Monday, February 17, 2014

Winter Orchestra Concert

About 2 weeks ago, Hannah and I had an orchestra concert. We go to orchestra every Thursdays from 3:45 until 4:45 and work on our 5 pieces that our conductor gave us. This is an all string orchestra, and there are about 60 violins, 3 violas, 20 cellos and 1 base. I sit in the first violin section, and I am third chair. Hannah sits in the second violin section.  Unfortunately, Hannah sits  all the way in the back, directly behind the conductor so you can't see her playing.  This is her first year in an orchestra, and I am sure she will move up closer to the front next year when she gets better. The theme of all of our pieces was music by Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky. Even though we come together every Thursday for rehearsal,  it is our responsibility to make sure that we come prepared and know our parts well. On the day of the concert, we had to wake up early, as we had a rehearsal at a beautiful concert hall. We determined the order of our pieces, rehearsed all of the pieces we were going to perform, and made sure that everyone knew where to sit. After rehearsal, we went home for lunch and a brief rest period.  By the early afternoon, it was time to get dress in a black dress, black tights, and shiny black shoes. At 3:00, we arrived back at the concert hall for the performance.

The first piece that we played was called Dance of the Tumblers by Nikolay Rimsky. It is a very melodic and fast piece with many trills. The next piece that we played was called Eighteenth Variation by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It is one of my favorite pieces because it has a beautiful melody,  and it is very slow. The third piece we played was called Souvenirs of Saint Petersberg. This is a a famous and fun Russian melody. We learned this piece the fastest, because everyone practiced it the most. My least favorite song, Diamonds, by Tchaikovsky, was all plucking, which means that we don't use our bows to play it. However, the cellos had a nice melody The final piece we played was Hopak from "The Fair at Sorochinsk".  It was a nice way to end our concert, as it was a very light and fast piece.

My mom recorded all the pieces we played. Even though, it isn't the best recording, I hope you enjoy the concert.  

Which piece was your favorite?