April 2006

Mr. Barg Deux Ex

April 17, 2006 22:03

At the risk of my life ending unnaturally premature through the iron, yet caring, lethal fist of Sydney, I will now finally write my post about Mr. Barg.

So Mr. Barg came to work with us on Thursday, March 30. Much to the chagrin of Mrs. McCullough, nearly a third of the orchestra was gone due to HOSA and DECA… I’m not exactly sure about the organizations.

But I digress. Well, if you never meet him before, Mr. Barg is a real character. He came in wearing a super bright yellow shirt with an anime samurai/ninja thingy. Anyway, he spent the majority of the time working on Adagietto by Mahler with us. It was a bit difficult to follow for me, because while he directed in four, he swung his arms twice in each direction to indicate eighth notes. It took be awhile to get used to it.

As a clinician, he used rather interesting examples and illustrations to try to explain his interpretation for the music. During the soft, delicate parts he told us to imagine a weak, fragile butterfly perched on our instruments. Any sudden, harsh movements will scare it away. But then for the huge emotional swells… lets just say the butterfly is “no longer with us.”

Along with that idea, he’s big on movement and getting in to the music. While I know some musicians frown upon such excess, I feel it is necessary, for there is no art without angst. ;-) At the end of the rehearsal, he complimented me on moving, and gently encouraged Laruen, my stand partner and concertmaster, to do the same. I think she was on the verge of gouging my eyes out with her bow then. Just kidding, she’s a nice person and a talented player, though she seems to have a rather cold penchant towards me. Still can’t figure out why…

Also on Friday, my ensemble group had a private sectional with him. We worked on some getting some rhythmic discipline and trying to get the right feel of the music. While Bryn felt it was worthless, I felt it was rather beneficial analyzes and coaching he provided.

Oh and an extra tidbit, He was the guest conductor for the Kansas City Youth Symphony Philharmonic that Sunday too, which Savannah is in. She loves Mr. Barg.

There Sydney, you happy now? And can you please call off the hit man, people are starting to avoid me.

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