 back to think tech, think tech community matters because community matters is why. And also music matters. Today we're gonna talk about chambered music Hawaii. And we have Barrett Hoover. He's on the bottom of the screen and we have Jim Moffat, he's on the top of the screen. And Barrett is the executive director of chambered music Hawaii. And Jim is a director actually and a long time member. And he's a member of the orchestra, God bless him. And every time I walk into the opera, I see him there and I wave at him and he waves at me and it improves my experience incredibly. Glad to hear it. We're glad to see you there. I watch you during the production. And who've request no refunds yet. We hope that we have that experience again soon, Jay. I miss that greatly. Can you guys take a moment and say hello to our viewers? Hi viewers. It's safe to be here, Jay. Thanks for having us on. And these difficult and strange times for performing arts ensembles where we're all trying to figure out what's next and how to do things differently. It's completely changed. So we appreciate being able to talk about it. Yeah. Well, necessity is the mother of invention. You've already invented some new things. And one of them is the word for the date and I don't think anybody out there knows this word. This word is fermata. Firmata. So what do you guys do? What is fermata? What is that? Yeah, we're taking a fermata. It's a pause. It's a musical pause in the music. It can be an elongated note or elongated rest. And that's one of our board members coined that term. We're taking fermata here. So that's a nice way to put it. So, Barrett, how'd you get to be doing what you're doing? How'd you get into this? Were you born as a prodigy? Like Jim? No, no. Oh, gosh. No, it was over. I was at Hawaii Opera Theater for about 12, yeah, about 12 years. And I've recently transitioned to a full-time job at Leeward Community College running the theater out there. And I heard that CNH was looking for a general manager, which is a part-time position. So I was told. And I thought that might be a fun thing to add to my play. So it's something that I've been doing for a lot for this entire season. This season has been abbreviated, however. Yeah, I'm not after a good start. Did you know something? No, part-time, non-time. And Jim, you weren't born a prodigy, right? Oh, no doubt about it. Can't you tell? Yeah. Never had to work at it a day in my life. You've been doing music work for a long, long time. Yes, that's true. I first became a professional musician back around the time of the US Civil War. And I'm still going on. Yes, still going on. Well, that's true. But that's another story discussion. But yeah, about 47 years now since I became a member of the American Federation of Musicians and worked professionally. So yeah, a long time. Yeah, my reaction to that is music must keep you young. Definitely can't you tell that, too? But yeah, I joined Chamber Music Boys, Spring Wind Quintet in 1986, having joined the then-born Lulu Symphony in 1981. Well, music has a different role in the time of the COVID. I tell you, I mean, I've kind of rediscovered it as a personal experience. I take my Android for a walk. I put some headset on, and I just flipped through all the things I ever wanted to listen to. The people in the neighborhood think I've lost it because I'm humming and singing and whatnot right on through. But I find it very tonic to have the music so personal this way. I know the kids do this all the time, but their choice in music is a lot different than my choice in music. On the other hand, whatever you like really helps you. And I think that's a discovery for me. And I don't think I'm alone about that. I think a lot of people are rediscovering the personal relationship you can have with the music you like. You're listening to more music, recorded music than you did before? Yeah. Amazon music, the like. And anything you want. And it often tells you what you want. The power of artificial intelligence. Sounds like it's a conductor. Yeah, it's good. It's everything. If you look back, I think what's put part of that for me, anyway, is that when you're alone, I'm not alone to have my family, but when you're pulled up and you're in a lockdown situation, you tend to integrate your life. You tend to think of things that you haven't thought of for a long time. You know, your life is introspective, it's retrospective, more than it is in the average work day when you've got other things on your mind. And so one of those things for me is music. For example, I went to school with Simon and Garfunkel. They were my buddies in class, you know. One day they asked me if I wanted to join this singing group. Then I said, no, no, no, no. I've got to go to law school. Don't get in my way. Talking to somebody who... And the rest is history. I might have been a contender on this. You still are, Jay, in our opinion. But I think music has assumed an even more important role, not only with its ability to make an intimate experience for each person during this time, but the importance of the necessity of having it there