The Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT)

who are we? -- strings section


The strings section of The Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT) has at last achieved critical mass, with some enthusiastic new members and some adjustments from one section to another by our more versatile members. We actually now have more violins than cellos. But more strings are always welcome, provided they are sufficiently Terrible.

As you may be aware, The Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT) does not assign seating within a section from best-to-worst first-to-last. Our unique blend of tonal nuances is only achieved through a careful analysis of who should sit next to whom.

However, after all is said and done, we would like to introduce on violin one of our newest RTOOT members, Jenny Pothoven. Laura Ingalls has been welcomed as principal first violin, and Jeri Walter as principal second violin. Jeri explains that her parents both took up instruments after retirement, as they then had more time to practice. While the Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT) encourages members to practice mightily, the punishment for bobbles is not too severe, so she figured, "Why wait for retirement ... Life is short.” A welcome addition to the strings is professional violist Patrice Barley, who will play Mr. Hobgood's cheap student violin, since our rules prevent her from playing something that she's truly competent upon. We are also privileged to have the 7-year old prodigy Tejas Chandrasekhar playing first violin. Michael Czeisperger is also on violin. Tara Bryan comes to our violin section from Youngsville, where she is involved in several projects, none of which are paying jobs. Ellen Welch was happy just playing the iPod until suffering an inexplicable urge to brush tens years' worth of dust off the violin this past summer. Now it's her neighbors who are suffering. Lest we forget, our crayon girl and would-be violinist Holly Wanna Crackya, who is a jammer -- # 999 -- with the Carolina Rollergirls (for real), a professional roller derby team (http://carolinarollergirls.com ) that performs at Dorton Arena in Raleigh when they play home games. Ms. Crackya was recently recognized as Jammer of the Year for 2008 and also received the distinction of “stinkiest pads” (reference to knee pads, we are told). Additional members welcomed in our summer 2009 season are Judy Williams, Beth Austin, Julie Osborne, and Mary Ann Brittain. In the fall 2010 season we added Matt Willman, Sandy Pham, Mary Bartell, Heather Anderson, Sudha Ananthakrishnan, Andre Gibbs, Carrie Makambi, Frances Ochart, and Delanie Postma.


The violas are coming on strong and we are happy to include Jenny Holt, Genie Haley,
Duncan Monserud, and Birgid Buntic. As a child in Midland,TX, Genie played the viola, but after moving to N.C. where there was no strings program in her school, she became just a wannabe musician. Later, her husband, wanting to fulfill her wishes, bought her a new instrument and she recently renewed her affair with the viola. Now she is excited to be a fully qualified member of the RTOOT! Also in the viola section we have Ted Ehrhard. Mr. Ehrhard, who hails from Bynum, NC, is an electrician, piano technician, and expert in car emission. Furthermore, he is a Bach enthusiast and the founder, music director, sound man, and general roadie for the Pittsboro Bach Society. He was originally recruited to play string bass, but he left it out in the rain and it shrank, so he plays it like a viola now.
Our principal cellist, Sue Coon, dazzled the cello world as a child, maxing out at age 11 with her signature tune, "Whistle While You Work."  After a gap of many decades, she has returned to the cello and has been working very hard at it, which is not to be confused with any discernible improvement. Bill Hirsch moved here from Delaware a dozen years ago and became delusional. He looks forward to the day RTOOT “brings down the house” at Meymandi Hall. “I love playing again”, Bill says, “But now I think I’m ready to step up a level and start using the bow.” Santa brought Bill a new cello for Christmas and his wife, four grown children, four grandchildren and most of the neighbors found ear plugs in their stockings. Hampton Carmine is a composer with a number of original compositions and arrangements in his Sibelius portfolio. George Radwan rounds out the cello section.

However, we are now proud to have real string basses, played by Jamie Dixon, Jane Espeseth and Michael Lyle. Michael is also our assistant conductor. Jane observes that “As a pediatric dentist, I had to take up the bass viol as a nice low zen sound in my ear to balance off the high pitched screams of angry young children while I force them to get their teeth fixed.”