A Tribute to Miles by Andrew
It started out simply enough. They walked out, sat down, and started to play. Right away though I noticed that they were playing Nights in Tunisia…on strings! It placed a smile right on my face, I couldn’t help myself. To hear such a unique, yet dead-on version played entirely on strings was simply incredible. Never had I thought for a second that it was possible to take an entire Jazz Band and cut it down to four string players! It was simply put, an incredible display of originality and talent.
Easily seen would be the originality that would no-doubt have to go into such a variety of songs. It was apparent that they spent hours, most likely daily, honing these songs in the distant past. They disclosed to us though that they hadn’t practiced these specific songs in quite some time and had to run through them that morning, prior to their arrival in Ames. It must have taken a great deal of effort and respect on each others parts to be able to work together and produce such an incredible and amazing work of strings that sounded as if the entire Jazz Band were present and not to have actually “practiced” these arrangements in some time. Although I must admit, at times the lack of a percussive trap set did cause a bit of the underlying rhythm and beat of the song to disappear. Likewise though, this unique style of having no actual percussion section brought out innovative ideas, such as tapping on the cello for a steady rhythm.
Once again though, it would seem that I must harp on the ideas of dedication and hard work, but this time it isn’t merely from the inference of how well they played; this time it can also be stated directly from the bountiful information that we received from the after-show interview. Just watching them play you could see that they were in-sync and well aware of each others playing methods. You could also see that the two on the left side and the two on the right side seemed to form a sort-of sub grouping. I thought about this as it seemed that they would trade off among their duo’s and seemed to have more eye contact to the other one on their side. I felt that this no doubt was related to the time and effort they placed into working on their songs together that made them function so well in their little groups. Beyond that I saw nothing more then incredible form and dynamic control, which so far all groups that On-Stage has gone to has had seemingly incredible dynamics (both musically and acting-wise).
The Turtle Island String Quartet had to be one of the more creative and dedicated groups I have seen during On-Stage. Not speaking of the fact that they are an award winning group, but that they played and carried themselves like a group of true professionals. Beyond all else though it was that creativity to play big bang music in a string quartet that brought out the most amazement for me. They had me smiling as I heard tunes I already knew and tapping along to the beats that I had commonly done prior to hearing them. The end result was an incredible performance and some great information on an incredible quartet.
Easily seen would be the originality that would no-doubt have to go into such a variety of songs. It was apparent that they spent hours, most likely daily, honing these songs in the distant past. They disclosed to us though that they hadn’t practiced these specific songs in quite some time and had to run through them that morning, prior to their arrival in Ames. It must have taken a great deal of effort and respect on each others parts to be able to work together and produce such an incredible and amazing work of strings that sounded as if the entire Jazz Band were present and not to have actually “practiced” these arrangements in some time. Although I must admit, at times the lack of a percussive trap set did cause a bit of the underlying rhythm and beat of the song to disappear. Likewise though, this unique style of having no actual percussion section brought out innovative ideas, such as tapping on the cello for a steady rhythm.
Once again though, it would seem that I must harp on the ideas of dedication and hard work, but this time it isn’t merely from the inference of how well they played; this time it can also be stated directly from the bountiful information that we received from the after-show interview. Just watching them play you could see that they were in-sync and well aware of each others playing methods. You could also see that the two on the left side and the two on the right side seemed to form a sort-of sub grouping. I thought about this as it seemed that they would trade off among their duo’s and seemed to have more eye contact to the other one on their side. I felt that this no doubt was related to the time and effort they placed into working on their songs together that made them function so well in their little groups. Beyond that I saw nothing more then incredible form and dynamic control, which so far all groups that On-Stage has gone to has had seemingly incredible dynamics (both musically and acting-wise).
The Turtle Island String Quartet had to be one of the more creative and dedicated groups I have seen during On-Stage. Not speaking of the fact that they are an award winning group, but that they played and carried themselves like a group of true professionals. Beyond all else though it was that creativity to play big bang music in a string quartet that brought out the most amazement for me. They had me smiling as I heard tunes I already knew and tapping along to the beats that I had commonly done prior to hearing them. The end result was an incredible performance and some great information on an incredible quartet.
posted by ISC On Stage @ 7:56 AM
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