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This evening was the first of two performances I was contracted to play with the Oregon Chorale. The concert idea itself started one year ago almost to the day when Bernie Kuehn, conductor and founder of the chorale, attended my wedding to Kate with his lovely wife Karen. I was playing a few traditional tunes with Jim and my Dad to unwind after the ceremony and he apparently enjoyed it quite a bit. He approached me asking if I'd be interested or could recommend anyone else to do a Celtic Concert. I said that I'd be happy to do it, but would have to find a way to get back from Ireland in time for it. Having nailed down that date, I proceeded to receive invitation upon invitation to teach and perform thus facilitating the most necessary purchase of plane tickets.
Sunday, March 10 at 7am found me barreling toward Washington Cathedral for a 9am service. After that, I taught in Seattle until noon after which Kate and I got in the car, bolted down to Portland, taught yet another lessons and then went straight to the Chorale rehearsal. I was feeling very intimidated at first. Having little experience with large choirs and being quite hung over from exhaustion, I proceeded to (at least in my mind) embarrass myself by having forgotten the necessary instruments for the rehearsal. It was a long day which took me from 7am to 11pm.
I spent the entire next day organizing my instrumentation and deciding what I should play where. The Oregon Chorale, a fantastic group of human beings, were totally accommodating thanking me every which way for performing with them. The honor was mine, I insisted! Organizing 50 people to sing immaculately is true musicianship.
The first concert went very well. I appreciated how I was built into the schedule. The choir would sing, then I'd come out and accompany them on a song, then leave, then come back out a few songs later. This was great because it allowed me to re-orient myself musically, find the right tin whistle/flute, warm it up, etc.
After the first set, I went out to play for some step dancers, the An Daire school, who were all quite capable. I just cranked out some slip jigs and reels on solo flute which seemed to work well. The girls and guy had good ears and weren't shy about telling me to adjust the tempo which I instructed them that the SHOULD tell me if I'm mucking up the tempo.
The second set was on and I proceeded to "Flute-In" the Chorale to the march-like tune of Mairi's Wedding. I then went off and came back on again to play Lagan Love. After this, I played a few sets on the pipes solo. I played:
1. Gerdy Commane's / An Buachill Dreoighta / McGreevy's
2. Mother and Child / Farewell to Connacht
3. The Satin Slipper
4. Chief O'Neill's / The New Century
5. The Green Fields of Canada / Famous Ballymote / The Sound of Mull
I chatted between sets making sure to thank the Chorale for the exceptional opportunity I'd been granted to perform with them. It all went very smoothly. It was wonderful to see Kate and her family in the second row surrounded on each side by colleagues from work. The CD sales were quite healthy.
After the concert, we dropped off my gear at home and went to have dinner with the Chorale which was a lot of fun. There's something to playing great music, but it's something quite different (and better) to playing music with great people.
Bernd Kuehn, director Yours Truly
of the Oregon Chorale
“We’ll all eat Finnan Haddie!”
“I’ll Ay Call in by Yon Town...”
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Playin’ Finnan Haddie!
