Auditioning for the Junior Orchestra

Over the summer, I learned many new pieces. One of those pieces was called Variations on Puccini Theme by Charles Dancla. Dancla was born on  December 19th 1817, and died on October 10th 1907.  He was a famous violinist, composer, and teacher.

This piece has 3 parts to it. The first part is melodic and sweet sounding, and not very fast. The second part is a little faster, and it sounds as if someone has the hiccups.The last part is very fast, and was the hardest part of the piece for me because it was at the very end and my fingers were tired.

As summer came to an end, my sister and I auditioned for a junior orchestra. To get into the orchestra, I had to prepare scales and one violin piece to play for the conductor.  After the auditions, the conductor let me know that I had made it to the first violin section. On the first day of rehearsal, the conductor gave us many pieces to practice at home.  The theme of all of our pieces is music by Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky. The orchestra members come together every Thursday for rehearsal.  It is my responsiblity to make sure that I come prepared and know my part well. In January, we will have the first concert of the season.  The concert attire for girls is all black (either a dress or skirt), black tights, and shiny black shoes.   I am really excited to show off all of our hard work to my family at the show.




This is Hannah, and I also auditioned a piece for the orchestra. It was called Concert by Reiding.  I like this piece because the first part is slow but then the second page gets a little faster. I also like this piece because it has loud and quiet parts.  I had to play the Concert  for the conductor at the orchestra. After she heard me play, she put me in the second violin section. Now I play every Thursday. I have to practice all my violin pieces that the conductor gave me. I have to play them every day at home. I have a stand partner named Rachel, and she is very nice. She is ten, and she plays a little better then me. She has been playing at the orchestra longer than me, and that is why she plays a little better then me. Soon in January, there is going to be a concert so I have to practice a lot at home. For the concert, I have to wear a black dress and black shoes.

Did you enjoy the pieces we chose to play?

Fall Orchestra Concert

Recently, I had my first concert in orchestra this year. This is my second year in Camerata Strings.  We practice every Saturday from 9:00 to 11:30. The conductor is really nice and she picks beautiful pieces or us to play. Everyone must practice there part during the week, so we could play it together on Saturday.


My day started early in the morning because I needed to get dressed in a white top and a black skirt and black, shiny shoes. I had to be at the dress rehearsal at 11:30 because we needed to practice on stage. There was a lot of waiting around for our groups turn on stage. Finally, it was our time to perform. I was very nervous when I got on stage, but after we finished playing, there was a lot of clapping from the audience which made me feel very excited. 


We played Fiddles out West,  Sahara Crossing, DECKorations, and Starfleet. Fiddles out West was a very melodic, fast, and a light piece. Sahara Crossing, was a very slow piece. When I play this piece I imagine people crossing the desert suffering because they don't have enough water. Deckorations is a happy piece When I think of  it, I think of all the holidays in December. Starfleet was my least favorite piece. It didn't have much melody and my mom didn't even record it.


Here is a video of our performance. I am kind of hidden behind some of the older kids. I am sitting right behind the blond girl in the front. Sometimes you can see me peek through. I will try out again for first violin in January. I hope I will make it this time. 

Which was your favorite piece?

The Sound of Music

On my sister Miriam birthday, we watched The Sound Of Music. We liked the movie so much that we decided to learn to play some of the songs. The movie was about the Von Trapp family, a captain and his 7 children. When their mom died, the dad became very strict.  They needed a governess to take care of the children, and the convent sent Maria to help the family. Maria started teaching the children about music and how to sing. They learned to sing so well that they even performed in front of the whole city. 

After their mom died, they no longer sang or had music in the home. Maria brought music into their house and even got their dad to play his guitar that he hasn't played in many years. The first song that he played and sang was Edelweiss. Edelweiss is a white flower found in the Alps.

My little sister Hannah and  I have been practicing a song called Edelweiss.  I play it on the violin and Hannah plays it on the piano.  First, My older sister Miriam and I played it together while Hannah listened. A couple weeks later she wanted to play it also, and my mom taught it to her. I loved playing it with her.

I am also going to play My Favorite Things with my sister Miriam. In the movie, there was a thunderstorm and all the children got scared. Maria taught them My Favorite Things to get them into a better mood. She told them to think of good things and then they won't feel so bad. 

Here is Hannah and I playing Edelweiss and Miriam and I playing My Favorite Things.

Have you seen this movie?

Have you heard these songs?

Violin Recital

A few weeks ago, my violin teacher had a recital for all her students at one of her student's home.  She has sixteen students. Even though she is a violin teacher, she teaches both piano and violin. I am her only violin student. For the recital, I played a piece called Concert in C minor by O. Rieding. while my violin teacher accompanied me on the piano.  Oskar Rieding (1840–1918) was a German violinist who composed many pieces for violin and piano.

I have been playing the violin for 1 year, and I practice everyday.   I practice a little bit during the week, but more on the weekends. It's hard to find time to practice the violin because I also have to practice the piano. The violin is a harder instrument than the piano because it is harder to made a beautiful sound, and to make the violin not sound squeaky.  That is something I still need to work on. I like both instruments equally and can't decide which one I like better.  Soon, I will also start learning to play the viola. The viola looks very similar to a violin, but it is a little bit bigger and has a lower pitched sound.

Do you play an instrument?

If not, what is your favorite instrument to listen to?

My Fall Orchestra Concert

In September, I auditioned to play violin for the junior orchestra. For the audition, I had to play two songs and three scales that I learned. During the audition, the conductor gave me a piece of music I had never seen before, and asked me to play it to make sure I know how to sight read (read music notes). I was really nervous because there were many older kids waiting in line with us. After I played, the conductor told me that I made it in and I was really excited. We practice every Saturday from 9:00 am until 11:30 am. The conductor is really nice and she decides the songs we will play for our concert.  Everyone in the orchestra must practice their part during the week on their own so that when we play together it sounds good.

In November, we had our first concert of the year. We played Themes From Harry Potter, by John Williams, Hansel and Gretel, by Engelbert Humperdinck, Holiday Dances by Mark Williams, and Trepak which is from The Nutcracker by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The day of the concert was very busy. We had to arrive early in the morning because we had a dress rehearsal. Everyone had to have black skirt or pants, white shirt, and black shoes. We played each song just once on stage because there was an older orchestra group waiting to rehearse. After the dress rehearsal, we had lunch and rested before the concert. When I was finished playing, we stayed and watched the older kids play. They played beautifully. Their pieces were really hard. I hope will someday play in adult orchestra!

Below is a video of part of our performance. At first my mom had a hard time finding me, but by the third song (minute 4:35 in the video) she finally figured out where I was sitting. 

What did you think of our performance? 

Have you ever been to a real concert?