Westward Ho!

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | All Posts by Matt Naughtin, Behind the Scenes, Perpetual Motion: SFB on Tour | 1 Comment

Ni Hao Ma!

Yes, I’ve been practicing saying “hello,” “good-bye,” “thank you,” and “where’s the WC?” in Mandarin and getting ready to travel along with San Francisco Ballet to Shanghai and Beijing.

Since the orchestras we will be performing with in China have their own music librarians, I’m tagging along strictly as a tourist and am not part of the official entourage. I enjoy traveling with the company on tour—it’s an opportunity to explore new places with people who are good friends and often know great areas to explore. I pay my own way, of course, but being with the group has many advantages.

I shipped the orchestra materials (two sets of everything—we’re using three orchestras) to Shanghai about a month ago. The musicians in China will have already started practicing the music before our conductors, Gary Sheldon and Charles Barker, arrive to lead the first orchestra rehearsals on September 17. It’s our first tour in China, and the staff members are learning quickly how things are done in the Middle Kingdom. We’ll be in Beijing during the big celebrations for the 60thanniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, so it should be an exciting time. My son Colin collects Olympic pins, and I’ve been instructed to keep my eyes open for any left over from the Beijing Olympics.

Getting ready for Swan Lake! (© Erik Tomasson)

Ballet companies tour for many reasons—establishing and maintaining an international artistic profile and prestige, showcasing the dancers to audiences and critics in major dance centers, attracting worldwide media coverage. We’re taking just over 100 dancers, musicians, staff, and crew to China, and the tour logistics—visas, inoculations, air travel, hotel accommodations, transportation of sets and costumes, renting local performance venues, hiring local orchestras, publicity and promotion, official clearances, etc., etc.—are dauntingly complex. The excitement of performing in new places for new audiences more than makes up for the hard work that goes into putting a tour together. Also, I know that our principal dancer Yuan Yuan Tan (who comes from Shanghai) is extremely popular in China, so I expect her to receive an enthusiastic reception.

I’m looking forward to a wonderful adventure in one of the most historically fascinating and culturally vibrant countries in the world. I don’t know if I’ll be able to send any updates during the tour, but I’ll be sure to have plenty of pictures to post when we return.

So, for now,

Zài jiàn!

Tags: China Tour, Orchestra

Stern Grove: Adventures in the Fog

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 | All Posts by Matt Naughtin, Behind the Scenes | 3 Comments

I love it when we perform at Sigmund Stern Grove during what San Franciscans whimsically call the “summer”. It’s a beautiful setting; a natural amphitheater surrounded by tall trees. You have the pungent aroma of eucalyptus and pine, the bracing sea breeze and—the fog.

It’s always an adventure presenting an outdoor dance event at Stern Grove because (as Mark Twain noted) it can be very cold in San Francisco in the summer. Our dancers are contractually protected from having to perform in conditions which might make them vulnerable to injuries, including extremes in temperature. Luckily, we’ve never had to cancel an entire performance at the Grove due to cold temperatures. The Ballet brings along big space heaters to position around the stage, and our production crew keeps an eye out to see that the dancers are as comfortable as possible.

But the excitement of performing for an enthusiastic audience 14,000 strong (as a comparison the War Memorial Opera House holds about 3,200) in such a beautiful setting is worth all the challenges to be met in giving an outdoor concert. The orchestra plays on a temporary “pit” that’s set up with sheets of plywood flooring on the ground in front of the stage. This puts us in intimate contact with the front rows of the audience, who are only separated from the musicians by a rope, and always leads to enjoyable conversations.

Here are some photos I took during our 2007 performance at the Grove. First, you can see the musicians arriving for the pre-concert rehearsal. This is the only rehearsal the orchestra will have for the show. A few intrepid audience members are already there at 10am to reserve their seats.

