Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I was nowhere near as advanced as he is when I was his age," says Shaw, gesturing toward his 15-year-old son Jeremiah (nicknamed Miah), who also plays cello. "He's exceedingly advanced, but he's doing this without any kind of environment - there are not 20 other kids here in Blacksburg playing cello on his level."
It's a family powwow in the tiny studio, which barely holds the elder Shaw; Miah; 13-year-old violinist Franklin; 16-year-old percussionist and pianist Alex; the boys' mother, Teresa Shaw; Tom Shaw's wife, Doris Lederer, who is violist of the Audubon Quartet; and an interviewer.
The three Shaw boys perform Sunday afternoon at 3 with the Roanoke Youth Symphony in a free concert in Preston Auditorium at Radford University. Youth Symphony conductor James Glazebrook, who looks in before calling it quits on a long day, says that the three Shaws "make an authentic contribution to the Youth Symphony."
One thing's for sure: A professional classical musician's kids see the profession from the inside out. "I suppose one advantage that the guys have over young players whose parents are not musicians is that they see a side of music that most players don't see. I remember having quartet rehearsals in our apartment - we'd be doing the Bartok Fourth string quartet, and Alex would be jumping up and down in his crib," says Tom Shaw.
"When we go up to Cleveland, Jeremiah will hear the Cleveland Orchestra play at Severance Hall. He'll hear some of the great soloists of the world there, and in master classes he's hearing students that are just unbelievable - 9-year-olds who'll play the `Rococo Variations' in a way that'll make you weep," said Shaw.
Miah announces matter-of-factly that he's met classical music superstars Joshua Bell, Peter Schickele and Ruth Laredo - not bad for a 15-year-old who lives in a town that's not exactly the nerve center of American classical music. His instrument is the cello his dad used for the Audubon Quartet's Carnegie Hall debut.
The middle Shaw son already has decided he wants to be a professional musician. And not just any musician, mind you, but a soloist or chamber player, which has more status than a career sawing away in the cello section of a symphony orchestra.
Ironically, it's his dedication to his instrument that limits Miah's chances of moving up in the competitive Youth Symphony seating arrangements. He travels to Cleveland once every two weeks to study with Richard Aaron of the Cleveland Institute of Music, which means that he misses some of the weekly Youth Symphony section auditions.
"The kids are ranked weekly, and we average the top three rankings to determine seating. Miah is playing second stand now, and I'm sure the situation is a little frustrating to him," said Glazebrook. Miah has, however, won prizes in the group's Young Artists' Competition three years in a row.
The prize money? "I was forced to put it in the bank," he says glumly.
Percussionist Alex, who is a straight-A student at Blacksburg High School and who is contemplating a career in science, is the philosopher of the group. "I've just really started to develop this taste for classical music -before, I just took it for granted. Now I've started to feel it more and appreciate it more. I'm really into Romantic music and I'm in love with Rachmaninov. He's really cool; I listen to him a lot at night when I'm in the mood," said Alex.
As a double-threat performer on both keyboard and percussion, Alex will play piano during Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" Sunday as well as timpani in other works.
Violinist Franklin studies violin with Audubon second violinist David Salness and piano with Virginia Tech Professor Teresa Ehrlich, but he hasn't decided on a musical career. Though he still sits relatively far down among the first violins, his dedication impresses Glazebrook.
"When I look at him in rehearsal, I notice he's always looking back and his vibrato is just going along - he really has his heart in it, he's never dogging it."
Teresa Shaw, a research associate with Tech's Virginia Power Electronics Center, says the boys, who live with her, have different practice personalities. "Alex is quite disciplined. The other guys will do it but it's not like four hours every day consistently - some days it's more, some less.
"And rehearsing with brothers, there's a certain level of frustration," she says with a grin.
Volunteers Alex, "Just the basic things: you wanna work with him or he wants to work with you but there's not that cooperation - he wants to go on because he knows it better."
"You want him to restart at a certain place but he doesn't want to do that - the courtesy is not there for each other," Mom says.
Choosing his words carefully, Alex goes on, "You just know each other too well to be ..."
With a grimace, Miah finishes his brother's sentence: "Nice." Brothers are still brothers, classical music whizzes or not.
Except for their musical skill, the Shaw boys are pretty much indistinguishable from other American teen-age guys. Miah listens to alternative rock bands like Nirvana and Green Day ("When I feel like chillin'''), and Alex, who used to listen to rap music in middle school, is now into Latin jazz. All three are frustrated that classical music has a nonexistent profile among their friends.
"We were on a trip somewhere, and we were trying to decide what to listen to on the radio, and we took votes in the car. I said I was in the mood for classical music and one of my friends said, `I don't really count that as music.''' Bummer.
Sunday, the Shaw guys and the rest of the Youth Symphony will perform the "Fandango" from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol," the "Hoedown" from Aaron Copland's "Rodeo," the finales from Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 and Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and the "Concertino in D Major" of Cecile Chaminade, which will feature flute soloist Whitney Hanes. Admission is free. The Youth Symphony will perform a different program on May 7 at Northside High School in Roanoke.
ROANOKE YOUTH SYMPHONY & ROANOKE JUNIOR STRINGS: Sunday, 3 p.m., Preston Auditorium, Radford University. The young musicians, conducted by James Glazebrook, concert master of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Joanne Steele, director of the Roanoke Junior Strings, will present a concert for young people. Free admission. Four $100 music scholarships will be awarded as door prizes.
by CNB