Andie Waterman – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:18:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Andie Waterman – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Medieval Manuscripts Club launches at Meyer https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/19/meyer-library-hosts-first-medieval-manuscripts-club-meeting/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/19/meyer-library-hosts-first-medieval-manuscripts-club-meeting/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2014 09:24:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082473 Students convened this past Friday at Meyer Library to use digital technologies in the study of medieval texts and fragments, in the inaugural meeting of the University’s Medieval Manuscripts Club.

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Photo by Andie Waterman
ANDIE WATERMAN/The Stanford Daily

Students convened this past Friday at Meyer Library to use digital technologies in the study of medieval texts and fragments, in the inaugural meeting of the University’s Medieval Manuscripts Club.

Digital Medieval Manuscripts Fellow Bridget Whearty Ph.D.’13, who along with Digital Medieval Projects Manager Ben Albritton runs the club, framed the group as a means of satisfying varied student interests in medieval literature—from those held by classics majors to those of “Game of Thrones” fans—and giving students the opportunity to discover new passages.

“There are these amazing opportunities to work with these books that have never really been studied or [haven’t been] studied as much as, say, Chaucer,” Whearty said. “So what do we do to get it in people’s hands and get them playing with it?”

Whearty emphasized the club’s open nature, noting that participation requires neither previous knowledge of ancient languages like Latin or Greek nor experience with paleography (the study of ancient writing systems).

Elaine Treharne, co-director of Stanford’s Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, said the club reflects a general effort “to enhance the medieval division at Stanford” and to help students understand the relationship between primary source material and modern editions.

Treharne also singled out students’ use of Transcription Paleography and Editorial Notation (T-PEN) software—which offers a constantly expanding database of images of texts from institutions around the world—to examine manuscripts as a “fairly new” twist in a broadly practiced area of study.

Albritton, who also manages Mirador, Stanford’s open-source manuscript viewer, described the club as part of the larger goal of fitting the software to the needs of scholars who access the manuscripts.

“It’s nice to have that sort of check as we work through the tools and see what people are doing with them,” he said. “Finding out what breaks, what doesn’t work, what people need, informs the next round of technological development.”

Students at the first meeting used the interface mainly to transcribe a phrase by identifying tiny letters from previously unstudied “marginalia” —scribes’ margin notes—in digitalized leaf from a previously unstudied copy of the Bible.

Young Xu ’17 said he felt a sense of accomplishment after completing the transcription, noting that in his Latin class most unusual abbreviations are glossed over for the reader rather than offering the chance for independent resolution. He also noted the importance of transcription from the original manuscripts.

“I think there is some essential work to be done that puts this Latin into a readable Latin that we can all work on,” he said.

Whearty emphasized the importance of exposing students to unsolved questions in medieval literature.

“I can promise you, we will discover things that no one alive knows—that’s real,” she said.

 

Contact Andie Waterman at andiew ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Stanford Orchestra collaborates with SF musicians https://stanforddaily.com/2014/01/13/stanford-orchestra-collaborates-with-sf-musicians/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/01/13/stanford-orchestra-collaborates-with-sf-musicians/#respond Mon, 13 Jan 2014 09:33:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1081396 Chen Zhao sits silently in the empty stands of Bing Concert Hall, his eyes focused on the bow strokes of the string players as the Stanford Orchestra rehearses Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.

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Courtesy of Bill Hocker
Courtesy of Bill Hocker

Chen Zhao sits silently in the empty stands of Bing Concert Hall, his eyes focused on the bow strokes of the string players as the Stanford Symphony Orchestra rehearses Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.

Zhao sees when a single violinist isn’t putting enough “vibrato,” or vibration, on the string—or is playing at the wrong end of the bow. Not too many people know the bow strokes for this symphony better than Zhao, a violinist who has recorded Mahler’s almost 90-minute work with the San Francisco Symphony.

When he spies these deviations, Zhao picks up his violin and jumps into an empty seat in the violin section to play along, showing the college musicians how he approaches the music.

Symphony flutist Catherine Payne makes similar demonstrations for the woodwind section and can be seen waving her arms in explanation while conductor Jindong Cai runs the rehearsal. Payne and Zhao are “encouraging individuals,” said Anna Wittstruck Ph.D. ‘15, assistant conductor of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra.

“It’s very easy to feel lost in a group of 110,” Wittstruck said.

