bass_line_summer_2011

Ponder eastHis journey from small town kid to successful artist

11Winter 2011 • Issue 1

13Giant Steps to Tenor Madness

It’s Got That Swing

108 So You Think You’re a Woodwind

What Section is Right for You?

6

1715

131110

98

7

5contenuti

The Music Industry

Comparing the Eras

Gil Del Bosque

What Section is Right for You?

Contemporary vs. Classical

So You Think You’re a Woodwind

Giant Steps to Tenor Madness

It’s Got That Swing

Doctor’s Orders

Douglas Harvey

P. Mauriat SaxophonesAre you playing at your best?

Henry Van DykeUse the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if

no birds sang except the best.

Charlie ParkerMusic is your own experiance, your own thoughts, your wis-

dom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.

They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man,

there’s no boundary line to art.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Without music, life would be a mistake.

letter from tHe editors

George Harrison

I think people who can truly live a life in music are telling the world,

“You can have my love, you can have my smiles.” Forget the bad

parts, you don’t need them. Just take the music, t

he goodness, be-

cause it’s the very best, and it’s t

he part I give.

dear readers, The Bassline staff would like to express our thanks to those of you who spent the time to read our magazine. We spent all semester trying to create a unique and modern music magazine for the students of LASA and it was hard work. We hope you enjoyed our magazine.

CARA, EVE, AND SOPHIA

Victor HugoMusic expresses that which cannot be said and

on which it is impossible to be silent.

eve GalbraitH

cara brewer

Cara Brewer is a freshman at LASA high school. She started playing piano at the age of eleven and alto saxophone at the age of twelve. In eighth grade she switched to tenor saxo-phone with her weirdo friend Sophie. This year Brewer plays in the LBJ Concert band and has started to pick up clarinet and guitar. Brewer was also featured in Concert band this year in Song for Lyndsay on the piano. She plays in the stage band at LASA and plans to continue playing jazz throughout high school. Next year Brewer hopes to be a tenor sax section leader during the marching band season and hopes to make Wind Ensemble during the concert season. Brewer also has been playing soccer for three years and this year made the LBJ junior varsity girls soccer team and hopes to make the varsity team next year. She played volleyball for five years but had to quit in order to pursue marching band.

Eve Galbraith, fourteen, is a freshman at LASA High School. She started piano at four, and picked up cello at six. She was unable to continue piano at age 9. She was principal cellist for two years in the Kealing Middle School Symphony Orchestra under Mr. David Jarrott. She is now Assistant Principal Cellist in the LBJ Camerata Orchestra under Mr. Andrew Potter. She has won the AISD Solo and Ensemble Best of Class award four times out of the four years she has competed, and this year she is eligible for high school State Solo and Ensemble. She participates actively in CHAMPS (a non-profit organization teaching student musicians chamber music) for the past three years, and is now in a trio and a duet in CHAMPS in ad-dition to her school quartet with ACMC (a similar program). Over the summer, she attends Luzerne Music Center in New York. She has participated in All-City High School Orchestra this year, as well as All-Region Orchestra for the past four years. She hopes to attend Col-burn Conservatory in California for college and continue a career in music.

soPHia Galewsky

Sophia Galewsky is a fifteen-year-old freshman at LASA High School. She started to play alto saxophone in sixth grade and switched to tenor saxophone in eighth grade. Sophia at-tended Kealing Middle School where she played saxophone in concert band and jazz band. She now plays tenor in the LASA Stage Band. During her freshman year she has picked up the oboe, which she now plays in the LBJ Concert Band, and clarinet which she just plays at home for fun now but plans on playing in the jazz band at LASA next year in addition to saxophone. She hopes to be in Wind Ensemble with oboe next year and tenor and clarinet in the LBJ Jazz Ensemble. Next year Sophia also hopes to be a tenor section leader. She hopes to continue to play music through college and the rest of her life.

Walking down the street, his pants swishing back

and forth, his many instruments weighing him

down, 15-year-old LASA freshman Miguel

Posadas pulls his back pack up his shoul-

ders, placing each instrument on the sidewalk.

There, a saxophone, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon sit, waiting for

the moment this musician will pick them up and practice for the

night. Miguel is looking forward to setting up instruments for

gigs each night, but is he aware of the riskiness of this decision?

