I think most symphonic musicians will tell you that they like to play the music of John Williams. The reasons are many: the music is well written. John Williams knows what he's doing, compositionally. We like the movies.
What happens when you pair a group of classical musicians with a group of die-hard Star Wars fans that specialize in dressing up in character? Certain similarities are made clear, as any attendee of this weekends' "Star Wars and More: music of John Williams" could see.
Top Ten Similarities between the South Texas Star Garrison and the Houston Symphony:
10. Pasty complexions due to weekends spent indoors honing our craft/costumes/practicing/welding breastplate armor/making reeds
9. Ewoks/children's choirs need to kept under firm control at all times
8. We always Feel the Force
7. Sometimes ya gotta buy an extra seat on the plane for the Wookie/Doublebass
6. You can never have enough laser light effects
5. Work your A** off all you like, but in the end, its a pile of hardware (R2D2/percussion) that can steal the scene
4. We're a big hit at birthday parties and nursing homes
3. Light sabers and bows are quite interchangeable in backstage swordfights
2. Getting up in front of thousands of people while channeling fictional characters is what we do best
and
1. When the tall scary guy in black raises his arms, we fall silent.
Below: violist Wei Jiang, Jedi in a tux
Below that: our tall scary guy in black, Maestro Michael Krajewski temporarily subdued by more Jedi Knights...or is he?
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7 comments:
Well Heck Miss Rita, after reading this post I’m sorry I didn’t go to the Star Wars and More concert last weekend. With the current economic state our country is in I have to pick and choose a lot more carefully as to what entertainment activities I participate. I will admit I chose a rather snobby approach to eliminating the HSO Star Wars concerts. I mean, that’s just “movie” music.
But; John Williams, as you alluded to, is more than just a film score composer. I trill to his orchestration as much as I do to that of Rimsky-Korsakov. I also find an equal to the brilliant “movie music” John Barry has given us with the early James Bond’s movies, “The Lion in winter” and the exquisite score for “Out of Africa”. (Sorry, I feel my age might be showing with the latter references.) Although, composition wise, Maestro Williams has produced a much more commercially viable product than that of John Barry. Point in fact; HSO didn’t play anything from “The Lion in Winter” last weekend, did they.
Anyway… the main thing I’m trying to say here is that your Top Ten Similarities between the South Texas Star Garrison and the Houston Symphony helped me realign myself with my inner nerd. You see, not only are light sabers and bow’s interchangeable in backstage swordfights; the trombone slide – my particular weapon of choice – is quite handy as well… especially in marching bands. That’s when I did my channeling of fictional characters best as I thrust my trombone slide with reckless abandoned at approaching woodwind players - except, in this particular instance, it wasn’t backstage but during intricate marching band maneuvers in my stint with the UofH Cougar Marching Band.
I guess the comparison between marching bands and a symphony orchestra might be a far stretch but I hope you know what I mean.
\\ // Live long and prosper Miss Rita,
Jim
Thanks for the mention! I WAS the big guy in black all 3 nights. As a bonafide Star Wars geek, there is no bigger moment than being Lord Vader stomping up and down that stage while "your" them music is being played to you by a world class orchestra. It will be forever one of my most cherished memories. Thank you from all of us at 501st Legion and the South Texas Squad of the Star Garrison!
In the service of the Empire,
Sam Morton
SL-1247
South Texas Squad Leader
Star Garrison
501st Legion
Awesome, Sam!! I hope you don't mind I called us ALL nerds! Great conducting BTW! I'm glad you guys had as much fun as we did.
My husband & I were bummed not to take our little one to the concert. He is a HUGE fan of Star Wars & Indy. He also happens to play the cello, part of his elem.school. (he also had his first concert that weekend) So when we looked into getting tickets, & saw that there was no matinee, we were sad. We hope to bring him in the future to the family shows. From the pics on your site it seems like it was a total blast for all who attended.
Sorry you missed it! Except for Christmas, we tend not to have Pops matinees, although it seems like it would be a better idea than Classical concert matinees for people with families! I hope you can attend our next Family concerts with the music of Walt Disney. That Mencken stuff is well done, but not nearly as fun to play as John Williams... less brass and percussion to carry one along I guess John Williams really knows how to write that epic stuff.
Oh, it was so much fun! I tried not to pass/geek out while there! My sister and I loved the "Advanced special effect" that was floating around during the Jaws theme! My Sister and I are big John Williams fans!!! We quite enjoyed it! Thank you, Houston Symphony Orchestra! Thank you, 501st Legion! Thank you, for bringing back such wonderful memories!!
As a pending member the 501st and long-time member of the Rebel Legion, I can tell you we had such a blast doing this event! You can see me as the Jedi weilding the purple lightsaber at the bottom of the picture with the violinist! We all can't wait to participate again! Thanks for all the fun we had backstage as well! I think Mr K should have weilded his "baton"-lightsaber more often, there's always next time! As our fearless leader, Sam put it, we were very honoured to take part in the event!
Much love to the Houston Symphony & Mr. Krewjeski...
*~Belle LaDean~*
Jedi
Kessel Base - Rebel Legion
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