John Tischhauser, my Great Grandfather

I'd met my great grandfather a few times while I was growing up but since he died when I was about five years old, I don't really remember him. He was a multi-talented musician who played a variety of instruments. But mainly he was a violinist and played with the Albuquerque Civic Symphony, the pre-cursor to the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

Recently, a friend of mine and cello player in the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, Pete Palmer, showed me a print he had from the ACS 1956-57 season, showing himself in the cello section and my great grandfather in the orchestra as well. Pete had found out about my ancestor because my cousin Anne Tillery mentioned John Tischhauser to him. Both Pete and I searched the violin section to identify my great grandfather, but neither of us were sure which person he was.

As it turns out, the reason was because he was sitting in the viola section! When I was just starting out on viola, I had an instrument that was originally owned by Tischhauser. It was a small viola, and not super-great quality, so I used it in elementary school and up until high school when I purchased the Honeycutt viola. But I never realized that my great grandfather actually played viola seriously. But there he is, sitting second chair viola. Now, I feel even more of a kinship with him.

12 Days of Rehearsal

This is a little ditty I wrote together with Peter Kempter back in 1987 or so, when we worked for his dad Dale Kempter and also James Bonnell at the Albuquerque Public Schools music department during the summer. I'm sure you can tell we were working really hard!

The 12 Days of Rehearsal

On the first day of rehearsal, the director gave to me, a
part to a piece I'd never seen.

On the second day of rehearsal, the director gave to me:
All of the bowings for the

On the third day of rehearsal, the director gave to me:
Three fingerings,

On the fourth day of rehearsal, something caught my eye:
Four different clefs,

On the fifth day of rehearsal, I started getting scared:
FIVE OCTAVE RANGE!

On the sixth day of rehearsal, we read a new movement:
key with six flats,

On the seventh day of rehearsal, we had to count out loud:
7/4 time,

On the eighth day of rehearsal, I nearly fell asleep:
80 bars of rest,

On the ninth day of rehearsal, I had to watch the beat:
nine different tempos,

For the 10th day of rehearsal, I practiced really hard:
10,000 notes,

On the 11th day of rehearsal, we read the whole piece through:
11 long movements,

On the 12th day of rehearsal, the concert was that night:
1,200 listeners!

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Albuquerque 3rd Annual Best of the City Event

Well, for the 3rd year in a row, the quartet has been invited to perform at the Albuquerque the Magazine "Best of the City" event to represent the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. This event is always great fun because the best food, wine and other services are all on display. This year, we plan to play Por una Cabeza, Here Comes the Sun, and Bohemian Rhapsody. It's Thursday night, November 29th, starting at 6pm, at the Santa Ana Star casino and resort. If you have a chance to get tickets and attend, we look forward to seeing you there!