What Miguel doesn’t know is that in 2008, about 43

percent of musicians were forced to maintain a part-time job

in order to earn enough money to sustain just themselves, ac-

cording to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, from the US

Bureau of Labor Statistics. And if each musician is looking for-

ward to sustaining a family, it’s time to get real and set up a

backup plan.

The hard truth is that the chances of becoming a suc-

cessful musician are very slim. The handbook also states that

about half the jobs offered in this industry consist of being

a director or a composer, the other half being the actual per-

formers. In 2008 fifty percent of musicians had to be self-em-

ployed. In such a risky profession with such few opportunities

life would be a challenge and you need to prepare for the worst.

LASA freshman Miguel says that “it’s something that would be

enjoyable, even if you don’t end up making a lot of money.”

However, he also says that he is aware of the unsteadiness of

this particular profession and claims that a double major is the

way to go. “I don’t expect to get a job, and if I don’t make it as

a musician I could always get a job with my second major.”

In fact, double majors are becoming increasingly more

common. In a survey done around the school of LASA, out of

ten musicians questioned nine claimed to be leaning towards a

double major. 20- year- old Luan Arnold played jazz saxophone

in high school. He says that he had thought about double ma-

joring in music and he still might choose to do it eventually but

today he just needs to focus on school. Double majoring is a way

for musicians to have a back up plan in case their career goes

into the dumps. Double majoring is something that every musi-

cian needs to consider.

However, if you do choose to pursue this career you

have to be very gifted at music as a whole. When Luan was asked

why he didn’t pursue a career in the music industry he leans

back into his seat and says, “Well, because it requires a need to

be the very best and if you’re not then it’s very difficult to make

money doing gigs. I just wasn’t good enough to make it in the

real world.” The fact is that the musicians who make it in the

music industry are the best of the best, and if you want to make

it, you have to be just as good. With so many people trying to

succeed the competition will be fierce and the stakes high.

15- year- old Miguel Posadas picks up him instruments

and continues steadily towards his house where the music was

born, his future changed forever. He looks no longer looks to-

ward the promising double major that once was his goal. No,

he walks toward his house with a new purpose in life and a new

spring in his step.

“I just wasn’t good enough to make it in the real world.”

The Music indusTry: A sound FuTure?Cara Brewer

Mumford & Sons, a successful group from England, performing at SXSW in 2009

Art by Losan Jealous

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • Page 5

What’s the difference between a viola and a coffin?

The coffin has the dead person on the inside.

NOTE: Musicians in orchestra, commonly known as OrchDorchs, are subject to many jokes. There are reasons for the viola to be the butt of most OrchDorch jokes: firstly, the viola can’t seem to make up its mind in if it wants to be a violin or a cello; secondly, the stereotypi-cal violist is the ditzy violinist who decided to pick up viola because of the quantity of job slots in an orchestra, as there are never enough

violists. On the other hand, the viola is such an extraneous instrument that it shouldn’t be needed in the first place. ~badum chhh~

dorchesTrA Jokes

Eve Galbraith

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 18

Why is a viola solo like a bomb?By the time you hear it, it’s too

late to do anything about it.

What’s the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a

crushed viola in the road?Skid marks before the skunk.

What is the range of a Viola?As far as you can kick it.

What do a SCUD missile and a viola player have in com-

mon?They’re both offensive and

inaccurate.

A van with ten violas drives off a cliff. What’s wrong with the picture? You could fit at least a dozen more.

How does a violist’s brain cell die?Alone.

How do you call a violist with two brain cells?Pregnant.

Why are viola jokes so short?So violinists can understand them.

How do you tell the difference between a violinist and a dog?The dog knows when to stop

scratching.

Why should you never try to drive a roof nail with a violin?You might bend the nail.

How do you make a cello sound beautiful?

Sell it and buy a violin.

Did you hear about the bassist who was so out of tune his section noticed?

How do you make a double bass sound in tune?

Chop it up and make it into a xylophone.

Why are harps like elderly parents?Both are unforgiving and hard to get

into and out of cars.

What is the definition of a half step?

Two oboes playing in unison.

