18 Metro Detroit Bassoonists Play “Crocodile Rock” with a Social Distance Twist (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, June 25, 2020)
Ferndale, MI – In spite of social distancing, 18 musicians managed some “hopping and bopping” with a special performance of Crocodile Rock – with bassoons, via video.
Ferndale-based musician Stacey Jamison, who also has been performing sidewalk concerts with neighbors, needed another creative project, so she revived a fun composition from the past.
“Back in college I wrote an arrangement of Crocodile Rock for bassoon choir. One day in the shower I thought I should try to gather as many bassoonists in the area that I could to pull out this arrangement again. I started with as many bassoonists as I know in a Facebook message to pitch the idea to them. Then they added the people they knew that I didn’t. I personally contacted some of the DSO musicians that I have a personal relationship with, and they all ended up doing it,” Jamison said.
Zoom is not a good format for live concerts because of issues with varying speeds and lag times in the videos. However, Jamison pulled off the arrangement with some tech savvy editing. “I had to create a Google shared folder that contained the parts and a click track. People would then choose a part and record it while listening to the click track, so I could line it all up later. Then people uploaded their videos to the shared folder. I downloaded their videos and mixed the audio, then compiled the videos in a different program.”
The result is a screen full of musically-centered squares, and a virtual jam that delighted everyone involved.
Casey Gsell, who is the Principal Bassoon of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, loved getting to work with other bassoonists. “This group shows a wide range of music careers. We have full-time orchestra players like myself, opera orchestra players, freelancers that work with many groups, music teachers, and music students,” she said.
“Music is uplifting and keeps us connected in these difficult times. Stacey imagined a group of all the bassoonists in the Metro Detroit area or originally from the area coming together to do something fun to bring a little happiness and awareness to our music-making. Like the others, I was more than happy to help out! It was a lot of fun to see Stacey’s final cut of all of us together and to share it on social media for our friends and audiences to hear.”
Gsell said it was especially nice to see bassoons take the center stage, or in this case, center screen.
“It was fun for all of us to play in a big group together. Usually there’s only two or three bassoonists and one contrabassoonist playing as a section as a part of a larger orchestra. Here we got to bring all of our orchestra sections together and have a big bassoon band, something we have never done in person!”
Scott Armstrong has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the Windsor Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Saginaw Bay Symphony, for the Three Tenors at the old Tiger Stadium, for the International Symphony, for the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, and as a pit musician for shows at the Fisher Theatre, the Fox Theater, Detroit Opera House and the Masonic Temple, as well the Detroit Music Hall, as well as with many other ensembles in Michigan, across the U.S., and throughout Europe. He was happy to be part of the Crocodile Rock project.
“I was eager to be part of it not only because it sounded like a lot of fun, but with the pandemic, their are no opportunities to play live music in person with my musician colleagues. Being able to play music with other people is extremely important to professional musicians and unemployed musicians are not only struggling financially, but emotionally as well. This collaboration was an opportunity to make music together, even if it was separately over the computer,” he said.
Armstrong added an announcement as well. “It was fun playing the part and I was really pleased with the end product that Stacey put together,” he said, adding “So much so, that we are now working on a second collaboration that will be released in July.”
Check out the video on You Tube.