Community Women's Orchestra

Kathleen McGuire, CWO's music director from 2005-2013, was our guest conductor last night, and it was great to have a professional walk us through "Sleigh Ride!" On a shared screen Kathleen added dynamics to the score as she showed us the tricky bits. She asked Sue L to demonstrate a 'horse whinny' on her trumpet, which was done to great acclaim! (yes, it sounded like a horse!). It was a treat to have Kathleen leading us once again; indeed, it was a treat to have a real conductor putting us through our paces. Thank you, Kathleen! (We will see Kathleen again at our Nov. 5 & 12 rehearsals - yay!)

We watched a video rough cut of "Ten-Woman Bicycle" by June Bonacich that we will present at our December 13 concert (via FB and YouTube) last night at Rehearsal #5: please mark your calendars and watch for more info! The rough cut video is on the left, with some of the rehearsal participants looking on. We are waiting on several more players - it is not as scary as you think (you, who we hope will record your part and join us) once you see that we will be playing 'together' in our virtual CWO space. The hardest thing for some, I've heard, is finding a place to record with a blank wall. Don't let that deter you - hang up a solid color bedsheet! This is fun.

Rehearsal #4 on October 1st, with 29 people playing the first parts of June Bonacich's new orchestral composition, "Ten-Woman Bicycle," plus Beethoven's 5th, 4th movement (super fast!). We usually do an hour+ of playing along to an MP3 or a YouTube video, while we are all muted. We are looking forward to doing sectionals again soon!

Thirty people rehearsing June Bonacich's "10 Woman Bicycle" Thursday, Rehearsal #3. Some of us will attempt self-videoing this weekend as we begin the long process of putting together a video of all of us playing "together" for our December virtual concert! Making a video of yourself playing one part in an orchestral piece is like having a solo, which is scary! We put our trust in video editor Wendy Shiraki to make us sound good. How we look is up to us, so we need to set up in front of a nice neutral background (maybe not in front of the TV or the fridge or your collection of manga), dress in concert black, and not fidget or slouch. Oh, and be on tune.

CWO's 2nd virtual rehearsal started with a short talk with Lolly Lewis, CEO of Amateur Music Network https://amateurmusic.org/ on making music during this pandemic, and we always find something to smile and laugh about! You can hear Lolly's recent podcast on Working Class Audio (#087). Then we started rehearsing "10 Women Bicycle" by our resident composer June Bonacich. We heard her MP3s and then played along with the one with the click track, which is very important with June's music and its changing meters and rhythms, *plus* a narrative part! June coached us through it and though we could not hear each other play I swear I played and sounded better by the end of the short rehearsal. It's great to "be together" with our group, even via zoom!

September 16 is the birthday of composer, conductor, teacher, and musician Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). She was the first woman to conduct the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, and others. She attempted to win the Prix de Rome several times before her sister Lili succeeded. She taught hundreds of students, including Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Grayna Bacewicz, and Louise Talma. She thought poorly of her composing skills, but her 3 Pieces for Cel...lo and Piano (1914) (played here by Maria Kudryavtseva and Alexander Vostryakov) is genuinely lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNdG89NBmd4 As is her Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre (1912): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TVON0HwRCI Thanks to Katherine Ray for this post! She prepared a lot of these great fact- and fun-filled mini essays on Women Composers. I hope to honor them and her by continuing to post more over 2020-21... Thanks, Katherine!

Last night was our first virtual rehearsal - an historic occasion, as some of you pointed out. It was also a lovely way for us to play together (well, muted, as we were playing along with a recording - but we were together!), have rollicking fun with Rossini's "Barber of Seville Overture", and make a great start to our new life online! Beth Voge gave an inspired history on opera buffa and Rossini's history - did you know that after 39 operas he stopped composing for the last ...40 years of his life, and nobody knows why? We then broke into sectionals: 17 strings in one breakout room and 10 winds/brass/percussion in another, and we improved our playing! It was just such an inspiration to be with others again - well, we could kind of see them on the Zoom screen, next to our music anyway. It helped! We want to find more great (free) pieces to play and will poll members soon to get your ideas, so put on your thinking caps! See more

This Thursday, Sept. 10, will be our first virtual rehearsal! Did CWO members get your music for Rossini's "The Barber of Seville Overture" yet? Look at Friday's "CWO Online" email for details - and tomorrow's 'Whole Notes' will have the same links to music, recording, schedule, and zoom link. We want to see you on Thursday at 7.15 sharp with your instruments. We are looking forward to playing again, virtually or not! All good. Play on!!

CWO is looking forward to starting a new way of rehearsing together - virtually. This Thursday will be our first Zoom meeting as the full orchestra all together, when we will explore our options and set our goals for the rest of 2020. Stay tuned and we will talk more about our plans as we go along. Thanks for supporting CWO!

Today's the day! Join us at 3:00pm PT

Treat yourselves to some delicious traditional Japanese Miso Ramen from Sobo Oakland, or some Jalapeno Popper Mac (n' cheese) from Homeroom in Alameda, and top it all off with some Carrot Walnut Tea Cake and a Mocha from Timeless Coffee, also in Alameda - all delivered to your door. Gift Cards from these 3 great local eateries are part of CWO's ongoing Auction! Bid on them here: www.auctria.com/auction/CWOSoiree2020 Then watch our fantastically diverse and fun concert Sunday: click "going" to CWO Grand Pause Soirée to be notified when the video link is up!