A concert trip to keep you awake

It started out like any other concert trip: our bus was running late and we had an excess of tuna fish sandwiches. Thirty people, including members of ten CMW families along with Jessie, Arlyn, and me, climbed aboard a school bus to hear the Boston Philharmonic at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre. It was a warm blue sky day, perfect for the regatta we spotted as we crossed the Charles River on our way into Cambridge.

The centerpiece of the concert was to be a concerto for violin and tabla by Shirish Korde, a composer local to Boston. The sound of the Indian drum combined with the violin captured the interest of many students, particularly because it was “different than what they usually have” and because of “how fast he was going!”

The orchestra also performed Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes & Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. From our seats in the balcony, we were able to notice elements about the concert that those on the ground floor couldn’t see. Students pointed out the giant tuba mute and the “sound effects” coming out of the percussion section, from ratchets to cymbals to the giant chime. These were particularly appreciated as one student put it because, “this time, I didn’t fall asleep ‘cause the music kept waking me up!”

Pictures at an Exhibition is a piece of many contrasting movements, and a student on the bus ride home commented not only on the range of feelings in the music, but told me, “it was alive, like a human being.”

Despite some trepidation about losing our bus driver to the black hole that is pre-Red Sox game downtown Boston, Arlyn was able to sprint, flag our driver down, and guide her back to Sanders Theatre. With some post-concert snacks in our bellies, we rolled up at 1392 Westminster Street right on time.

-Rachel Panitch, Fellow (07-09)