Saturday, June 14, 2014

Abby's Adventure

This past week was a busy one for our youngest daughter Abby.  Each day she was up by 6:30 and on the road by 7 am.  She returned home each night around 6:00 pm. No, she isn't old enough to drive, but she is old enough to attend the week-long summer Pops Camp for youth string and symphony orchestra.

Her older sister Hannah attended this camp twice and loved it. Abby was quite excited to be able to participate this year.  The same guest clinician that lead the two Hannah attended, led this year's.  He is so good and makes the week quite fun for all the kids.  Abby was overwhelmed with the music the first day, but by the end of the week, she felt quite a bit more confident.

On Friday evening, parents and family, friends and interested parties attended the evening concert to hear the culmination of the week's hard work.  This is the list of songs they played:


Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song
by Brian Balmanges

Music from Brave from the Walt Disney/Pixar film BRAVE
arranged by Robert Longfield

Let It Go from Disney's Animated Feature FROZEN
Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
arranged by Larry Moore

Abby and the other half day participants left the stage while the remaining strings stayed and played:

Nimrod
Edward Elgar
arranged by Mitchell Bender

Romanian Folk Dances
Dela Bartok
arranged by Deborah Baker Monday

Then all the string players left the stage and three french horns, one trombone, one saxophone, one flute, and one oboe took their place and played for us:

Quintet by Ludwig von Beethoven
Mvt. 1 allegro

Those brass players moved towards the back of the stage, up came more including percussion players as well as the all-day violins, cellos, viola, and double bass.  They played two songs:

Russian Sailors' Dance from The Red Poppy
Reinhold Gliere
arranged by Merle J. Isaac

Movements from The Firebird Suite
Igor Stravinsky
arranged by Merle J. Isaac
Danse Infernale
Bercuese and Finale

Finally, Abby and the other violinists who had left the stage first now returned to join everyone in the finale:

Overture 1812
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
arranged by J.F. Lehmeier


What a wonderful evening of music! Abby really had a nice week despite it being long days.  This was her first time ever playing with a big group and she realized how right her sister Hannah was when she told her that it is so much fun to play in a group.  Hannah enjoyed it so much that she responded with a big smile when the violin teacher, who was hers and is also Abby's, told me that if Hannah wants to come play in the concert, she certainly can.  Fortunately Hannah was not scheduled to work on Friday, so she tagged along with Abby and spent the entire day with her and the other participants, quickly sight-reading and learning her part.  Having more experience then Abby she played the entire concert and had a good time.  She also enjoyed playing these more modern pieces, especially Stravinsky, because she had just studied modern music in her music theory class this spring.


Making Memories together.  Abby already is planning on attending the next summer Pops Camp in two years. And music camp is one activity we are happy to help Abby attend.

2 comments:

Melanie said...

Was this camp at Bethany College? It sounds like so much fun!

Glenda said...

No, it is at Martin Luther College in New Ulm. The girls have a lot of fun. Abby looks forward to next time and hopes they still offer the overnight option which she wants to do.