November 23, 2005
String musicians tune out difference in ages
Bay Chamber Strings presents first concert of the season Tuesday at Central United Methodist Church
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Tuesday evenings this fall feature a dose of quality father-daughter time as the Pittinos of Beulah share rehearsal time every week with the Bay Chamber Strings.
The small orchestra includes 24 musicians from around the region with a unique twist: both youth and adults participate. Bay Chamber Strings, which kicks off its second season with a concert Tuesday evening, includes a number of family relationships: cousins, parent-child and husband-wife.
Members range in age from nine to a retired 60-plus. Lynne Tobin, a cellist with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and a music teacher at Interlochen Pathfinder School, directs the orchestra.
"It's actually like a dream," said cellist Chris Pittinos of playing with his daughter, Emily, 13, a violist. "We've played together before, we do Christmas Carols and I play classical guitar and she does the viola."
A skilled musician, the elder Pittinos only took up the cello a year ago. He terms himself a wind player and is fluent in the tuba, saxophone, soprano saxophone and recorder.
In addition to enjoying playing with his daughter, Pittinos praises both the multi-age format and musical challenge of the Bay Chamber Orchestra. The group includes nine adults and 15 children from a number of area schools.
"I've been a musician for most of my life and this is a tight group," he said. "It's neat the way that Lynne structured this: all the first chairs are teenagers."
Emily Pittinos, an eighth grade student at Interlochen Pathfinder School, has been studying the viola for three years. She admitted that sometimes playing with adults could be a bit intimidating, but deemed it fun overall.
"It's pretty hard, you have to practice a lot for it, but I think it has really improved my skills," she said.
Tobin began the group in the fall of 2004, initially intending the community orchestra to be a student group. When adults showed up to the audition, she decided to expand it, even though she had never worked with a mixed age group in her 25-year career.
"When these adults walked in the door, we looked at each other and said, 'Why not?'¡" Tobin recalled. "I think that the beauty of it is everyone is at the same level where they can play technically."
Tobin noted that despite their greater experience, the adults are happy making music with the enthusiastic and talented children.
"The kids kind of look up to them and the adults set a more serious tone to the group," she said. "While the adults are energized by the younger people."
Last year, the group held two concerts during their season, which runs through the fall and winter. They plan the same schedule this year, with the second concert scheduled for March.
The literature for next Tuesday's concert includes a range of pieces that Tobin characterizes as more difficult than last season. Two 13-year-old student players, Anna Piotrowski on violin and the concert master, and Mara Thompson on cello, will be featured in solos during the concert.
"I'm actually choosing things that are a bit more challenging because I'm finding that the students are playing up, they are rising to the occasion," she said.
This year, the orchestra is collaborating with the Good Harbor Suzuki School Bel Canto ensemble, directed by Susan Raguse. The collaboration is in part because the Bay Chamber Strings' concerts last year were short, running only about 45 minutes. In addition, many of the youth members of the orchestra study with Raguse, who held Bel Canto ensemble rehearsals at the church just before the orchestra's rehearsals.
"We just thought it would be nice to share," Tobin noted.
The Bay Chamber Strings concert will be held in conjunction with the Bel Canto ensemble on Tuesday, November 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Central United Methodist Church. A free-will offering will be accepted.