Mary Kaestner News
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2024-04-23
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2015-02-10 23:11:51
[…] I thoroughly enjoyed working with them. Normally, a mass sectional and an individual instrument sectional would be quite a lot for a day, especially when you add a concert at the end of the day for the kids. The Harmony Program wanted the students to have exposure to the very best coaches available, so they arranged to have members of the NY Philharmonic give masterclasses during the day as well. Sgt. 1st Class Sam Kaestner demonstrates a fingering to clarinet students. The coach for the clarinets was Alcides Rodriguez . He is currently serving as the bass clarinetist in the philharmonic. Among all of the coaches in Harlem that day, Alcides has the unique experience of being a former student of el Sistema in Venezuela. He came to the U.S. in 1999 with only a clarinet and a suitcase, and not knowing how to speak English. Alcides was […]
2014-11-06 20:00:41
Finally, after years of work, we were nearing the conclusion of the concert. Two great nations had shared the stage in concert once again. With the Bernstein complete, it was on to the jazz tunes. Judging by the number of jazz clubs I saw around Tokyo, jazz seems to be much more popular in Japan than in the place of its birth, and it was clear that the audience was excited to hear two great American jazz musicians perform in concert. The trumpet section of the combined bands. Photo by SFC Sam Kaestner First up was Caravan. Sgt. 1st Class John Castleman, Staff Sgt. Alexis Cole, and the Central Band’s English horn player came to the front of stage to engage in a free dialogue between musicians. All three played off of one another, drawing inspiration from whatever came from each musician. Musicians play off of one another […]
2014-10-29 19:47:22
As nearly everything in Japan does, the concert began exactly on time with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner followed by Kimigayo, the Japanese National Anthem. The first piece on the program was Frank Tichelli’s arrangement of Shenandoah. It begins reverently, and then slowly grows to a glorious and dramatic climax. The band pulled out all the stops, and gave a truly stirring performance. One of the highlights of the performance was Rhapsody for Band. The piece, conducted by Col. Takeda, uses quite a lot of traditional Japanese percussion instruments. Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Eby had the challenge of playing a very large percussion solo on the hyoshigi, an instrument that he had never played prior to coming to Japan. He did splendidly in performance, though I know he was quite nervous. Col. Takeda conducts. Photo by SFC Sam Kaestner The final piece on the first half was […]
2014-10-12 11:00:02
[…] rarely have the privilege to perform in beautiful concert halls, and we loved every minute of it. We all grabbed a quick lunch then got changed into performance uniforms for the sold out performance. The Central Band’s performances are so popular that they have to hold a ticket lottery to see who will be allowed into the concert. The combined bands on stage at Sumida Triphony Concert Hall in Tokyo. Photo by SFC Sam Kaestner Throughout the trip, I have been impressed with the attention to detail of the Japanese people. It seems that everything is done deliberately, be it cleaning a train station, or assigning the parts to be played in the concert. It seems that everything is a conscious choice. One detail that we did not overlook was the switching of flags prior to the concert. In military ceremonies, you always place the flag with the […]
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