Letter from Boston Community Theater By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
地域劇場 研究のかたわら、室内楽のクラスでピアノを弾いている雅子さんは、クラスの先生に頼まれ、バイオリン発表会の伴奏を引き受けました。それを機に、地域劇場で行なわれるミュージカル喜劇の伴奏も頼まれたのですが…。

I've been playing in various chamber music groups since college and I've come across different kinds of musicians as a result. I've played with young aspiring professionals, women who have returned to music after spending decades taking care of their children, retirees for whom music is a reason to live and working professionals for whom music is a way to unwind. These connections have helped me get a glimpse of worlds that are very different from my regular life as a graduate student.

One of my chamber music coaches, a Suzuki method violin/viola teacher, asked me to be an accompanist for a student recital. I obliged. Accompanying these near-beginners was actually very hard, but I am glad that I did it. It was my first paid music gig, I got to see a wide range of students, and it led to my accompanying for a local community theater.

I got a call from a director of the community theater group, called The Footlight Club, about a week ago, asking if I would like to play in a production of "Cox and Box," a one-act musical comedy. He had heard that I was a good accompanist.

I liked the idea of doing something completely new, so I complied. I know that community theater tends to attract a liberal, artsy crowd, which is a bit different from the rather conservative classical music crowd, and this intrigued me. I could stand to make some cool new friends, I thought.

I ran into trouble immediately, however, since it seemed that there wasn't any way I could get a copy of the score before the first rehearsal. The performance would be coming up in only a week!!

The director kept on promising me that he'd get me a copy, but day after day he did not fulfill his promise. He told me that he simply couldn't do it. I figured that this was typical, dramatic "actor type" behavior, and being a "science type" person, I became frustrated. Strangely, I was not angry and told him that it was fine. I figured that this was a world to which I would have to adjust.

When I met the director, I saw immediately that he had not been exaggerating. He had a severe limp and he could barely open his fists to turn a page. He held his baton by sandwiching it between his fingers. He talked about his numerous performances when he was younger, and he was not too old, so it was clear he had some kind of disease. I felt ashamed for stereotyping him as a flaky artist and grateful that I had not reacted harshly before.

I could not feel sorry for too long, though. He immediately made me start playing through the entire musical with the actors (who had already had a few rehearsals). I didn't even have time to glance at the score, much less rehearse sections slowly. I frantically sight-read the music and tried to follow the script.

He had a sharp mind, a sharp eye and a sharp tongue. I can't count the times that he snapped or glared at me for missing my cue, for not matching the actors' lines, for playing too softly or for speeding up. I was too busy trying to flip the pages and grab the right notes to be able to think of subtle issues. This man was a professional and he was polite. However, it was clear that he demanded a lot. The rehearsal started at 4 p.m. and I didn't get home, exhausted, until after 11 p.m.

I suppose he sensed that I was flustered and he apologized to me numerous times for seeming a bit harsh. He told me that I was young and that it was all for my own good. He had a jolly twinkle in his eye, and I found myself liking him, even though I felt miserable. I felt that I needed to learn so much.

I'm used to the body language of chamber music, where the players decide who gives the cues, or solo piano playing, where I set my own tempo. I've never had a conductor give me cues. Even during the one rehearsal, I started learning how to sense his cues from the corner of my eye. Knowing my lack of experience, he started giving me bigger gestures, but he told me he'd scale back later on.

I've always liked good teachers and this lesson was something that I had not expected when I agreed to play in this musical. The theater members were, indeed, as artsy as I'd expected. But I almost forgot to notice them.

Shukan ST: Jan. 21, 2000

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