The main pressure was that maybe of pride of wanting to after being selected to represent the United States in this particular concert series of wanting to actually do as well as we possibly could last Thanksgiving. Dr. William Jones and members of the Greater Twin Cities youth Symphonies knocked them dead in London. There are three nightstand was part of the London schools Promenade concerts. The concerts are a tradition featuring a wide variety of English school music groups and each year one Youth Orchestra from outside. The British Isles has invited a special guest the Twin Cities group was the firstAn organization ever to perform at the event William Jones has been music director and administrator of the Greater Twin Cities youth Symphonies for the seven years. It's been in existence. He believes the proms concerts invitation, which was unsolicited proves his Youth Orchestra is among the best in America word of the invitation reached Jones in September just before Symphony auditions the director chose not to mention that matter until tryouts were completed his rationale why make the students more nervous than they already are that kind of concern and compassion is a trademark of Jones and it continued throughout the three-month rehearsal period he says the group went to London fairly. Well rehearsed they had had eight practice sessions in Minneapolis that may not sound like much but Joan says when concentration is high the music comes together. I think we did have enough time. I really wouldn't have wanted more time. If it would have meant that we would have had less Spirit was her at the concert. So it's better that that there reallyPeaking right at that point. I think it pretty well worked for us. How much was it musical knowledge? How much was it spirit in the performances? Oh, I think when you work with young people an awful lot of it is Spirit. There are technical proficiencies are very high for they can not bring a lot of previous understanding about music into a rehearsal situation. But once they start working on it and start understanding it as we know any other kind of learning situation of there and where there's literature or are languages or arts or what their proficiencies can be very high and they didn't take these concerts lightly at all. They were very excited about them. So therefore the the spirit I think has an awful lot to do with with how well the they played how concentrated their attention spans were doing the performances and thingsexpectancy in anticipation as to what it's really going to be like This is it. You know that kind of feeling here. It is quite exciting when the lights first came out. It was really sort of scary and it was just really shocked at first and if you're not used to all those people and I was like sitting up in front and saw all those people standing there was even more shocking because they're pressed right up against her get really nervous aren't prepared for the big crowd that was going to be there in the screaming and yelling jumping up and down waving flags and it was really exciting and it was a competition sort of thing. But everyone the the Excellence was just so high the standard of playing there. He just wanted you know to do I best walking out into the hall for the first time with it being packed and There's the London Times said said there's 8,000 people for each one of the concerts. That's an awful lot of people and probably none of them had ever played in a concert setting for that many people before I don't know where they would have because I haven't either and that in itself with all the lights in the TV cameras and everything pointed on them. I'm sure they were quite a bit more nervous. I get could say the first night then they were the succeeding nights because then it was a matter of sort of falling into the routine and then the focus stays more not on the the massive size of the hall on the audience or the TV cameras or the what have you but just more centered in each time on the music itself my excitement grew as the whole experience continue to grow and as I continued to see in the eyes of the young people their excitement of what was taking place each day and their process I really enjoyed the concerts, but I enjoyed everything about them. During their three evening performances the youth Symphony played a diverse program of music but Jones responded to the prom concert request to put an emphasis on composers indigenous to America. So rather than then s going there and playing British composers are Russian composers or what have you our main focus was on that of American composers. And since we have some very very fine American composers that maybe the international market is not as familiar with that was my main focus than in choosing the repertoire and the repertoire was chosen for three different evenings to have a focus on some major composer Charles Ives the first evening William Grant still the second evening Howard handsome the third evening and within that some smaller works by other by the composer's Copeland was a natural selection, of course in that the composer is Works are already well known in Europe, but the less familiar compositions also one wide audience approval. For example, the Symphony Number Two by Howard Hanson former director of the Eastman School of Music certainly a major influence in music education in this country and quite a significant composer conductor. So we utilize his work which is just sort of isn't that he doesn't necessarily use the the resources of the country. He's using the European concept and and just from American way of writing. I suppose the Orchestra played only portions of the larger Works in this case the second movement of the Hanson Symphony. As for selections featuring strictly American themes Jones chose the I've Symphony Number Two with its Civil War settings and he also picked an excerpt from a personal favorite the Afro-American Symphony by William Grant still. He's born in Mississippi and he's a black composer his studies, even though he worked with people like fur is and the French composer still use some things that are indigenous to his background that if you were listening to it, you might say that sounds sort of like it could be a offshoot of jazz or something. The enthusiastic audience reactions throughout that performance happen to be an unexpected development for both the orchestra members and Jones the see all those the flags and the cheers and the Clapping along with the music. It was a little disheartening. Well, you could kind of compare it to a basketball game a big arena with all the people and they were just cheering on the ensembles from their own schools. They were supporting their schools. And then it was interesting to see how they received everyone else to our Orchestra was very well received. I don't think that they were really, you know, they were trying to perceive what we were playing. I mean if they were reacting in that way in a justifiable sense because it made them feel that way. Well, they wouldn't have clapped along. I don't think well, I'd expected an audience much similar to what we have over here. That actually sit there and listen to you play and when it's over if they really enjoyed something they applaud or maybe there's a Bravo or something occasionally, but I really hadn't thought about it. I suppose I just anticipated playing for a larger audience that we normally play for but when we found that they were really involved with you and not rude but just involved and it to me in the beginning it was such a shock when we were playing and suddenly you hear them clapping along and it's something that we in this country only do when it comes to to the more popular music if it's jazz or if it's something that it has been sort of a part of that particular form of music and then we think it's okay. We still think it's okay. If someone sings an aria tremendously, well and Opera that is fine to applaud and break the continuity of the Opera the process but we don't do that in our test roll concerts here. If you listen to Busey tapes, it would seem in a normal concert situation. That doesn't go on either. What is it that the changes the audience? Is it a different audience but I promised concert is pretty much a different audience. I think it's a younger audience is to college in the high school age kids that are mainly the ones that are in the Promenade areas those that have the more money by the seats of the the tickets and and I'm sure that particular part of the audience was just the same really is what we have here. That would would be in our Orchestra Hall or O'Shaughnessy concerts. But the young people did that come in bring their scarves and their scarves are all the colors of there. Area schools and you cannot buy a scarf that's a different color than the school that you go to supposedly it's not kosher to do that do so the and some of them brought School banners and things with them very similar to what we might do if we were at a athletic rally. And then their reaction is much the same way they're cheering. They're standing during this whole time in the Promenade area and this right in front of the orchestra the huh, just a sea of people that if they wished could really Reach Out And Touch the stage and sometimes they do but they were just really enjoying themselves having a very good time. Then if the the announcer asked them to please be quiet for for a certain piece or for anything. They were quiet. There was no no problem with their their discipline at all. It's just a spirit. That was just wonderful wonderful no doubt, but can an audience like that give Jones and his musicians a true critical reading about their performance. No, I don't think you can I think it's a If there's a some kind of chemistry, maybe that's working between the audience and The Ensemble on stage where they're enjoying it. They're not sitting there being super critical and analyzing every little thing that that's been played there more in the spirit of what is being played are more in the spirit of how it's being played and perhaps that's what we need a little bit more rather than ourselves rather than listening to something and listening to it from enjoyment standpoint. We listen to it from the analytical standpoint and sometimes we cease to enjoy we maybe come out of it being able to say that the third horn entrance its sit in such a spot was not what it should have been or that this was this but we've missed what the composer was trying to do for us and they I think we're listening little bit more to what the composer's intention was. And that's how much of what the some individual whether it was a small Ensemble from some part of the country or own up to the large orchestras were doing they were more participating with them ultimately though. The orchestra members themselves judge, they're playing I still think that we could have done better, you know, it's more possible individual preparation as and then the group preparation it a little hectic, you know. And I don't think some of us realized what was happening to her really there and then they realized oh, wow. This is it, you know, no Second Chances we had to perform, you know, and it wasn't it didn't matter that. You know, we had jet lag or anything else, you know, you couldn't relax, you know having excuses anymore. And so probably more mental preparation because generally satisfied with with our performance. as it grew immuno begin it got better in the last night was was it was the ultimate of the performances climax the others and so far as their musical directors appraisal overall. I think the Orchestra played consistently as well as I could have anticipated they're doing we had a lot of music to cover in those three concerts and in most situations arcas don't play different concerts three evenings in a row. They play the same concert three evenings in a roll and then you have a little better balancing by saying well, yes, Wednesday night was stronger than Tuesday because of but when you're playing different repertoire each evening, and there's a different psyche that has to go in stylistically and what have you from the performer standpoint each night. I thought it was very exciting. There are certain portions of each work that But I thought maybe was a little stronger than some other section. And if I were if this was a recording session there have been several spots in any piece that has certainly want to stop and go back and redo, but when you're really talking about starting at the very beginning and going all the way through for some very exciting moments in every piece. While the youth Symphony performed large-scale orchestral music much of the prom concert groups included small countywide English ensembles playing everything from medieval music to Jazz. So a strict comparison of the Twin Cities musicians to their British counterparts is difficult. If not impossible ours is really so much more proficient than what they could put together in their smaller schools or their setups and is really the case with almost any Orchestra what we have as far as the talent pool that we draw from and by the time the 98 young people that went over there were selected and putting the symphony they really play much on a much higher level than then High School people would normally be can be compared with so the only comparisons maybe or were made through the Collegiate groups that were playing at the Two prongs and the Collegiate groups then can draw from throughout the United Kingdom their youth orchestras are not as strong in all of our Orchestra throughout the United States. There are winds are very strong. We have a big band tradition in this country and whether it's through the things from marching bands or fourth of July parades or what have you when players are very strong here and in in England, they're not consistently as strong as me. They don't have very fine players. But we can find so many very good horn players are so many very good trumpet players are trombones and they were not consistent with in their ensembles. Now string wise their string tradition is probably stronger than what we have in this country. So it's sort of a toss-up by the time you sit back and really listen to it and you'll say oh, well, that's too bad that this didn't work with that didn't work. But again that's being critical from a different standpoint and their depth of wasn't as solid as our depth throughout all of our areas beyond the performance aspect of the concerts Jones found an opportunity for idea exchange with fellow music educators involved in very different systems. I think the the the main difference is that in our Educational Systems in discussing it we actually have band Orchestra and choral programs within our schools. That's part of the public school function is to provide. The opportunities in in the ark and in England that's not the case. There's is if it's instrumental is recorders and if it's vocals and vocals vocal but they re don't have bands in the schools and orchestras in the schools as a general rule if they do it comes basically from a private kind of school or private set up that way but they're they're music education is much more thorough than ours. Our music education basically is that of participation their education is that of Education of it's a studied concept we study meet their they study music history or they listen to recordings. They study composers. They know repertoire as well as Who wrote what win and hours only touches on that a very little our main focus in this country is is getting people to participate and I wouldn't say one is better than the other in the process. I like the idea of people participating but I also like the idea that people know what they're listening to and know something about their about the culture and about the art form. Yeah and orchestral tradition. That's right. That's right. And it's a difficult thing to you're comparing two different philosophies in a way and what you can do is share a great deal of your own ideas and gained a great deal from from what they're saying and you always sort of make adjustments within your own philosophy. I think through those and and I'd like to I'd like to see us doing a little bit more in-depth music education not a little more a lot more throughout our educational structures because I To the other phrases of saying music is basic or this is basic might be a little trite when you hear it over and over but I think it really is true that we cannot really think in terms of the Arts as being anything else but absolutely basic to humanity and the more we focus towards the really studied aspect of music as a part of a culture music in history, not music outside of something else the more we preserve that culture here in America Arts seem to be the first areas of budget cutting in the school systems. Did you find a similar concern in England or for even though the music education there may be history or educationally based. I mean is it in a kind of elective area? No, I don't think they have any concern there any more than the concern that the total? Adjective that particular school might be wiped out or what but they're the musicians themselves. The conductors are those that were even involved in the schools seem not have the same kind of concerns of being accessed or phased out but their music has never been considered entertainment. Until the great extent here, we've sort of fallen into a trap where the the band is used to provide entertainment at halftime or the pep band is there for entertainment for indoor athletic things or that it's entertainment when the chorus is singing for something or It's Entertainment oriented period and it's very easy to justify within the minds of tight budget that the things that you eliminate is the entertainment aspect. And because it is very difficult to justify supporting entertainment with all those Jewels by saying in England then if it's not entertainment, what is it? It's basic. It is part of the culture. It is part of the education process. It's not set aside as being separate from if you have a course in music. You have a course in languages. You have a course in math or what have you and we do that too. But our attitude really is not saying that is that really is core to our to our maturing as an educated adult because the systems differ Jones discovered the trends in music education in Britain and America are going in separate directions as well. They're not as oriented maybe to professional music as much as we are here. The the desire isn't as strong to just play professionally. It's there's a strong desire to also teach teaching his own a very high respected elevated level doesn't mean that they wish to play any less well, but a teacher is revered here. We sort of think a little bit more in terms of if you don't really make it as a as a professional player then you teach or it's are added not that that's accurate but it's kind of the attitude that we seem to have so young people don't think in terms of being a teacher first. I think in terms of being a teacher if they find that they're not making it as a potential performer looking at the British system with an American perspective Jones believes his youth Symphony structure is possible but not probable in a city like London. They probably would have had the same problems as they have in, New York. For that they have had in any large city in the United States. We've been excuse me, very successful in the Twin Cities to put together the Greater Twin Cities youth Symphonies. It can cover a hundred and fifty mile radius and the the cooperativeness that takes place both from professional musicians from private teachers from universities from public schools from private schools all-inclusive that's relatively unique. If not totally unique then it may be the reason why we now are the largest youth Symphony structure worldwide that's of a lot of interest to the people that were there and it wasn't just the people from United Kingdom. We had visitors they're from France from from Germany from various places that would come by to discuss. In fact, even though from South America a conductor was there it was quite interested in And what you know about the structure and what we did and how we did it