LYS Concerto Audition Information for Saturday January 5th 2008

Concerto Auditions

Concerto Auditions are next Saturday, so it's high time that I give you a better idea of the format and what to expect.

Auditions will be held directly after the January 5th rehearsal beginning at 11:10 am in the choir room. Auditions will be closed. This means that only the musician, accompanist, and judges will be allowed in the room. The judges will be our conductors, John Findlay and James Arbizu, and our Executive Director, Marsha Stokes.

If you are auditioning, please stay in the band room where we normally rehearse and begin warming up for the audition. Please have your accompanist arrive at least 10 minutes before your assigned time.

There are 5 auditions that I know of, and the order of auditions has been determined randomly (thanks to my daughter Rachel who drew names for me). Please look at the schedule below and let me know right away if there is a problem with your assigned time.

11:10 Nathan S
11:20 Hope
11:30 Jana
11:40 Rhiannon
11:50 Candace

Memorization is strongly encouraged but not required. Also, if your piece is longer than ten minutes, please let me know so I can adjust the schedule. Your accompanist should also shorten the "tutti" sections to save time. This is a normal practice in these types of situations, so they will know what you are talking about.

Remember that a soloist has stage presence, and in addition to musicianship, the judges will be watching for this. From the moment you walk onto the "stage" (in the choir room), be sure you take control of the performance situation. Your poise and professionalism, including your ability to end with a flourish no matter what happens during the performance, will make a difference to the judges. Be sure to smile with confidence, and don't forget to bow!

I believe this will be the last year that this concerto audition will be free and closed to musicians who are not LYS members. In lieu of charging an audition fee, all contestants are expected to perform at the February 8th Gala Dinner, Fundraiser, and Auction. We want to show off our best and brightest, and if we're going to procure this music, we need your support at the fundraiser!

Fabulous!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Julie Gardner
435.723.8262
GJulieKay@juno.com
LincolnYouthSymphony@gmail.com

LYS Saturday Report December 29th 2007

Hello Parents and Musicians!

This is Julie Gardner, Managing Director, 435.723.8262, LincolnYouthSymphony@gmail.com or GJulieKay@juno.com. Access past LYS Saturday Reports, fundraising information, calendar, membership, etc., by clicking "weekly rehearsal report" on the Lincoln Youth Symphony website: http://LincolnYouthSymphony.googlepages.com

Remember to email me about attendance. This means a missed rehearsal, or if you will be leaving early or coming late, and please be choosy about what constitutes a "good reason to miss."

For the most part, everyone has been fantastic about letting me know!

Commitment makes this orchestra thrive! Block out Saturdays for the year. Tell people you are already booked.

Thanks to all who keep us going. 2007 has been a great year!

Please add LincolnYouthSymphony@gmail.com to your safe sender's list. My emails may be coming from that address from now on.

(And remember us if you are looking for a tax-deductible place for your money to land before the end of the year!)

Gala Fundraiser Date Change: February 8th, 2008

Our Fundraiser Gala and Silent Auction has been moved one day earlier: It will be Friday, February 8th, 2008. Please block this out on your calendar. We expect this to be the major fundraiser for the year, and we know we can bring in much more than the measly $300 we made at the car wash last year.

Every musician will be expected to sell tickets, and also help out or participate in some way, either with the entertainment or other work. Prepare for a great opportunity to perform for an audience before solo & ensemble contest. Gear up for a fun party!

If you have ideas or questions or wish to be involved in a large or small way, please contact me or board member Tamera Terry office@infovets.com .


Our Last Rehearsal: Saturday, December 15th, 2007

 

We checked out Bacchanale and, for most people, Beethoven's 5th Symphony (we'll be playing the first movement). We will check out Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony (we'll be playing the 3rd movement) on January 5th since we now have the missing parts and transpositions. You should already have Hungarian Dance in your folders.

We will be choosing from these for our trip to Abravanel Hall on March 10th. We will also be playing some of these at the final concert, which will most likely be on April 19th.

 

The final piece(s) for our next concert (March 1) will be a concerto (or two) from our concerto auditions on January 5th.

 

The Violas, Cellos, and Basses brought treats. Thanks to everyone who remembered (especially Amylee)!

 

If you meant to audition and didn't make it, please contact me. We might be able to have you come at 7:45 on Jan 5th!

Don't forget, we are still trying to fill seats in the brass section -- horns, another trumpet, a tuba or bass trombone. Let's expand our ability to play fabulous music by filling all our seats!

Our Next Rehearsal: January 5th, 2008

 

Our rehearsal time will again be 8:00 am for everyone.

 

We are relying on the Winds, Brass and Percussion for treats. Sustenance. We love healthy refreshments!

