The last 24 hours

We are through! Within the last 24 hours the kids had the last two in their set of three big year-end ensemble concerts. Last night the Summit Suzuki Strings (newly named and newly costumed in their fetching red polo shirts) performed the following:

• Sakura Sakura
• Bach Concerto for 2 violins in d minor - Largo ma non tanto & Vivace
• Concerto Grosso in F Major by Corelli - Largo & Gavotta-Allegro
• Londonderry Air

Except for the Bach, these were three- or four-part arrangements for violin-viola ensemble.
Some from memory, some not. The ensemble was brilliant. They comprised the first third of the community choir concert. Erin is also a first soprano in the community choir and she sang a brilliantly beautiful solo in a choral arrangement of "Nella Fantasie" (there's a version here if you're interested). I cried.

Today was the orchestra concert. Noah's quartet played the following:

• Mozart Quartet in C Major, K. 157, Allegro
• Yesterday by Lennon & McCartney
• Eleanor Rigby by Lennon & McCartney

Erin's quartet played:

• Haydn Quartet No. 35 "The Lark", Allegro

The Suzuki strings played a 4-part arrangement of:

• Handel Bourrée

The orchestra played:

• Concerto in g minor for 2 celli, Allgro by Vivaldi
• "A Pirate's Legend" by S.H. Newbold
• Scenes from the Emerald Isle by C. Gruselle
• Mantras by R. Meyer
• Deerpath Suite "Open Lands" by W. Hofeldt
• Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart
• El Toro by D. Brubaker

It was a heck of a lot of different repertoire for the kids. And a heck of a lot of organizing, taxiing, coaching, music-stand moving, poster-nailing, floor-sweeping, program-typing and announcing for me. The audiences were great, very appreicative.

The other night we happened to be searching through old video tapes for something else and stumbled across a tape of the community orchestra concert from 1998. That was the orchestra's third season and it was about four years before our local Suzuki students began trickling into the orchestra. It was amazing to see how far we've come. That first crop of students is now the backbone of the orchestra. And the improvement in intonation, ensemble and musicality is astronomical. I feel happy. Happy that we're done with the major concerts of this spring's season, but happy for what seems to be building here in our little town.