Paint With Words

Last night was the rehearsal I sat in on for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. It was a good night; I had a lot of fun (considering I sat there quiet for 2 hours just watching and hoping to go relatively unnoticed).  I got to meet the conductor I was wanting to talk with, Maestra Hélèn Bouchez (I feel so pretentious using “maestra” but I guess it’s no different that reffering to my German teacher as Dr. Lee Roberts), and she was amazing!!! I do wish interviewing her had gone a little better (more there later), but her skills…my God.

Now, maybe I’m a little naive but when all I’ve encountered are school music teachers, watching a full time conductor was a REAL change of pace. She was expressive and fluid, and wasn’t just up there waving a baton and making an ensemble follow her, she was as much a part of the ensemble as everyone else. But it was everything I was hoping to gain, for the sake of researching my story.

Like I said, the interview was a little rough. I think it was mostly because we were both tired (and with 6 hour jetlag, I know she had it worse than me), and it was VERY impromptu. I wasn’t even expecting to do any kind of sit down that night, but I’m grateful she did anyway. I think, on my end, the hard part was, well, I haven’t interviewed many people with a lot of interview experience. As soon as we sat down, I could tell she knew the routine. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing, but well, my journalism skills are still developing so admittedly it was a little intimidating. Language became a little bit of an issue, too, but I even offered to conduct the interview in French, if she so desired. She said English was fine though. It honestly wasn’t too bad. Sometimes it was my ‘fault’, using colloquial and whatnot, and admittedly I tripped on a few of my words. No one can understand when that happens. But I’m still glad I got the chance to do that. More experience, eh?

I may sit in on a dress rehearsal Saturday morning, if they allow it. I would be more surprised if they said I could. But regardless, I’m going to go to the concert that evening, and a pre-concert Q&A (I guess that’s what it is…IDK how to describe it and I don’t have the mail out flyer to see the proper title) at the convention center across the street from where the gig is held.  I’m also trying to decide if I need to go to the Friday night rehearsal or not…kind of leaning towards not though, only because of the attitudes and situations I want to see. They’d be more likely on Saturday morning. If I can’t go Saturday, then I’ll go Friday for sure.

But either way I’m going to the show Saturday night, as aforementioned. It’ll be nice to see the situation from the crowd this time, than as the performer. And there are other shows she’s conducting this season that I would love to see as well.

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