For the first time, funding from a portion of the $500,000 Andrew W. Mellon Grant awarded in 2011 to Stanford’s performing arts organization Stanford Live brought musicians from the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to Stanford to coach its orchestra last quarter.

Sessions will continue this quarter as the symphony prepares Verdi’s Requiem, but the orchestra will have more sessions from San Francisco musicians next quarter as they prepare Kurt Weill’s sung ballet “The Seven Deadly Sins” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4—a work which the Stanford Symphony Orchestra will watch the San Francisco Symphony perform this February.

Stanford Live uses the funds to hire guest artists, debut compositions by music faculty and support students in designing opening acts for shows at Bing, according to Ben Frandzel, the organization’s institutional gifts officer.

The grant compensates musicians at competitive rates, said Wittstruck. But she noted that this isn’t the only reason musicians come to Stanford to coach—they want to teach students who are headed for diverse careers, but who are also very talented musicians.

Stanford Live executive director Wiley Hausam plans for the grant to support coaching sessions again next year. When the funds are spent after the 2014-15 academic year, individual donors will likely provide enough funding to support the coaching sessions, he said.

Although professional musicians have given coaching sessions through the music department before, the Mellon funding allowed for almost every section of the orchestra to receive individualized coaching—from professionals who had expertise not only with the instrument, but also with the piece.

For example, the San Francisco Symphony has recorded all nine of Mahler’s symphonies, and several of these recordings have won Grammies. From this symphony, Wittstruck hired a violinist, a violist, a cellist, a flutist, an oboe player, a bassoon player, a horn player and a trumpet player.

“There’s really no one better to go to for Mahler than the San Francisco Symphony,” Wittstruck said. “That’s what they do.”

 

Courtesy of Joel Simon

Heavy on the Mahler

French horn player Stephanie Palocz ‘16 had great expectations for the sectional with Robert Ward, principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony. Ward has played first horn on all of San Francisco’s Mahler recordings.

“I go to see the San Francisco Symphony a few times a quarter, whenever I can,” Palocz said. “And I admire his playing a lot, so it’s really cool to kind of get some tips.”

As the sectional approached, the horn players knew their parts, but still had specific questions about the piece. When section members got to Braun Rehearsal Hall for the sectional, everyone was “on the ball and ready to go,” said horn player Rebecca Gruskin, a second-year doctoral student in the history department.

Ward, too, was all business. He sat down in front of the section holding a copy of the score, which includes six separate horn parts for nine horns, and had the section play through the entire piece. When he occasionally stopped the horns, Ward gave succinct advice, which applied to the particular difficulties of the instrument.

For example, few people who are not French horn players would be able to explain the best fingerings for a technique called “stopped horn.” Players must put a hand in the bell of the instrument to make a more muted, metallic sound a half step above normal pitch. To lower the pitch again, they must change their fingering

“He knew exactly where to go and what sort of problems we might encounter,” said horn player America Reyes ‘14.

There’s a passage at the beginning of the Mahler using this technique that is very difficult to get in tune, Gruskin said.

But Ward has a “little chart” in his head of the best fingerings to use in different situations, he said. Ward suggested these alternate fingerings to the section.

One rehearsal later, the horns played the “stopped” parts in tune for the first time, Gruskin said.

Students also said they appreciated how they were able to play the piece with more awareness of the composer’s ideas after the sessions.

Clarinetist Richard Wang Ph.D. ‘16 said that, drawing from their experience, San Francisco coaches advised woodwinds to play with volume and expression to capture the varied moods of Mahler’s work.

“Always exaggerate what you’re playing,” he recalled being told. “Because the audience hears a lot less than you think.”

 

Future collaboration

Zhao has worked with Wittstruck on several performances in the past few years, and they often spoke about bringing members of the San Francisco Symphony to work with Stanford’s orchestra. Zhao established the connection last year when he coached through the music department.

Zhao said he benefited from stepping out of his performance element and teaching the college musicians, as he’s not usually as aware of how he translates musical ideas into technique—this awareness makes him a better player.

Ward also said he would like to work with the Stanford musicians again.

Ward, who has coached at music festivals and is on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Zhao, said he appreciates college students’ enthusiasm for learning new pieces.

“It was really fun to be a part of that energy,” he said when he coached at Stanford this fall.

Contact Andie Waterman at andiew ‘at’ stanford.edu.

A previous version of this article referred to the Stanford Symphony Orchestra as the Stanford Orchestra and said that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation spent the grant funds for Stanford when in fact it was spent by Stanford Live. The Daily regrets this error.

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NPR to record Stanford Symphony Orchestra Nov. 10 performance https://stanforddaily.com/2013/11/08/npr-to-record-stanford-symphony-orchestra-nov-10-performance/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/11/08/npr-to-record-stanford-symphony-orchestra-nov-10-performance/#respond Fri, 08 Nov 2013 09:09:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1080313 For the first time, National Public Radio’s “From the Top” program will record the Stanford Symphony Orchestra.

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For the first time, National Public Radio’s “From the Top” program will record the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. The show will also feature several student performers and young classical musicians from around California.

The Nov. 10 performance sold out to the general public this summer, but some tickets are still available for Stanford students to purchase. Students and members of the community can also hear the broadcast on Dec. 2 on Classical KDFC (104.9 FM in Palo Alto).

Courtesy of Andie Waterman
Courtesy of Andie Waterman

Although “From the Top” has aired from Stanford before, this will be the show’s first collaboration with the orchestra.

The show airs on 250 stations across the United States and is heard by an estimated 700,000 listeners. The national scale of the recording also fulfills the educational mantra of Conductor Jindong Cai, noted Assistant Conductor Anna Wittstruck, Ph.D. ’15.

“He’s brought people from all over the world to us,” Wittstruck said. “And now it’s our chance to really sort of extend beyond the Stanford Cardinal bubble, and be a musical ensemble that is recognized.”

Wittstruck noted that the national exposure accompanies an upward trend in the orchestra’s reputation after the opening of the $111.9 million Bing Concert Hall last January.

Cai observed this trend as well, adding that before Bing opened not that many people knew of the orchestra’s talent.

“Now we have this platform [Bing] and people start noticing we’re good,” Cai said.

The music director for “From the Top,” Tom Vignieri, said that he worked hard to build a diverse program that maximizes the new hall’s potential.

The Nov. 10 recording will feature several performances by young musicians before the finale with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra: the San Francisco Girls Chorus; Chase Onodera, a 12-year-old guitarist from Sacramento; David Yu, an 18-year-old pianist from Los Angeles county; Youjin Lee, an 18-year-old violinist from Los Angeles; and a trio comprised of two Stanford students and Lee.

As the show usually focuses on performances from younger musicians, the college orchestra’s involvement came as a last-minute surprise.

“From the Top” first invited Wittstruck—who appeared on the show when she was 13 years old—to appear again. Wittstruck, a cellist, told the show’s agent that Cai had offered to have the orchestra back up any soloists on the show.

A few weeks later, “From the Top” told Cai that the program’s host–pianist Christopher O’Riley—could perform a piece with the orchestra.

O’Riley will play the “Presto” from Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G Major”–a work he will perform in its entirety with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra less than a week after his appearance at Stanford and again at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 9.

“It’s a fantastic virtuoso piece,” Cai said.

But the orchestra won’t be the only ambassador of the Stanford community on the radio—pianist Hugo Kitano ’17 and Wittstruck, both past performers on “From the Top,” along with Lee, will play the energetic “Scherzo” from Mendelssohn’s first piano trio.

Added to the challenge of the hall, whose resonance makes each instrument in a small group especially exposed, the group has never met before. They will practice together only once before the show, at the Nov. 9 rehearsal.

But Kitano and Wittstruck looked forward to coming up with a shared interpretation of the music.

Wittstruck called it “a perfect ‘From the Top’ piece” which “really showcases all three instruments, particularly the piano, the devilishly difficult piano part.”

Despite the piece’s technical demands, Kitano looked forward to playing it, praising the piece’s wittiness.

“A lot of times I feel like classical musicians forget about having a sense of humor,” he said.

Working with Stanford Live—the performing arts organization which presents shows at Bing and around campus—the show has reached out to other “From the Top” alumni at Stanford, many of whom play in the orchestra.

The program’s alumni may participate in activities the day before the concert including workshops on applying musical leadership skills in the world beyond the concert hall, said tour producer David Balsom.

He added that most musicians on the show have multiple interests.

“The idea was to showcase the fact that at a place like Stanford you could be a musician but you could also be a student of something else,” Balsom said.

Contact Andie Waterman at andiew ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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