Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp 2014

Written by Mendy Smith
Published: August 25, 2014 at 1:11 AM [UTC]

I had a potential issue with getting my viola onboard on the last leg of the flight. As I told the flight attendant, the viola will fit. It always fits, especially when everyone else has to check in their bags no matter how small the plane:

This year was a bit different than last that there was a new emerging quartet in residence "invoke". The quartet was formed from a college group out of the University of Maryland. The violist Karl was my stand-partner for a week in the morning sessions reading through Beethoven Op. 132. We got into a little bit of mischief when we spent a wee bit too much time discussing fingerings and bowings. All I can say about them is WOW! Keep your eyes and ears for these guys and check out their kickstarter campaign:

This year was the inaugural year for the "Secret Viola Society". Surprisingly there was an abundance of violas this year, twenty total. Some of us took advantage of this opportunity to thieve a piece from our violin brethren: the Bach Chaconne, transcribed for four violas:

In the last days of camp, we got some coaching from the Enso quartet on the Rebecca Clarke quartet. It was new to us as well as Enso. It was educational to see how a professional approaches a new piece of music never seen nor heard before. Besides getting the notes and beats to line up, there is a lot of score study to determine the melody line, especially when it is broken up across parts, and in determining dynamics. It was fun to introduce a new piece to a pro group.

And finally, the last evening was spent playing through the Mendelssohn Octet - until midnight.

Can't wait until next year.