This morning at quarter 'til 11, Verne had the nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something. As he pondered over what it could be, a line of excited 8-to-15-year-olds filtered into the lobby. It suddenly hit Verne that today was the live broadcast for the Holy Names Music Center piano camp and he shot into action.
"Us trapeze artists were about to splatter on the pavement," he said of the accidental lapse of memory and the unprepared live-recording studio. Together he, Jerry, Brian, and Patrick cleared out the room and set up sound equipment with record speed just in time for the 11 am broadcast.
It was at this point that I entered the office, only to be asked by a station volunteer, "Are you one of the pianists? They already went to the back room."
"Pianists?" I replied confusedly and sure enough, the strains of a lovely classical piece reached my ears. Shelley handed me a camera and I tracked down the tinkling notes to discover this scene:
35 kids of varying ages and attention-levels coated the carpet of the little room. A small strawberry-blond head bent over the piano.
Verne perched upon a stool, narrating between each of the 14 child-performers' turns on the piano and the camp instructor shuffled her students into place. Parents and friends spilled out into the hallway, listening to each piece and snapping rapid-fire photos of their children. Some kids waited patiently for their turn.
Others waited less patiently.
But when they sat down at the piano, the music was beautiful.
And everybody remembered to applaud.
The applause actually proved to be a bit of a problem. In an adjacent room, John was trying to record a news story in between the clapping and sounds of the piano. Because the building is not sound-tight, a few bars of a piano solo leaked onto the end of his recording.
"I had to redo it a couple times to make sure there wasn't any extra sound on it," he reported.
Overall, though, the broadcast of the young pianists' performances was a complete success.
"It was a wonderful rush of energy," Verne said with a grin.
1 comment:
The annual visit from the kids at Holy Names Music Center piano camp is one of our many defining definitions of performance from the "arts side" of Spokane Public Radio. It is a wonderful broadcasting moment for us on the staff and for our many volunteers. We hope it is a rewarding and joyful experience for you as listener and, of course, for all our performers. Thank you so much to everyone who makes it possible.
A special note to these young musicians: Whether you are doing this just for fun and personal enrichment, or are thinking about this pursuit as the beginning of your dream to become a professional music-maker, thank you for starting down this wonderful path and allowing us at Spokane Public Radio to accompany you for this moment at this point in your great adventure. You are the present and the future of the arts, and you represent us well. Remember to have fun along the way. We hope you'll be back.
Best of Luck
Dick Kunkel, President and General Manager
Spokane Public Radio
KPBX, KPBZ, KIBX, and KSFC
rkunkel@kpbx.org
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