Category: CVO_Board_Blogs

by Ariel Witbeck

began playing the cello  when I was 7 years old.  I was then going to elementary school in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra provided individual players to bring their instruments and demonstrate them for 2^nd Grade classes. They had an instrumental program going at the school, so this was offered to help students decide what instrument they wanted to play.   When the instrument demonstrations were given, parents were invited to the school.  The story I was told by my mother was that during that program I wandered around, not paying any attention until a woman began to play the cello.   I was riveted, so for my birthday, I was given a cello.   It was after I had graduated from college and began teaching at a Junior High School in Los Angeles, that I realized that even though I was told my first cello was a large viola fitted with an end pin, that I had begun to play the cello an octave higher than a cello, which is how a viola is tuned.

By the time I was 9 I was playing on a half size real cello and able to play in the Carl Moldrum “Baby Orchestra”    I graduated from that to the “Pioneer” Orchestra and soon into the Peter Meremblum Junior Symphony, which was the Youth Symphony serving the greater Los Angeles area. (Many members went into the LA Phil)  I have played in orchestras all my life, so hardly remember when I did NOT play in some kind of music ensemble or played solos.  I thought I would like to become a professional musician and actually joined the Los Angeles Musician’s Union Local 47 at age 19.    Prior to that, I went to Juillard School of Music in  New York.  I went back to Los Angeles to attend L.A. State College (Now Cal State LA) to get my teaching credential. 

During my High School years I realized that being a part of an orchestra or musical ensemble was a special privilege I had.   

Having a Community Orchestra you can support allows many others to not only experience that feeling while participating in it, but enjoying the feeling of being a part of re-creating some of the world’s greatest treasures.  Being part of an audience while listening to these treasures, is a special privliege, too.  During the pandemic. I realized how much I missed even hearing live music, let alone participating in its creation.                

Castro Valley is fortunate to have such an orchestra.  Local citizens can enjoy that privilege without having to travel too far.

… by Wesley Siegel
May 2022

My family came to Hayward from Southern California In 1970,  and my father purchased a local motel.  We all worked and it became a successful family business.

While working in the hotel,  I went to school, graduated from Hayward High School in 1982 and then went on to study violin with Nate Rubin at Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay).  Halfway through my music studies, I decided to switch majors and ended up getting a degree in Business Administration.  About the same time, my father sold the hotel and retired.  With all the demands of my new major, and the challenges of my new work world, I stopped playing my violin.

Flash forward 20 years:  As fate would have it, my mom saw a notice in the paper about tryouts for a new orchestra forming locally in Castro Valley.  She called me one evening with her usual passionate personality and said, “Wesley, they are meeting tonight, why don’t you go over there and try out?  What have you got to lose?” 

Despite the fact that I had not played for a very long time, I took her advice, found my old violin, went to the audition, and got hooked almost immediately.  In fact, I’ve been playing consistently with the Castro Valley Orchestra since its inception-20 years now.  It was one of the best decisions I ever made!!

I recently joined the board of directors of CVO, and am now applying my business expertise as Treasurer for the orchestra.  It has been, and continues to be a great experience.

Thanks Josh!  Your guidance has been invaluable to me.  Thanks also to my  fellow musicians for your inspiration.

And a big thanks to my mom for helping me get my dream back of performing classical music.

Here’s to another 20 years!

June 2021 BoardBlog-Genevieve Pastor-Cohen

Over 50 years ago a musical experience forged friendships that exist and continue to this day. I am happy to share this cherished recollection as follows.  This article highlights the impact of a dedicated music educator who influenced many of my colleagues lives through today. This music educator saw the potential of his students and molded us to reach high goals, instill confidence, trust and friendships. To this day, even though he has since passed, he remains highly respected and cherished . . . warts and all.

The music educator is Jack Pereira (1934-1997) who taught in the San Francisco Unified School District at Denman Junior High and Lowell High Schools through the ’60s. As students, we called him “Pots”. He was active in the San Francisco Bay Area in professional orchestras as a percussionist and conductor. There’s more to tell about him; however, I wanted to focus on the influence Pots had on his students.

As a high schooler in the late ’60s, I attended Lowell High School. Before deciding upon Lowell, “Pots” visited all the junior high school’s bands and orchestras to get to know which kids were going to Lowell. I remember “Pots” visiting my junior high (Horace Mann in the Mission District). I still can see in my mind’s eye the exchange conversation between him and my junior high school music teacher, Mr. Jerome Anker.

Upon arriving at Lowell High School, I gravitated to the music department and found many kids like myself adjusting to the awkwardness of our growing years. I signed up for the zero period Band which meant I had to catch the bus in the Mission District by 7 AM to arrive at Lowell in the Ingleside District to attend 8 am band class. I am hoping my memory is recollecting correctly regarding the times.

“Pots” auditioned all of us. The flute section had about 12 kids (piccolo, 1st and 2nd flutes). Being the new kid, I started in the middle of the pack. During the auditions, “Pots” would get to know who we were, our likes and our challenges. He was eager to help us kids build our confidence about our musical abilities and encouraged us to practice. When we finally convened as a “band”, the music Pots chose really pushed our abilities and challenged us to work harder to achieve the best performance we could.

