The “Batolin” adventure, by Glenn Donnellan - National Symphony Orchestra Blog

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National Symphony Orchestra Blog

8/28/2009

The “Batolin” adventure, by Glenn Donnellan

Glenn Donnellan is a violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra.

This Batolin adventure all began when I was asked to play a demo on an electric violin (borrowed from Foxes Music) for the NSO Young People's Concerts we did last fall at the Kennedy Center, where science and music was the theme. I had never played an electric fiddle before then and had fun messing around with it. I thought it would be fun to make one myself, so one week prior to our March American Residency in Arkansas, I started work on a Louisville Slugger with the NSO stagehands' drill press before and after concerts. Since I was rotated off the Mozart piano concerto [for the concerts of March 19-21 with Herbert Blomstedt and Jonathan Biss], I even did some drill work in my tails during the concert. I worked on it more at home that weekend - when my wife returned from an outing Saturday and encountered my project in the garage for first time, she commented "you could have cleaned the garage" (instead of messing around with such a thing). Finished it up in hotel rooms in AR and premiered it at the NSO Young People's Concert in Helena, AR. In April, NSO cellist Jim Lee introduced me to a Nats owner (Bob Tanenbaum) at an Autism Speaks benefit concert done by Jim's chamber music series at Episcopal High School. A few months later I made the YouTube video to send to Bob so he could consider having me play for the Nats. That happened on July 1^st. Others found it and it took on its own life from there.

The Nats contacted me via Facebook via their mascot, Teddy, an amusing face-man use for him, and I ended up playing the Star Spangled Banner for the Nats on 8/8.

I really can't say enough about the Nats - they were great to me, happy to have me there, and made me and my family feel completely welcomed. I've always had a good fan experience there, and from my positive experience behind the scenes playing the Anthem, it seems like that friendly, helpful demeanor goes all the way to the top. And it was fantastic to play for game 7 of their 8-game winning streak. Go Nats! NSO players Pam Hentges (assistant principal second violin), Ira Gold (bass) and Vern Summers (violin) all happened to be at the game, which made it all the more fun, and I was able to bring some family and friends and some of the NSO stage hands who were helpful in getting the Batolin started through the use their tools, in addition to letting me play with the amps and sound systems at the KC and in AR.

The comments posted to my YouTube video have been nice to read, which is nearing 200,000 views. I delete only those that are extremely profane or where people fight with other commentators, like the vicious attacks that follow after someone says they don't like the S.S. Banner or dislike American attitude, etc. I like that early on, folks would comment that it wasn't real (air-bowing a bat, etc.), and multiple defenders would swoop in with responses, citing things they saw in the video that convinced them it was real. One question I have is why so many people have to use expletives to underscore their positive comments...I'd like this to be a kid-friendly endeavor, so some of those get zapped as well.

One of the great experiences that has come out of this is being so close to the action at the ball park, both on field at the warm-ups before the game and up close behind home plate during the game. I do a sound check 3-4 hours before the game starts to get sound levels set and then I get to hang out and watch batting practice, etc. The "dressing" rooms I've had so far have been right next to the dugouts, so I can watch right from that amazing vantage point. I had never been up that close, where you can watch the ball launch and spin off the bat, arcing through the air, sometimes even cutting a slow corkscrew as it sails away.

Catching up with Nats fans after playing William Tell atop the dugout for the Presidents race:

An odd part of the experience is that there is a delay in the sound system, understandably. You hear your sound a split second after you play a note, and that can be very distracting. It also makes it hard to fix intonation, since your fingers are on to the next note by the time you hear what they just played. So there is no real-time adjusting, especially since the bat itself makes almost no sound - no sound box; just the quiet sound of the strings vibrating the air around them. This leads me to use foam earbud-type headphones, which are like a foam construction earplug (like what we use in the symphony for loud music) that you squish in your fingers and then insert in your ear, where they expand and block out sound. They have little speaker tubes in them that allow you to hear an iPod, etc. in a noisy environment, like on a plane. I stick these in my ears and plug them into my amp modeler and I have a direct line to hearing just me. It doesn't sound like what comes out of the speakers, either. It's amazing how the sound changes from one speaker source to another (think of hearing a song on your cell phone and then hearing it on a good stereo). So that in itself is a little distracting, because I don't get the same sound feeling that I designed for the speaker system. Intonation is difficult to hear in this application as well, but I'm getting a little better at it.

So, people ask "how much does it pay?" I haven't made a dime at this so far - MLB clubs don't pay for the Anthem to be performed, nor do they cover any travel expenses, so I find. It looks like producing and selling this new instrument to memorabilia collectors would be the way to recoup the couple G's I've put into it so far. I recently drove myself to Atlanta and put myself up in hotels to play a Braves make-up game on the 17th, just for the experience. That was fun, and throughout the game Hall of Fame announcer Don Sutton was very complimentary of my performance, which made it all the more worth it. Ballpark fans really like seeing the bat, so I walked around the stands with it after I played. I'd love to play for other teams, but can't afford to take the time and expense of getting to anything farther away than Atlanta, esp. when the NSO is playing. All the teams have their anthem dates booked for the remainder of the regular season, so I anticipate no more calls this season, except that I may play again for the Nats - I hear they would like to rebook me. Maybe we can redo the William Tell Overture during the Presidents race - on 8/8 I played it from atop the Nats dugout, but it hardly came through the sound system, so no one was aware of the race's "soundtrack".

A curious side-endeavor developed last Friday, August 21st, after a "Let's Talk Live" interview with Newschannel 8 in Arlington. Charlyne Yi from the film Paper Heart was also at the interview, so we got talking, she tried the bat, and then asked me to play it at her standup comedy gig at Arlington Cinema Draft House that night. I had no idea what she planned to have me do, and it was strange to get up on stage in the middle of her act and insert a couple tunes, like a sudden straight man with no one to play off. I had a good time, though, and she was a lot of fun to hear. She is a very musical entertainer herself, accompanying her quirky, comical vocals with electric guitar and playing hand bells or a mini toy keyboard (think Ross Geller before the prom, shrunk down). After the show she said that she usually has a friend do a few numbers on a hand saw when she plays in L.A. It was then that I realized that I've officially entered the world of funky musical entertainment.

I am always happy to talk to any audience members at the KC or elsewhere - I think people should feel free to come up and ask players questions, and I'd like to get to know our fans (oh, sorry - concertgoers) more. We appreciate that you come to our concerts, and I always wonder what drew you to that particular concert program, or what things you like about music or the symphony. So when you see me on stage, come up and say hi!

Showing some Levine School summer campers the ropes of the amp modeler equipment that gives the bat its sound: