Springtime at the high school is bittersweet. The students are reaching their peaks as performers while the seniors are on a fast sprint towards graduation. The spring offers the seniors another chance to recognize and show their appreciation and love for their parents who support them through thick and thin. The rose ceremony at the last concert is always a special event as our seniors walk out into the audience to find their Moms and Dads. Examples of students reaching their best levels of playing are abundant at this time of year. The undergraduates are thinking already about next year and many of them are planning enriching musical activities for their summer vacations. It is tryout season for next year's drum majors, field commanders, guard, majorettes, and drum line members. The fall show has been selected and now we anticipate the challenges of putting the show on the field and the joy it will provide us and our audiences. As 2013-2014 winds down, I think of all people, young and old, who are a part of my daily life with the band. As my family and friends know, I do not call what I do each day "work". For me, I am going to school. To teach. To learn. All through the feelings and the power of music. I am always awed by the growth that occurs for the students who volunteer to play in the pit orchestra for the annual musicals. The rehearsals start out really rough as we plow our way through the music, sight-reading in four sharps, cut-time, and all the rest. But each week it gets a bit better, students sight-reading large volumes of music, and by show week things begin to fall together. The sitzprobe is always a big revelation, when the pit orchestra has those "Ah-Ha" moments hearing the vocals for the first time. The orchestra this year was comprised of twenty-five of our band and orchestra students and one Oberlin College trumpet ringer, Ethan Updike. "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is a tough book to play. I am proud of how our students were able to pull it together and play so well for the four shows. I am also proud of the many band students who not only played in the pit, but were in the cast, the stage crew, and the tech crew. Our Avon Lake students never cease to amaze me by their creativity, talent, and energy. |
AuthorAvon Lake Band Director Archives
March 2019
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