is just elevated with all this, which I think is terrific. Necessity, that's an important word. I mean, we've had a number of strengths on the program and we've asked them what it's like for people to behold up. And, you know, there's a lot of stress there and it creates tension in the family. It creates personal tension. And I worry about that over a long period of time, but you can ameliorate that kind of tension with music. That's why you guys are so important and it's important that you continue to produce even at a time when you have, you know, the problem of social distancing. Right. And I hope people are realizing how much of a dark spot in their lives there is when there's no live music and that they'll come back to it after this is all over and really come support it full force more so than they did before they did. Hopefully with a deeper perspective of the necessity and the importance it brings to your entire being. So, and the community you have sharing it with audience members, other musicians, all that kind of stuff. Well, let's talk about live music as opposed to recorded music. That's the only kind there it is. Of course. But tell me what, you know, what is the difference? I know this is a long discussion, but what is the difference between one and the other? To the musicians, to the audience, to the community, what is the difference? Well, recorded music is the recording of a live event of some sort, whatever it was, whether it was in the studio or live concert or something. A live concert is a one-time experience. Even if it's recorded and played back that way, the intimacy, no matter how big the year performance space is, of you reacting in the moment to what you are hearing and experiencing, which includes everything, not only the music you hear, but how the performers are doing it or your audience members are experiencing it with you. That's a once-in-a-lifetime thing that is gone when it's over, whether it's recorded or not. And so that's just obviously something very special. So... Yeah, I would just add to that the audience, you know, being in a room full of people experiencing the same thing at the same time that can't be replicated any other way. And it's true in any genre, theater, classical music, jazz, you know, people, audiences experiencing things together is what makes going out and experiencing live performance special. Definitely, without a doubt, no matter what your genre like. And also a new recording is not a true representation of what, it's a different medium and it's a powerful medium, but commercial recordings are highly edited, so you're not, you know, perfection is more a key to that than live performance. Everyone strives for perfection, but there's a lot of editing involved in recorded music. Definitely, definitely. I had one years ago, an engineer talking about a recording he was doing with a world famous artistic ensemble. And he said they were mainly going measure by measure and recording things that way and then splicing it all together. Of course, in my case, it should be note by note, but still it's like, it's like, it's not, as Barrett said, it's not what really is or what really lends itself to the emotional depth of the experience, so. Well, I'm reminded of a thing that I learned at Hawaii Public Radio is when you, now this is radio, no, it's not visual, but it's radio. When you're listening to a live broadcast on radio, you have to listen for the breathing because the breathing is another method of communication and it has an emotive aspect to it. Definitely. And that's live radio. And then when you get, when you get to, you know, somebody speaking now, speaking live, that's a whole other dimension. And I suggest it's the same thing with music. I'll tell another brief story about my brilliant recording path, but we, I was helping a producer editor recording a mine many years ago, and we realized that when we cut in the phrase that we were gonna use on the recording, there was no breathing for the preparation when we play because we're all wind players. So we had to find a spot where you could hear us breathing and put that in there. So it sounded boom in a way we want. Yeah, so you're right. And that's, that was a funny thing. And actually that recording was in the finals for a Grammy Award. So I guess the breathing just really made it happen. So there you go. So you're right, Jane, that's very true. The human element, it's just another example of the human element, what has to happen. What about the mistakes? What about the mistakes? You know, it's very exciting to hear something where people are capable, it's like live theater, they capable of making a mistake. Well, live opera for that matter. Is that something, is it good? Do I want something where there's a possibility of a mistake? Well, just come in here, any concert I play and you'll have ample opportunity to that. But I think, I think I once worked with a sports psychologist on this and he said that part of the thrill of live performance as a listener or a performer is that it's like a race car driver, you're on the edge and anything can