‘Land of Bottle’ to show kids music’s sparkle BSO’s youth orchestra to play for schoolchildren at MCA

ORONO – From New Orleans to London’s Albert Hall, “Land of Bottle” has introduced new listeners to the sounds of the symphony for more than four decades.

Come Monday, it will be Maine youngsters’ turn to hear the imaginative piece composed and narrated by principal bass player Bob Rohe during the Bangor Symphony Youth Concerts at the Maine Center for the Arts.

Over the course of one day, 4,000 pupils will come for one of three productions at the University of Maine.

They also will hear two pieces performed by the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra – “Blues Killed for a Cat” and George Gershwin’s classic, “Rhapsody in Blue.”

The winner of the Annis-Cupp Award in the BSO High School Concerto Competition, 17-year-old Abigail Greene of Brooklin, will perform Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor.

A senior at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Greene has been playing piano for 12 years.

Greene, who studies with Patricia Stowell, is looking forward to her performances in the youth concerts.

“It’s incredibly exciting. I’ve wanted to play with an orchestra since I was little,” she said.

It won’t be her first time to perform for youngsters. Greene’s previous experience includes playing for children through Arcady Society programs.

“I really hope to teach,” she said.

Greene’s selection as winner of the Annis-Cupp Award began with her making a five-minute tape of her chosen piece last fall. Six finalists were chosen to do live auditions, and Greene won the competition.

She hopes the audiences will like the Grieg piece as much as she does.

“It’s everything,” she said. “It has a big, bombastic exciting part, and slower lyrical parts. It’s an exciting mix.”

Bob Rohe’s composition, “Land of Bottle,” was written more than 40 years ago when he played with the New Orleans Symphony. It will introduce youngsters to Princess Nola, the King, Drill Noseborer, Shovel Bill Doodlebug, Gooney Bird, Dwarf and the Evil Seltzer.

BSO musicians Peggy Jo Wilhelm, Scott Burditt, Louis Hall and Bob Gallon will play the voices of four of the major characters, who are also “bottle blowers.”

The four will demonstrate for the audience an activity familiar to those who grew up in the era of glass soda bottles, Rohe said. Each will blow across the mouth of bottles filled with differing amounts of water in order to create different musical tones.

Many of the pupils will be familiar with the technique from activity packets the BSO has sent out to teachers of classes that will be attending the concerts.

The packets offer information on vibration, amplitude and frequency to help the children understand what creates music.

The material also includes a seating plan for the orchestra so that teachers can explain where the various groups of musicians will be sitting.

The intent of a piece such as “Land of Bottle,” Rohe said, is to help young listeners understand what is going on musically, “to take them over the gap” during what may be their first concert experience.

The characters are designed to keep young minds engaged as Evil Seltzer tries to take over the fanciful kingdom. There’s also a pink and white bird that flies backward.

“She says, ‘I got tired of seeing where I was going,'” Rohe explained.

“Land of Bottle” has been played by more than a dozen symphonies from Hawaii to England.

Sponsors of the Bangor Symphony Youth Concert Series are Adelphia, the Bangor Daily News, the Maine Community Foundation, Peoples and the Northeast Heart Institute.

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra is in its 105th season.

For information on the Bangor Symphony Youth Concerts or other BSO activities, call 942-5555.