Diane is at it again!

Diane is not only a mom and a full time nurse, but she also loves to take great pieces of music and re-write them for our string quartet!  (This is called arranging.)  At our rehearsal last night, we got to play 3 new pieces that Diane arranged for us.  The pieces are: Kokomo by The Beach Boys; A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston for the movie Cinderella; and Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber.  We played through all three, and are excited to rehearse them more thoroughly so we can play them at any upcoming gigs.

We really need to finalize our Repertoire page and publish it so that you can see all of the great music we have to play, shouldn't we?

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While we organize that, you should definitely listen to the Adagio for Strings.  Samuel Barber wrote it in 1936, and ever since then it has been very popularly played at concerts and used in tv shows, movies, and now even video games.  It is a haunting piece of music.  Some of you might be familiar with it from the movie Deer Hunter, and others may recall hearing it over the radio during the broadcast of John F. Kennedy's death.  It might not be a song you'd love to hear us play at your wedding, but it is a poignant, moving piece.

It's been almost 3 years since we put on an informal concert.  But, the next time we do, Adagio for Strings will DEFINITELY be on our playlist.

Official photos!

Here are some professional photos from the Roaring Twenties party!  Click on them to see the enlarged images.  The talented photographers at www.tanaphotography.com took these photos, so visit their website if you are in the market for skillful photography.

Here is Diane's arrangement of The Charleston...

April's shoes weren't "twenties-ish" enough, so this picture just includes Diane, Dave, and Nell.  But, it's a great picture!

 This is a shot of the inside of the Thunder Mountain Line train.  The guests enjoyed a catered dinner on their ride up to Banks.




























Here is where the Thunder Mountain Line boarded in Horseshoe Bend.  To the left is a train terminal where Prism played for guests as they arrived.

 After the guests rode the train up to Banks and back, limos took them to our host's home.  We continued our 1920s music on the porch there while the guests enjoyed drinks.

And here we are, in our flapper finery!

Blast from the past: Roaring '20s Party

Prism got nostalgic the other day and started looking for some photos of previous gigs.  More are on the way, but we found a couple of photos from a gig we did 2 years ago.  We got to play for a 1920s themed party which began in Horseshoe Bend, went up into the mountains via the Thunder Mountain Line, and then ended at the host's beautiful home in downtown Boise.

Our generous host paid for all of us to get outfitted in 1920s attire at The Costume Shop (which is unfortunately now out of business!). I know it's small, but Dave's wife snapped this picture of us before we left for the gig!

It was certainly a challenge - we played exclusively rags (like "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin) and tangos to fit the 1920s theme, and we played for a total of almost 6 hours throughout the day!   We set the speakeasy mood as guests arrived in Horseshoe Bend to board the Thunder Mountain line.  Then, after the costumed guests mingled and enjoyed drinks, they boarded the train and took a leisurely ride up into the Idaho mountains.

We followed them up to their stop in Banks.  There, we helped create the festive atmosphere while guests got off the train to enjoy drinks, a speech from our host, and a short skit by some fun local actors.

After that, we followed the guests to our host's home, where they enjoyed the party for several more hours.  We sat at a great location on an elevated porch, and continued our 1920s marathon while guests mingled, sat by the pool, and enjoyed drinks and delicious catered hors d'oeuvres.  We were scheduled to play until 10 pm, but the party just kept going so they asked us to stay for another hour.

We were all exhausted afterward, but it was a truly great afternoon and evening.  Soon we will post some of the professional pictures taken at that wild party!

Wedding at the Train Depot

Holy acoustics, Batman!

If you are looking for an event venue with amazing acoustics, the Boise Train Depot is it!  This afternoon, Prism got to perform for a wedding in the Depot's great hall.  With its tile floors, wooden seats, and curved, vaulted ceilings, the building is both a historic treasure of Boise and a string quartet's dream.  We actually kept playing for a few minutes after the wedding guests had left because it was such a treat to hear the sounds of our instruments echoing throughout that huge room. 

Normally for gigs we insist on 4 armless chairs and a square area of about 10 by 10 feet in order to play.  We need the space for our chairs and music stands, plus we need plenty of physical space to play our instruments (since violins, violas and cellos are all bowed instruments, we need lots of bow room).  But, at the Train Depot, the only place available to us was an L-shaped area along the side of the room.  So, to save space we tried something new.  Dave (our cellist) was seated while the other three of us stood while playing. All in all, it was a good solution to our problem, though April did have to lean to the side a few times to avoid poking wedding guests with her bow as they walked by.  So remember, Prism always tries to be as flexible as possible to accomodate our client's needs!

For this wedding, we played our favorite cheerful tunes before the ceremony.  Some of these include: Prelude to Romance by RJ Mitchell, Lo, How a Rose, arranged by Carole Neuen-Rabinowitz, If I Fell by The Beatles, Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, arranged by our violinist Diane, Sicilienne by Gabriel Faure, and Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley and Vera Matson.

