9/13/15 Reflection About First Volunteer Day

For my first service learning opportunity I helped out with  the Philharmonic’s audition process.  I arrived at the church across from their “headquarters” where they were holding the oboe auditions. The big thing Amanda had to tell me first was all of the musicians identities needed to be kept confidential. Since I had interactions with the musicians as I was doing the job I will either have to generalize or change their names for disclosure.  It’s very important to make sure nobody’s name is thrown around after the audition because it could damage a reputation.  This is very important because say Thomas auditions for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and is a very good musician but has a bad audition. Somebody could tell others about Thomas and it  could make the rest of his career more of an uphill battle. This is also the reason that I felt like I  wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the location I worked at. Being a musician is competitive enough, but one bad audition made public to everybody could hurt their future prospects for jobs.

Amanda then explained to me how the audition process worked.  The auditions were for oboes and they were divided up into two separate groups of 10.  Each person in the group would draw a number and that was the order they would audition in.  When the auditions started there was somebody to take the musicians down to the audition room from their warm-up room, and there was somebody giving people a 5-minute warning for when this would happen.  From these two groups the judges will select the people they want to hear again and they will compete in a final round.  I helped with the set-up and then I was on 5-minute warning duty.    

I got to hear all the musicians going through their warm-up routines. As a musician it was interesting to see how they warmed up with their practicing for pieces, and with their fundamental warmup.  Each musician had their obvious strengths and I got to talk to a couple after their audition.  They told me they were nervous and that they thought they could have done better but just wanted another shot at the final round.  One in particular told me how they prepared in their practices for this audition by working on different fundamentals and then building the piece up slowly.  This is exactly my audition process so I thought it was nice to know I’m doing the same setup as some professionals do for their auditions.

First Impressions of Lexington Philharmonic

The Lexington Philharmonic is an orchestral society formed in 1961 (originally called the "Central Kentucky Philharmonic Society"). The mission of the orchestra, LexPhil for short, is to "foster excellence and innovation in the performance and presentation of great music; to enrich the lives of our diverse citizenry; to educate current and future audiences and to bring distinction to our community through the orchestra’s presence and standing." The orchestra was originally formed to provide background music for a film produced by the Department of Agriculture at UK. During their first season, the orchestra had three concerts, all performed at Henry Clay High School. 
Since 1961, the Lexington Philharmonic has come a long way, having had four different conductors since then, and today, LexPhil performs over 100 concerts year round in an effort to "provide innovative and exciting opportunities in music across the Bluegrass". LexPhil's current Music Director and Conductor, Scott Terrell, has been entrusted with that position since 2009. 
 So far, my experience with the Lexington Philharmonic has been a positive one. My first exposure to volunteering with LexPhil came on Sunday, where I helped with the auditions process, particularly the bassoonists. My job was quite simple-- registering the musicians, showing them where to go, directing them to the nearest restroom, etc. All of the workers at LexPhil were kind and glad to have me (as well as the other volunteers) there to help. Overall, it was a good experience, and I look forward to volunteering again, especially at the concerts. 

LexPhil - Dawn of the First Day

This past Sunday, I helped with the Lexington Philharmonic during their oboe auditions. I helped with some of the setup, put up signs directing auditioners to the entrance to the building, and then led them from the audition room to where they'd wait to learn the results of their audition. Even though most of my job was climbing up and down stairs, I had a really great time! It was awesome being around music and musicians again (I was a percussionist for six years), and listening in on the auditions was incredible. The oboes were really nice people too. The first guy to audition had been sick the past few days and came out after his audition triumphantly crowing "I didn't cough!!"

A panorama of the interior of one of the sanctuaries
 of First Presbyterian Church of Lexington.

The auditions were held in the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington, which was built in 1872. As an art student and major art nerd I was absolutely swooning over the stained glass. Old churches are some of the most breathtaking buildings to be in and this was no exception. The exterior was old brick with a pair of giant front doors leading directly up into the main sanctuary. The acoustics were amazing as well, which obviously is a good quality to have in an audition setting. Everything echoed and rang and felt overwhelming and everywhere.

A proud oboe farmer displays her crop.
[A woman standing next to an array of oboes]

Something interesting I noticed on Sunday was that they placed carpet squares (like the sample sizes you'd see at a flooring store) on the floor where auditions were taking place. I read a while back about how even with blind auditions (where the judges couldn't see the candidate) men were disproportionately more likely to be hired after an audition, until someone put down carpeting. It turned out that the judges were hearing the women's heels clicking on the floor and even that little bit of information was enough to color their perceptions of the auditioners. It was really cool to see that concept in action firsthand!

One of my favorite "jobs" of the day was when some of the judges needed to take a restroom break. The restroom was down the hall from the audition room, but you had to walk past the waiting room to get there. The judges weren't allowed to see the auditioners at all, so Amanda Tallant (the woman in charge of the college volunteers) and I stood in front of the doors while the judges rushed past. It was pretty hilarious. 

