Comments

 Pauline, this was great fun to read, and yes, so similar to the issues I was mulling over in my blog. I'm looking forward to checking out those new spots next year; I'm relieved about the low cost of the "cheapie" section, but I must say I'm glad that, with my own symphony subscription, I can move seats if I want to (I imagine this is the same for you). When I was at the symphony last Sunday night, I looked up at the 2nd tier and thought, oh my, that is so very very far away. I'm inclined to think my "mid-way" spot, in 1st tier, where my subscription has been the past three years, is going to remain my best bet. But, we'll see! 

Thanks for posting this - I like hearing other people's comments on where they prefer to sit, and their own subscription experience. (I'm signed up for 6 set Sunday matinee shows, but I will promptly change out four of them, I'm sure, once my tickets arrive in August. Probably a funny way to do it, but I like having the umbrella of a subscription there, and they let you change around any way you want. So, it's TBA what and who I will be seeing...)

Glad you turned back on the "allow comments" feature! : )

  Also wanted to say that I loved the concept of the "$20 and you get the best available seat at the last minute" ticket. That's wonderful. 

And I also enjoyed reading this:

>I've seen Itzhak Perlman's big, broad fingers land on precisely the right spot on the fingerboard, and I've seen Yo Yo Ma's long, slender fingers press the heavy strings of the cello down the considerable distance to the fingerboard. If the soloist is a violinist, I can see just exactly how he maneuvers his bow for the desired effect, and I can watch the speed and the width of his vibrato.

Wow, you are in for some great performances! I agree, music isn't a "frill," in life, or in education.

Where do you live????????????? I was at Strathmore last weekend ! I live in Waldorf MD.  I like the Kennedy Center too.  I would LOVE to see Janine Jansen in March.

 I actually really like the second tier at the KC. The sound up there is way better than on the sides of the orchestra, because you'll sometimes get an echo effect. If I'm going for visuals, I like to sit up close, but for sound the second tier is great.

Terez, it's fun to compare our experiences with seating in our respective concert halls.  You mentioned two options with your subscription series, the ability to change your seat and the ability to exchange your tickets for tickets to different concerts.  I don't think my subscription series gives me either of those two benefits.  Thanks for telling me that you like my change to "allow comments."  I'm glad that you like the "$20 gamble" feature.  I might try it this season and if I do, I'll tell you how it worked out.  It is really quite impressive to watch the musicians as if you were right close to them just by using opera glasses.

Laurie, I agree strongly that music is not a frill in life or in education.  Unfortunately, it's very hard to introduce music into the public schools, although you've done it recently with a group of young students.  I really admire you for going all out to do it.

Michael, I live in Rockville in an area sometimes called North Bethesda.  I'm very close to Strathmore, and I take the Metro to get there.  You must be a dedicated concert-goer.  I think that Waldorf is about a 50 mile drive from Strathmore.  It would be fun to meet you at a concert some time.  Please let me know when you're coming to a concert at either Strathmore or the Kennedy Center.  If you really want to see Janine Jensen, you should buy a subscription series.  If you'd rather not do that, I will contact you as soon as tickets for that concert go on sale.  Subscribers get that kind of information before everyone else.

Tommy, I'm glad you agree with me about the quality of sound on the second tier at the Kennedy Center.

As a TWA pilot I often had to make approaches to the National airport on what they called the "river approach." For runway 18 we would follow the Potomic starting ten miles out, winding our way down to touchdown. The key to that was multiplying the distance to go by 3 and adding two zeros to that and THAT was the altitude you should be at to land on the numbers and avoiding an overshoot putting you in the river. Why do I bring that up in this thread? Another key to arriving safely was to hug the left bank which brought you right over the Kennedy center at 600 feet. Unfortunately we were at full flaps and gear down by then which meant lots of power to stay in the air. As a musician I always cringed while doing that over the KC, but my life is worth more than a bit of noise, for which I am truly sorry. Oh, what about the passenger's lives you say? Well, let's put it this way, if I make it, they do too.

Actually last Sat. we stayed w/ my sister in Odenton MD.

I would looove to see JJ so please let me know!  I would also love to meet you!

What a fun read Pauline!!

My wife and I attend Lincoln center in NYC a fair amount of times each year. There was a time when nothing but the first 10 rows and centered would do for us but frankly, one can see and hear less that close. 

Yes, you get to see socks and untied shoe laces and hear the occasional banter between performers and the flipping pof sheet music but when the program begins, your head is on a swivel, much like a tennis match and the sound is very centered to the instruments in front of you.

We switched to a back box along the right wall and have been there ever since.  I can still see quite well (sometimes with the aid of my trusty nikon pocket binoculars :) but I hear better and enjoy the show more.

Plus, I save in ticket prices!! Enough so that I can squire my wife around to Sardi's for a little relaxation afterward. Kinda' like diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell down at Delmonico's - LOL! 

 

 >It is really quite impressive to watch the musicians as if you were right close to them just by using opera glasses.

Okay, sounds like a must for next season.

Interesting that your subscription doesn't have the flexibility the SFS offers its subscribers; I would have thought it was sort of an across the board policy. I think it's very smart of the SFS to do that, otherwise I wouldn't be in year 4 of my subscription. Then again, sounds like you got to do a "pick your own concerts" subscription, and the SFS doesn't offer that. I have to wait till August, till they mail me my six tickets, then I have to fill out an exchange form and get my requests in the mail ASAP before the tix go on sale to the general public. (Usually about ten days leeway.) I always feel uneasy mailing the tickets back to them - it feels like mailing cash, but they charge $12 for changes over the phone. I can also do it in person, but it's a rather hefty commute for just one errand. And I've never had a problem with the mailing service - I get the new ticket back in less than a week.

Ray, thank you for your personal account of flying over the Kennedy Center.  It is very vivid and personal, and also a little scary.

Michael, I will let you know as soon as I hear about Janine Jensen.  I'm eager to hear her, too.

Jim, I'm glad you liked my blog.  Your experience at Lincoln Center is similar to mine at the Kennedy Center and Strathmore.

Terez, definitely bring your opera glasses or small binoculars to your concerts.  You'll be surprised at how much you've been missing.  It does sound strange that the SFS subscription has a feature that the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) does not.  You can subscribe in several different concert series here:  WPAS, Kennedy Center, Music at Strathmore, the National Symphony orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and probably others I'm not aware of.  Maybe one of these other subscription series has an exchange policy like that of the SFS.  I buy my subscription series from WPAS because they cross borderlines into the territories of the other organizations.