We Stream

by: Jenny Baxter- AWS percussionist

I would like to start out by thanking everyone for a fabulous rehearsal. I think we are all ready to keep it up and put on a great concert on Friday.

I always love watching the video clips with the music in rehearsal because it adds so much to the experience and it’s a good sign that at the end of Amok Time during the trombone solo and the clip with Kirk and Spock, I felt the sadness in the music and the video. Our fans and Star Trek fans alike will hopefully feel the same way.

And even if you can’t make it to our concert, we’ve set up a way for anyone to watch live broadcasts of our rehearsals online. We’re now on Ustream.tv, a site that provides an experience like Twitter and You Tube (except it’s live!) combined.

The Twitter style aspect of this is that you can make a username to leave comments or “follow” us. The video shows when we’re on and off air and we will definitely be on air for our dress rehearsal on Thursday night, 7:30. So sit back and relax, you can watch us in your pajamas at home now.

It works 60% of the time, all the time

by: Jenny Baxter- AWS percussionist

On this blog I could pretend we worked together great 100% of the time but that would obviously be lying and journalists generally try to stay away from that. Tonight honestly was not a good or a fun rehearsal and I think everyone left a lot more down than they’d come in.

The good thing about the practice was that 89.5 FM’s Lilly Gibson came to record our songs and some interviews for the station’s Saturday Matinee program. It was great to receive the press but we also felt pressure from a recording to air on public radio.

The great thing about this ensemble is that we’re open and discussion is encouraged. Patrick doesn’t sugar coat anything for us and I feel like I could tell him about any problems I have, giving it right back. That’s why I can talk about our rehearsal in this post. Patrick can get very emotional when we’re performing under our potential and though I felt uncomfortable and stressed out while he confronted the ensemble, he made it clear that it’s because he cares about us so much and wants us to think of ourselves as much more than amateurs.

This is the reason why we can be honest and talk out our thoughts and feelings when we need to. It’s because music involves the internal heart and brain as well as the external limbs and lips. It’s because we come every week, make a commitment to the group and strive to do more than play the notes on the page.

The source of our stress is also the source of our joy–the performance– and I think we should remember that, especially coming into next week’s rehearsals.

I wore my Star Trek: The Symphonic Frontier shirt yesterday into a costume store and an employee there got so excited when she saw it and heard about our concert. I hope we think about all those people who have grown up watching Star Trek and light up with joy at the thought of this concert. I hope we think of these people not only when they’re right in front of us, but when we’re tired at the end of rehearsal and don’t feel like giving everything to the music.

THE MAN… THE VOICE… THE CONCERT EMCEE… JIM KIPPING!

Well folks,the countdown is on (10 Days!) until the Austin Wind Symphony blasts its way into the Final Frontier! On-board this time around as host and narrator is Captain Jim Kipping!  The concert marks is his second time in the role of emcee as he last joined the ensemble in 2007 for their “Epics” concert.

As rehearsals become more and more hectic, Patrick Phillips, AWS conductor had this to say about Kipping… “He’s a big music nut himself, and has a unique ability to engage the audience…  When he’s up there at the microphone the only thing I have to worry about is the music, the rest comes naturally.”

Shelly Eager, AWS Vice President, and Phillips recently paid a visited the KLBJ studio where Kipping works, and received a thorough tour of the Emmis Communications station learning in detail Jim’s daily routine.

While you may not know what he looks like… Chances are you’ll NEVER forget his amazing voice!  He’s voiced everything from Pizza Hut commercials, and Geraldo at Large, to FOX news and thousands of other famous company’s including the spokesperson for NETFLIX.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet the man behind the voice on Friday October 24th, @ 8pm as the Austin Wind Symphony BOLDLY GOES into “Star Trek: The Symphonic Frontier”

AWS Conductor Patrick Phillips and VP Shelly Eager with Jim Kipping

Composer Time

by: Jenny Baxter- AWS percussionist

If you haven’t listened to Patrick’s interview with Gerald Fried or other Behind the Score interviews, it’s well worth listening to, both for entertainment and to understand the ideas behind the creation of movie scores. Gerald Fried composed Amok Time, one of the pieces we’ll be playing in the upcoming concert.

The great thing about playing movie and television music is that most of the composers are still alive and we can learn the stories and the concepts behind the pieces. We may never know what the classical composers such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven were thinking, but with music such as Amok Time, our conductor can actually talk to and connect with the person who created the music, and that’s pretty amazing to me.

And if you’ve never seen the iconic scene Gerald Fried wrote the piece for, you can get some context here.