Eventually, I was encouraged to sign up for orchestra, too, even though only two of us flute players and one piccolo would be able to play at a time. In orchestra, Pots selected Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and in a subsequent year, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. The Scheherazade needed more percussionist, so Pots taught us extra flute players how to play various percussion instruments. I never mastered the snare drum or tympani. I did enjoy playing the cymbal crashes in the Scheherazade.

For the Firebird Suite, I had the opportunity of sitting second flute to a remarkable flutist, Dave Subke (1952-2014), whose father, Walter Subke, was the flutist in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Listening and watching Dave’s flute playing taught me a lot about the technique and style.

Pots encouraged me to join the All-City Orchestra as principal flute. Along with that, he was instrumental in obtaining a grant for me to start private flute lessons with Patricia Fawcett, San Francisco Opera Orchestra flutist. With Pots’ encouragement, many of my peers at the time moved on with commitment and vigor to professional careers in music, medicine, science, law, and more.

When many of us who have remained in touch gather, we share our gratitude for having such a dedicated educator fully engaged in shaping our musical and professional lives. A huge thank you to all educators who commit their lives to shaping young lives for the positives and challenges the world presents us.

by Agnes Lingat
April 2021

I often wondered what it feels like being a part of an orchestra. How do they do it? How do they play in perfect unison as a group? How do players know when to come in and play their parts? How do the musicians know when to follow the conductor? These are some questions I used to asked and wondered when I watch an orchestra play.

It has been thirteen years since I joined the Castro Valley Orchestra as part of the violin section. In that span of time I now know the answers to all these questions. You know how sometimes you feel certain emotions when you listen to a piece of music? Imagine the feeling when you actually play a great musical piece with a group of musicians and reproduce the same sound great composers weaved into music notes. It’s very fulfilling. It takes hours and hours of rehearsals to learn and master the pieces. You need to practice (and I mean a lot of practice) and know your part well. You need to know how to connect and blend with the other musicians. It’s not like a solo performance where you only concentrate on your own playing. You need to pay close attention to all the details and the technicalities of the musical piece, the notes, tempo, dynamics, measures, time signatures, intonation, and of course glancing at the conductor every now and then. There are times when you may skip a note or two playing the piece and you pray it won’t be too noticeable. This is where the other instruments playing come in handy. Luckily, they are loud enough to cover the mistake.

Being in an orchestra gives you sense of accomplishment on your musical talent and ability. You’ve invested time and money to learn a musical instrument that gives you joy when playing it. For years and years you may have played solo or with just a small group of people. In an orchestra you’ll learn how to play with a wider group of people. it gives you a different perspective on how good music should really sound with the combination of different instruments. It’s a collaboration to produce beautiful music together.

The highlight of the orchestra is the actual concert. This is the moment of truth. This is not like the rehearsals. This is the time when you really have to play your best and try not to make mistakes. You feel mixed emotions. The audience eyes and ears will be on the stage. You feel the pressure and anticipate their reactions. Will they like it or will they be disappointed? The conductor raises his baton and the orchestra starts playing. Everything else is blocked except your focus on your playing and the orchestra. You can only hope when the music is done you’ll hear the loud applause from the audience and when it happens it’s the most satisfying feeling. All the hard work and long rehearsals pay off.

by Doris Marx

As I stood in Prague’s City Cemetery gazing on the tomb of composer, Antonin Dvorak, I felt I had made a pilgrimage to honor my favorite composer. Viewing his likeness on the tomb, I was in awe of the musician who brought me such joy and comfort hearing his music. Now we are in the middle of an isolating, depressing period of indeterminate length and have to shelter at home. What better way to pass the time, temporarily forget what is going on outside, and enfold myself in soaring melodies?

Along with Smetana, Dvorak developed a Czech musical vocabulary. He was widely sought after as conductor and was a disciplined maestro conveying to his musicians exactly what he wanted.  He was deeply patriotic and intensely influenced by the music of his country. Many of his works are about places and fairy tales. The contemporary hit, “The Little Mermaid,” has similarities to his operatic fairy tale, “Russalka, ” a tale of the doomed love between a sea creature and a human. There are too many compositions for me to describe and it would take a lifetime to examine all the symphonies, concertos, songs, chamberworks, choral pieces and religious works he completed. I especially appreciate his violin concerto and the haunting cello concerto, especially its soaring conclusion of hope and expectation. A lesser known piano concerto is not as often performed.

Dvorak wrote nine symphonies, the last one, “From the New World,” is famous throughout the world as a musical impression of what he saw during his three years traveling around America. One hears spirituals, and Native American rhythms as well as the noisy din of busy cities and the wistful loneliness of the great American prairie. Having gotten a taste of his style, it is time to explore his other symphonies, each one unique and full of beautiful melodies and chances for all the instruments to shine in solo and combination passages. Other great symphonic works are his tributes to his homeland like the “Slavonic Dances,” full of lively folk melodies, the Carnival Overture” and the tone poem, “In Nature’s Realm.”

How different our musical world would have been if due to poverty, Dvorak had been forced to take over his father’s butchering business instead gaining an education to hone his musical gifts, find powerful mentors and friends like Brahms who nurtured his talent and introduced him to his publisher, and be able to travel in Europe, England and America to gain new insights and impressions to color his music.

His music is life-affirming and  soothing in uncertain times like these. Even though you have been dead for 117 years, this is my Valentine’s Day note of appreciation, dear sir.