Reaching Out in Carmel, IN

Towards the end of March, we taped a show at The Palladium – a beautiful, acoustically-ideal concert hall that’s part of the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. We had taped a show at the Palladium just last year and the excitement behind our return allowed us to make a number of connections with the community. Two weeks before we even arrived, local bassoonist Tom English (Show #233) was busy promoting our return to Carmel. He traveled to the Prime Life Enrichment Center, where he performed several solo works and spoke about his experience on our show last year.

On the day of the show, a group of sound engineering students from Crowne Point High School drove all the way to Carmel (nearly two hours) to attend our dress rehearsal and get a behind-the-scenes look at a live recording session. After the rehearsal, they met with our sound engineer, Berred Ouellette, who explained the process of taking the show from live concert to radio broadcast. Berred also treated the students to a backstage tour to see and experience our recording equipment.

The day after the show, we took our stellar cast over to Carmel Middle School to meet with a group of seventh-grade orchestra students. First up was violinist Nathan Meltzer, who shared how he creates characters for the different sections of a Mozart concerto to keep practicing fun. Next was cellist Sydney Lee, who performed Chopin’s Introduction & Polonaise Brillante  and demonstrated some techniques she used to tackle the tougher passages. Guitarist Tyler Rhodes performed the beautiful Spanish Dance No.5 by Enrique Granados, then shared his own struggles with staying motivated. He talked about his transition from electric guitar to classical, and how the emotion he feels in classical music is different and more powerful than anything else he’s experienced.

Quartet Tzigane walked us through what it takes to work together as a chamber group, including the importance of a metronome (their “best friend”) and taking everything at slow pace to work out all of the notes and dynamics. They also shared a favorite warm-up activity: improvising on the main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. Check out the following video for some highlights from the visit: