Rachel Barton Pine, Masterclass

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine performing for the students at the Sphinx Performance Academy, last Sunday July 24th at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Selections from her new album: CAPRICHO LATINO.

Sphinx 15: Get in tune, at SPA!

July 26, 2011

By: Mariela Lemus

Here at Sphinx, we have a schedule. The schedule cannot be broken, but we don’t mind (for the most part) because the schedule is pretty awesome. Part of the schedule is a daily evening activity. Every night at around 6:40pm the thirty-two SPA students meet in the lobby of the University Center here in Chicago. Our dorm parents do a quick (well, it’s supposed to be quick) roll call to make sure that there are, in fact, thirty-two of us before departing for Roosevelt University. We walk down the hot humid street, dodging the construction workers with their yellow tape and unnecessarily loud machinery, with our instruments on our backs or being rolled behind us. Once we arrive at Roosevelt, we use the two old elevator “cars” to transport our bodies and instruments to the seventh floor where we stroll down to Ganz Hall.

Last night the Resident Quartet coached a master class with five different solo and ensemble performances. My quartet was the third performance of the night. Since we were third, we could not wait back stage in the green room until after the first performer was finished. Yet a funny thing happened the very day of the master class. Our second violinist, Jonathon Vargas, had a slight problem with his dependable violin. The A string popped earlier that day. He had to replace it with a brand new string. (Brand. New. String. On the day of our master class). So Chris Jenkins, Dean of SPA and also my quartet’s coach, allowed Jonathon to stay backstage to constantly tune his A string a little sharp in anticipation of it going flat while we were on stage.

Rebecca was the first soloist. She performed a bit of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto for us. Shelby stood next to her on stage and got the audience involved in interacting with the performer as well as giving her own personal feedback. It’s always nice to see a supportive audience that listens intently to the performer, and applauds and appreciates the work that the performer has put in to the repertoire.

Folasade was up next. From backstage with my quartet I could hear the opening notes of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. But then the nerves began shaking my body and the chill of the air conditioner froze my mind, numbing my very brain, limiting my thought process to Mozart and only Mozart. Jonathon was in tune. Alex was in tune. Indya was in tune. I was in tune. WE were in tune. And it was time to go on stage. I was distracted. The heat of the stage lights washed over my skin and I forgot to lay out the second page of my music before we began. Luckily the double bar leading into the development was at the bottom of the first page for me, so I was able to pause long enough to flip the page. Good times…

At the culmination of our little performance, Jen came right up on stage and dove into coaching us. She invigorated our quartet with energy, a very vital necessity in playing, but something we had been lacking severely. She forced us to communicate with each other, to the person next to us, diagonal from us, and across from us; so much so that the stands between us no longer served as boundaries, but just represented metal hands outstretched to docilely hold up our thin sheets of music.

Every day at SPA is a learning experience, that’s what the camp is about. The schedule keeps us on track, even if we’d rather it relax a bit here and there. But I guess it’s like having protective parents make you do things a certain way. “One day you’ll thank me. One day you’ll understand.” SPA teaches young musicians discipline they need to become a serious performer. So no matter what happens, the schedule is there to keep us on track, to keep us focused, and most importantly to teach us. The master class last night was just one example of what SPA does. Congratulations to those who played, you were amazingly fantabulous (which IS a word; I saw it on a bus here in Chicago).

From Jonathan Vargas

Well my first three days of SPA have been incredibly fun!! Everyone is so cool. You feel like family so fast! Here at SPA I have had so much fun learning new pieces and getting to work with other people from across the country!!! It is definitely a vigorous schedule but it’s 99% fun all day. (1%=time to go to sleep). I can guarantee the next two weeks are going to be a blast!

-Jonathan Vargas-10th grade