By Emily Young
Staff writer
May 11, 2008 02:35 am
A rumored performance with Yo-Yo Ma and a European tour were enough to motivate 15-year-old cellist Maddie Tucker to leave the New England Conservatory orchestra and audition for the Boston Youth Symphony.
Waiting for the response was nerve-racking, requiring daily trips to the mailbox until written notification of her acceptance finally arrived. But admission into the premier orchestra and the opportunity to perform with a classical celebrity were worth the wait.
"I was a little afraid to open it at first," said Maddie, an Andover resident and freshman at Phillips Academy. "When I did open it, it was such a release. I guess it was a little stressful because I had wanted for it so long."
Acceptance letters from the Boston Youth Symphony are extremely hard to come by, as the orchestra often paves the path for success as a professional musician. The Boston Youth Symphony is the most advanced of four orchestras run by the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. Competition is fierce, and the dropout rate is almost nonexistent.
This year, five of roughly 100 orchestra seats went to Andover musicians. A sixth and seventh, trumpeter Colin Mainella and trombonist Christian Howard, both of Plaistow, N.H., are the only other young musicians from The Eagle-Tribune readership area to make the cut.
This year also is the organization's 50th anniversary, and celebration plans are no longer rumor. The premier orchestra will tour Germany and the Czech Republic for 12 days this summer, as well as perform alongside famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma for a packed Boston performance May 18.
"I'm not that close to the front, so I'm worried I won't really be able to see him," violinist Miki Nagahara, 13, of Andover said. "I'll be able to hear him at least. There are a lot of great violinists. But in the cello world, there's only one Yo-Yo Ma. Yeah, I'll probably ask for his autograph."
Achieving this level requires young musicians have long-term financial support; it costs many thousands of dollars for an orchestra seat, instruments, lessons, music camp, concert tours, and these days, gas. And of course, the musicians must have plenty of God-given talent. But above all, they must have passionate dedication to a way of life that few peers will ever understand or applaud.
In short, these young people must love music.
"Most people at my school don't even listen to classical music," Miki said. "My friends don't understand why I spend so much time practicing."
For Miki, though, playing the violin is not just a hobby.
"Music is a universal language that everyone can interpret in their own way," she said. "I think it's the greatest thing humankind ever made."
Cruising and camaraderie
It was discreet mothers who made even more discreet phone calls to determine who of the local student musicians was in and who was ready to car-pool to rehearsals and performances in Boston.
No time for lazy weekends, here. Rehearsals are every Sunday from 12:30 to just before 6 p.m. at Boston University. If there's a Sunday concert, the kids often rehearse 6:30 to 9 p.m. the Saturday before.
"I love their passion," said Federico Cortese, music director of BYSO. "We work excruciatingly hard. But at the same time, we have a nice and jovial and happy atmosphere. I think this is to the credit of the kids."
Cortese said the goal is to make music of the highest level.
"Even if these kids have other ideas and other interests, I still expect from them the quality I expect from kids who have a professional goal," he said.
Miki and cellist Sasha Scolnik-Brower, 13, also play in a small chamber group at BYSO that lengthens their Sunday rehearsal from 51/2 to 7 hours. The pair rides to Boston together, and all five Andover musicians ride home in one car driven by a rotation of parents.
Some kids will quietly read a book, while others make small talk. Miki likes when they make a pit stop at the Super 88 Market for hot tea before getting on the highway. Violist Alex Morgan-Welch, 15, likes to control the radio dial, flipping between classical station WCRB and pop station KISS 108.
When Sasha and his mom, Julie Scolnik, are in the front seats, they'll sometimes play CDs of what the kids rehearsed or something totally unrelated, like Portuguese singer Cristina Branco.
"It's a long day, and they're usually exhausted on the way home," Scolnik said. "Some of them get in the car and fall right to sleep."
Practice makes perfect
When Miki first picked up the violin at age 7, her mother repeatedly reminded her to practice. But once she took to the instrument, playing became a way of life.
She now spends just shy of 20 hours a week playing the violin, taking weekly lessons from one instructor in Watertown and another in Newton; rehearsing with the BYS and the Andover West Middle School orchestra; and practicing by herself for roughly two hours on her free afternoons.
At this point, it's her mother who needs the post-it note reminder.
"I accompany her on piano during one of her lessons, and it's really hard these days," Sonoko Nagahara said. "In a way, I take a lesson, too. Right now, she's working on the third movement of a piece that is so tricky that I can't keep up. Once I miss a note, that's it. So, I do try to practice every day, just whenever I can find 30 minutes."
Each of the musicians has developed routines and rituals to pass the hours upon hours of independent practice.
Violinist George Cheng, 15, always rehearses in the living room after school. To stay alert and keep the wheels in his brain quickly spinning, he likes to guess what the next note in a piece will be.
"More than 50 percent of the time, I'm right," said the sophomore at Andover High School. "Most composers follow a pattern. So, there are leading notes that usually let you expect what's coming next."
A little bowl filled with paper scraps sits in Miki's living room, spicing up her warm-up routine. She'll pick out one at random and play the scale in the key scribbled on the sheet of paper.
To help him get started, Sasha will sometimes watch a muted tennis match on TV while doing mechanical bow exercises. He typically practices in his bedroom. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, rather than practicing with the middle school orchestra, he heads to the attic and plays while his sister, a high school senior, sleeps.
"It really was a waste of time for me to schlep his $20,000 cello all the way into school and then back home an hour later," his mother said. "So this is a really nice arrangement. He can use the time practicing at home, and then a day before the concert he'll join the orchestra to add strength to the performance."
Maddie likes to shut herself in a practice room at Graves Hall on the Phillips campus for a few hours after dinner. Counter-intuitively, both Maddie and Miki say their fingers sometimes get cold while playing. To help her stay loose, Maddie sometimes wears fingerless gloves.
"If I'm having a good day, I'll practice for three hours. Sometimes I fool around with the cello and make up little melodies," Maddie said. "It's like a sport, I guess. You have to keep practicing every day, because it's the only way to get better."
Dedication, and fun
Alex, George, Maddie, Miki and Sasha each started playing for different reasons, but these five budding musicians continue for one reason only: enjoyment.
"It makes me happy," George said simply. "I'm not really talkative, but I can express my emotions in the music. Or, I try at least to make the music sound more than just notes on paper."
He far prefers sharing that joy with a crowd than practicing alone. Every Saturday, the violinist performs in the wards of Northeast Rehabilitation Health Network in Salem, N.H., where his father works.
"I play for the patients when they're eating lunch or after they eat lunch," George said. "I know they like it because some of them keep telling my dad they want my CD. I like that they feel happier after listening to the music."
At one point in time, George did want to become a professional musician. These days, he's more interested in a career in medicine, possibly as a geneticist. But he's certain that he'll "always play. Yeah, always."
Alex said she'd consider a gig with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but corporate law is more enticing. Despite only being 13, Sasha seems pretty certain that a seat in a professional orchestra is in his future, so long as it remains as fun as the BYS.
"I love seeing all my friends on Sundays. I enjoy that, more than my friends at school. We all have music in common," Sasha said. "I can't imagine not having music in my life."
Both George and Maddie noted that the underlying competition among musicians has dissipated since reaching the competitive ceiling at the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. Only a handful of orchestra seats are ranked by ability, leaving the majority of musicians to focus more on the music and less on how close he or she is to the conductor.
It also allows them to truly bond.
"My other friends don't understand why I have to practice so much. But I really like the music we play in orchestra, and you make so many great friends — a lot of them have the same interests as you," said Maddie, who has learned a thing or two about herself through her cello.
"You can get a sense of who you are by the way you interpret a piece," Maddie said. "Most of my life is music."
On the Web
To listen to the five Andover virtuosos perform, as well as hear them talk about their relationship with music, check out our Web site, eagletribune.com.
If You Go
What: Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra 50th Anniversary gala performance, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Where: Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston
When: Sunday, May 18, 3 p.m.
How: Tickets $50 and $75. Call 617-266-1200, or go to bysoweb.org for more information.
The car pool
Five Andover musicians are in the premiere Boston Youth Symphony, car-pooling from their five-plus hour rehearsal every Sunday. But that's just one day out of seven that require quality time with their instruments.
Here's a little bit about these budding virtuosos and their schedules. Keep in mind, the number of practice hours listed is a minimum.
Who: Cellist Maddie Tucker, 15, freshman at Phillips Academy at Andover.
Musical career: Played piano for 12 years and cello for eight. She dropped piano lessons last fall because of the increase in her schoolwork and her four-day, after-school commitment to instructional squash.