in and the orchestra was very impressive to them. The most of them said that in most countries throughout Europe to get see Symphony would be on the standard of any of their leading professional orchestras. Now they're saying that from the standpoint of having heard those performances not in how they would play a brand-new pieces had never seen before or things but as far as and this is what I when referring to to their proficiencies at an earlier statement was young people have had a chance to apply their technique that they're developed. They can play on a very high level if they brought together all of the young people that were talented throughout London and had a central location that they could rehearse together each week. I'm sure they could come up with an ensemble that would be ensembles to say that would be equal to 2 what we can do in this country. I just don't think that that's what their thoughts are. They're not thinking in terms as yet of going really beyond their County wide basis. The youth Symphony performing Brahms academic Festival Overture to have received the proms concert invitation at this point in its development is an immense achievement for the Greater Twin Cities youth Symphonies this kind of an honor means artistic credibility and that credibility May mean increased financial support from communities in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest but William Jones is emphatic when he says the group's new visibility will not change the focus or goals of his organization and I concerned about competitions. In fact, I don't like them at all a competition means the someone always loses in the Arts. We don't need to be losing we need to all be sharing and gaining. It's not something to say that Beethoven lost a Mozart 523 there. It's a significant kind of exposure fine. If it's something that we have to to go into To travel for hundreds of miles or thousands of miles and hundreds or thousands of dollars just to have someone say the this rating you receive this and you receive that that isn't important. If in the process of rehearsals a young person understands what that composer intended through what is written on the page that's in front of them and they can achieve to the best of their abilities what that composer has wanted them to then make happen by that notation. That's the thing that's important. It isn't important that someone else sitting out there write something down on a scorecard or says five. Precise 3 so I think we sometimes put the Arts in a situation where we think that the only way to really know whether something is good or not good is that it has to be either on a comparison bases are competitive basis but isn't that the real world? I mean, let's say that a certain percentage of the students in the youth Symphony, maybe had it for professional musical careers be it an orchestra or a soloist position at teaching position whatever but they're going to have to face competition at some point Grant competition. No proficiency. Yes if you're prepared you there is no competition. There's no competition for someone. There's always competition for the mediocre. They're the ones that will always battled each other off or so to speak isn't that that sort of a quick cursory way of saying something but there is competition in life and that's because we make it that way. The real world is a if we want to use that phrase and we perpetuate that concept. We perpetuate the the desire to win at all costs to the point that we really lose total control of why we're doing something and it's a good example is what happened in one of our football bowl games. Now if we want to say the real world is dog-eat-dog survival of the fittest, then we can continue to do that in the art form until we make people just really grit their teeth and and go at each other without really any understanding why they're doing it or what the whole purpose is and you never get over that you put that same individual through that kind of routine and they graduate from their various universities or conservatories or what and they get that job and they go into that Orchestra and they sit there. Do you think it's all over then? Now that they have gotten their that they no longer have all of those those aggressive attitudes. You think they're then going to suddenly mold together into an ensemble that's going to really focus in on the music. I don't think so. I think what we're doing is creating that that very unhappy kind of syndrome within people that that the only way they can measure success is if they beat someone they can't measure success through their own achievement the can't measure success on a standard and that standard being an absolute. And that's what is best. Not that you lower your standard because you've already beaten the person that's next to you. So you don't have to achieve any further. But we continue to strive for those things. We continue to try to play every note better. Every time we play not just better than the other person. But and we if we can create that kind of feeling from within ourselves and from within our students, then we're going to create a very happy very proficient Arts Community athletic community business Community or what and what impact can his group have on the future of Music in the Upper Midwest. We don't know how many of our young people actually go into music as a career how many of them would then go into the Minnesota Orchestra are the Saint Paul chamber orchestra are Minnesota Opera Orchestra, or what have you or how many of them would actually be teaching in any of our various universities or public schools or what what kind of impact it would have that way any more than than What kind of impact would have from a consumer standpoint but we assume that it's going to have a major impact in all of those areas that every student that we have that comes through. This particular kind of program is being introduced to certain types of music or certain attitudes towards the music. They're making contacts with other young people that have similar kinds of experiences taking place and they will probably want to retain those throughout their lives. If they're in a field that makes it impossible for them to continue from a performer standpoint. I'm sure they will be able to do to continue from a consumer standpoint for there's going to live concerts or if it's simply being the supporters of public radio of being supporters of whatever is providing that particular art to still be reaching them. They will be the consumers and they'll be the supporters. Dr. William Jones music director and administrator of the Greater Twin Cities youth Symphonies concert recordings courtesy of the BBC technical director has been David Carlton fell and I'm Nancy Fusion.