Online Edition | Washington State University | Pullman, Washington | Friday, November 30, 2001

Keating Johnson rehearses with 
Washington Idaho Symphony for 
next concert (Photo by Nella Letizia.)

By Nella Letizia
Contributing writer

A symphony is usually built on a melody heard by the composer as a child. The first section is the customary presentation of a theme on which the composer proposes to work; then begins the necessary dismemberment; the second section seems to take place in an experimental laboratory; the third section cheers up a little in a quite childish way, interspersed with deep sentimental phrases during which the melody recedes, as is more seemly; but it reappears and the dismemberment goes on…I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing which can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms.

— Claude Debussy

It’s Monday night rehearsal at Gladish Auditorium for the Washington Idaho Symphony. The 70-some musicians and conductor Keating Johnson, WSU associate professor of music and theatre arts, wade through Debussy’s "La Mer," pausing to fine-tune timing, and revisit troublesome sections. The symphony and Johnson show no frustration when they begin anew; they pay this price gladly to be ready to play the French masterpiece within two week’s time as if the notes were part of themselves. Johnson set the tone for rehearsals in his season introduction letter to the musicians Aug. 8, relating the words of a sign in a rehearsal hall last summer in Seattle that read, "Practice is for learning your part; rehearsal is for learning everyone else’s part."

Playing Debussy would have been unthinkable when the Washington Idaho Symphony was the Palouse Intercommunity Symphony in 1971. But 30 years have added the talent and the desire to push the envelope. That spirit of daring is captured in the symphony’s 30thanniversary season theme, "Adventures in Exploration."

"Now, we can take on almost anything," Johnson said.

The passage of time is one factor in the symphony’s growth and success, but others have contributed their part. The tenures of three long-standing conductors have lent stability to the symphony. Each imprinted his own particular style and expectations, starting with Martin-Beatus Meier, who guided the symphony during its genesis.

With the hire of James Schoepflin in 1976, who conducted for 12 years, the symphony took on more of a production orientation. Schoepflin instituted a regular season, scheduling dates and renting halls for performances. He planned the literature and held regular rehearsals and auditions.

In Johnson’s own 12 years conducting the symphony, his emphasis has been on raising the bar. He seeks more challenging repertoire, including the works of Beethoven and Brahms. To perform such pieces, Johnson holds six three-hour rehearsals per concert.

And better musicians continue to join the ranks. Two renowned university music schools eight miles apart, music faculty and students, and musicians from bigger orchestras add to the symphony’s professionalism, Johnson said. Also in the symphony are people with other primary careers (one is a veterinarian) but music credentials, spouses of musicians, and top-end high school students…all making a true community orchestra.

"It’s an amazing assemblage of people that could only happen because of the close proximity of the music schools," Johnson said.

IT’S A LOVING THING
The schools’ closeness benefits the symphony enormously in terms of those who audition and perform, said Heidi Jarvis, the symphony’s executive director, Pullman Community Band conductor and French horn player. But the blend of seasoned veterans and up-and-coming musicians is a little world unto itself, with all its dependencies and relationships.

"Many orchestras have high energy, but what makes ours so special is the range of ages, which makes it more of a community," she said.

A visit to the Monday night rehearsal proves the range encapsulated — one can see a percussionist wearing a baseball cap backwards and white-haired violist Julia Cohen, the symphony’s oldest member at 80 and a founder, follow the same notes in the same measure on the same page of "La Mer."

Jarvis also points to the symphony’s high composition of couples, some 10 in all, including Bill and Linda Wharton, Tom and Susan Hess, Brian and Linda Fearn, Keating and Janet Johnson, Jennifer and Lawrence Hammond, Denise and Tom Crossler, Ann and Greg Yasinitsky, and, even Jarvis and her husband, Dave.

"I think that also makes it a special situation. Again, it ties in community," Jarvis said. "We are fortunate because we can draw from our own musicians, our own conductor. We don’t have to draw from outside the area.

"That’s why we love people to come to our concerts to see what’s here for them. That makes us feel wonderful that we have this to offer. It’s a wonderful phenomenon in the Quad Cities region that we can provide live, classical music to our communities."

FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
The enduring joy of classical music is its constancy through the centuries — past musician to present musician to future musician. That’s partly why the symphony offers a young artists’ and a children’s concert every season. For the children’s concert, the orchestra is arranged so children can come up to the stage and move among the musicians as they play.

Johnson calls the young artists’ concert "one of our funnest, most engaging events." An October competition is held to select the soloists for the concert, held in February.

"It’s something we always look forward to. That concert has a very special feeling," he said. "Young artists, they’re a little scared. That’s an energy, not a complacency. Then to have a whole orchestra accompanying them, they’re amazed."

The young musicians’ excitement also revitalizes that of older players, Cohen said. "I’ve heard (young artists) say that to play for an orchestra is such a thrill. This talent that comes into our lives once a year is one of the high points of the symphony."

Symphony members also treat the young musicians like real colleagues, Johnson said. "It’s their chance to play as they were meant to, to learn. They learn a lot from us, more than they would in a university group.

"Many of the teachers in the area are aware of needing to be better role models for their students," he added. "So they come forward to audition. It keeps us active as players, but it also sets us up as role models for students in the community. Younger players have technical experience, but they learn the nuances of performing Beethoven from sitting next to older players. I think everyone realizes that’s a pretty healthy situation."

Seventeen-year-old violinist Hannah McKee-Kennedy, who began playing with the group when she was 14, agrees that having older players to turn to is very helpful. She studies with WSU music professor and concert mistress Meredith Arksey, but many of the Suzuki teachers she knew since studying violin as a child also have been in the symphony.

"It’s good to have people with experience who can help with fingerings and bowings because it makes playing much easier," McKee-Kennedy said. "(Their help) makes the movement efficient, easier. I don’t have to think so hard."

The Pullman High School senior said being part of the symphony has prepared her for playing outside the Palouse in college and in other symphonies in the future. She also gained greater exposure to different composers and their varied works.

"I think a lot of my taste in music has broadened," she said. "I’ve learned to love a lot of Romantic music that I never did before. Once you play it, you start to understand it.

"If people forget about classical music, hundreds of years will be lost," McKee-Kennedy said. "The role of the Washington Idaho Symphony is critical here. It’s a link to a lot of history."

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
In 30 years of keeping classical music alive in the Quad Cities region, the symphony has created fond memories and some history of its own. One of Johnson’s favorites is from 1992 or 1993, when the orchestra tackled the 20th century Stravinsky masterpiece, "The Rite of Spring," a work of mind-boggling complexity and constant rhythmic challenges. When it premiered in Paris, on May 29, 1913, "The Rite of Spring" prompted one of the most violent uproars in musical history from an audience outraged by its departure from all classical music definitions of that era. Eighty years later, the Washington Idaho Symphony’s rendition elicited quite a different response.

"(Symphony members) played it so well," Johnson recalled. "Everyone left thinking what a great level we hit. The audience was amazed as well. That piece takes so much physical energy to play, and that came across to the audience. We all had a good feeling from having performed well, and having the audience receive it well. Everything clicked."

Maybe when all is said and done, that’s the greatest miracle of all: the exquisite moment when a musician’s hope and gift of connecting with those who are listening is reached. Nothing on a CD can come close to it.

"There’s something about a live performance that’s superior to a recording," Johnson said. "In recordings, you don’t get the sense of the big sound, which has a resonance that can’t be reproduced. The frequency ranges hit the air; there’s nothing manufactured or processed about it. The energy that is perceived can’t be reproduced, either. It produces an intensity that doesn’t quite record. It’s an experience, and it has an immediate impact on you."