Sundays at Spreckels: Inside the Golden Gate Park Band's 144th Season with Dr. German Gonzalez

0:01 Well, good morning, Hermann. Thanks for joining us today here in the green room. Hey, thanks for having me, Ray. So today we have Hermann Gonzalez. He is the music director and conductor of, what is the name of your group? The Golden Gate Park Band. The Golden Gate Park. It started in 1882. Wow. Can you believe it? So tell me how you got started with this, not the resume version, like the real version. I guess it was in 2017 they were looking for a new director so i applied and, I auditioned and played and then conducted and they chose somebody else and then he quit and then they did the auditions all over again and then this time I was one of the finalists and then they chose me as the associate conductor and then the guy they chose as first moved to Miami and they asked me to take over.

0:59 So I did and here I am in year three of leading the group. It's exciting. It's fun. yeah well what's the what's the most exciting part of it for you being able to play music a 90-minute concert with only a 60-minute rehearsal with professional musicians. And you know they're a lot of fun and and it's the rehearsal is hilarious but when we get down to business at the concert they just sound great you know all this park band music how is it that you You'll have only 60 minutes to rehearse. Well, the musicians are part of the musicians union. Yeah. And the contract is so many hours.

1:46 So we have a one hour rehearsal, an hour break for lunch, and then the concert for 90 minutes. Ah. And if we go further than that, then it's going to cost us just a little bit more money to pay all the musicians. Yes. It's monetary. Yes. But you know, I have to say, it's amazing how quickly, and it's the same experience, I've had the same experience as musicians, good musicians can learn things so quickly. It's just amazing to me. Yeah, and we... We send out PDFs of all the music and the order and some instructions beforehand so that they can look at it. Most of the people, you know, make a conscientious effort of being prepared.

2:31 And it's a lot of fun. The band, according to the audience, the band has never sounded better. And we strive to sound better every single week. And so you play in, what is it called? Spreckles? Is that right? Yeah. The Spreckles Temple of Music, otherwise known as the band show between the de Young Museum and the Academy of Sciences. And Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It's beautiful. I mean, I've been there many times. It's such a beautiful venue. So peaceful and grand at the same time. Right. And then when the weather is perfect, it's wonderful.

3:13 Yeah. I always tell people to bring layers because you never know. Yes, especially that area of San Francisco because it's kind of not protected at all from the fog just a couple miles away there on the ocean. Some mornings I get there about 8 o'clock in the morning to set up stuff and it could be foggy and plenty of dew. And it's kind of depressing because the number of people that come to watch us is relative to what the weather is like. Oh, yeah. So... But all of a sudden, a lot of times at noon or 1230, the sun starts to come out and then it starts to warm up.

3:59 And it's just it's just the perfect afternoon for a concert. Yeah. So you never know. You never know. It can be absolutely beautiful there. Like you say, it can be wet and foggy. And it can be wet and foggy one minute and then beautiful the next. So what do you think? So the band has been around since what? 1880? What? 1882. This is our 144th season. We play 24 concerts during the year from the end of April to the end of September. And every single concert is unique and different. So if you come to three concerts, you're going to hear three completely different programs.

4:44 Uh we feature we we feature guest artists to come and play with us and a lot of times members in the band volunteer to play uh solos with the band that's always a lot of fun actually on when is it june june 14th we're going to have a a concert entitled trombonology, And we're going to feature the trombones in a lot of the tunes that we've done. We did a trumpet palooza a couple of years ago, which was a lot of fun. And so we're going to try to match that with our great trombone players in the band.

5:30 Oh, great. I love the sound of those brass instruments. Yeah. Wonderful. Beautiful. So did, I read, I think somewhere that you started going to these concerts when you were a kid. Is that right? Yeah, I grew up in Pacifica and we would, my mom would insist on us getting out on Sundays. So my dad loaded up the car and we'd go to Golden Gate Park. After a while, you know, they went to different parks, but I remember us going to Golden Gate Park several times. Wow. That must be something to now be the conductor for the group.

