Magical moments capture ‘Aha’

By Rebecca Petersen | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, February 16, 2008

Magical Moments In Music: These are the moments we call “aha” moments.

Oftentimes it’s that moment that takes your breath away, like the other night when I heard Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite on the radio.

When the piece ended the announcer waited a moment and then said, “If you haven’t caught your breath yet, take a moment to breathe. Wasn’t that just the most breathtaking piece you’ve ever heard?”

There are many pieces in musical literature that can do this, but sometimes you have to know what to listen for — or not.

But it might be something different for you. Our first Magical Moments in Music program will take place on March 1, at 2 p.m. at A Center for the Arts. We have invited some wonderful hosts to walk us through the performance. These are folks who are passionate about music, whether their listening to or performing music, it doesn’t seem to matter – they’re good at doing both. The afternoon program will include their comments as well as their musical involvement.

For starters, we’ll take a look at chamber music. What’s it like to listen to a small collection of musicians performing without a conductor?

How do they communicate with each other non-verbally to stay together and create “aha” moments for the audience — and themselves.

We’ll hear larger groups and smaller groups — everything from a Mendelssohn Octet to duets and trios from the baroque period to a tango played by a quartet and even a demonstration from the larger group about how they read through a piece of music together for the first time – without a conductor. No lives will be lost in the process, we promise.

Finally, you’ll get a taste of how much fun it can be when the entire family gets out their instruments to play music together – whether a family of two or a family of five.

Music is something you can enjoy listening to or playing either alone or with others — which might help explain some of the magic. The musicians aren’t necessarily magicians, but they’ll help create something magical on stage.

Performers include members of the Fargo Moorhead Symphony as well as musicians from our own community of Fergus Falls. It’s still a couple of weeks away, but mark your calendars for March 1 at 2 p.m. at A Center for the Arts and look for more clues and more information in next week’s column.

In the meantime we have a couple of other great opportunities for you to be involved in some other arts activities in the arena of dance and literature and film.

Film: This week we continue with the film, “Paris Je T’aime” this Saturday at 11 a.m., Sunday at 4, Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

The continued lineup of film includes “Nanking,” “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly,” “I’m Not There,” and lastly “The Savages.”

Dance: On Thursday, Friday and Saturday next week we will with have James Sewell Ballet in town doing classes and performances. Their public performance is Friday night at 8 p.m

Literature: Start reading The Joy Luck Club and join us in the kick off on Friday, February 29th – which is also our proclaimed “turn of your TV day.” We’re challenging everyone in the community to turn of their t.v.s and write an essay about what they did on Feb. 29, that didn’t involve television.

There will be a prize for the best essay in several age categories. For more information contact me, Rebecca Petersen at 218-736-5453 or e-mail me at rebeccap@prtel.com

Or, if you have ideas for activities for kids and adults that would not involve television please sent them along to add to the list.

Rebecca Petersen is the director of A Center for the Arts in downtown Fergus Falls.