Holiday Concert Coming Soon!

The holiday concert for symphony (not the holiday concert with my private teacher's other students) will be December 11th. Here are the songs we're playing:

• Hark! The Harold Angels Sing
• O Come Emanuel
• O Holy Night
• .... and The Devil Went Down to Georgia

That's right... The Devil Went Down to Georgia. That's my symphony teacher's humor, for you! Yes, including that last song in our concert is a controversial decision, but I think most people will understand my teacher's sense of humor and know that it's all just a joke and not meant to be offensive whatsoever. At least I hope so... wouldn't that be sad if people got upset and left? Let's hope the audience will enjoy the song, not get hung up about the reference to satan! :P

(Side note: My symphony teacher is changing the song's name, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", to "The Devil Went Up to the North Pole" specially for the holiday concert. One of the cellists created some new lyrics too. They're pretty awesome.)

Special Visitors to my Symphony Orchestra Class

As we walked into class today we were greeted by Arianna String Quartet from St. Louis, Missouri! They performed a few songs for us and we were absolutely blown away. Each of the performers played with such ease and always moved with the music-- almost dancing-- as if embracing each song's uniqueness. Arianna String Quartet also answered our questions and gave us tips for auditions and practicing. At the end of class we played one of our songs for them. That was nerve-wracking, but we played quite well.

Make sure and visit ariannaquartet.com to learn more about them and listen to their songs!

Breaking the News to My Private Teacher...

Yesterday I told my private teacher about my district audition failure and she understood. She actually said quite a few people let their nerves take over on the last excerpt (like me!) and that messed them up. She told me that I just need more practice playing in front of people and once I have a year of private lessons under my belt I'll be much more experienced and ready to try out again next year. So basically because I've only been taking private lessons for a few months I'm not very experienced and that's one of the main reasons why I didn't make it into district orchestra. Plus nerves on audition day didn't help!

Despite everything my private teacher told me that if she were in my place she wouldn't be playing at the level I am now. She's really impressed by how well I play considering the fact that I have never taken lessons before and figured out everything on my own and in school. My private teacher said that I have a lot of talent, which means the world coming from someone who went to Yale and has dozens of students and tons of experience. It makes me feel like I actually have a chance to do big things...

I left my lesson yesterday feeling much better and I wasn't so hung up on not getting into district orchestra because I realized that I have a lot going for me and I just need to get more playing experience, especially from lessons. Speaking of which, my private teacher is going to have me play in a holiday concert that she's organizing for her students in December! I even stayed to sight read some pieces with a 7th grade girl who has her violin lesson after me each Wednesday. It was nice to play some easy holiday music for a change. :)

District Orchestra? Or no?

I didn't make it into district orchestra. :(

It sucks to know that even after months of practice and work I didn't get in...

There's always next year I guess.

District Orchestra Auditions

Good morning!

This morning is special-- the morning I audition to get into All-District Orchestra.

I got plenty of sleep the night before and had a big breakfast this morning.

I'll be wearing my 4 leaf clover necklace (from Ireland, mind you!) and a red shirt for confidence.

I'll be listening to calming music on the way there and I'll stay in a meditative state up until it's time for my audition.

Then I'll bring it.

I've been practicing every day this week and I've played for quite a few of my orchestra/band friends. Everything I've done this week has been preparing me for today, and I think I'm ready. We'll see how this goes!

Expect a follow-up post soon. :)