amazing with children. And a huge advocate of arts education - he told everyone in the audience to keep working to keep music in the schools because a child who doesn't have music is receiving an incomplete education. I loved him even more during this concert than I remember as a kid.
What really was amazing to me, listening to all of this music I grew up on with my now highly attuned orchestrally educated ears, is just how phenomenal the music of Sesame Street really is. We did Rubber Duckie; the Rainbow Connection; Sing, Sing A Song, and People In Your Neighborhood - and all of the old memories came flooding back as if I was 4 years old again. I haven't had such a powerful hit of nostalgia from my early childhood in my life! So this was a hard concert for me to play, because it instantly vaulted me back to the joy of my childhood (making me even more cognisant of the passage of time and the inevitable reality of aging); but when I could get past all the emotion, I marveled at what a gift that show and its music was and hopefully still is to the millions of children who watch it.
Rubber Duckie, for instance. That's a great tune!! The chord progressions, the rhythms, the structure - it's not "dumbed down" for younger listeners. It's got all the substance of a great jazz harmonic framework! I wouldn't be surprised if it's ever used as a jazz tune.
A hilarious moment was when we did "Your Face" - a song about the fact that everyone's face is different and no one has your face (unless you have a twin). So Bob says to the audience, "I have a question for you - did you bring your face?" This was the day after a particularly difficult concert the night before; and the term "face" is used slangily by wind and brass musicians to describe their embouchures. I looked at Barnewitz and asked him, "so did you bring your face?" and he laughed, shook his head and said, "No". That was funny.
During The Rainbow Connection (another incredible song with amazing harmony and voicing), there was a slide show of all these amazing photos of your favorite Sesame Street characters. I cried shamelessly during that song!
In completely unrelated news, I found out this week that based on a CD audition I recorded (I wasn't sure about it and was, as usual, too hard on myself for its imperfections), I've won the position of Principal Horn with the Breckenridge Music Festival! Check out their website here: www.breckenridgemusicfestival.com. I've heard that Breckenridge (CO) is stunning, and their festival is about a month long (perfect length for a festival, in my opinion) with chamber music as well as orchestral. I'm very excited about it! I know and adore the conductor, Gerhardt Zimmermann, and am so psyched about getting to work with him again. Woo hoo!!
No comments:
Post a Comment