Faces in the Orchestra: Alice McGonigal

Alice McGonigal has served as principal flute in the Symphony since September, 1975. Additionally, she plays piccolo, alto flute, bass flute, fife, Irish-folk flute, guitar (for Kinders at school), some viola and cello – plus singing, conducting and arranging. Here are some of Alice’s favorite memories of her thirty-four years with the Symphony.

In Which Alice Auditions (or, “Little San Luis Obispo Has a Symphony?”)
In 1975 Alice was living in Van Nuys, just beginning her Master’s degree in music at CSU Northridge (then San Fernando Valley State College), which she completed in 1979. During these years, Alice worked as a Music Librarian at CSU Northridge. She also performed actively with the North Wind Quintet (formerly the Northridge Woodwind Quintet) and was a frequent recitalist and session musician. Alice had a number of flute students in Santa Maria, so she commuted there twice a month. Sometimes she would stop by Hancock to consult Chris Kuzell’s MGG Encyclopedia (Chris worked at Hancock then and was concertmaster of the SLO Symphony). It was during one of those visits that Alice learned about an opening in the flute section of the orchestra.

“Chris and I were playing duets (flute/violin). Afterwards, he asked: ‘would you be interested in auditioning for the San Luis Obispo County Symphony?’ I answered, ‘little San Luis Obispo has a symphony? Wow! I didn’t know that. Sure! Is there an audition list?’ Chris said, ‘I don’t know. I’ll call the conductor Clif Swanson and ask. Do you know who Clif Swanson is?’ I replied, ‘No. Never heard of him.’”

At this point, Alice’s knowledge of San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly was limited. She knew that Cal Poly had a PE department and a swimming pool because she would sometimes ride with her older brother there to swim laps.

After a few days, Clif arranged to meet with Alice at Cal Poly within a day for her audition. Alice asked what she should play, and Clif replied, “whatever you have will be just fine.” Here’s the rest of the story in Alice’s words:

“I arrived at the time set by Clif. Well… Clif didn’t show up at the appointed time. I didn’t know what he looked like, so any fellow going into the music building could have been him. I figured he forgot or we had missed one another, so I waited twenty minutes (a standard wait time for college professors), then I started to walk to the parking lot when someone called out: ‘Are you Alice?’ I turned around and saw a tall man, and I said ‘Are you Clif Swanson?’ He said, ‘yes! I’m sorry I’m late.’ We went into the band room; I got my flute out and put my music on the stand.

As I was looking through my music, I saw that the music I was going to play wasn’t there. I was going to play the first movement of the J.S. Bach Flute Sonata in E plus the pieces I had just learned for an audition for the Denver Symphony the week before. Very embarrassed, I asked Clif, ‘what would you like to hear from my stack of music? The pieces I had prepared aren’t here, but I do have these Handel Sonatas with the bass line underneath the flute part.’ Clif all of a sudden walked away, took out a bow, and then got a double bass from one of the large, long cabinets in the room and proceeded to tune the bass to the piano. I then tuned to the piano and while I was tuning, Clif walks over and stands just slightly behind me. We started to play the Handel sonatas together. We played for about forty-five minutes to an hour, then he put his bass away. I asked if he wanted to hear me play piccolo. He said no. Then he started to talk about the orchestra and what was available in the flute section as well as other sections and about the players of the Mozart Festival. He asked several questions about my music background. Then he told me that he had to hear one or two more flute players and then he would call me. I thought, ‘Is that it?’ He did say that he was pretty sure I would be first chair, but I wasn’t too convinced because I actually thought I was auditioning for second chair. He even talked about payment for the chair placement and funds for mileage. He wanted me to drive up from Van Nuys each week and not every other week. Two days later he called me again to confirm the principal flute position. I agreed to his offer. Now… almost thirty-five years later, I’m amazingly still principal flute in the San Luis Obispo Symphony.”

In Which Alice Reminisces

Alice writes of her time with the orchestra: “each year has a memorable moment.” Some that stand out: “Of course the trip to Spain and me cracking a whip I bought in El Escorial. The trip to Carnegie Hall and to George Washington University with my younger brother tagging along. And I can’t forget the Australia trip with me catching a sick bug on the plane to Sydney and being sick for the rest of the trip! Ugh. The Walt Disney Hall was great and some of my colleagues in Los Angeles had a chance to hear me play in the orchestra.”

However, according to Alice, “what comes to mind is the unexpected.” Picture it: the Cal Poly band room packed with enough musicians to play a Brahms symphony. Clif is conducting, and Alice is playing flute. At one point the entire orchestra – strings, winds, brass, percussion – were playing such loud chords that the vibrations in the room actually shook Alice’s music off the stand. It was sheet music, so the pages fell every which way.

In Which Alice Further Reminisces (or, a Slip-Up)

Sometimes I envy women who play in orchestras: they don’t have to perform in bulky, hot tuxedos. Even at the “no-ties-allowed” dress rehearsals, I catch myself, out of habit, reaching up to straighten my tie when taking a bow. When I got my first tux at fifteen, I had a devil of a time keeping the cummerbund in place. It tended to slip down and look not unlike a loincloth. Still, as this story of Alice’s shows, ladies can face wardrobe “slips” of their own. Here’s a “blog-exclusive”:

“The scene: the orchestra was playing a Beethoven symphony. During the first movement, I felt my slip rising up and my concert dress bunching up. So, I reseated myself during the next few bars of rest. Boy, was that a mistake! The slip contracted up around my waist and (just in time) I grabbed my skirt to keep it from following the slip. I realized I had brought the wrong slip when leaving home with my change of clothes. For the whole first half of the concert, I was trying to keep that slip down. Finally the intermission came and I had to walk very slowly offstage and into the ladies room to remove the slip, taking very small steps, like a Geisha girl. My skirt was very black, but rather thin – like something Madonna would wear! So for the second half of the concert, I had my black coat hanging on my chair and wore that to get on and offstage.”

In Which Alice Sums It Up
“Over the past thirty-four years, I have experienced two conductors, a few guest conductors, and performed in several venues: the old Cuesta theater, the church in Pismo Beach, the Pop’s Concerts in Paso Robles and now Avila Beach, and of course the new Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly. I’ve had the chance to perform chamber music with guest artists, and even solo myself with the orchestra. I’ve seen the orchestra grow from a small chamber orchestra to a healthy Beethoven/Brahms-size orchestra. I feel very fortunate to still be in the orchestra even after having a stroke in January 2007 -- I was back playing with the group in the May concert of that same year."

"I truly feel lucky to be part of this group of people who love to play music and are members of this orchestra called the San Luis Obispo Symphony. I love this music family. Blessings to you all!”