SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PLAY-ALONG CONCERTS
Dr. Woodson has been presenting family and student play-along concerts with major orchestras and ensembles since 1991. At these events, audience members make a set of simple instruments and then during the performance play along with the orchestra or ensemble on special compositions written for his instruments or on arrangements of standard repertoire.
The instrument making can take place during the concert for 10-15 minutes or immediately before the concert in several locations around the lobby or even during the concert. In some cases, instruments have been constructed at schools before the concert, then brought by the teachers for distribution just before the play-along portion of the concert. Typically Dr. Woodson conducts the audience using signs mounted on stands on stage and other props. Directions for making the instruments come from Dr. Woodson verbally on stage or in workshops and/or written with illustrations in the program notes.
COMPOSITIONS FOR PLAY-ALONG CONCERTS
The compositions specifically written for play-along concerts using Dr. Woodson's instruments were commissioned by various organizations including The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Akron Symphony. Dr. Woodson has also arranged some pieces from the standard repertoire for use in play-along concerts.
His specially written compositions for symphony orchestras to be used with his simple instruments are as follows:
- "Shake, Rattle and Roar" by Steve Smith 1991
- "Hello Family" by Phil Kaplow 1993
- "Ricochet" by Jeffrey Ryan 1994
- "Concerto for Drumpets" by Eric Benjamin 1995
CONCERT REPERTOIRE
Play-along concerts are most often featured pieces in children's or family concerts. For example, the works on a program for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Symphonies for Youth in 1995, included the following works:
Antonin Dvorak's - Slavonic Dance, Op. 46
Steve Smith - Shake, Rattle and Roar (play-along)
Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances (finale), from Prince Igor
Igor Stravinsky – Toccata, from Pulcinella
Modest Mussorgsky, orch. Maurice Ravel – Tuileries, from Pictures at an Exhibition
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Waltz, from Serenade for Strings, Op. 48
Philip Koplow – Hello Family (play-along piece for the Drumpet)
Paul Hindemith – March, from Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber
Programs and program notes for other play-along concerts are available upon request from Dr. Woodson.
INSTRUMENTS MADE BY THE AUDIENCE
One favorite instrument for play-along concerts is his "Drumpet," a composite of a drum and a trumpet, that also includes a woodwind and string instrument. It uses simple recyclable materials and is easy enough to make in about 15 minutes during a break in the concert or as a pre-concert activity. There are several versions of the play-along performance. In one case, Dr. Woodson conducts the audience-orchestra or as Phil Koplow calls it the "Audestra," in sections where each of four sections plays one part of their instrument.
PAST CONCERTS
Concerts have been performed with the following organizations:
1991 The Cleveland Orchestra
1993 The National Symphony Orchestra
1994 The Cleveland Orchestra
1994 The Colorado Springs Symphony
1995 Los Angeles Philharmonic
1995 The Canton Symphony Orchestra
1995 The Akron Symphony Orchestra
1996 Blue Ash Symphony – Fitton Center for the Performing Arts, Hamilton, Ohio
1998 Wyoming Symphony Orchestra
1998 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra – Riverbend
1999 Columbus Symphony
2000 New World Symphony
2001 Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
2001 Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony
2001 Tulsa Philharmonic
2002 Carlson Quartet – Royce Hall, U.C.L.A.
2003 UCLA Woodwind Quintet – Royce Hall, U.C.L.A.
2004 UCLA World Quartet – Schoenberg Hall, U.C.L.A.
2004 West Chester Symphony
2008 Kronos Quartet, Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
Dr. Woodson has also performed play-along concerts with student musicians at U.C.L.A. and with community orchestras at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, Connecticut and in Blue Ash, Ohio.
CONCERT ADVERTISING
Here is an example of an advertisement for Dr. Woodson's play-along concert with the Tulsa Philharmonic. More examples are available upon request.
'Come Toot Your Tooter'
The Tulsa Philharmonic’s “Lollipop Series” continues on Nov. 18 with Come Blow Your Own Horn when Dr. Craig Woodson, inventor of custom-built instrument called a "drumpet", joins the Tulsa Philharmonic and conductor Chelsea Tipton II onstage as well as leads blossoming musicians in an interactive pre-concert instrument-building workshop.
Youngsters will construct their own drumpet which contains components of the percussion, string, wind, and brass families. Little drumpet masters will be able to use their new instruments in Eric Benjamin's 'Concerto for Drumpet' immediately following the workshop. Each section of the orchestra will be explored in a colorful piece entitled The Thrill of Orchestra.
Pre-concert workshop will begin promptly at 1pm with the interactive horn-tooting concert to follow. Single tickets to the concert are $5 for children and $10 for adults.+
CONCERT VENUES
Concerts have been performed in many different venues from large halls to community theatres to high school auditoriums and outdoor amphitheaters.
Concerts have been performed at the following concert halls:
- Carnegie Hall, New York City
- The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
- Dover High School Auditorium, Dover, Ohio
- The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
- Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Royce Hall, University of California, Los Angeles
- Schoenberg Hall, University of California, Los Angeles
- Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio
For more information about these play-along concerts, contact Dr. Woodson at 440-725-8767.
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