C harles Noble, award-winning assistant principal viola and soloist for the Oregon Symphony since 1995, is no stranger to the viola joke. His favorite? What’s the difference between a violin and a viola? A viola burns longer. “Viola jokes have often been promulgated by violists themselves, which proves that we usually get the last laugh. I find them quite funny,” he says, while noting that their frequency makes them just as timeworn as time-honored.
Noble is an active chamber musician – founding the Ethos and Arnica String Quartets and playing with the Pyxis Quartet since 2014 – and a fixture on the festival circuit, including principal for the Sunriver Music Festival. He teaches at University of Portland and blogs about “life on the working end of the viola” at nobleviola.com.
Photo by Christine Dong, Artslandia
What do you consider to be the most rewarding part of your career as a professional viola player?
The friendships that I make as I go through my career. I’m fortunate to have met and befriended so many wonderful colleagues over the years. As other things change, those friendships continue year after year. I also love to be involved in the process of bringing new works to life, both as an individual and as a member of an ensemble.
What do you find most challenging about being a professional musician?
Time management. I’m naturally inclined to procrastinate, but I’m also extremely busy (not a good combination)! So making sure that I allow time to prepare for each concert and rehearsal period is super important. I’m getting better at it, but I still have room for improvement! Learning to say “no” to opportunities is also something that I’m getting better at as well.
How does the experience of practicing and playing in a small quartet differ from playing in the Symphony?
Right now I’m playing with the Arnica Quartet and the Pyxis Quartet (formerly the Third Angle Quartet). Chamber music is essential to being a well-rounded musician. It keeps you honest – there’s nowhere to hide! I love exploring music in more intimate settings with my quartet companions and our loyal audiences. There’s a depth and intimacy found in the great chamber works (both new and old) that is hard to equal in the larger ensemble, even with its great masterworks. The ability to shape one’s conception of a piece of music is also gratifying. We don’t have a conductor telling us her way of how a piece should go. We have total agency in how the work is shaped, and that is vital to feeling empowered and rewarded as a working musician.
How does the experience of playing in a festival compare to a more traditional orchestral setting?
At a chamber music festival, it is rare to get more than three rehearsals for a given work, whereas at home, we’d likely have upward of eight rehearsals spread over a few months’ time. Then there’s the experience of performing with musicians that you’ve never played with before. You’ve got a short time to get a sense of how someone approaches music and to find commonality with them. I find it exhilarating – and sometimes terrifying – to throw unfamiliar repertoire together in a short time with wonderful musicians that you’ve only just met.
Oregon Symphony’s lineup for this season runs the gamut. How do you view the relationship between popular and classical music? Do you prefer one to the other?
They both have their place, and the lines between the two are blurring more and more. Composers such as Andrew Norman are making connections between modern video games and their large-scale compositions, while others are melding a singer-songwriter model to classical forms as well. Throughout history, popular and ‘high’ art have often intermingled, and when done artfully, it results in benefits to both genres.
Photo by Christine Dong, Artslandia
Describe your ideal experience of watching a live music performance. Where are you? Who is onstage?
This is an experience that I have actually had. Sitting on the lawn at the Tanglewood Festival on a warm summer’s night, watching the sky go from blue to deep blue to black, listening to Schubert’s Die Winterreise sung by Hans Hotter.
The variety of offerings in the upcoming season is incredible – from Petrushka to Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert to Tchaikovsky v. Drake. Which show are you most anticipating and why?
I’m excited about the Star Wars show! I remember owning the soundtrack to the original Star Wars movie, and it is an iconic score that should be a total blast to play. The Petrushka multimedia performance should also be an incredible experience. John Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony is also something that I’m looking forward to a great deal, as I loved the opera from which this music is derived.
What career aspirations have you yet to achieve?
I would like to commission and record pieces by composers who have become my friends over the years.
What changes do you make in your mindset and technique as you tackle different genres of music?
I’m always working on my focus, which can be difficult to maintain between different genres of music. Technique is pretty universal. Because of that, as I get older, I try to do as much basic maintenance work on my technique as possible. It gets harder to take time away from the instrument, even as taking that time away becomes ever more important to keep one’s sanity.
What is your favorite piece of music to perform?
The one I’m playing right now!