6:11 It is pretty trippy, I have to say. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you think keeps the band going after all these years? How has it been able to continue for 140-some odd years? I think it's the, the dedication of the musicians, you know, all these, uh, you know, the 30 musicians are, like I said, they're professional musicians, but they also love band music. They, they love performing music and the more of a professional you are, the less you like rehearsals. So you know it's it's a draw for really good players to know that they're only going to rehearse for 60 minutes to play a 90 minute concert and a lot of times we don't even rehearse we don't even rehearse some of the things a lot of the marches we don't rehearse we just play them straight on yeah wow but uh that you know we're a 501c3 i say that we're a 501c3 in survival mode, hoping to turn into a thrive mode.

7:21 And that's one of the reasons why we're talking to people like you. But we have a, we have a regular audience every week. You know, we take a poll, raise your hand if you've never been to a concert and a few people raise their hand and then, you know, how many of you are regulars and you can see, you know, 60, 70, 80 people out in the audience raising their hand. And it's, it's fun to meet these people before and after the concert as, as well. Yeah. So I think, you know, the regular audience, you know. Band members enjoying what they do, I think, keeps this band going. And it's an important part of the culture of San Francisco.

8:02 That's why they call us the soul of the city these days. Yeah. Yeah. So there's so many wonderful traditions in our city of San Francisco. It's like the biggest, the smallest big city in the world. I like that. There's so many different wonderful traditions and things happening, and this is one of them. There's always something to do One of the things that we do for the programs Is we invite, Cultural groups From around the Bay Area And actually this week We're doing a Polish culture Celebration, At the end of the month We're doing Armenian culture We have a pride celebration in June We also have a Juneteenth Concert in June.

8:53 What else we also do the Scottish celebration we do the we have we invite an Irish dance troupe as well we have this huge Ukrainian celebration on August 23rd and then we celebrate the Spanish culture with a flamenco group, and the Mexican celebration with a ballet folklorico mexicano with. With a group that we've, we've partnered with for quite a long time. And this year we're going to do a German day that we haven't, we've never, we haven't done in a really, really long time.

9:34 Oh, okay. So that'll be at the end of September. So we, you know, we. We embrace the different cultures in the city, and we celebrate many of them. We always have these board meetings about, well, what about this other culture? What about that other culture? And we're trying to include a few more cultural celebrations, because those are probably the meat and potatoes of the organization. And that's one of the things that has kept this band going for as long as it's been going on.

10:14 Because they embrace new cultural groups, whereas a lot of times new cultural groups are shunned upon. There's a lot of racism when a new group comes in. But with our programs, we help these groups be a part of our community. Yeah, that's a wonderful idea and a good thing to be committed to. You know, I've always wondered, what is it that a conductor does that the audience may not realize?

10:56 Well, there are two sides of that story. You know, some people think that, you know, people don't need the conductor and because the musicians just play the music. And and then other people say, well, the conductor really shapes the music. Talk to composers. They say, well, and you ask them, well, how much of the music that you put on the page is part of the music? And he and they usually say a lot of times they say it's about 30 or 40 percent. The other 60% is up to the musicians, and even up to 20 or 30% on how the conductor waves his arms and shows expressions with his music.

11:42 With his postures and his and his movements yeah there's this one trumpet player in the band that, when we get together you know i kind of look at him go i can't believe i can't believe what we're doing here today he goes well man you know chill out because really with this band you're pretty much hurting cats and then when he said that to me i said okay all right, It's an impossible task But you just keep at it You just keep on working on the process, And then it just happens Now they're looking at the music on the sheet But they're also, and peripherally They're watching you Right So we encourage musicians to put the music stand, Halfway in between me and them So that they can see me, and the music at the same time yeah.

12:37 Because the conductor can decide when the music swells or how long a quarter note actually is, or if we want to actually play a half note in that spot instead of what's written, or there's so many different things you can decide to do, right? Yeah, you help them with articulations, the direction of the line. You know you help them with the balance you know if somebody's too loud you give them a you give them the hand to play a little bit softer somebody's not playing loud enough you kind of look at them and then, I've seen that I've seen conductors do that come on a little hard and then when they're sounding great you know a big smile on your face and you just keep on trekking through yeah, do you play any instruments yourself i'm a trumpet player oh, actually last week actually last week our opening day we played bugler's holiday and and i played third trumpet on that trumpet trio so i i play every once in a while with the band and it's it's it's kind of fun yeah do you have a like a substitute conductor when you're playing or do you just wing it?

13:59 One of the trumpet players is a conductor too, so I had him conduct while we did the trio. I've conducted and played a solo at the same time. Sometimes that works when they don't need much of a conductor. I see. And what's it like playing outdoors? Is that different than being indoors? It is because the sound dissipates. You know there's no it doesn't the indoor ambiances is not there but the band shell has got great acoustics and.

14:42 I'll tell you a secret what we do also, just don't tell anybody. Well, everyone's going to hear. Here we go. Here comes the secret. So Mark, the gentleman that records the music, plugs into the PA, and there's just a bit of presence from the microphones into the PA. And that helps us a little bit. Yeah. it's it's not it's not super loud and you it's really hard to notice yeah but that does make a difference especially with music that we're playing that is soft and melodic that music's really fun to play and the and the band plays all that stuff pretty expressively yeah and when i first started you know the audiences would complain well you know you shouldn't play soft music because we can't hear it right right once we started to use once we started to use the microphones and and bring up the sound just a little bit yeah we're not getting those those complaints anymore yeah it makes people are used people are used to things being a little louder now than they were maybe you know a hundred years ago i i'd say so yeah i mean i do musical theater and when the uh If the actors are miked, the band has to have a little bit of support as well.

16:08 Otherwise, you just can't hear. Yeah. It does make a big difference. There's a lot that goes into each and every concert. Yeah. And. It's great how it comes together every single week. Well, it's good to have somebody who knows how to use the soundboard really well and understand sound and can modulate these things too, right? Yeah. And we have, actually, one of the musicians in the front row controls the soundboard. Oh, wow. So every once in a while she might stop playing it and run out. And the audience just to hear how it sounds and then comes back. Oh, interesting.

16:53 We are self-sufficient. But it would be great if we could find a couple of people help us set up and put things away. Because the 30 of us bring everything out from the dungeon of the backstage and set everything up. And then we put everything back. So a couple of stagehands would be great. But like I said, our budget just doesn't stretch that far. How long has that venue been there? Isn't it? It's pretty old, right? I think it's 100 years, isn't it? Oh, my God.

17:34 101 years. I think this is, it's 101st season. I'm not exactly sure. Well, I know that that, what is it called? I'm so sorry. The place. Freckles. I mean, I remember it when I was a little boy being there. Yeah, it's been around. That was almost 100 years ago. So. It's like it's getting closer to a hundred every year, yeah so the uh the the dungeon must be quite something i can imagine yeah we share it with the uh with the groundskeepers yeah and they have these cages where we can lock our stuff up i see neat so what makes your group different from something like a symphony orchestra or the Boston Pops or somebody like that?

18:26 Well, the Boston Pops is an orchestra. Yeah. And mostly of string made up of strings. The band is made up of wind players, woodwinds, brass, and we have two percussionists. Do you have any string players or is it all? Oh, we have a, we have an electric bass player. Oh, wow. That, that the presence of, of Steve and his bass players, playing is there's a there's this presence to to the bass that you don't realize is there because of the electric bass so yeah he's the only string player oh okay yeah well i mean it's important to have a bass in you know even though you might not consciously hear everything it really keeps a lot of the the undertone right in the rhythm yeah it's it's the foundation of the of the chord, Yeah, yeah. So...

19:26 Gosh you've been in music for what 50 years or more i started playing trumpet in the sixth grade yeah wow so have you changed as an artist over that time or how how has it gone for you, what's been your path it's it's it's been take it's taken me an entire lifetime to have the confidence to play and to conduct without being nervous ah yes yes so the musician self-deprecating syndrome it is it's brutal you know oh god always your worst critic yep i think over the over the years it's you know i'm finally being able i'm finally able to figure out how to not be so nervous all the time yeah you know telling myself i can do this i'm gonna do this this is gonna be great and then when you've got when you've got 30 people around going this is gonna be great you know we're you know don't worry man we're we've we've got you we're this is this tune is gonna sound great don't worry about it you know that you've got that support system from all these people so is there anything about music that still surprises you do you find new things still.

20:49 It's fun going through all the different libraries that we have and i find something that, that i've never heard of before and you kind of look at it and then you program it and then other band members go i've never played this piece before or maybe one or two people have played it yeah it's a great piece you know where'd you find this oh you know you you just keep searching until yeah until you find something new make new discoveries yeah yeah i used to do i used to perform in musicals at a company called 42nd street moon who's not i don't they're not really doing anything anymore since covid but their whole thing was to find old musicals from new york or broadway that didn't make it or and they would have to peep they'd have to go like into libraries and find the old sheet music and in the in the in the book and stick it all together and somehow create something that happened you know 60 80 years ago yeah there's a lot of failures out there yeah and there's a lot of failures that are really good it's just yeah yeah not bad yeah exactly yeah yeah there's a timing was just not right or something, who's your favorite composer to conduct there are so many come on.

22:14 Not answerable huh yeah you know i always say that an outdoor concert is not a success without some kind of gershwin ah yeah and. Gustav Holst is somebody who has been able to write band music over the years. Has passed the test of time. California composer Frank T. Kelly has written a lot of things, and his music speaks to me as well. There are a lot of there are a lot of classics that that are written for orchestra that when, transcribed for band sound pretty good but then again there are others that don't i mean i mean if we had to play beethoven's fifth symphony i'd i think we would lose audience members it's just not the same thing but you know the classical favorites we play a lot of them we play a lot of marches a lot of jazz and pop music you know the movie soundtracks sometimes i do, sing-alongs or sometimes i do name that tune so we'll play a we'll play a medley of six or seven tunes, and at the end of each tune, I stop and then I turn around and then the audience shouts out the name of the tune.

23:45 That's fun. Yeah, it is fun. Great. So, can you review the dates here so that people know? And it's all free, right? Yeah. That's the whole... That's the whole deal about the Spreckels Temple of Music is they built that for the Golden Gate Park Band, and they also said that every concert held there is going to be free. So our season runs from the end of April to the end of September every Sunday at 1 o'clock. We also have 4th of July, and this year it's on a Saturday, same time, 1 o'clock. We also have a Labor Day concert on a Monday.

24:32 So we have that Sunday on the 6th, and then again the very next day on Monday. Wonderful. And all the information is on goldengateparkorchestra.org. Is that correct? It's so close. Goldengateparkband.org. Oh, sorry. That's all right. Goldengateparkband.org. Thanks. yeah yeah i had the wrong word in my head golden gate park band.org for all the information about the performance dates and any anything else you want to learn yeah and there's, there's bios of all the musicians and a little history on the band right and actually we got a it's our website just got a new um.

25:26 Revamped yeah finally yeah so we're excited about that and yeah i don't know that's really good we can find more people to come to every concert a lot of people tell me i'm crazy when i say i want 500 people at every concert that'd be nice yeah it would be really nice you know in the 20s and the 30s you'd see pictures of band concerts and there were just hundreds and hundreds of people out there wow but then again there was no there were no cell phones and you weren't competing with everything else no but it's live music and when it's free you can't beat it no and uh and our programs put a smile on your face and and the the music is, And it's well-performed. It's really well-performed. I imagine you just have a lot of people who are walking by and then stop it and come out against.

26:26 Yeah, our audiences are our regulars, new people that have heard, thanks to podcasts like yours and other things. And then people that are just walking by, tourists. We put a lot of our rack cards at the hotels around San Francisco. And we get some audience from there as well. Yeah, yeah. Well, great. Thanks so much for being on the show today, Herman. I really enjoyed speaking with you. I've always wondered about the Golden Gate Park Band more. I listened. I didn't know anything about them other than that they were there, and I enjoyed listening.

27:14 I talk to a lot of people in San Francisco, and you'd be surprised how many people have never heard of the band. Oh, wow. It blows me away, even in the Sunset District. Yeah. Right next door, huh? Yeah. But I encourage people to come. Yeah. I meet a lot of people at the diet bars up in the sunset. Great. And that's how I do most of my audience. Not most of it, but I do a lot of recruiting for audience members. All right. Well, thanks for being on the show. All right. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.