Sunday I went to a concert that was held in downtown Jyv�skyl�, in the building called, "Aalto Sali" located around the corner from the pedestrian area (closer to the Memphis end) on V�in�katu.
I was invited by my friend who was a performer in the band, Kajastus (formed in 1891), as it was their 120th anniversary - sort of a celebration concert! It was free to enter and there was free cake and coffee/tea during the intermission.
The band itself played a lot of concert pieces and jazz - it was a great location for a concert and the dynamics were great.
However, my ears did burn (and my heart cried a little) whenever there was poor tuning, which was common with the clarinet players (of which there were only 3!). I haven't been involved with music heavily since 2005, I am not a pro by any means...but the tuning was bad.
There weren't any warm ups as a band....nobody played the concert pitch and have everybody try to match it...
However, the music selection was varied and I appreciated that immensely. I do not remember everything played, however there was a march, a jazz piece or two, a compilation of Les Miserables (lovely memory from when I played it many moons ago!), a piece from the Sound of Music and some other pieces as well.
In terms of organization - well, that's another story I suppose but I'll squeeze it in here while the video is uploading and the kids are asleep.
From the casual observer's view of the concert - you wouldn't know that the sound-check person was asked literally last minute to be the sound-check person. (I only know this because my friend's boyfriend was the sound-check person at the very last minute).
However, as a casual observer - you would notice that the flowers given to the musicians and to the singers - were completely forgotten about in the schedule. (Oh wait, there wasn't one!)
After the last piece was performed (Timo and Maria had done a duet together which was lovely) - everybody clapped a lot, they came out for another encore to bow and then people quickly began to leave.
That's when the person giving the most speeches (I'm awful with names, let alone Finnish ones) - realized, "OH! I have flowers I am supposed to give and a small speech to thank the musicians!" and decided to turn on the microphone quickly and toss flowers at everyone on the stage. People stopped and clapped again - but a good chunk of people had already left or were literally half-way out the door...
Good job.
On a more positive note - you can find better photos from my friend's blog (scroll to the bottom to read it in English).
I hope you can view the videos properly!
I was invited by my friend who was a performer in the band, Kajastus (formed in 1891), as it was their 120th anniversary - sort of a celebration concert! It was free to enter and there was free cake and coffee/tea during the intermission.
The band itself played a lot of concert pieces and jazz - it was a great location for a concert and the dynamics were great.
However, my ears did burn (and my heart cried a little) whenever there was poor tuning, which was common with the clarinet players (of which there were only 3!). I haven't been involved with music heavily since 2005, I am not a pro by any means...but the tuning was bad.
There weren't any warm ups as a band....nobody played the concert pitch and have everybody try to match it...
However, the music selection was varied and I appreciated that immensely. I do not remember everything played, however there was a march, a jazz piece or two, a compilation of Les Miserables (lovely memory from when I played it many moons ago!), a piece from the Sound of Music and some other pieces as well.
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| The band comprised of all men except a female flute/piccolo player. Most of the musicians were older men and based on the tuning of the clarinets - perhaps hard of hearing. (No offense to any musician there - but the tuning of the clarinets was a little hard on the ears when the higher registers were played!) |
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| Maria Lund is a Finnish actress and singer, her parents are both opera singers (Tamara Lund is a soprano and her Romanian father Alexandru Ionitza is a tenor) and she's been on Dancing With The Stars in 2008 and won! (It's an old article - but at least you can read it in English). |
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| This is Timo Rautiainen and he is a very famous Finnish singer in the metal music industry. Guess what? He's also a teacher! My friend informed me that he resides in Jyv�skyl� and is a teacher specializing with children of special needs. Here is the English Wikipedia link for him. (Unfortunately an English Wikipedia link could not be found for Maria Lund). |
Above is a video of Maria Lund singing "My Favourite Things" from the Sound of Music in Finnish. I apologize I missed the first few seconds! (I have never uploaded a video to this before - so I hope the quality is semi-decent!)
A video of Timo singing (he actually sang first - then Maria got on stage...)
A duet by the two from "Romeo and Juliet".
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| Timo and Maria with their last minute gift and flowers.... |
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| Maria was lovely and posed for a photo with a little girl who thought she was a princess. :) |
From the casual observer's view of the concert - you wouldn't know that the sound-check person was asked literally last minute to be the sound-check person. (I only know this because my friend's boyfriend was the sound-check person at the very last minute).
However, as a casual observer - you would notice that the flowers given to the musicians and to the singers - were completely forgotten about in the schedule. (Oh wait, there wasn't one!)
After the last piece was performed (Timo and Maria had done a duet together which was lovely) - everybody clapped a lot, they came out for another encore to bow and then people quickly began to leave.
That's when the person giving the most speeches (I'm awful with names, let alone Finnish ones) - realized, "OH! I have flowers I am supposed to give and a small speech to thank the musicians!" and decided to turn on the microphone quickly and toss flowers at everyone on the stage. People stopped and clapped again - but a good chunk of people had already left or were literally half-way out the door...
Good job.
On a more positive note - you can find better photos from my friend's blog (scroll to the bottom to read it in English).
I hope you can view the videos properly!
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