Orchestra for Marcus

The director working with first violins

Like I mentioned before, Salt Lake City is not a bad place for music. I think it is due to the fact that many LDS people emphasize the importance of music education. I think music is so spiritually uplifting, and I would like our children to be involved with music for the rest of their lives.

I have been thinking about finding a youth orchestra for Marcus to join. Since he is busy with soccer, many orchestras won't work with his schedule since they practice either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. I finally found one which practices on Wednesday after school. I contacted the director to inquire about the audition for 2012-2013 season starting this fall. He replied back to me and said they could audition him now to join them for remaining two months of their 2011-2012 season. So, I scheduled the audition, and dragged Marcus to it. He hates auditioning, and he was complaining all the way to the audition why he needed to do this. I told him that the audition would take only three minutes or so, and we could go home right after that, and then, later, we could decide whether he would join or not. No big deal, I said.

Well, turned out that they liked his performance, and invited him to join their Chamber Orchestra right there and asked him to stay for the rehearsal. The rehearsal was 1 hour and 30 minutes, so Marcus said to me on the way home, "What happened to it was supposed to last only three minutes? " I felt bad because he had a fever the day before and he was still recovering, and it was obvious that he was so exhausted.

Their Chamber Orchestra is quite advanced(the second advanced in their program), and the pieces they play are intermediate level. I thought it would be a little stressful for him to learn all the pieces in seven weeks to be ready for the concert. I was not the only one who thought so because I received an email from the director next day asking if Marcus would like to join the orchestra one level lower for this season so that it would be easier and fun for him, then try for the Chamber Orchestra for next season. I agreed with them, and Marcus rehearsed with the much easier orchestra the following week. He loved it. The pieces are so much easier (in fact, I think they are a little bit too easy), but fun to play. He loves playing those pieces, and I'm so excited to see him enjoying it. My inner pride says that it would be cool to see him with the middle-schoolers in the Chamber Orchestra, but really, why do I want him to play music? Not for my ego, right? I want him to develop a life long love towards music. So, I'm just happy to see him already moving to the right direction.

I love this orchestra program. When the directors emailed me regarding which orchestra Marcus would be in, I could tell that they were considering what was best for him. One of the directors said, "Let's make sure Marcus has a good experience no matter when or in which ensemble he plays," and they thanked me for having Marcus audition for them. I feel so good about getting involved with them and am looking forward to spending time with them for a long time. Marcus is already planning to stay with them and become a concert master in the future.

Another thing is that they are based on LDS belief, and before rehearsals, they have an opening prayer. How wonderful is that? A few months ago, we started to pray before and after our practices at home to invite the Spirit, and we immediately felt the difference. I'm glad that this orchestra shares the same value.

Here's a Youtube video of one of their orchestras. They have four orchestra, and this is their most advanced high-school-aged group.
The orchestra performed "Beethoven's Secrets" with The Piano Guys on Youtube which had received over 2 million hits within 2 months of its release.