Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Interlochen ICO, First Day of 2nd Session

Today, Tuesday, July 18th, 2017, marked the first day of the second session of Interlochen Intermediate Concert Orchestra.  I was pleased for have a few days off following our concert on Friday and was very ready to get back to work  today!  It was a great pleasure to meet all of my new students today and we had a wonderful rehearsal. We rehearse most days in Grunow Hall which is located along the shores of Green Lake at Interlochen Arts Camp. Today was a warm day. While there are fans in the room, they blow our music all over the place. So, most days we go without major ventilation in the room other than open windows.  So, it can get a bit steamy in there.  But, what is a day of camp without a little discomfort, right? (We did keep the windows open today.)

We started today's rehearsal by introducing ourselves to the people on both sides of us and then got right to work. The first hour of rehearsal included faculty section leaders sitting at the front of the section, while everyone sight-read the new repertoire. I will post extensively on the repertoire that we prepare over the next three weeks in coming days. Today, during the first hour, we actually got through just about all of the repertoire that I have planned for the first program. This includes a Robert McCashin arrangement of Haydn's Symphony 104, Movement 1, a Sibelius Impromptu, a brand new piece by Peter Terry, entitled Ancient Light, for which we will perform the world premiere next Wednesday, and a wonderful Latin tune called Samba Me This by Tom Sharpe, which will feature Interlochen faculty members David Kay on sax and Alejandro Bernard on piano.

To begin the second hour, I had students get to know their stand partner a little better. I had each member of the orchestra introduce their stand partner, tell us where they are from, and tell us something interesting about them other than the instrument that they play. This is a great way to break the ice with a group of young musicians and is always great fun. Today we learned that we have athletes, scholars, bakers, readers, and folks who love to sleep. We also learned that we have a large contingent from New York City, Chicago, Indiana, and numerous other places within and outside of the United States.

We then began our work on the Haydn Symphony and Ancient Light. I feel like we have a good start on both pieces and asked the kids to spend a bit of time in the practice room tomorrow on each of them. We will hit the ground running tomorrow and look forward to our first performance next Wednesday. It is a great group of new students. There were lots of smiles today. I know the next 3 weeks will be a blast - full of great music-making, learning, and fun!

Peace.
Scott

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