Rehearsals continue

As much as the Dominican Republic is a vacation destination, I am here almost exclusively to work. We may have a couple of hours on Friday to go to the beach (I still don't have a swimsuit, though) or go see the colonial district. But mostly, we are here to teach and play.

The quintet I'm coaching is made up of young people from the national youth orchestra. They are very passionate -- and they don't mince words with each other. They are also a little loathe to concentrate and would rather chat and joke around than get down to business, which is a little frustrating. But they are doing pretty well. I wish I knew more about how to play the bassoon, as our bassoonist is having the most trouble, particularly with intonation.

I asked someone today why baseball is so big in the Dominican Republic, while it seems that soccer is much more important in other Latin American countries. They told me that it's because the Dominicans don't want to run and chase after a ball for the entire game -- they'd rather conserve their energy for one big swing of the bat. This came from the country's director of musical activities (which is a government position, believe it or not), Carnex. Carnex is a suave guy, sophisticated, who studied with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard and played with numerous orchestras, including the Rochester Philharmonic. He told me that he doesn't play anymore and has since sold his violin so he could buy a really nice house. He's into the electric violin now, but mostly he deals with the bureaucracy of the Dominican government as it relates to classical and traditional musical performance in the country -- how people get paid, how performances are organized, how the national conservatory is supported, etc. He wants to resign, but the Ministry of Culture won't accept his resignation. So for now, he stays. He also has a radio program on Sunday nights that plays classical music. He interviewed Damaris (our pianist) on his program earlier this week (they grew up together in Santo Domingo) and revealed that as an adolescent he was completely in love with her. He got into some trouble over that.

Tonight, half of my Mozart flute quartet didn't show up, so instead we shuttled the violist off to another quartet with a missing viola, and I gave the flutist a lesson for two hours. This seems pretty typical. Example: today, the wind quintet was supposed to rehearse from 3 to 5. I was dropped off at the rehearsal space at 3:15, at which point I only found two of the five members present and all the doors to the rooms locked. It took another twenty minutes to unlock the door to the rehearsal room, during which the bassoonist showed up. At that point, we began rehearsing with me playing the flute part and an imaginary oboist. Around four o'clock, the flutist arrived, and around 4:15 the oboe player came with a crappy reed that he had to soak for another ten minutes. So, 4:30, we were all present and ready to play...for half an hour of serious rehearsal. Hmmm.

The flute player I taught tonight, Emily, is wonderful. She is 16, very nice, very musical, with an involved mother, and a natural intelligence. With the right guidance and practice, she could easily go to a conservatory in the U.S. The problem is, of course, money and a visa. The way of life for a musician here is far more stark than the challenges we face in the U.S. The obstacles these musicians have to overcome in order to practice their art are overwhelming: cultural and familial acceptance, money or connections to buy or borrow an instrument, time away from a money-making job for practicing, study and rehearsals, and the simple fact that a lot of people here have no idea about classical music. It's a Eurocentric idea that really has very little to do with day to day life here. The heat is hard on the instruments....there are all these issues. So, all the young musicians I've talked to have to mention these caveats when they talk about a career in music. It's generally regarded as completely impossible, at best irresponsible.

More tomorrow.