BSO means company, business for members

The combined flutter of flutes and trill of trumpets engulfed the auditorium.

A blue padded case was rolled in and unzipped to reveal an ornamental harp, its light wood shining against the grey carpeting of the rehearsal room.

Dressed in laid-back clothing and passing around hot pink Rice Krispies Treats made with Red Hots candies, members of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra come together as friends, but fulfill a more serious purpose.


EVERY MINUTE COUNTS

BSO Music Director Charles Latshaw said the group’s Tuesday night rehearsals always have an air of positivity with a focus on work.

“We take a lot of time to laugh during rehearsal,” Latshaw said. “But we work seriously.”

The 70-piece orchestra comes together for two to 2 1/2 hours once a week to hone its collective sound for each season’s performances.

Latshaw said the orchestra doesn’t normally do warm-up exercises because he tries to “get to work” as quickly as possible. Each musician usually has his or her own method of getting ready for rehearsal, he said.

In preparation for Tuesday’s practice session, trumpeters warmed up by mock-playing tunes with their hands cupped around their mouths. Violinists plucked strings while clarinetists played musical scales.

Once all the musicians are situated and have done their personal warm-ups, Latshaw said he begins directing without hesitation unless a problem comes up.

“If there are problems with a certain piece, we may do an exercise to solve it,” he said. “But we don’t usually do a collective exercise in the beginning like you’d find in younger orchestra groups.”

Members range in age and talent at the BSO. The youngest player in the orchestra is an IU sophomore, and the eldest player is 89 years old. Bass player Ed Greenebaum, a retired IU law professor, has been performing with the orchestra for more than 40 years.

“Bloomington is a special place because so many people have music degrees but aren’t necessarily working as musicians,” Latshaw said. “About one-third of the orchestra members have a degree in music.”

BRINGING IT ‘BACK HOME AGAIN’

Members of BSO are currently preparing their instruments for songs from their Feb. 26 showcase “Back Home Again in Indiana,” a title based on the 1917 jazz staple written by Ballard McDonald and James F. Hanley.

But this will be anything but a jazz-fueled show.

The talents of the orchestra will be put to the test as members prepare selections from composer Bedrich Smetana’s “Ma Vlast.” They will also learn a new composition by award-winning composer and IU music school graduate Clint Needham.

Needham’s piece, “Peau Rouge Indiana,” was inspired by artist Alexander Calder’s sculpture in front of the Musical Arts Center.

With strong ties to IU, BSO’s most recent show title pays tribute to Bloomington’s legacy, said  Donna Lafferty, BSO director of Marketing and Development.

IU graduate Geoffrey Simon and Tamas Ungar formed the BSO in 1969, taking on the roles of music conductor and business manager, respectively. The pair saw a need for a community orchestra in town.

The orchestra’s original players were mainly IU faculty and students. Now the orchestra consists of both IU students and Bloomington residents who have become involved through either referral or word-of-mouth.

BSO cellist and Bloomington resident Cindy Johnson has played since the fourth grade. She later earned a collegiate music degree and taught music in Chicago.

In 1993, when Paul Hartin, the owner of local instrument shop Ars Nova, asked her what she played, Johnson told him her instrument was the cello.

Hartin gave her name to the personnel manager of the BSO. She joined and has been a member ever since, she said.

Latshaw hadn’t always known about the BSO either. After living in Bloomington for five years without knowledge of the orchestra, he got a call one day from the symphony and joined soon after.

'IT’S REALLY A FAMILY'

Latshaw — two hours after raising his hands to direct his orchestra at 7:30 p.m. — raised a glass of Guinness with other BSO musicians at the Trojan Horse.

“This sort of thing is unique,” he said. “Many orchestras have rehearsal, then go home and don’t talk to each other. In a professional orchestra where musicians are paid, it doesn’t have the same feeling that a community orchestra has.”

One couple met in the symphony and married soon after, Latshaw said. It’s not unusual, then, that Latshaw’s wife Kelly plays in the orchestra.

After playing trumpet in college and in a professional orchestra thereafter, Latshaw turned to the cello.

“It was very different from a trumpet,” Latshaw said. “I could express much more with it.”

He changed direction again after earning a master’s degree in conducting from IU. What drew him to conducting was its difficulty.

“I feel like I’ll never be good at it,” he said. “And that really interests me.”

Besides challenging himself with a career change, Latshaw said the thing he enjoys most about the symphony orchestra is its ability to bring people together.

“I love the orchestra here because its motives are pure,” he said. “Everybody’s there because they absolutely love to be there.”

Noting the fact that there are many opportunities to hear music in Bloomington, Latshaw also commented that the BSO is one of the few chances for volunteers to come together and play music.

“We have a lot of people who took 10, 15 years off from music and then came back here to play,” he said. “The way I see the BSO is, it’s like a youth orchestra, but it doesn’t have to end after graduation. You can always keep playing.”