LexPhil 2 - Acoustic Boogaloo

            About two Saturdays ago (October 24th, for those of you playing at home), I once again trekked across town to the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington to volunteer at auditions for the Philharmonic. Unlike last time, however, I showed up about 30 minutes early. As it was a Saturday and there were actually people in the building (as opposed to the emptiness of Sunday at the ArtsPlace) I walked inside and up three flights of stairs, where I sat on a step outside the Philharmonic office door and finished my lunch. One level down was a ballet class with a group of girls of various ages all running around, with their stuff tucked into corners all over the staircase. I did ballet in a old studio until I was 6, and the worn wooden stairs and slightly peely paint were a nice backdrop to my mostly-cold Chik-Fil-A sandwich.
            When 12:30 rolled around I called Amanda (the volunteer coordinator), she told me they were already set up at the church, and I crossed the street to start working. That day, they were auditioning bassists. For reference, here's what a bass looks like:

A string family rests in its natural habitat, headed by its matriarch: the mighty bass.
[An assortment of string instruments sitting in the grass]

(The bass is the largest.) My first job was to sit and greet the last few basses as they checked in and to check their IDs. The bassists actually came from all over the country, and at least a few showed me their passports as ID! Being a percussionist, all I had to carry to concerts was a few pairs of sticks and mallets, so watching them maneuver these giant bulky shapes was fascinating (and admittedly pretty funny, in a schadenfreude kind of way)!

            I also got to just sit and chat with Joel for a while (shoutout to Joel!), which was nice because now I know another person's name in the class! Joel and I talked for a bit about video games after I said the faint echo-y strains of the bassists warming up sounded like the Skyrim soundtrack. The bass is such a peaceful and powerful instrument, and it echoed through the church like something out of a dream. Certainly, the rich warm bass tones were easier to listen to for extended periods of time than the oboes! We also talked some about his engineering classes and the VR headset project they were starting.

            After all the basses were checked in and set up in their warmup spaces, Joel was given the task of shepherding basses to and from the audition room. I got the job of alerting basses about five minutes before their audition came up, which mostly involved sitting around playing solitaire on my phone. We were both given different tasks than we had our first time volunteering, so I didn't feel too bad about Joel running around while I walked up and down the hall every once in a while. After auditions, we helped with cleanup by carrying chairs and the HEAVIEST music stands I've ever encountered back down into the entryway, and then went home. I actually managed to avoid the rain despite the 45 minute walk there and back!

A sheepdog herding sheep while a shepherd watches in the background.
This time, I'm not the metaphorical dog, I'm the dude with the sweet hat (sweet hat not included).

            I only have about 3 more hours of volunteer work left to fill, and I'm looking forward to it! I'm thinking of volunteering at a concert at the Singletary, partially because it's been so long since I've heard a full orchestra and partially because it's on campus and waaay less of a walk. Also, working backstage is a pretty familiar situation. There's not a lot of other situations where sprinting across a stage while looking for your equipment in near-blackness and total silence is a needed skill, but it's one I've meticulously honed over the years and I think my spidey skills could use a stretch. I really, really love working with music and musicians again. I'm halfway tempted to find a music class to take, or possibly join the non-major concert band that apparently exists (although being an art major is already a more-than-full-time commitment). Either way, I'm really glad I had the opportunity to help a wonderful organization and participate in something so familiar and fun!
[Images from stringproject.music.utexas.edu and agesor.com.uy]