Chatting with the musicians was really neat. I didn't get a lot of conversation in besides "Do you need to get anything from your warmup room?", "The waiting room is right this way", and "This staircase. No really THIS staircase", but it was still neat. I got a few compliments on my hair, offered a few Werther's Originals to some, and even cracked a bit of a joke: "My job is pretty much just 'this way to the waiting room... I'm basically the oboe sheepdog"

One last image for the road:

An image portraying me, hard at work escorting the oboes.
[A sheepdog, herding sheep]

[Image sources: kaintuckeean.com, hannahsoboes.com, belfasttelegraph.co.uk]

First Impressions of Lexington Philharmonic

While walking into the large, old cathedral style church where the Lexington Philharmonic auditions were being held, I had many thoughts racing through my mind. "What will I be doing? Who will I get to talk to? Can I watch the auditions?" I already had somewhat of an idea to what I was getting myself into primarily from the research I had done on the organization and what I had learned on my orientation date. One thing that initially caught my attention while looking through the official website of Lexington Philharmonic is the history. The Philharmonic began in 1961 when they were creating background music for a film being produced by UK students. I appreciate how they started out small with only volunteer artists, but have grown into an organization that attracts many music loving families. Another thing that caught my attention was the vibrant colors and pictures they included on the website; although it appears very professional, the web designers included an artistic element that their primary audience would enjoy.         

During my orientation I learned more about some of the events they host around Lexington. One of the more intriguing events I saw was the PB&J series; elementary age students could learn about different instruments while snacking on PB&Js and listening to a guest performance by a popular classical music group. I will get to have the opportunity to volunteer at one of these events and I am so excited to be able to work with the kids. I did not originally expect that I would get to work with children at all considering orchestra seems to be geared towards a more mature audience, but I am very excited to be able to incorporate working with children into my volunteering as well. This past Sunday afternoon I got to work the oboe auditions. I was surprised how much it reminded me of dance auditions when I was in middle and high school. Similarly to the auditions I am familiar with, each contestant had a number and one at a time they would be called into a room and be judged on how they play sections from three different songs. I had the chance to speak with each of the contestants because my job was to lead them from their audition, back to their private warm up room. In one case I got to listen to a conversation between two friends who were both auditioning and once again the similarities between my dance try outs were incredible. For example, after one man auditioned he told his friend to watch out because the room is very "boomy," and in dance we would warm our friends if the floor is slippery. One of the pieces I got to hear being played was Ravel- Bolero which was a familiar melody I enjoyed listening to. I believe my first volunteering opportunity at the Philharmonic was an opportunity for me to connect with musicians and find a common ground with them even though I am not a musician myself. I often found myself getting nervous for them before they walked into the audition and celebrating with them if they feel like they had performed well. I am looking forward to the next time I get to volunteer, which will be at an actual concert. Hopefully I will have discovered once again that I can relate to the artists and experience the moment along with them.

Initial Philharmonic Post - Zac Byrd

The Lexington Philharmonic strives each year to “foster excellence and innovation in the  performance  and presentation of great music; to enrich the lives of our diverse citizenry; to educate current and future audiences and to bring distinction to our community through the orchestra’s presence and standing,”-Philharmonic website.  The Philharmonic upholds this by being a very involved orchestra.  They perform over a 100 times a year with people that are hired from all over the nation.  They also hold events so that kids will be interested in the music and instruments that are being played.  These concerts are fun for the kids and the community as a whole to bond with the Philharmonic and get excited about music.

There have been four different musical conductors since the birth of the Lexington Philharmonic.  Robert King in 1961 started the conducting position for the orchestra, and helped it grow to a fully functional orchestra that was the largest in Central Kentucky.  Then Leo Scheer took over King’s position in 1965.  Scheer implemented a paycheck system as opposed to the musicians volunteering like they had been for four years. Scheer resigned in 1971 and Dr. George Zack (pictured right) took over for 37 years before handing the position off to the current Music director and conductor Scott Terrell.

Each year the Philharmonic uses donations and concert profits to pay for its musicians.  They have auditions in the fall and start the season early October with their standard Mahler 2 concert.  For each of their concerts they play in the Singletary Center for the Arts on UK’s campus.  They also bring in a number of different guest artists, mainly at their pops concerts that happen in the spring time.  This past  year they brought Wycliffe Gordon (pictured left) to play with them.  Wycliffe is a grammy nominated trombone artist whose influence in Lexington has grown over the past few years, especially among the jazz scene.  For their auditions and concerts they are always in need of people helping to run these events.

I know a few people in the Lexington Philharmonic and have talked to them.  My dad sometimes subs in for the trumpet section when somebody like Dr. Van Fleet can’t perform.  I have also met with Philharmonic administrator staff.  They informed me about the process for auditions which are very competitive and the orchestra is very involved not only with music they play, but with the community.  I am very excited to start volunteering this coming Sunday.

"The Lexington Philharmonic." The Lexington Philharmonic. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://www.lexphil.org/>.

"Picnic with the Pops | Lexington's Favorite Summer Event." Picnic with the Pops. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://lexpops.com/wp/>.