happen. So I applaud performers who take things to the limit if they don't make it, most of them do because there are so many brilliant performers. But I think that all adds to the excitement and the audience senses all that kind of stuff. Even if you might think they don't or something they do and you can tell by their reaction. So. I don't remember there was an opera with a small dog in it one time. Well, that was, yeah, that was the 2000 production of Barbara Seville. Yeah, am I right to remember that everybody was sitting in the audience, a couple of thousand people all wondering whether the dog would poop on the stage? Yeah, I mean that, and that, I assume it's the same event that I remember. The dog came on stage at the wrong time. It just got away from the backstage people and it came out. It was the first bulldog, right? Yes, yes. And were you working for that? No, but there was a portrait of that bulldog hanging in the bathroom at the office. It was great. It was great because the actors, they went, they immediately improvised. It was fantastic. And then the person, I don't know if the person was supposed to be in charge but someone, a character in the opera came on stage pretending that the dog had gotten away from him and called after it and it looked at him unbelievably and followed him back off. And then the actress went back on. That was so fantastic. In fact, the conductor at that time, Mark Flint, he tapped his baton on the stand and went bravo, bravo. It was so great, it was fantastic. Fabulous. But I also remember that dog because when the cast would come out to bow, they would all go forward and then they would lower the lights and allow them to back up and come back out from another bow. And the dog couldn't figure it out. So when the lights would come back up, it was always the backside of the dog facing the audience. And he had figured it out and turned around just in time to have another blackout for the audience. So yeah, that's the story. The roar of the grease, the roar of the grease paint and the smell of the dog. Exactly. That was fantastic. Now, what about Chamber of Music Hawaii? I mean, it's just kind of a... I've heard of it. It's kind of a mini, it's a small set. And it does small concerts and it has a smaller number of musicians than the full orchestra and all that. But it's very important. Tell me where it fits, Barrett, in the environment, the music environment of the state of the performing arts, performing musical arts. It fits right in with the performing arts because it's such an important part of classical music that not everyone is aware of and familiar with. People listen to the big symphonies and the operas, but Chamber of Music is one of those things that it's like symphonic music on a more intimate scale. And there's so much great chamber music that I think it's just as equally as important as all the other genres of classical music. What is Chamber of Music? Jim, you wanna feel that one? Music for a small room or a chamber. That's where the name originally came from. Whether it was in aristocratic circles or amateurs getting together on their own, it's how it became known. I still look at some music, some old printing that says music for amateurs or professionals. So many people I think still do, maybe it's more of a lost art, but a lot of people get together and play chamber music on their own even when they have vastly different careers from professional musicians. And as far as the importance of it goes, I think, I mean, everybody's got their own opinion and that's good, but there are scholars that might tell you, for example, that Beethoven's greatest works are his late string quartets, something like that. You know, he wrote this amazing symphonies among many other things, piano and church. So it's a very important... I'm thinking of Mozart, Mozart in the same vein, chamber music person. He was a tremendous chamber musician as well as composer of chamber music, no doubt about it. You know, I've always wondered, maybe you can help me now. I learned so much on these programs talking to guys like you. So if I'm looking at a chamber music concert, I'm thinking, gee, what's the relationship of a chamber music musician and a musician in the orchestra? Is it that the really good guys in the chamber music get to be in the orchestra? Or contrary, that the good guys in the orchestra get to be the musicians in the chamber music? Which way does that go? I think it goes any way you want it to go. It's on a wide variety of things. One of the great cellists who do a lot of chamber music, great soloist, Carter Bray. He's now principal cellist in the New York Philharmonics. So it can go that way, it can go other ways. I mean, the chamber music Hawaii was started by musicians in the then, Honolulu Symphony, who were not the principals in the orchestra. They were seconds or assistants so they didn't play as much on the major works all the time. So they wanted to play more and they founded these different groups. They founded a woodwind quintet and another set of musicians founded a brass quintet and then finally a string