Rusty Musician 2025

by Kaylene Duttchen

This year I tried a new music summer camp for adults, Rusty Musicians, with the

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO). It is intended for amateur adult musicians

including those who have not played in a while.

The camp was July 2-6, 2025 at the Edmonton Winspear center with teachers from the

ESO. Musicians playing the full gambit of symphony instruments including strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion are involved. There is also a conducting stream for aspiring conductors. I was playing viola for this camp, but I also play violin in anotherorchestra. This was the first time I played viola in a large ensemble.

In the five days, we prepared 6 pieces for a final concert on the lovely Winspear theatrestage. The repertoire was very engaging with pieces from Elgar, Dvorak, John Williams,Borodin, and Bizet. The repertoire was set about 6 weeks before camp to enable preparation of participants. However, the organizers were also clear that full preparation before camp was not required.

I live to practice music and I feel much better prepared, so I dove in. I was a bit worried that the pieces would be played at the full tempo of a professional symphony. Being from Calgary I had to plan for accommodations. I chose to stay walking distance from the camp to maximize my time.

The doors opened to the Winspear at 9:00 each day. There was a body warm up session at 9:30-10:00. Given I was staying in a hotel without the option to practice in the evenings, I chose to use the first hour as my private practice time. I heard good things about the warmup sessions, but my hypermobile joints generally preclude me from stretching exercises. I certainly think for many other people the warmup was worthwhile.

At 10:00 for the first 4 days, there were sectionals, which means the individualinstruments meet and play with their ESO instructors. There were four viola players working with an accomplished professional violist, Aaron Au. We four violists had a variety of skill and level of playing. One player was very new to the viola and had not played another string instrument previously. She was both brave and talented to step up to this challenge. Each of us violists was unique but together we seemed to support and enable our section to perform well. I was both thrilled and a bit intimidated to take on the role of section leader as principal violist. Thankfully I had a great stand partner to lean on.

We also had divided orchestra on the first 4 days with strings separated from winds and percussion. Our sectional instructors took turns conducting these larger groups and wehad a visit from one student in the conducting stream one day as well. It was a good way to transition from viola section to larger group before putting the full symphony

together.

Then we would have that full symphony experience on the Winspear Theatre stage. The rumbling of the tympani’s, the beauty of a harp and the comradery of so many people working together to make music was joyous. The first day we ran through all thepieces, and it was very intimidating that we would perform them in just 5 days!

The conductor for our full orchestra was a professional conductor. His skill in hearing what was happening and needed fixing was amazing. He could pick out a single note from one instrument as out of tune. He provided excellent encouragement and positive reinforcement while still letting you know what needed to be improved.

As we progressed through our days, our viola sectional instructor was able to assist uswith so much. For me, who struggles with internal tempo and rhythm, he was able to provide concrete exercises to improve. He worked to ensure each violist’s part was right for their level and brought us together as a section. I lack confidence in my rhythm, and I did score study each evening to understand how my part fit with otherinstruments. Occasionally I would think I was wrong because I would not hear another instrument at the concordant time. Our instructor would tell me no it was not me. Boy was that awesome for a rhythmically challenged player, to actually be the correct one! Of course, many times I wasn’t but as we progressed through the days, I improved.

The conductor gave a few specific corrections late in the camp for our section for rhythm and dynamics. I think we were able to incorporate these improvements for the final concert. We truly grew as a section. I felt very lucky to have these 3 players on my team because they all had great attitudes, were hard working and had a good sense of Humor.

Another wonderful moment for me was being complimented on my sound on my lovelyviola. I do have a wonderful instrument, so I know that helps. However, it still felt great to have a professional player give me that compliment.

Our time culminated in a wonderful concert to a significant crowd of friends and family. I was lucky enough that my husband made the trip to spend that last evening with me and see our concert. It felt so wonderful to play those six pieces. The final tempo was very manageable, and I think came out very listenable.  This camp left me wanting more and feeling like I grew as a musician. I am looking forward to going back next year.