The orchestra gathers

Audience early birds are gathering too

Production crew members are helping the musicians get set up. Note the grey ‘carbon-fiber’ cello on the left in the photo below. Musicians are loathe to bring their best “axes” to an outdoor performance where the sun and damp can both do serious damage to expensive and delicate instruments.

Getting set up

Playing outdoors has other perils—like uninvited insect visitors in the pit.

Cliff Foster, Patty Van Winkle, and a BIG BUG (not pictured)

Our intrepid bass players. Note the microphone. The orchestra is amplified to compensate for the acoustics of the outdoor venue and give the audience as close to a “concert hall” sound as possible.

The bass section

You can tell from violinist Dale Chao’s expression that it’s still pretty cold at 10am. Note the propane space heater on stage in the background.

Brrrrrr!

Left to Right: Production Manager Lefty Lefcourt, Assistant. Stage Manager Tiffani Snow, and Stage Manager Jane Green.

The dancers begin to warm up

Hats and gloves are standard dress for the musicians when they play outdoors. Note the scarf wrapped around a violin to protect it from the fog and sun.

Hats, gloves and scarf

The Grove concert is a nice opportunity for the orchestra musicians to see each other during the ballet “off season” and catch up on the news.

Robin Hansen and Patty Van Winkle have a laugh

Tom Rose, the Ballet Orchestra Personnel Manager, makes sure all the musicians have signed the “Green Sheets” so their participation will be recorded with the Musician’s Union. Note the metal and plastic clips attached to the folders on the music stands. These are long, transparent “wind clips” that we use outdoors to keep gusts of wind from blowing the music pages around.

Tom Rose checks the “Green Sheets”

The orchestra rehearsal begins, and everyone gets a chance to warm up their fingers with some Strauss.

Music Director Martin West leads the rehearsal

After the rehearsal the orchestra takes a break and heads over to the food vendors for some high-cholesterol nourishment. At concert time the sun still hasn’t come out, but temperatures have warmed up and the orchestra and dancers present Paul Taylor’s “Spring Rounds” for an enthusiastic audience.

The performance begins!

Tags: Orchestra, Stern Grove

Tales of a Music Librarian

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | All Posts by Matt Naughtin, SFB Scene | 1 Comment

What, exactly (you may ask), does a Ballet music librarian have to do?

Surely dusting off the music for Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet every few years and schlepping it onto the orchestra’s music stands can’t take a lot of time and effort.

Ahhh, but behind the scenes, away from the glitter and glamour of the stage, deep in the teeming bowels of the Opera House, scenes of tragedy and triumph are taking place every day. And in the midst of this is the music librarian, issuing budget projections, music copies for practice, piano rehearsal scores, conductor’s scores, scores for stage managers and sound technicians and television producers, as well as information for all of the Ballet’s departments on the instrumentation, duration, available recordings, composer, publisher and copyright status of every piece of music the Ballet performs.

This blog will be a window into the complex, exciting (to me, at least), somewhat surreal world of ballet music preparation.

A little about me: I was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947 and began playing the violin and writing music when I was eleven years old. I have a degree in music performance from Northwestern University, and have played professionally in orchestras and chamber ensembles for almost forty years. I began working as a music librarian in 1987 and became the music librarian of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in 1997. I am also a composer and arranger, and my music (including three ballet scores) is played by orchestras and chamber ensembles around the world. I have a son and a daughter and three grandchildren (geniuses, all).

Matt Naughtin

Here is my domain, the Music Library in the basement of the Opera House.

Another shot of the Library

The music for each ballet is stored in these boxes (the music has to lie flat).

This the Opera House from my perspective, looking up into the Orchestra Pit from beneath the front lip of the stage.

Patrons begin filling the seats before the performance begins.

As we go through the year, I will be posting comments about what’s interesting and challenging about the music we’re performing. I will also be describing the legal, technological, and artistic processes that go into assembling the music for a new ballet. I hope that I can convey the joy of working with the amazing, gifted, dedicated people, both on and off the stage, who make up this wonderful ballet company.

Tags: Orchestra