quartet and they realized they should work together to achieve more success and more stability and that's how it got started. So that's how the chamber music Hawaii ensembles were founded. I think it's up to whatever people want to do to make great music. So you suggest that there's a quartet, this quartet, that quartet. There's various ensembles, that's the way it is. Did they mix and match on this? How do they divide themselves? On chamber music Hawaii, the spring wind quintet founded itself first back in 1974. Then the Honolulu brass followed and then ultimately the Galiard string quartet and they were applying for grants that they realized they could all benefit from and they realized further that having one of a type of an umbrella organization supporting all three of those ensembles would help greatly and so that's how they formed chamber music Hawaii and those three ensembles still drive the organization today. So those groups perform as those groups. You saw the Galiard on the video that we all love and we do such a wide variety of things. Sadly, one of the concerts that we were supposed to do in May this month was the original 1920 score to the mark of Zoro with the original film in the background and that's for 11 players. So we have members of the brass, woodwinds and string quartet working on something like that to play and if we need extra people, we have them. We have great, highly qualified colleagues in the orchestra that we draw from and it's just really terrific. So Barrett, before COVID, what kind of schedule did chamber music Hawaii have? What were you doing? How are you getting out there? What kinds of concerts or recitals were you doing? We do concerts every month. Every month is a different ensemble and we'll do two or three performances of each concert. So we have our series at the Doris Duke at the Museum of Art and a series at the Polycoo at Wynworth Community College and then I forget how many times, six times, three times a season we go out to UH West Oahu. So pretty active for all of our groups. All of our groups get lots of playing time each ensemble gets about two concerts a season and then as Jim mentioned, if we have programs that are larger that require different groups, different mixes of groups then we'll do programs of those as well. And those are called our Trace-Somble concerts. Trace-Somble, I love that. That was invented by one of the founders of Chamber Music Hawaii, Bill Lightfoot to just mean that members of all three groups were playing together, not separately. And in addition to what Barrett mentioned, we have a very active education outreach program throughout every island that we can go to in the state every year. Oh, Trace-Somble will be on the final exam. And so will Fermata, by the way. Thank you. I've plowed through many Fermata's in my career. Sorry to hear that. Now we're hoping to do that. So what about Neighbor Islands? Have you traveled? Do you go out there? Yeah, that's what I was saying. Our education program reaches all the Neighbor Islands that we can reach. So that's a very active thing, something that musicians like to do. And we are also, often, presented by Neighbor Island presenters. One of our great partners is the Hawaii Concert Society in Hilo. They present a number of concerts. We're working with them right now and something for this coming season. And we've taken a wide variety of groups to the various islands, depending on need and depending on desire. And it's really great because we have the flexibility to work with presenters on what they need and whether also educationally we do that, too. For example, there is a string program on Molokai. And they really benefit from having Galliard go over and work with them. So it's really a helpful thing. And we've done so many other things, too. Sorry. So here we are in the time of COVID. So I've heard. So yeah, we're all examining everything to see how our world is being transformed, like it or not. But you guys, you know, you had to cancel concerts in March, April, probably May. Who knows June or July or after? But you did do this thing with, I guess it was the Kolao program, right, the Kolao string quartet. And we want to play that. Galliard, Galliard, Galliard. Galliard. Can you give us the background of how that got started? And obviously that was something that's very creative, very innovative. And using Zoom or whatever you use, you were able to create some real, really fine music with the musicians all being in a different room. That's remarkable. And what it tells me is that maybe there's a future for that sort of thing, like it or not. It's not exactly the same as a live performance or in different places, they're coming out electronically. But it works well. How did you come up with that and how did you execute it? Well, the trick that all arts organizations right now are trying to figure out is how to keep engaging with their audience without performances. And so we've seen a lot of groups putting out different content and there's a lot of content out there that people are putting out, some good, some not so good. And we wanted to send something out to offer to our patrons and our fans. And so we put out a call to all of our musicians, to all of our ensembles to create something on their own so they didn't have to come together. And the Goliath String Court, that was the first to respond to that. They all sent me their individual videos of them playing the same piece. And somehow they nailed it. They really nailed the assignment. And I edited this video together about them all playing separately and it all came out beautifully, I thought. So we put that on our website and our social media pages. Yeah. Can we take a look at it? Let's take a minute and look at it. We have a little time for that. Let's play it now and you can see what these guys did. Touches my heart. It's great. There's a whole album of those songs that the Galiar recorded almost 30 years ago now, in fact, over 30 years ago. But Barrett put that all together. Thanks, Barrett. Terrific job. So Barrett, were they all playing at the same time or did you play them individually and then put the clips together? They played individually. I believe they, I'm not sure who recorded first and then they played to one of those other musicians. But yeah, they played and when I first envisioned it, I thought they would all play to a metronome and kind of keep the same time and then hopefully it would work out in the end. That doesn't always work out in the end as we discovered trying to do that with the spring win quintet. They picked a march, which was a little bit jauntier and quicker and had more 16th notes and things. And so it was a little bit challenging. It didn't quite work out. But we'll be back. We'll be there. Stay tuned. We'll have some more content now, but it's not always the easiest thing to do well. No, but I think after a while, you'll really get good at it. You'll be able to do it off the back of your hand and the musicians will love it and so will the audience. And it's one of those things that we learn in the process of responding to the COVID like it or not. So I'm looking forward. Yeah, hopefully we'll get back to live performance before it's too long. That would be too many of these. Yeah, what's your target now getting back? Do you have any sense of it? We're planning next season, so we're still moving forward with a September opening. Hoping for the best. I truly hope so. And when you have that reopening, you'll have a coiled spring of enthusiasm. They will come for miles around and that'll be justice touching. That will be, I agree. In fact, I already have that coiled spring. I'm ready to go. Funny thing, Jim, is you've always had that, yeah. Yes, you're right. So, Barry, can you leave? Yes, we have. Barry, can you leave some final words, parting words about chamber music Hawaii and about music and about music in our community with our listeners? Things you'd like them to remember. Yeah, well, I think the reason I wanted to get involved with Chamber Music Hawaii is because I really think it's a gift for our community. It increases the exposure of our local musicians to the community and gives them more opportunities to play and get out there and show what they're great at. And it's unlike anything else that we have here. And it's so important to support and it's so important to keep the music going. And we hope that everyone checks us out if they haven't. If they're not familiar with Chamber Music Hawaii, go to our website, chambermusichoi.org. We're hoping to have some new content on there soon and we'll announce our next season when we can. And of course, you can sign up for our mailing list and donate if you like on the website as well. Sure, and the name of the website? Chamber Music Hawaii. Chamber Music Hawaii. That's right. Well, I hope you'll tell us when your schedule solidifies and we'll maybe have another discussion about this. And I really, I'm not kidding when I say I think there's a coil spring just like Jim. You know, everybody will come down. Jim, your final words to our audience. You know, you're so full of enthusiasm and music and grace, tell them what you want to remember. I want to remember that live music was an incredible experience and I agree with you that people will really want it even more because where it's fit in this situation and they're gonna realize, and they already do, everyone knows what we are hoping to bring back to them live soon. Yeah, well, you know, although we did this, you know, on Zoom and, you know, such as it was, we did the Galeard, can you imagine how much better it would be if it was in our studio? And I'm gonna bring you an open offer to you guys that if you ever want to come down to our studio, I mean, when the coast is clear and perform live, we will carry it anytime, anywhere. That would be great. We'd come down now, but we can't play with masks. So we'll wait until everything is open. Maybe the string quartet can play. String quartet, good, that's true. Think about that. Well, thank you, Barrett. Thank you, Jim. Great to talk to you. Jay, we're always great to see you. Always great to see you. The same here. On them shows. See you soon. Aloha.