How do you get an oboist to play A flat?

Take the batteries out of his electric tuner.

What is a gentleman? Somebody who knows how to play the trumpet, but doesn’t.

What’s the difference between a jet airplane and a trumpet?

About three decibels.

How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb?

“Why? Oh, wow! Is it like dark, man?”

How many bassists does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. They’re so macho they prefer to walk in the dark and bang their shins.

What’s the least-used sentence in the English language?“Isn’t that the banjo player’s Porsche?”

Why are orchestra intermis-sions limited to 20 minutes?So you don’t have to retrain

the drummers.

Minimum safe distances between street musicians and the public:

Violinist: 25 feetBad Violinist: 50 feet

Tone Deaf Guitar Player who knows 3 chords: 75 feet15 year-old Electric Guitar Player with Nirvana fixation:

100 feetAccordionist: 60 miles

How long does a harp stay in tune?

About 20 minutes, or until some-one opens a door.

How can you make a french horn sound like a trombone?

Take your hand out of the bell and lose all sense of taste.

How do you get two piccolos to play in

unison?Shoot one.

Art C

redit by Eleanor’s Lire in Korea

WhAT secTion is righT For you?

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 8

Cara Brewer

brass

The instruments in this section are harder to learn than those of the woodwind family and often play more harmonies (with the excep-tion of trumpet). So, if you enjoy playing im-portant roles in music, this section is for you.

woodwind

These instruments are typically easier to learn than those of the brass familiy and of-ten play more melodies. So, if you enjoy be-ing in the spotlight, this section is right for you.

Percussion

If you have a nack for keeping time than this section is for you. You don’t necessarily enjoy being in the spotlight, in fact you enjoy being in the background more than anything else. The individual instruments in this section don’t vary much, however the pieces are typically harder.

strinGs

If you have a short attention span for one piece, then this instrument is for you. This sec-tion has a wider variety of repertoire, and also can play a larger variety of music genres.

He’s up on stage at the Elephant Room getting ready for a show with one of his bands. He weaves through the tangle of cords and instru-ments on stage. He stops to take a sip of his beer and looks out the audience. It’s dark and smells faintly like beer and old wood. He smiles, pleased. The bar is nearly full, the show is about to start and he’s a little nervous but excited. This is nothing new to him, he’s been playing in Austin for nearly two years and saxophone for many more. The rest of the band is up on stage now too and he stands front and center; the lead tenor. There’s a quiet count-off from the drummer and the band starts an amazing com-position from the trumpet player. It’s heavy on the swing and requires incredible musicianship. At the solo section he takes the first solo and this is where he really shines. He shuts his eyes and sways with the tempo. He’s lost in the music and his solo is impeccable. It goes from light and airy in the high range of the instrument to loud and grumbling in the low range. He finishes and doesn’t smile, just jumps into the backgrounds for the next soloist.

Gil Del Bosque knew he wanted to start playing music when he heard David San-born in the David Letterman band, Lenny Picket in the Saturday Night Live band and the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. He describes Kind of Blue as “new and ear opening... simple yet sophisticated.” After realizing that he wanted to play music for a living Gil had to make the tough decision of choosing an instrument. Since he was a kid Gil has liked the good looks of the saxophone. His dad was not too keen on him playing sax and tried to force trumpet on him since they had one laying around the house but trumpet was Gil’s second choice. Realizing this, Gil’s mom stepped in and got him a saxophone.

Gil is now a master’s student at the University of Texas at Austin. He teaches local kids and plays gigs nearly every day around Austin where he has lived for nearly two years. Gil loves playing and living in Austin because of its “vi-brant musical appreciation”. He is currently a member of the Alternative Instrumental Music Ensemble at U.T. and Actual Proof (his own jazz project), Mr. Fabulous, Austin Jazz Band, Salero Salsa Band, and the Matchmaker Band.

Although he is an avid lover of all things jazz, Gil has taken up the clarinet which he says has given him a new appreciation for clas-sical music. Gil loves jazz because “it keeps you on your toes and how it gives you the tools to create on the spot”. Gil studied at the Uni-

versity North Texas (UNT) where he got his bachelors in Jazz Studies and is currently working on his master’s degree in Jazz Studies/ Per-formance from the University of Texas. He says he preferred UNT, “It is a legendary school with a great history of great players. On top of that, great student body and faculty to learn from. I also got to see many famous jazz musicians come through as clinicians.”

Once Gil graduates he says that he hopes to keep on do-ing what he’s doing now but on a much larger scale by increasing the

amount of kids he teaches and playing more gigs. When asked whether he prefers teaching or playing it’s a toss-up for Gil. “Teaching and performing for me work with each other. The day that I started teach-ing was when I became a better all around musician. I enjoy giving the tools to younger players that I wish I had available when I was younger and at the same time, realizing things in my own playing that I might

gil del Bosque: on The roAd To JAzzSophia Galewsky

Gil Del Bosque, local musicianPhoto by Sophia Galewsky

“new and ear-opening... simple yet sophisticated.”

9

Upon first listening, many people mistake contemporary clas-

sical music for music of a different genre. Shostakovich al-

most resembles hard rock, and Ravel almost resembles pop

music. This point is valid, and though there has been no

movement to change. All classical music is harmonious and

conveys emotion through the music. However, contemporary music is dis-

sonant and almost “grotesque”, focusing on the atmosphere rather than the

emotion. Contemporary music gave rise to pop and rock music, and some

say that contemporary music should be

known as pop and rock as well. Con-

temporary music was the inspiration

for the kickoff of new genres of mu-

sic in the 21st century, and contemporary music (impressionist, neoclassical,

atonal, movie music, and others) should be considered as rock, pop, or jazz

music, as this is what the pieces most resemble rather than classical music.

From the start,

classical music was always

supposed to be performed

live in concert halls and sa-

lons, mainly earlier music in

the latter case, as explained

by the Why So Serious article

of the New Yorker. Music

that was always live gives

a different texture to the

sound, and requires slightly

different technique and mu-

sicality in order to produce

sound that fits the environ-

ment compared to recorded

music. As explained by the

Contemporary Classical Art-

ists article, modern contemporary classical music is usually recorded for

movies, meaning that one could use computerized sounds and integrate

them with the music-- or use purely computerized sounds and no live musi-

cians at all to create the effect that they wanted. In pure classical music, this

is not what happens-- you can not go back and edit out mistakes in a live

performance, and the audience could never replay their favorite parts. This is

what makes classical music different. Some composers even use instruments

that were not even invented at the time of the classical music era such as the

electric guitar and the drum set to create certain effects, such as in Ennio

Morricone’s Cinema Paradiso, revealed by the Contemporary Classical Art-

ists article. Because of the integration with instruments that are not from

the same time period, the music written for such instruments should not be

called classical.

The actual contemporary music does not sound like standard clas-

sical music. According to the Kauble Piano Studio and PianoMasters.com,

standard classical music conveys emotion and creates a feeling in the audi-

ence that is the message of the piece, whereas

impressionist music is related to the atmo-

sphere that the piece creates within the audi-

ence as a whole. Neoclassical music is loosely

structured off of the standard classical format, but the style of the music

is much more abstract, in the French 1920s style. As found in the Fugue-

Masters.com website, the atonal music of Shostakovich is abstract to the

point of being greatly associated with the

word “grotesque”, a word never associ-

ated with standard classical music. The

classical music of the 20th century such

as Copland, Morricone, and Williams tend

to be greatly integrated with jazz and pop

and other rising genres of the day, as part

of the integration to records and movies,

as found by the Contemporary Classical

Artists article. It is almost unheard of to

interchange pop and jazz music, and the

same should go for classical music and

contemporary music as the comparison is

similar.

We can compare and contrast peri-

od romantic music with the contemporary

music. Samuel Barber was a prominent

romantic composer throughout the 20th century, and his music greatly emu-

lates that of Mendelssohn and Bruch. The differences between Barber and,

say, Glass is huge in the structures of comparative pieces, and the sounds

conveyed as well as the interpretations of the sounds. Barber and like com-

posers upheld the romantic idea, and contemporary composers went off on

their own branch to start a new genre. Although there are some similarities

between the two genres, there is not enough to let the music be categorized

the same way.

conTeMporAry vs. clAssicAl

“Contemporary music should not be considered.”

Art C

redit: Hunch M

usic

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • Page 9

Eve Galbraith

Dmitri Shostakovich

1940

19501930

1910

19201890Started in the US in the 1890’s

Recognized for its syncopated rhythms

Scott Joplin (Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer), Jelly Roll Mor-ton (Jelly Roll Blues, Wolverine Blues)

Started in New Orleans in the early 20th century

Influenced by brass band marches, French Quadrilles, rag-time and blues.

Louis Armstrong (What A Wonderful World)

Started in the US in 1920 and lasted until 1933 (Prohibi-tion to the Great Depression)

Dance music in illegal speakeasies during Prohibition

Louis Armstrong, James Reese Europe

Started in the 1930’s in the U.S.

Big bands (usually 12-25 musicians in the band)

Count Basie (One O’clock Jump, April in Paris), Duke Ellington (Mood Indigo, It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing)

Early 1940’s in the U.S.

Shifted from danceable music to more musician-oriented music, bands became smaller again

Charlie Parker (Giant Steps, Blue Train), Thelonius Monk (Straight, No Chaser, Round Midnight)

Started in the 1950’s - 1960’s in the U.S.

Musicians were bored with the restrictions of swing and bebop so started to break the norms of jazz

Bill Frisell (Good Dog, Happy Man, Gone, Just Like a Train), Miles Davis (Bitches Brew)

RAGTIMETHE JAZZ AGE

DIXIELAND

SWING ERA FREE JAZZ

BEBOP

iT’s goT ThAT sWingSophia Galewsky

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 8

Pondereasteast

Ponder

Ponder East teaching in his first period jazz band classArt by Sophie Galewsky

To

Cara Brewer

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 11

Okay Cara,” Ponder East says, leaning back in his chair, “Let’s do this.” Ponder sits at his desk, a saxophone by his side and a black neck strap hanging around his neck. On his desk sit two stacks of music, one ready to be cataloged and one that has already been cataloged. On the walls of

his jazz room hang posters of famous jazz artists, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis. Ponder doesn’t always have time to sit at his desk and chat with students, being the jazz band director at the Liberal Arts and Science Acad-emy (LASA). With three bands to direct, private lessons to teach, his own saxophone to practice, and a kid on the way, Ponder has a lot to take care of in a day. Ponder is also a practicing musician, which means that it’s not always straight home after work. It’s not uncommon for Ponder to head straight from work to a gig and play late into the night. Whatever he’s doing, Ponder has music surrounding him and it’s been that way most of his life. “[In] my family, some body’s always either singing, or playing, or listening,” Ponder says. During the day his mother would teach piano to stu-dents in the house, at night there would be a constant stream of music com-ing from the stereo. When he was a baby, Ponder used to sing to himself in the crib. Music has always been something he could turn to and because Pon-der was exposed to music at a young age, it was easy for him to develop a passion for it as an adult. Before he could become a musician, Ponder had to choose what instrument he wanted to focus on. When he got to beginning band Ponder had already decided he wanted to play saxophone. At first it was a toss-up; Ponder didn’t know whether he wanted to play sax or drums. But, it wasn’t long before he found the passion that he has had for saxophone his whole life. A friend of Pon-der’s step-dad, John, who played sax, was what influenced Ponder to chose sax over drums. “John was a very friendly adult who always treated me like an equal, even as a kid.” Ponder says, “he tried to push me to be good at music and have fun at it right from the very beginning.” In middle school Ponder worked at sax and excelled. In high school he started to get very serious about practicing sax and piano, which made all the difference. He went to summer band and jazz camps and tried to learn something from each teacher and student he met. “Looking back, I feel that what happened for me in high school was that I was able to be in inspiring situations.” Ponder says. When playing in the Stephen F. Austin jazz band camp Ponder got to play with a professional rhythm section. This opened Ponder’s eyes to what music could sound like when played by great players. “It was this kind of inspiration that I continued to find from others that encouraged me to keep practicing and playing.” Ponder says, “To this day, I do what I can to continue finding and creating situations that will in-spire me artistically and creatively.” In college, Ponder had to decide on what career to pursue. “I can remember very specifically Dr. Scott, who was the freshman advisor kind of asking me ‘Well, so what are you going to major in? I mean you got in, you got in, but what are you going to do?’” Ponder didn’t know what to say; he had no idea what he wanted to do after college. He knew he wanted to per-

form but he was worried that when he got out of college he wouldn’t have a job. “I remember saying... ‘Man, I don’t know if I can make it, you know? It’s a tough world out there, and I know I would be a good teacher, so I’m going to go teach.’” Ponder stuck with the decision to teach until half way through sophomore year. At the spring audition for classical band Ponder had chosen a fairly difficult piece. He had put a lot of work into it; practiced more than he had in all of college. But when he went to see if he had made the band he couldn’t find his name under any saxophone section. Eventually he found out they had put him on E-flat contra alto bass clarinet, “I had never played clarinet in my life. That really racked me, you know? I was... like ‘Wow… Re-ally? I’m not good enough to even play saxophone?’” Ponder ended playing in the band and found it to be a very good decision, but he didn’t know it at the time. He enrolled himself in a computer science class and was seriously considering changing his major. Six weeks into the semester he attended a music educator’s association conference in San Antonio. “It was a done deal,” he says. “I was back, you know? I knew I wanted to do it for real.” After he graduated college, Ponder began teaching at Grapevine

Middle School in Grape-vine. He taught there for three and a half years and it was harder than anything he had done

before. In the mornings Ponder taught general music to fifth graders and in the afternoons beginning band to sixth graders. “If you can imagine me… With fifth graders? Not pretty. It was okay… We listened to a lot of music.” Ponder says. He had to be there five days a week, seven hours a day, it was hard but it was worth it. “I was there for three years and loved every minute of it, even the parts that at the time I thought were horrible; it was still really good.” When he quit teaching at Grapevine Middle School Ponder planned to play on a cruise ship for a year or two. However, the job on the cruise ship he was promised wasn’t until October, and because he needed to make money Ponder had to make a quick decision. His brother was attend-ing The University of Texas at Austin and because Ponder had been playing in his brother’s band for a while, Ponder decided that was the best place to be. He began teaching private lessons, it was the perfect balance between playing and teaching. Ponder was teaching forty to fifty lessons a week for two years before he was offered a job at LASA as the jazz band director. He was offered this job after the main band director left LASA and a jazz director was needed. “I love my job and I love my job not only because it’s jazz, but because I’m grateful that all I have to do is jazz, you know? I really get to specialize in that.” Ponder is expecting a baby in June and says that he would be hap-py if any of his children decided to follow in his footsteps, but they don’t have to. He says that, like any father, he just wants them to be happy and pursue what they’re passionate about. “I want them to appreciate music and I don’t think they’re going to be able to escape appreciating music with me as their dad.” And who wouldn’t love music with Ponder as their dad?

“[In] my family, some body’s always either singing, or playing, or listening”

Ponder East teaching in his first period jazz band classArt by Sophie Galewsky

YpuMp up The JAMs: cAn Music TherApy help you?

ou’re about to go under anesthesia and you’re worried, nervous

about recovering, afraid of horrible repercussions. The doctor

asks you your favorite radio station. You relax, mellowed by your

favorite song. Your anxieties leave your mind. The music made

the difference. At Austin Music Therapy, the two forms of this

therapy that are used are “Motor/Cognition Sessions” which focus

on persons with disabilities and brain injuries and “Wellness Ses-

sions” which focus on promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety.

Music therapy is a scientifically sound, non-invasive way to solve a

wide range of physical and psychological problems.

Many scientific experiments have been performed to

prove the efficacy of music therapy. An example of such an ex-

periment was performed in Taiwan. A group of patients were ex-

posed to a selection of music prior to spinal surgery and a control

group was not. The heart rate and blood pressure of both groups

of patients were compared from before and after the surgery. The

group of patients who listened to music exhibited much lower

blood pressure and heart rate than those who had not been ex-

posed to music. This is definitive evidence that music therapy is

effective and should be used to reduce stress before and after

surgeries.

Although the pro-music therapy argument is backed up

by scientific evidence, it can be rebutted by common sense. Music

therapy is not as fast-acting or as general (cannot treat as wide a

range of ailments) as traditional methods so is not as convenient.

To completely treat a specific ailment it would almost certainly

take longer to treat it with music therapy than with traditional

methods. It can often take weeks to see an improvement in condi-

tion that might take a few hours to treat with medicine. The upside

to music therapy is that there are no possible medical repercus-

sions as there might be to medicines. No one is going to be allergic

to music but they might be allergic to penicillin.

Sophia Galewsky

“Music therapy is a scientifically sound, non-invasive way to solve a

wide range of physical and psychological problems.”

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • Page 15

Dan Galewsky, Austinite, playing guitarArt by Sophia Galewsky

Dan Galewsky, Austinite, playing guitarArt by Sophia Galewsky

coMpAring The erAs

Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 16

Eve Galbraith

Invention of the Violin, Viola, and Baroque Cello by Andrea Amati.

1550

Invention of modern bow by Francois Tourte: enables more styles of playing.

1785

Beethoven influences the start of the transition between Classical and Romantic music.

1801

1846

African-American spiritual music evolves into Jazz.

After WWII, shortages of equipment led to use of simpler instruments than saxophone: drums, guitars.

1947

Start of Classical Period.1750

End of Baroque Period.1760

Start of Romantic Period.1815

End of Classical Period.

1830

Start of Jazz Period.1901

End of Romantic Period, Start of Contemporary Classical Period.

1910

End of Contemporary Classical Period, Start of Contemporary Modern Period.

1940

Invention of the saxophone by Adolphe Sax.

1895

evoluTion oF Music periods oF Music

Eve Galbraith

Walking up his driveway, I go under a lattice of over-grown gnarly vines. A cat scuttles off the path. The door is open, giving way to a screen door. We knock, as there is no bell. As I wait, I notice an interesting tile

hanging on the outside of his door: seems to be a 16th century merchant peddler carrying an instrument reminiscent to either a cello or a bass. Too big for a cello, too curved for a bass. The musician is also playing the instrument left-handed. I knock again. Galumphing down the stairs comes San Antonio native Douglas Har-vey, the 31-year-old principal cellist of the Austin Symphony. “Come in,” he calls, in his naturally quiet, shy voice-- always a surprise to hear from such an expressive musician. He is wearing a black V-neck T-shirt and jeans: to a frequent buyer of Symphony tickets, it’s strange to see him out of a tuxedo. He shows me through the door. I then go through the small entrance hall into a dimly lit living room. Everything is plush and blue. He drags a comfortable blue sofa chair across the fleecy wall-to-wall blue carpet, away from the blue-tinted lamp, to-wards the high-backed soft blue rocking chair. He offers me the rocking chair, and starts to talk about himself. Mr. Harvey started music in his church’s boys’ choir, and then joined the San Antonio Youth Choir for boys in 2nd grade. After giving up singing, he taught himself pia-no, and migrated to cello when his sister start-ed. A 4th grader at the time, he says that his sister never allowed him to use her cello. “She would leave her cello lying around in the house and I would just try to pluck it, and she would beat me up and say, “No, you’re not allowed!” She’d pull out her contract she’d signed, “See right here, it says nobody else is allowed to touch my cello!” And so I got one of my own,” he said. At first, he was competing with his sister to be the best cellist in the school, but as time went by, he realized that his life as a musician was only about himself. In 4th grade, “There was a poster on the wall of, I think, Rostropovich, and I

looked at him and I said, if he can do it, I can do it,” he explained. This was the turning point of his life, when he knew for sure that he wanted to be a cellist. Things really started to get going for him at the tender age of 13, when he was recommended by his teacher to change teachers to Professor Paul Olefsky, of UT Austin. “She took me up to Austin to have a lesson,” he says.

