Category: Blog
Feb 6
Glass Ink Media Keeps on Rolling
This year, MIT’s Health & Wellness activity was a fascinating opportunity to work with a lot of great people on exciting and innovative technologies that are making headlines. Since we’ve been working tirelessly on preparing demo videos for the six groups, we welcomed a change of pace as we switched gears for a different kind of filmmaking—a video centered around the art of the piano.
This year, The Boston Conservatory’s Reaching for the Stars Gala is celebrating the art of the piano. We were delighted to contribute to their fundraising efforts by equipping them with a short video that takes audiences into Conservatory classrooms and performance halls to demonstrate how the piano unifies the three divisions of the school: music, dance, and theater.
Monday was day one of filming. Our first stop was an undergrad musical theater class in which students performed solo vocal works on the piano (…that’s right—they played piano and sang at the same time, and totally rocked). We only had time to hear a couple students, but it was clear right from the start that these young artists were glowing with talent. Their energy was infectious and pumped us up for our next stop: a private chamber music lesson featuring a cello and piano duo.
Again, we were floored. The cellist made his instrument sing and the pianist made the piano dance. We were not only impressed with the skill these students had, but also with the professionalism and sense of camaraderie; they respected each other’s opinions about how to approach certain sections in the music, and showed a refreshing willingness to experiment with different methods until they got the sound they wanted. We enjoyed the lesson (instructed by cellist Rhonda Rider) so much that we decided to keep the camera rolling, even though we’d already captured more than we needed; it was such a privilege to eavesdrop on this lesson!
Next we filmed another musical theater class, but this time with graduate students. Accompanied by professional pianist Bret Silverman, students performed solo works for their classmates, who shared tips and constructive feedback. By the time we got to this classroom, we were expecting greatness, and greatness we received. The girls who sang for the camera had lungs and knew how to use them! We found ourselves tapping our feet to beloved show tunes and pop songs, like Heart’s “Magic Man.”
Our final classroom was definitely a change of pace: it was a Sinfonietta (or mini symphony) rehearsal in The Boston Conservatory’s newly renovated building at 31 Hemenway Street. The Sinfonietta, led by conductor Eric Hewitt, was preparing for an upcoming concert, and it was fascinating for us to get an “inside look” at how the ensemble rehearsed. The difference between the first time the students performed a section and the final time they performed the section (after Eric’s direction) was incredible—they sounded like a completely different ensemble, all within the course of 15 minutes.
Alas, we concluded our first day of shooting with an interview with Dr. Karl Paulnack, who came prepared with a plastic turtle (yes… a turtle), and some pretty fascinating facts about the piano as an instrument (for example, did you know that the stretched steel strings in an average concert grand piano exert nearly 30 tons of pressure−and if any of those forces become unbalanced, the whole piano will implode upon itself?).
Glass Ink Media’s second and final day of filming at The Boston Conservatory is scheduled for next week. On the agenda are two dance classes, which we can’t wait to film! Stay tuned for how the day unfolds.
Reaching for the Stars Gala Video Posted | Glass Ink Media LLC
[…] sponsors of the Reaching for the Stars Gala 2013 at the State Room in Boston, Glass Ink Media produced an introductory video highlighting the central role of the piano across a variety of performing arts. It was a pleasure […]