SF music trip worthwhile despite crowds

Senior violinist Vivian Tsai had been looking forward to this trip all week. On Oct. 5th, band and orchestra students had the opportunity to watch the San Francisco Symphony rehearse at Davies Symphony Hall. The 50 students who went were amazed at the technique displayed, but they had expected a little more interaction with the professional musicians.

“We came late because of the traffic, so we missed the lecture that the conductor gave before the rehearsal,” Tsai said, “but we still saw soloist Joshua Bell play.”

Bell is idolized by many aspiring musicians for his skills and his instrument, a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin, worth $4 million.

“We sat really far away from him, but we could still hear him play. It was very impressive,” Tsai said.

Music director Michael Boitz said that he had regularly organized this field trip years ago, but had to stop because there were simply too many activities going on. Boitz recently began it again because he knew many students would benefit from the enrichment.

“I felt that the need is there for the students,” Boitz said. “Sometimes they think they’ll never get the chance to be up there, so I started it again for them to know that they can.”

Unfortunately, the Davies Symphony Hall was more crowded than they had expected.
“This time the hall was so full compared to the previous times that I had gone,” Boitz said. “We were way far up and the students didn’t get to have much interaction with the musicians, but I still thought it was really worthwhile for them.”

Students had expected to watch the techniques that professionals rehearsed with, but were disappointed because the San Francisco Symphony had an upcoming performance on Saturday.

“They were pretty much already done practicing the music and they barely made any corrections,” Tsai said. “It was more like a run-through; they would do little sections and move on to the next piece.”

After watching the rehearsal, the students had two hours at Pier 39 to have lunch and look around. Despite the crowding caused by the many other schools that attended, the field trip was a good experience and motivated many students to work harder.

“Their playing was inspirational and they were all really good,” junior clarinetist Michelle Tian said. “It made me want to go home and practice.”