Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Thursday, March 05, 2009

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The Lafayette High orchestra, under the direction of Jennifer Grice, played for world-class violinist Grigory Kalinovsky during a videoconference.

Constructive criticism from a world-class violinist not only reinforced classroom learning but also gave students from Lafayette High School and SCAPA at Bluegrass a fresh perspective on their skill level and performance technique.

Orchestras from the neighboring schools recently participated in two videoconferences with Grigory Kalinovsky, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, with some assistance from FCPS district technology staffers.

“We played our pieces, and he gave us suggestions,” said SCAPA director Nancy Campbell, whose strings students interacted with Kalinovsky on Feb. 20. “He also talked about music in general – how we can make our music better.”

The format of the 45-minute session was repeated a week later for the Lafayette High group, which offered up Dvorak’s “Serenade for Strings.”

“This piece is probably the most difficult we’ve ever played. It challenges the students here and is something we can work on all year,” said director Jennifer Grice, who was excited about Kalinovsky’s input. “Stylistically, they got new ideas to fine-tune and polish it.”

During the Feb. 26 session, Kalinovsky allowed the high school orchestra to play a few bars, then stopped them periodically to point out troublesome spots:

• “Those 16^th notes have to be more driven. That will propel the music much more.”
• “It’s up to the first chairs to lead the musical gestures.”
• “Cellos and basses, you’re dragging.”
•  “You have to stop the bow before you get to that note. You have to articulate!”

But his reactions were also peppered with praise:

• “That was way better – much, much better.”
• “First violins – great job on those 16^th-note passages. Bravo!” 

Grice hopes to make videoconferences with a Manhattan professional an annual event. Her students agreed the session with Kalinovsky was very useful.

Sophomore violinist Jonathan Karp ventured to ask a question afterward, seeking advice for auditions. “First, make sure you know what you want to start with,” Kalinovsky replied, adding, “Make sure you can jump around and refocus.”

Jonathan was impressed with the professor’s recommendations overall. “There’s so much as far as style goes, so it was nice to hear what he had to say about that,” he said.

Freshman cellist Julia Mead agreed, noting that Kalinovsky’s critiques were more philosophical than technical. “He was able to give us a more focused look on how we were playing and a new perspective,” she said, adding, “It’s great we can use technology to connect everybody.”