A Game of Trust

Tami Lee Hughes

As I child, I loved playing outside with my friends.  The weather in Baton Rouge was warm and sunny most of the year and our backyard was perfect for playing hide-and-seek or simply running around in circles.  One weekend, my friends and I decided to play a trust game.

The object was to blindly fall backward and trust a friend to catch you.  As the oldest and biggest child in the group, I was designated to catch first.  I stood behind the little girl who lived next door and prepared to break her fall.  As she turned her back to me, she looked behind her to be sure I was ready.  She saw two strong and sturdy arms extended in anticipation.  Fully assured I would catch her, she fell gracefully into my arms.  We immediately switched places.  With my back turned to her, I looked behind me to check her position.  Instead of seeing two strong arms, however, I saw two puny arms unfolded from a small frame.  I thought to myself, ‘Are you kidding me?  She couldn’t catch a feather!  I’m going to hit the ground hard!’   I turned around and took a deep breath.  ‘I’ll count to three,’ I thought, ‘and then I’ll do it.’

Ok . . . here we go . . . 1. . . 2 . . . “Wait!” I shouted. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes!  I’m ready!”

Alright . . . I can do this . . . 1. . . 2 . . . 2 ½ . . . “Did you hear my mom call me?” I asked.  “I thought I heard something!”

“No!  Now hurry up and fall back!”

Deep breath . . . 1. . . 2 . . . 2 ½ . . . 2 ¾ . . . “Ah man!  I need to go to the bathroom and it’s an emergency!”  I took off running, leaving the trust game far behind.  I learned an important lesson that day: Trust is a matter of life and death.

Three months into my time with the BSO, I have settled into my performance schedule and have grown to admire so much about the group.  Maestra Alsop and the players display the highest level of technical and artistic mastery, professionalism, and passion, but from my perspective, these factors alone do not define the orchestra’s success.

The orchestra really thrives because of trust.  Maestra Alsop has full trust, confidence, and respect for the players.  She knows that every musician will play the right note at the right time and commit to the inspiration she provides. The players, in turn, trust Maestra Alsop.  They have faith in her judgment on musical matters great and small and hold her artistic vision in high esteem.  In addition, the players trust each other.  Each player depends on others in his or her section, and in other sections, for melodic support.  With trust as a cornerstone, the BSO’s success is not a reflection of individual expertise, but of genuine cooperation and teamwork. 

As an adult, I still cling to the idea that trust is a matter of life and death.  My closest friends are the most trustworthy people I know and I love cultivating new friendships with people I believe I can trust.  I’m truly grateful to spend a year performing with an orchestra that demonstrates this concept so beautifully through music.  Because of trust, playing with the BSO is not a mere exercise in musical proficiency, but a joy!

-Tami Lee Hughes, December 2012

Kids : Our Future

A couple of Saturdays ago I had an unusual break in my usual day-long teaching schedule at the Peabody Preparatory, where I teach violin and coach chamber music and the strings of the Peabody Youth Orchestra. My youngest son, who takes cello lessons and group cello class there, also had a break in his schedule, and, since he has been talking about his desire to repeat our summer trip on Baltimore's free downtown bus, the Circulator, I decided it was time for a fun ride. We walked a few blocks south on St. Paul, toward the Inner Harbor, turned east on Baltimore Street, then sat on a bench on Charles to wait for the Purple Bus to take us back to Mt. Vernon Square. He kept updating me on the bus stop display, alternately looking in the other direction to check on the street how accurate the sign is ("2 minutes away, 1 minute away, arriving"). It finally arrived (I had gotten a bit tired of the updates), and we boarded it. Even though he has been in many different modes of public transportation in his short life, including his favorite electric tramways in my native Belgrade, he still gets pretty excited when he gets the chance to use one. He looked around, wide-eyed, at his fellow passengers and the streets-cape that was passing us by, then, with great aplomb, pressed the "stop requested" button as we started climbing the small hill by Peabody. A half hour later he was all concentration, tongue slightly sticking out of a corner of his mouth, busily trying to match the speed of his teacher's bow in the group class, playing several pieces by memory, even advising his fellow students on proper technique.

