Culture and Accessibility of Classical Music

My last meeting on this Magellan was with Pascale Macheret, the President of El Sistema France, and her translator who also happened to be the Vice President. Early on in our conversation I could tell that this organization was much different than the other El Sistema inspired organizations I have vistited. They focused primarily on helping the communities. They design their projects around each community, adapting it to fit the needs of the people and the resources they have available. One example is the paper orchestra. They first had the kids make paper instruments (that actual work!) to learn how the instrument makes sound and how to care for it. Then they were given actual violins and violas to learn how to play. The community this took place in was mostly people who had immigrated to France. The parents did not speak much French and relied a lot on their children, but by bringing the whole community together to see how far their children had come in just a few short weeks, El Sis...

The Paris Philharmonic is located in the most northeastern part of Paris itself. It took me about an hour to get there by metro, but the place itself is amazing. It is more like an American college campus than just one concert hall. It is almost like this is the musical safe haven in Paris. There are music schools, music stores that sell key boards, pianos, guitars, wind instruments, electronic music equipment, sheet music, stands . . . pretty much anything you can think of. The Paris museum of music is also there, but I missed the closing time by one hour. Immediately to the left of the walk way to enter the Philharmonie De Paris is a little fenced in area with goats. They have their little huts and water troughs right in front of the most modern building I have seen yet. The park next to the building is very modern with areas for working out and peaceful, winding, paths through bamboo forests. I spent an entire day in this area of the city. I was scheduled to meet with Fabien Le...

My first encounter with Michelle and Bonnie was when I attended Concerts sans Frontiers' first concert at the Australian embassy in Paris, just a few blocks from the Eiffel tower. Concerts sans Frontiers is the brain child of Michelle and Bonnie and strives to provide free to very low cost performances of classical music by professionally trained musicians. This premier featured Bonnie, Michelle, and their friend (who's name escapes me!). I was moved by how beautifully they all played alone and with each other. You could tell they've been friends for ages. My second encounter with the two Australian musicians was in the fanciest grocery store I have ever seen:   La Grande Epicerie de Pari s in the 16th  arrondissement . The front of the store is covered in black stone with ivy crawling up the lacquered exterior. As soon as you walk in, a security guard waves his magic metal-detecting wand over you and checks your bag. Then you can step onto the gleaming hard wood floors t...

I had a wonderful time in Prague, it actually ended up being my favorite city on this trip, but the end of one thing is just the beginning of another. Time for a new adventure in Paris.  My first meeting in the city of lights was with Gregoire Catelin. Our paths crossed at a cafe across the street from the entrance to the catacombs which I would later find out were closed due to strikes (classic Paris). Gregoire teaches at a music Univeristy a few blocks away from the cafe and had a lot to say about the quality of music education in Paris. Apparently, there is a movement to implement an hour of choir practice a day in every primary school in Paris. Having a choir in primary school was not unheard of, but it was not common either. From what Gregoire told me, it seems as though this is likely to go into effect, due to the popularity of the bill and the numerous positive effects of music on all areas of academia. I noticed on my travels that most people I interviewed believed mus...

link After wandering around near Prague Castle, looking for the inconspicuous office building where I was supposed to meet Milada, a new manager for the Harmonie foundation, I finally met my interviewee. Milada has only been with the Harmonie foundation for a few months, but she knew a lot about the oranization and seemed very passionate about their cause. The harmonie foundation offers music lessons to students who would not normally have access to it as well as opporunities to play in a student orchestra. Music education is done primarily outside of school and usually takes the form of private lessons outside of school. These private institutions do not agree with the focus on group playing the harmonie foundation prioritizes, however.  I was also able to sit in on a lesson for this organization, after a mix up the first time I tried to observe when I ended up sitting outside the building just listening to the practice. The kids range from about 7-12 years old and they p...

Pic link My next interviewee was Pavel Trojan who works in advertising and marketing for the annual Prague spring festival. The animals made of flowers and music instruments are the theme they chose this year. The festival lasts for several months and was in full swing by the time I arrived in Prague with blue banners with swirling white f-hole shaped (like on a violin) markings could be seen on the venues where concerts that are part of the festival take place. To make these concerts more affordable and to attract a younger audience, 20 seats in every concert (fairly good seats mind you) go on sale for students on the 20th of the previous month for a much cheaper price. They also have open air concerts of the program that are free to attend. 

 While I was in Prague I saw 1 opera and 2 concerts, all of which I loved. My first night in Prague I saw the opera Rusalka in the National Theater, which is about a water nymph that wants to become a human to marry the man she loves. It was written by Dvorak, one of the most famous Czech composers. This hall was just as opulent as the other concert halls I had been to, with people showing me to my seat.  There were no standing tickets at this theater, although. There were many more young people in the audience, so many that I thought a school took a trip to see the opera. I also noticed that there were more women in the orchestra compared to what I had seen in Vienna. The audience was mostly white and Asian people, but the audience was much more rowdy. People talked more often during the opera and would sneak into open empty seats at the intermission. I also saw a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, which was part of the Prague spring music festival that was going on at the time....

For my second interview in Prague, I met with  Zdeňka Pelikánová (Thanks for the connection professor Simpson) at the cutest bakery a few neighborhoods away from the city center. The tables were the size of TV trays with half of them occupied by jugs of water with lemon circles and basil sprigs that the waitress would occasionally refill. You could watch the baker make his beautiful creations in a side window next to the display of already baked goods.  Zdeňka is a professional musician and has recorded sound tracks for West World and Game of Thrones and is a producer at a studio that records sound tracks for popular shows. She also teaches private music lessons at the local music school, so I picked her brain about life as a professional musician and about music education in Prague. She thinks that musicians have an easier life in Prague because of the many different ensembles one could preform with, usually the four seasons concerts people sell on the streets downtown. She...

I had a wonderful time in Vienna and learned so much, but it was time to move on to my next city: Prague. I took the train and had a meeting scheduled with Ales Brezina as soon as I arrived. Ales is a director of the Martinu institue, an organization dedicated to preserving the Czech composer's legacy by offering archives of everything and anything related to Martinu and spreading the world about this composer. Our conversation, although, centered more on the classical music culture and music education in Prague. Similarly to Viennese music education, Prague children can take music lessons and learn and instrument outside of school, if they choose to. This is usually in the form of private lessons with less opportunity to play in an ensemble compared to American music education. 

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 was jam packed with three incredible interviews and a few individuals that may very well be Waldo's relatives which made for one fulfilling, although exhausting, final day in Vienna. To start off the day, I met with Constanze Hell, who works in the Mozart Haus, which is a museum dedicated to Mozart (as the name implies) in the location of one of his many apartments in Vienna. As soon as I arrived, so did a class of kindergarteners, excited to see the interactive play the museum puts on for them. Constanze and I snuck down and watched for a few minutes, and I witnessed an adorable play about a new student trying to communicate with a cello. It was all about how the cello's music made the child feel, and learning how to understand what the cello was trying to say. It was supposed to make classical music more approachable to kids, who can see it as a foreign language, especially since sheet music looks like hieroglyphics and doesn't normally have lyri...

Now that I'm finally back home in the states, I can finish sharing my adventure. While I was in Vienna, I also went to a concert at the Musikverein, pictured above. It is a beautiful concert hall dipped in gold. I saw the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra playing a Bach piece and a Bruckner symphony, and I can now say that this was my favorite performance of my whole trip. Bruckner was so easy to listen to and sounded almost like a movie sound track, and the orchestra was great, although I must say I prefer the Vienna Philharmonic. Sitting in the Grosser Saal (main hall) of the Musikverein, I felt like I was in the Ark of the Covenant. Everything was covered in gold and the ceiling was painted with scenes that looked like they could have been on the ceiling of a church (picture below). The audience was mostly older white people and Asian people, still older but not quite gray-haired, that I guessed to be tourists. I was the youngest by far and received some surprised glances fro...

I attended two concerts in Vienna: an opera at the Wiener Staatsoper and a classical performance at the Musicverein. The state opera main hall is shown above. I learned later that the orchestra that plays there is actually the Vienna Philharmonic, but from the first note I was blown away with how beautifully they played. I found myself surprised that I actually loved the sound of their string instruments because I usually don't enjoy the scratching of the bow across the strings. The music of the orchestra however was so buttery and smooth that I did not pay much attention to the story line. I was completely lost in the music.  The audience was mostly older white folks, but with younger people taking the standing tickets. A standing ticket was anywhere from 3-1.6 euros. For that price you get to hear the Vienna Philharmonic and watch an opera at the Vienna state opera house. Which is pretty amazing.  I honestly think the people with standing tickets had a better view th...

My next interviewee was Suna Orcun, a director of Superar. Superar is an organization inspired by El Sistema which gives kids the opportunity to learn to play an instrument. I don't mean paying for private lessons or learning how to play a scale, but free lessons on loaned instruments the children can take home and practice on. More about our interview later. I had the opportunity to sit in on one of the practices at Superar, and the kids seemed to love to play and enjoy being there. One girl in particular, I didn't catch her name, was pretty good at the violin for starting a year and a half ago. But what caught my eye is when she would close her eyes and listen to her violin. She seemed like she was listening to the voice of a dear friend whom she had not seen for a long time. Superar has given her the opportunity to find her love of music, and I hope she keeps it with her for the rest of her life.

Strolling around the beautiful streets of Vienna, I came a cross the Augustinkirche. It houses two beautiful organs, one of which is pictured above. The balcony in front of the organ may be where the orchestra and choir stand while they perform. Signs in front of the staircase leading to the balcony said "Aufgang nur für chor und orchester," which roughly translates to entrance only for choir and orchestra. This special entrance to the beautiful balcony above the congregation leads me to believe that the choir and orchestra hold a special place within the church and maybe the society. Although, such conclusions shouldn't be made based on one church. It is amazing what you can find when you turn off Google maps and let your feet and your heart guide you. I wonder what other surprises Vienna holds for me to discover tomorrow.

Alexander Medem, a freelance musician and Assistant Director in Opera, accompanied me to the Stadtpark where I interviewed him about the culture of classical and opera music in Vienna. The weather was lovely, the scenery beautiful and the conversation insightful. I learned a lot, but I'll be able to elaborate on the specifics once my journey brings me back to the states.

And so the journey begins. Off to a great start with an overnight flight taking me to LHR. Now to find the Harry Potter store and watch the Royal Wedding!