Professor Olefsky’s teaching method turned out to be much different than that of his previous teacher’s. “[Pro-fessor Olefsky’s lessons were], well, long. Up to 3 or 4 hours, and nonstop, not one

break. Went through everything, as long as I was prepared. If I wasn’t prepared, then the lessons ended. But I practiced so many different things that I always had something to work on, and it would continue until my fingers were falling off,” he said. “I think that maybe my old teacher, she would demonstrate things. Paul would mostly tell you in words, and if you still didn’t get it after a while he would demonstrate it. It was all up to you.” Mr. Harvey and Professor Olefsky worked so well together that, in the end, Mr. Harvey decided to go to UT Austin so that he could continue study with the professor. “Well, I was always en-couraged to study with other people, and I did, I studied with lots of other people, mostly in the summertime, and that worked out well because you have your main teacher, and then you get some other ideas,” he says. “Then you go back and you realize that you’re learning much more, still, with the same teacher. Which is fortunate. And they will always say the same thing, you know, whatever you are doing now is working. Don’t change it.”

The lifestyle worked out well. In the beginning, there was not much of a diffi-

culty of balancing his schoolwork with his music. “I sort of had a freedom to do what I wanted. Even, in my last year, I took two orchestra classes, one as a practice period, and I had study hall which I practiced in. I had no

“I said, if he can do it, I can do it.”

“I pretty much made sure that nothing was going to get in the way of my music.”

A fine cello.

douglAs hArvey: The MAn Behind The Music

7

problems with homework, homework was so easy, I never un-derstood why people couldn’t figure it out. College was similar,” he said. There were times in which the balance was hard to maintain, though. “I pretty much made sure that nothing was going to get in the way of my music. That was the bottom line. Nothing was going to get in the way of that. So if anything did, I just wouldn’t pay attention to it,” he said on balancing work with music. “I probably got into trouble for it once or twice, but it doesn’t matter now. But I remember the advisor at UT tell-ing me that UT was not a conservatory, and I had to take other classes. But I was like, I paid for this, I’ll take what I’m going to take and we’ll figure the rest out later.” At 17, as a freshman in college, Maestro Peter Bay recommended the young cellist to audition for a spot in the Symphony. At 18, he became the Acting Principal Cellist, a po-sition that was finalized as his own in 2002. Since then, he has performed with artists such as Justin Timberlake, for which he bleached his hair and dyed it various colors. Now, Mr. Harvey is principal cellist of the Austin Symphony, principal cellist of the Austin Lyric Opera Sym-phony, and performs in chamber ensembles with Salon Con-certs-- among other things. He teaches on occasion, as well. He believes in all sorts of different kinds of cultures, which is what makes him seem so at home here in the diverse city of Austin. “Well, I hope that people are a little more open-minded, they haven’t shut down, you know I hate classical, or I hate hip-hop, or I hate whatever. Well, they may say, it’s Sunday, what a beauti-ful Sunday, maybe we should try something new, we can go to the museum or we can go hear the Symphony play, go to the opera, go to a house concert and hear some chamber music,” he says. “I’m hopeful about [the classical music industry], I think that the people will get bored with the same old pop tunes, I mean I feel that I get bored with it, I like to listen to it but I get bored. So for their own sake, branch out and try multiple things.”

8

You hear a song on the radio and start marking time.

You’ve named your instrument.

You’ve accedentally called your band director “dad”.

You’ve actually been to band camp and con-sider it the highlight of your summer.

You recite the alphabet A through G and then start back at A again.

You don’t describe people by going “She has brown hair, dark eyes, kind of tall.” but instead say “she plays alto sax”.

You have a harness/neck strap tan line.

You go around humming the last song you’ve practiced.

You always start off walking on your left foot.

When you’re walking down the hall you are in step with your friends. If someone is not they fall behind or do a little foot shuffle to get in step.

you knoW you’re A BAnd geek When...Cara Brewer

You know how to play ten popular stand tunes but don’t know the words to any of them.

Your feet are together, your stomach is in, your shoulders are back, your head is up, and your eyes are “with pride” 24/7.

You either hate orchestra or are incredibly envious of it.

You’re feeling sick at school but don’t go home until after band.

You still and always will find “sax-a-ma-PHONE!” entertaining.

You can measure five yards without a ruler- all you need is to count your steps while you’re walking.

You talk to your plume.

You sit around in class trying to think of new band nerd jokes.

You miss marching band when it’s not in sea-son.

You start humming a show tune from three years ago and your friends join in with their respective parts.Winter 2011 • Bass Line • 18

LBJ marching band marching their show, The ClimbArt by Rich Gramman

LBJ Drumline preparing to marchArt by Rich Gramman

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