Kids his age, some younger and some older, were also on the Meyerhoff stage on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon, playing their debut with the BSO in front of adoring Moms, Dads and siblings, as well as out regular audience. They come from areas of the city where even the free Circulator bus is not an option for a bit of fun because, simply, there may not be anyone available to take them downtown, as both parents might be working most of the day (and some at night). But that didn't stop them from attending the classes of the Bucket Brigade, a beginner percussion program, or later switching to cello, violin or flute, after their regular Elementary school classes, as part of BSO OrchKids program. For those of you that don't know, it's based on an extremely successful program in Venezuela, called El Sistema, which has by now created thousands of kids that play in hundreds of youth orchestras across that underdeveloped country. There are only a couple more such programs in the United States so far. And I say so far, in spite of the recent calls for cutting of public funding for arts in schools, non-profit organizations, and such. The fact is that arts bring millions of dollars to our cities' economies, and without them they could not survive. But, even if not a single of the OrchKids children ends up in the music field as part of their lives, or takes up an instrument to play it again, or even becomes one of our patrons, they will have developed life-long skills of team play, discipline, long-term work that pays off in small increments, patience, and too many more to mention here that they can't get any other way. Their brains will also develop in such way that will increase their success in other fields (and we don't need studies to prove that, OrchKids have the stats if you want to see them).


So let's stop and think where our efforts and money should go. More arenas and stadiums, so that we can subsidize multi-million dollar contracts that our sports teams demand, or concert halls and opera houses where orchestras are falling one by one with minimal support from our government.

Thank you all who have contributed to the BSO over the last almost 100 years of its existence, and let's help it reach its centennial with the musicians and staff on solid financial ground, so we can continue to entertain, and, yes, educate our children.

They are truly our future.

-Ivan Stefanovic

Mena Madness

Dear readers, after two successful weeks with our Music Director Marin Alsop (read Tim Smith's review here), we return to one of our very favorite guest conductors Juanjo Mena (pictured), who started rehearsals with us on Tuesday. I was too busy with practicing and with many other non-BSO related things (helping my oldest son get ready for his audition for Baltimore School for the Arts among them) to write last week, but I'd be curious to hear what everyone thought of the now-not-so unusual format of lots of verbal as well as musical communication from the podium. Marin is hands down better at it than most, and judging from the reception from the hall and Q&A period on Saturday (that was about as long as Shostakovich's Symphony itself), you like it. It'd be great to hear some comments from you, our readers and audience.

There are no plans for any words coming at you from the stage this week, and that may be a pity, since Juanjo has that quintessential soft latino accent that makes him sound even more charming than he is. However, he should have no trouble getting that charm across through the music. And Haydn's Symphony No. 85 exudes with typical humor and charm. On the program is Brahms' gorgeous Violin Concerto featuring 26-year-old Augustin Hadelich, who makes his BSO debut this week, as well as a local premiere of Puerto-Rican born Roberto Sinfonia's No. 4. We just started rehearsing it Tuesday morning, and it has many moments where one can imagine a great movie, yet to be made, that the score could accompany. Any producers among us?

-Ivan Stefanovic

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

Dear readers, after a much-deserved break for you and me both, we're back in the swing of things. Welcome back!

I spent my days off with family, and, as luck would have it this winter of difficult travel, had some family members visiting me for a change. It was nice to decorate the house, then just sit back, relax, and let them worry about how they'll get here! My kids had a good time with the visiting cousins, and everyone took a few days off to recharge their batteries. During the short breaks like that, I don't touch my instrument unless I need to (and I give the kids a break from theirs), knowing that, even if it takes a bit longer to get back in shape, there'll be more hunger and enthusiasm for it once we're back.

I did, however, play a couple of New Year's concerts in Meyerhoff and Strathmore with the Strauss Orchestra of America, which reproduces, on this side of the Big Pond, those wonderful concerts that have started the new year for decades for many Europeans. I grew up with that tradition as well, and for me the calendar doesn't truly turn until I see the broadcast. And this year I got to play it, which was even better! I remember being in Vienna with my wife Jennifer many years ago and convincing the guard at the famed Musikverein Hall to let us just peek in, as they were getting it ready for the concert with hundreds of flowers. He told us to run and that we had to be back in two minutes. Who knew that I'd be back there many years later with the official backstage pass issued to me as a musician in the BSO, which was there on a European Tour!

Speaking of the orchestra, I celebrated 20 years since I started my job in it on January 3, 1991. Even I can't believe it when people ask me, time flew by so quickly. I was 21 years old, just out of college (I know, I just dated myself (: ), and now I own a house and have 3 wonderful sons. Funny how things sometimes just work out!

Please check out the link for this week's concerts: Music from Star Wars plus Icarus at the Edge of Time, as our Music Director Marin Alsop returns with an exciting program, then do yourself and some friends a favor and buy some tickets.

Hope to see you there!

-Ivan Stefanovic