Angela Hewitt

[Alan Crane]

 >Hi Alan,

 >How'd everything go with Angela? Just curious.

 >Avery


Hi Avery!

Angela was... wonderful!

I walked in at the end of her first practice session and... she said she 
liked the action!  (whew!!    :)
She had a very specific list of voicing concerns, all of which were 
reasonable and very apparent (not surprising on this particular instrument).
I did what I could with her requests and saw to a shorter list the next 
day.  The ultimate results were a bit less than she would have liked, we 
both knew that, and she was very gracious about it (she *did* tell me that, 
next time, "we" would
do more... with which I agreed).
During her recital, it was immensely interesting to notice how she worked 
around the voicing problems extant in the instrument.

Thanks to Roger's comments, I was all ready for a lesson in back muscle 
coordination via the back-less gown.
To my surprise, she came out of the "green room" and headed for the stage 
in a sleeveless gown with full front, back, and a high collar!  But (!)  it 
was done in an awsome spandex material which seemed almost *painted* on ( 
extremely well designed and *very* becoming!!) so... I don't think I missed 
much.

This particular concert venue doesn't have wings.  Its really a pipe organ 
case in a modified pie shape, with raised-paneled walls on either side of 
the stage.  However, about 16 feet above stage level, one of the walls has 
a panel which swings back for camera access and, standing behind that, I 
had a great view of Angela from behind and above her.  Not only could I 
watch her back, arms, and hands while she played (Roger, you were right!); 
I also could see the hammers and dampers except for those directly in front 
of her!
In addition, the sound was excellent from that vantage point and, except 
for the fact that I had to stand for the whole recital, I'm kicking myself 
for not having found the place years ago!              :)






Regards,

Alan Crane, RPT
School of Music
Wichita State University
crane@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu