Regionals 2006

February 19, 2006 at 3:52 PM

Wow. So, Regionals ended yesterday, and while it wasn't as musch fun beingthe host school, it was great!

Here's a nice little overview of the events:
Thursday night, 7-9pm
~"Don't be late"
~The orchestra was set up in a circle so that the strings were facing the winds, with the conductor in the middle, and we barely fit on stage
~I didn't think that my reseating audition went all that well, but I kept my spot of 6th (out of 16) 1st violin.
~Rehearsal were conducted at a nonstop pace
~The conductor was fond of us saying/singing our parts
~He compared bow placement to a 5-lane freeway, with lane 1 (piano) being over the fingerboard, and lane 5 (ff) next to the bridge.

Friday morning, 8-11am
~Part of the Overture to Nabucco should be played Pink Pantheresque
~Bopping, only playing the fist beat of a note so that the sections can hear how everything fits together
~The nice BandMoms brought us lunch
Friday afternoon, 12:30-6pm
~The band director came to work on Carmen some
~Carmen is dirty, sexy music
~He told us "if you flirt like you play, you'll be alone your whole life"
~They had a door proped open, which allowed this cold breeze right on the violins...
~Our conductor would often stop conducting
~Most of our pieces had big, flashy endings, and we were told that it should be intense enough that we broke strings
~We were given a new piece to read, "Russian Sailor's Dance," from the Red Poppy. It became a favorite, and we decided to try to add it to the program
~He kept having to tell the strings to be quiet, and the brass to be louder
~We weren't allowed to practice anytime when we weren't in rehearal (breaks included)

Saturday morning, 7:30-11am
~The percussion, winds, and brass were told to think of each piece as a concerto for therir instrument and orchestra
~It was interesting to find out the the people a chair ahead, and a chair behind me had both been playing 6 years longer than I have
Saturday, lunch break
~The orchestra got to watch the dress rehearsals for the choir and band
~The choir sounded great, but much of their music was about death, which was a little odd
~The band was ok (they were great my first year, but last year and this year, the orchestra has been better)
~There was one movement that the band did which was really neat; only the tubas were playing, and everyone else was singing.
Concert, 2pm
~Before the concert, we warmed up with a simple, 4-part harmony version of Navy Hymn
~Overture to Nabucco
~The opening with just the low brass sounded great
~Everything else was fast and tight, as it should be
~Carmen Suite
~The introduction to the audience was really funny
~Prelude to Act 1
~I love this movement, all the upper strings are tremeloing the entire time
~It was loud, intense, and great
~Habanera
~Very seductive... fun to play
~Les Toreadors
~We managed to play the slow section!!!
~American Portrait No. 1
~This went really well, its really pretty, and really fun.
~Very Coplandesque
~The violin solo in the middle was really pretty
~We got a standing ovation, which is always fun
~Our conductor announced that we had prepared an encore piece in less than 1 1/2 hours of rehearsal time since it was handed out
~Russian Sailor's Dance
~I think this was our best piece
~The ending is great, cause the firsts are on the second G above the staff for 12 measures while everything else is building under it, the it ends in this big chord.
~While the audience gave us another standing ovation, our conductor turned to us and said "Lets do that again!" if only I didn't have to wait another year...

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Regionals 2006

Subscribe

Laurie's Books