In her iPod: Cello concertos performed by Jacqueline du Pre, Lynn Harrell and Yo-Yo Ma.
Weekly practice schedule: 201/2 hours, including two rehearsals with her school orchestra and a lesson with instructor Carol Ou at the New England Conservatory of Music. Maddie also teaches cello through the community service organization, Andover-Lawrence Strings Program.
How else would she spend the time? Get more sleep or spend more time on homework.
Who: Cellist Sasha Scolnik-Brower, 13, seventh-grader at Doherty Middle School.
Musical career: Played the cello for seven years, rounding out the family trio: mom, Julie, on flute and sister, Sophie, on piano.
In his iPod: Romantic composers, instead of baroque or modern ones.
Weekly practice schedule: 18 hours, including a rehearsal with his BYSO chamber group and a private lesson with instructor Andrew Mark of the Boston Conservatory.
How else would he spend the time? Play tennis more than just once a week and spend more time with friends.
Who: Violinist George Cheng, 15, sophomore at Andover High School.
Musical career: Started piano lessons in nursery school because his big brother, John, also took lessons. He picked up the violin in 2001.
In his iPod: Violin concertos by composer Jean Sibelius.
Weekly practice schedule: 151/2 hours, including a rehearsal with the Andover All Town orchestra and two private lessons with Boston University professor emeritus Roman Totenberg. George also plays a community service lunchtime performance at Northeast Rehabilitation Health Network.
How else would he spend the time? Play sports, in addition to his Thursday afternoon commitment to tennis.
Who: Violinist Miki Nagahara, 13, seventh-grader at West Middle School in Andover.
Musical career: Begged to start lessons at 7 years old, four years after her mom started teaching her to play the piano.
In her iPod: Lots of Beethoven, because she loves how he used J.S. Bach's work for inspiration. And she can't get enough of Sir Edward Elgar's cello concerto.
Weekly practice schedule: 18 to 19 hours, including a rehearsal with her BYSO chamber group and the West Middle School orchestra, a private lesson with Watertown instructor John Holland and another private lesson with Boston University professor emeritus Roman Totenberg in Newton.
How else would she spend the time? Continue ballet lessons, which she dropped because of scheduling issues. She is attempting to work the track team into her busy schedule this spring.
Who: Violist Alex Morgan-Welch, 15, sophomore at Andover High School.
Musical career: She enrolled at 7 years old in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras' Intensive Community Program, a stringed instrument training program serving Boston's inner-city youth, and settled on the viola.
In her iPod: System of a Down, 50 Cent, Hits of the '80s, and anything by Brahms.
Weekly practice schedule: 121/2 hours, including rehearsal with the Andover All Town orchestra and a private lesson through the Intensive Community Program in Boston.
How else would she spend the time? Playing the piano, as she just dropped taking lessons this year, and hanging out with friends.
Community support for local musicians
Five Andover musicians currently play in the premier Boston Youth Symphony, which this year is a novelty here in the Merrimack Valley. Many towns like Lexington, Newton and Wellesley are well represented in the orchestra pit. But in nearby towns, there's only one participant from Reading, one from Tewksbury and two from Plaistow, N.H.
"I think despite the budget difficulties, Andover has remained a community that values the arts and values culture," said Joe Wright, director of the music program at Andover High School. "When push comes to shove, we've always maintained a good program in some fashion. We have a unique program in that all third-graders in Andover have the option to choose a string instrument or recorder to play once a week all year long in a class during school. They can continue with the string instrument into the fourth grade and then move into the orchestra. And we do have after-school programming as well."
Miki Nagahara's first violin lessons were with her elementary school music teacher, Diane Waddell. She's now in the West Middle School String Orchestra. George Cheng and Alex Morgan-Welch perform with the Andover All Town Orchestra, comprised of roughly 70 students primarily in high school in addition to a few middle-school students.
School-based orchestras are few and far between on the local level; the closest towns with strong string programs are Chelmsford, Bedford and Lexington, Wright said.
There are, however, several community groups, like Community Strings of Lawrence and the Northshore Youth Symphony, based in Topsfield, that allow local budding musicians to perform collectively.
"I think music is one subject, if not the only subject, that everybody loves," Wright said. "You're born loving music. Parents around the world use music to soothe their infants. The more opportunities we can give kids to explore that part of their brain, the better off that they are in the long run."
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