My Music Page...

For those of you who may not know me, I have to explain that I spent the bulk of my high school years with my trusty bass violin. I started playing a bit late, attending my first formal music class in grade 9, at General Vanier Secondary School. I wanted to play cello, but there was no strings program at GVSS. There were, however, two decrepit bass violins sitting in a back office that no one had touched in a very long time. I said: "Ok, that's for me." The small Suzuki bass was dubbed "Albert" and off I embarked on my music career. Oh, but not before my mother obtained clarification: "That's not the one you play between your legs is it?!" True story.

The music teacher at GVSS was Mrs. Rachel Villeneuve (watch out for flying baton and flying slippers), and she took me under her wing. She somehow convinced the Board Superintendent of Music (?), Mr. David Irwin, to allow me to attend the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Youth Band (Feb 1984). Mrs. V really knew what she was doing though, because playing with that band got me hooked. In March of that same year I was whisked off to Germany with the Senior Band to play concerts at the schools on the military bases at Baden, Lahr and Heidelberg. Believe it or not, I've met people in the military since I've been a member myself who were students at the Canadian Senior Schools and saw or even participated in the concerts! Eh, Nicole!?

In grade 10 I joined the pit orchestra for the Glen Productions, a local theatre group. My grandfather had been an actor with this same group and I remember seeing him in My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof when I was very, very young. I did five consecutive shows with the Glen between 1985 and 1989: The King & I, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Hello Dolly and West Side Story. And I should add that it was with the crazy ladies in that orchestra that I learned to drink tequila, but that's another story.

Near the end of the school year in 1986, Mrs. V came to me with a proposition: "How would you like to spend the summer in New York City?" Before I could wonder what my parents might say, she ran me through the plan: the youth string program was called the Congress of Strings, and it was sponsored by the American Federation of Musicians. The cost was $600 for the summer, including room and board, and we would get sponsorship to cover the costs. And off we went. Mom and Dad were eventually convinced that I would be safe, and even offered to drive me and Albert to the big event! We were fine going in, but they got lost in Yonkers on the way out. How ironic!

Congress of Strings, NYC, 1986

Final Concert, Riverside Church,
Maestro Joseph Silverstein (foreground)

And this one time, at band camp...

OK, so I really did go to band camp. And I've always told band camp stories. When the movie "American Pie" came along, I didn't realize why everyone giggled when I told a story. Then I figured it out. Ha ha. For the record, I played the bass violin, not the flute!

My first band camp was a true camp - the Ontario Music Leadership Camp at Lake Couchiching, north of Toronto. We were 12 girls per cabin, six in each end. It was a good time, and I'm still in touch with some of the people that I met there.

Later that same summer I went off to NYC for the "Congress of Strings" - a youth string orchestra. We were housed at Columbia University (Barnard College) and the members of the orchestra came from all over Canada and the U.S. My room-mate was Turid Gaedeke, from Boise, Idaho. She lamented the whole summer about her boyfriend who was Mormon and going away on his mission. She wasn't Mormon, so there were issues. I hung out with Chris Bancej from North Bay (now the concert master for Divertimento!), Mark Hoch from Chicago and "T.C." Kwok from Canton, Ohio. T.C. introduced us to the best Chinese food I've ever had in my life. Also became good friends with Miriam Horne, from Saskatoon. Miriam was Mormon as well, and later did her music degree at BYU.

The Congress of Strings was a string orchestra, comprised of musicians between the ages of 16 and 23 from across the U.S. and Canada. I think we were 6 Canadians in total. We were housed at Barnard College, on the Columbia University campus. At night I could see the students sitting on the steps of the great library, drinking Bartle and James and chatting. Our schedule was rigorous: rehearsal in the morning, lessons and practice in the afternoon, another rehearsal in the evening. There was a heat wave in NYC that summer and carrying Albert around was my exercise! I will never forget my first rehearsal (I had never read a classical score before), as we started the piece I stopped in mid-bow: I couldn't believe my ears! Had somebody turned on a stereo?? Was that "us" playing?? Unbelievable.

The next summer I was a member of the Congress of Strings again, this time held in Detroit. We rehearsed at Wayne State University and we lived in apartments near the campus. Eleven girls plus the RA in one apartment! I became good friends with some of my roomies: Barb Dank from Boulder, Colorado, Suzie Kim from Indianapolis and Stephanie Chang from Florida. The summer ended tragically, however, when Northwest flight 255 crashed on take-off (pilot error, flaps not extended) on August 16, 1987. Ben Turner (viola) was on that flight heading home to Arizona. There was one survivor: a four-year-old girl who was small enough to be protected by her seat. I wonder where she is today?

Congress of Strings, Detroit, 1987

Deanna and the Parkdale Bass

So there is much more to this story, but for now I will just leave you with one more picture. Throughout my highschool music career I used basses from the school inventory and for awhile I used a bass from the basement of Parkdale Church in Ottawa. The Parkdale bass was a huge monster but with a wonderful rich tone...it has since been sold. When I started playing again in Nova Scotia there was a bass at Acadia that I was able to use. While in Winnipeg I borrowed a bass first from Daniel MacIntyre Highschool (until the principal found out) and then from...another school...the name escapes me right now. Finally, in preparation for joining the "TGIF Strings" in Kingston I bought a nice blond bass on consignment at a downtown guitar shop. This bass I have dubbed "Alice" - in reverence to the first two GVSS basses that I played that were both named "Albert" and my favourite verger on the "Vicar of Dibley" by the same name. Alice has served me well in the past two years, particularly with her new set of expensive strings!

My Classical Music Links:

• Meet my Congress of Strings teacher in 1986 and 1987, Greg Dugan with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
• Divertimento Community Orchestra - I was a member of this community orchestra in Ottawa 1986-1989. I had planned to return to this group on my return to Ottawa, only to find that the bass section was a bit over-crowded!! I opted instead to join the Kanata Symphony Orchestra where there is more elbow room and rehearsals are closer to home.
• Ottawa Youth Orchestra - I was a member of this orchestra from 1986-1988, under the tutelage of John Gomez. Wonderful!
• Chebucto Symphony Orchestra - a community orchestra in Halifax, I played a few concerts with this group in 1995-1996 while I was a member of the Acadia University Orchestra (Dr. Christoph Both was director of both groups at the time, but it would appear that Acadia no longer supports the university orchestra).
• Kanata Symphony Orchestra - my current outlet!!