Concert thoughts

I received many, many compliments on both our concert and Faculty Breakfast. The electric violins and Sinfonia's Silent Night were the standouts. A retired music teacher particularly thought our intonation and balance were excellent. Thank you everyone for all of your support in making these events great successes!

I felt that we represented ourselves well at both performances. I was pleasantly surprised by the applause we received after Orchestra's set last night. It was loud, long, and appreciative, and you can't ask for much more than that!* One thing that I forgot to mention ahead of time, and Kaila noticed during the concert, was how different everything sounded in the gym. She said from her perspective sitting in the fourth row that it felt as if she and Thy were playing by themselves. The gym is a huge room compared to what we are used to and the sound does not bounce off the walls and come back to our ears like in our room. I noticed that our dynamics did not sound nearly as distinct in the bigger room. This will happen in every venue that we play. No two auditoriums every sound alike.
I felt our hard work fixing notes, working on tuning, using full bows, and bringing out the expressive qualities of the music all came through. This is what happens when everyone does their job by playing their part, watching, and listening. Because every single one of you is an important part of the ensemble sound and everyone's part is important. And you proved it this morning when I forgot to conduct the first ending of The Christmas Song. The ritardando, fermata, and following entrance went just fine without me. Unfortunately that makes me look a little superfluous to the administrators in the audience...

*Of course, starting in January, I will be asking you for more, starting with our new method books and continuing into Festival music. But you knew I was going to say that.