The wedding party entered to Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Weber (also arranged by Diane), and we found some sections that we could repeat so we could make the song as long as necessary to ensure all the bridal party all had time to get to the altar!  The bride entered to Be Thou My Vision, an elegant Irish hymn, and the family candle-lighting ceremony was made even more poignant when we played The Prayer to accompany it.  And, after the couple was pronounced man and wife, they took their first walk down the aisle as a married couple to the triumphant Baroque tune Trumpet Voluntary.

While the happy pair was congratulated by friends and family, we kept the background music bright and cheerful.  We even got to perform a new arrangement of Diane's: A Wonderful World by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss.  Most of you will recognize that song as the version Louis Armstrong recorded in 1967.  We can't ever compete with Louis' rich voice, but our quartet rendition still makes us feel pretty wonderful.

Happy New Year everyone, and Prism hopes everyone gets to enjoy great friends and great music in the upcoming year!

"The Christmas Concerto"

There are only 6 days left until Christmas!

Blue Cross of Idaho is known for its quality health care, but it turns out that the folks there also throw one heck of a company Christmas party!  Prism got to greet guests with holiday music as they entered their Blue Cross Black and White Ball.  We played in the foyer at the Grove Hotel in downtown Boise while guests entered and mingled before their main event on Friday, December 13th.  The party planners asked for a mixture of classical and Christmas music, so we put together a playlist of festive tunes, old carols, and baroque pieces.  In addition to "Joy to the World," "Carol of the Bells," "White Christmas," "Silent Night" and many others, we added pieces like Andrew Lloyd Weber's version of "Pie Jesu" (a wedding favorite), two crisp movements of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," Diane's arrangement of "The Prayer," and a piece called "The Christmas Concerto." 

This concerto is one of our favorite hybrid tunes.  It was written by Arcangelo Corelli in approximately 1690, though it wasn't published until after Corelli's death almost 25 years later.  Technically, it is just called "Concerto Grosso in g minor," but it was probably meant to be a Christmas composition because of an inscription on the piece that reads "Fatto per la note di Natale," which means "Made for the night of Christmas."  It takes us about 15 minutes to play and has 6 short movements which can be played individually or together.  Each movement has its own unique tempo (speed) and mood, so we skipped the slowest of the 6 to keep the atmosphere light.   Corelli also used a technique common to the baroque period called terraced dynamics.  This means that his music jumped back and forth from loud to soft frequently in his music, which gave this concerto an air of dramatic fun.

Prism likes to think that it gives Corelli's ghost a smile to hear his piece played amidst glittering Christmas trees and smiling guests at a holiday party. 

Prism visits Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Prism loooooves Christmas music.  On Monday, December 9th, we got to share the music with Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with some great military families.  That evening, the fine folks at Still Water Hollow hosted an event where families of the deployed got to bring their children to see Santa.  They provided delicious cookies and cocoa, and Santa and Mrs. Claus got to help kids make their Christmas wishes.  The Clauses also sat for great pictures!  They allowed us to make some Christmas wishes of our own, as you can see in the photo.  We got to play classic holiday tunes from 6-8pm, and enjoyed frequent deliveries of warm cocoa too! 

If you need the Clauses to come visit an event YOU are hosting, you can contact them at http://santa-4-u.com/.  Santa Claus might even surprise you with a magic trick! 

Winter Music

Happy Holidays!  It is FREEZING outside!  In Idaho, winter is a great time for candle-lit weddings and company Christmas parties, but this bitter cold weather has made us grateful that we have indoor jobs.  To those of you who brave the elements every day: thank you for your hard (cold!) work!

For Prism, November came with several quartet opportunities.  First of all, Dave had the pleasure of accepting a new daughter-in-law into the family.  His son got married at the Cloverdale Church of God, and we got to perform prelude music while guests arrived and then played a few songs during the ceremony.  The bride walked in to Diane's great arrangement of the Enya song, Orinoco Flow, and the bride and groom exited to Happy Together by The Turtles (also arranged by Diane).  Afterward, Dave went to join the festivities.  It was very special to be a part of his family's big day.

We also got to play the prelude and ceremony for a wedding at the Stueckle Sky Center during the week of Thanksgiving.  From that huge room, we could look out over the whole Treasure Valley!  We just had to make sure that April, who is afraid of heights, had her chair pointed away from the windows.  :)  For this wedding, during the ceremony the bride and groom wanted us to accompany their beloved grandmother playing The Butterfly Waltz and Pachelbel's Canon, but Grandma wanted to be able to watch the ceremony.  So, they recorded Grandma for us, and Diane wrote parts for our quartet to accompany Grandma's solo part.  During the wedding, we collaborated with the sound engineer.  He played the recording of Grandma, and we played our accompaniment live.  It worked out well, and Grandma got to enjoy the ceremony while the bride and groom got to hear her play.

Prism had another fun opportunity to play during November.  The Idaho Association of Highway Districts had their annual convention and a culminating dinner.  We played at this event a couple of years ago, and they asked us back to play again!  We provided fun, lively music for their catered dinner.  We got the most compliments on the song Ashokan Farewell, a song in which Nell plays an exquisite solo part.  You'll recognize this song if you've watched the Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War.  We are working on getting some video and audio clips of our performance from Nell's husband; hopefully we can have some clips up here for you soon.

As for December, we have two gigs scheduled for this week alone, so expect an update soon!  May the music be with you!