THE UPBEAT
BY Natasha Gardner
Boulder Womens Magazine
October 10, 2007

For Maestro Amy Andersson, hitting the right note is just the beginning. As the conductor for The High Plains Youth Symphony, Andersson is creating her vision of life in Boulder and sharing her musical talents.

IN LATE August, a young violinist bounds down the steps of the Mountain View United Methodist Church in Boulder with a stand tucked under one arm and a black case under the other. A cacophony of sounds filter out of Baker Hall, a small basement room where the High Plains Youth Symphony is gearing up for the season's first rehearsal.

Teenagers, mostly in middle or high school, are sending text messages and tuning instruments, while parents carry out potluck leftovers in corningware dishes. A soft rain is falling outside, making the subterranean room muggy. The young players fan themselves and push damp bangs off of flushed faces.

Conductor Amy Andersson's blond hair is pulled back from her face as she shouts above the noise, “Who needs a pencil?” With a fistful of yellow No. 2s, she wanders among the rows of students and answers questions. There are new faces in the group tonight because while the students were on summer break, the orchestra doubled in size by adding 55 new members and creating a Simphonetta for younger musicians.

Andersson herself only joined the group as music director last November, just two months after its formation. She has conducted youth programs in Germany and Spain, taught at the University of Berlin and toured with the top world youth orchestra throughout Europe, among other accomplishments.

Luckily for the HPYS, Andersson has called Boulder home for nine years and had reached a point in her career where she wanted a new challenge. The opportunity to create a youth program from the ground-up was irresistible.

“I've traveled so much back and forth over the years, and I thought it would be terrific to build something in Boulder,” says Andersson. “So it was an opportunity to create my vision.”

That translates into weekly practices to master complicated compositions that many youth orchestras wouldn't attempt. The group pulls in professional musicians and mentors, while also working one-on-one with coaches from the University of Colorado's School of Music.

Tonight, the plan is to complete a first read-through as a professional orchestra would. That means a breathless scramble through pages of new material.

“I wanted to show them where we're going,” explains Andersson. “It's probably the opposite of what a lot of people do with youth orchestras. They probably start out really slow and just do a little chunk. But I want to show them this is what happens. And so the first rehearsal is a bit of a wild ride.”

A dozen or so parents watch from the back, shuffling their weight from foot to foot, craning their necks to watch their child, reading magazines or simply moving to the rhythm. Meanwhile, bows are quivering, the somber wail of an oboe rises and Andersson oversees it all with a controlled fervor.

To some, the musical patterns flowing through the different parts of the orchestra would be confusing, but to Andersson, it is second nature. She's appreciated music from the crib - literally.

“When I was a tiny baby, my crib was next to the piano in the music room,” says Andersson. “My mom [had] private voice lessons and I used to be in my crib taking a nap.” Her mother loved classical music and would take Andersson to the local orchestra in Michigan. She began studying piano on a Yamaha upright and was composing pieces by 10. In high school, a composition she wrote for her choir toured Europe and soon she added conducting to her repertoire.

“It's sort of natural that a composer conducts their own pieces,” says Andersson. “That's when I really sort of decided that was my instrument, that an orchestra could be my instrument.”

Wanting to be a part of all aspects of music making, Andersson intensively studied conducting, composing and piano at the University of Michigan. She continued her musical education at Indiana University, Mannes College and as a fellow at the Aspen Music School. Germany was the next stop for her and the start of an extensive conducting career.

Back in Boulder, she crouches behind her stand before springing up and counting, ��, 2, 1, 2,” and shouting “Yes!” when her students keep up the frantic pace. Her hand movements are precise, almost chopping at times, but gracefully fluid at others. No matter what, they are always perfectly timed with the upbeat. An effective conductor uses their body to communicate with their musicians. Over the years, Andersson has studied scores of conductors to develop her own style and technique.

“Your body is really your communicating medium,” she says. “It's not just the arm or baton, but your breath from your toes to your head. Really, it's drawing in the breath from the whole body.”

In the coming months, the students will learn to read her “sign language” and decode her movements. For now, they are just trying to keep up. Before they know it, the piece is complete.

“That was a spectacular sight-read,” praises Andersson as her clapping is joined by the group of parents. For a few moments, she is all smiles, but then gets back to work, pointing out trouble spots for each group to practice. She calls out a pianissimo and an important section for the second violins where they act like a motor for the rest of the group. Then she's using snowboard or surfing analogies to explain rhythms.

“Just like a snowboard. You go over the bump and you're almost losing it and then you don't,” she says while pantomiming an unsteady boarder.

Next, she's explaining how Mozart is overlapping the music into layers of sound. By now the sun is setting and the room starts to cool off. While the rehearsal has proceeded at a fast and furious pace, the students are staying with it, making notes on their music, and using post-its to mark difficult passages to practice. They are already starting to see the music in a different way.

This “ah-ha” moment is one of the reasons why Andersson-who works with both professional and youth orchestras-likes working with kids.

“I'm really big on connecting the dots, because I'm a teacher by nature,” she says. “I try to connect the dots so that they're not just playing their part, but they know how they fit into the larger ensemble. Because it really is ensemble playing.”

Using past concerts as references, she draws a musical map for her students, explaining how one of Mozart's symphonies relates to another or how to breathe properly in a particularly fast section.

“Don't be discouraged at 292. Just keep hanging on,” she says, reminding each section to use their private lessons-each student is required to take them-to prepare for the next rehearsal.

Andersson admits that her students have a heavy load between weekly rehearsal, practice, private lessons, schoolwork and family. Still, the orchestra is a place where they can come, relax and lose themselves in music each week. The pressure is on, but Andersson tries to keep them focused on excellence, rather than competiveness. Most importantly, she wants them to love the music and experience it in new ways.

“We set the bar very high and I just assume that they're hungry for that sort of experience,” she says. “And they are. They really are.”

ART AS INSPIRATION

“I'm always fascinated with the other art forms because we're talking about the same things. It's the same intrinsic qualities,” says Andersson. “It's unifying elements. It's form. It's structure. It's movement.”

Here are some of her favorite sources of inspiration:

€Gaudi (architect)

€Picasso and Van Gogh (painters)

€Karajan, Furtwangler and Bernstein (conductors)

€Bergman and Hitchcock (directors)

€Nureyev (dancer)

HIGH PLAINS YOUTH SYMPHONY'S 2007-2008 SCHEDULE

November 4, 2007 - with soloist Judith Ingolfsson

February 3, 2008

May 10, 2008 - with soloist David Korevaar

Tickets: $10 adult,

$5 children and seniors

$25 season pass

Performances are held at the Mountain View United Methodist Church's sanctuary 355 Ponca Place, Boulder, CO 80302

Visit www.highplainsyouthsymphony.org. for more information.