Our Concerto Auditions will be right after rehearsal that day. Students who I know of that are auditioning are: Rhiannon, Jana, Candace, Nathan S, and Hope. If there is anyone else (Eddy?) please contact me immediately. Otherwise, I will only send the detailed audition information to those five students.

 

Music Inventory

 

The Friday before Christmas, Marsha Stokes and I did the bulk of the work moving twelve filing cabinets full of Golden Spike Music into my garage in Perry. 7 of them seem to be full of Orchestra music, and the other 5 seem to have Marching Band music in them. The music looks to be in good shape, and if it's not usable by us and the parts are all there, we may be able to sell it on Ebay or to local schools as a fund raiser.

But the point is: We are now ready for the music inventory. We can't use it if we don't know what's there! We need willing helpers, and if someone has a propane heater, my garage is frigid!

Pencil in January 19th for an inventory party. There is no rehearsal that Saturday. Plan to bring a laptop computer if you have one. RSVP so I know how many people will be here.

 

Membership Fees

 

If you have not paid or made arrangements for your membership fee, I will begin contacting each of you on an individual basis soon.

 

Thanks very much to those who have saved me the trouble by contacting me instead. You are a blessing in my life!

 

VERY IMPORTANT:  Unallocated Membership Fee: We still have one fee that was paid in September and the last name on the check was Anderson; we are not sure who to credit that payment to. If it was you, or you have an idea of who it might be from, please let me know! Thanks. :)

 

Fundraising

 

If you purchased grocery certificates at the concert, you know by now how easy it is. If we make this an ongoing fundraiser, it can make a big difference. I will have green flyers for the grocery fundraisers at rehearsal. Please participate in this program. It is a painless way to raise money for the youth symphony. More information at http://lincolnyouthsymphony.googlepages.com. Click on "Fundraising" on the left sidebar.

 

 

Julie Gardner

John Findlay

James Arbizu

LYS Saturday Report, December 8th, 2007

Hello Parents and Musicians!

This is Julie Gardner, Managing Director, 435.723.8262 or GJulieKay@juno.com. Access past LYS Saturday Reports, fundraising, calendar, membership, etc., by clicking "weekly rehearsal report" on the Lincoln Youth Symphony website: http://LincolnYouthSymphony.googlepages.com

Remember to email me about attendance. This means a missed rehearsal, or if you will be leaving early or coming late, and please be choosy about what constitutes a "good reason to miss."

For the most part, everyone has been fantastic about letting me know!

Commitment makes this orchestra thrive! Block out Saturdays for the year. Tell people you are already booked. 

We have just one more rehearsal this month before the break.

Here's hoping that everyone taking the ACT survived this morning.  These are the people I know of that missed for that reason: Josh, Amylee, Sonee, Nathan S, and Andrea. I hope that the test went well for you! :)

 

If you missed this morning and didn't let me know why, please do.

 

Thanks to the wonderful people who brought their renegade music this morning! Hannah, please remember to bring yours next week, and Cameron, please give your music to Shannon ASAP!  Thanks a million!

Today's Rehearsal: Saturday, December 8th, 2007

Thanks for the well-attended rehearsal this morning!  You are a pleasure to work with.

 

WELCOME to our new violinist Erik Nilson from Weber High. Very glad to have you!

 

And WELCOME to Cherie Bennett, our percussionist. Glad to have you back!

 

We had fun sightreading today. For the record, we played 12 pieces:

 

St Lawrence Overture, Washburn

Gipsy Overture, Isaac 

Ballet Suite, Shostakovich

March & Minuet, Handel

Die Meistersinger, Wagner

March of Homage, Liszt

Festival March, von Weber

Fugue in g minor, Bach

Hungarian Dance No. 1, Brahms

London Symphony, Haydn

Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, Saint-Saens

Fourth Symphony, Third Movement, Tchaikovsky

 

Many of these pieces are arrangements and we knew we were simply sightreading for fun, but sightreading is a fabulous skill. We checked out one piece of music to take home: Hungarian Dance by Brahms. We will also be checking out Bacchanale by Saint-Saens next week. The 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony will be checked out as soon as we work out the transpositions and missing parts, hopefully by next week.

 

We will be choosing from these for our trip to Abravanel Hall on March 10th.

 

The final piece(s) for our next concert (March 1) will be a concerto (or two) from our concerto auditions on January 5th. I will send a separate email with details about this sometime this week.

 

Unfortunately, the Violas, Cellos, and Basses didn't have a chance to "organize" treats, and there was no food! So they get to try again next week. 

 

If you meant to audition this morning and didn't make it, you can still come next week. We'll see you at 7:45! Call or email with any questions. (We had one new violin, but I was expecting one other violin and a viola this morning.)

Don't forget, we are still trying to fill seats in the brass section -- horns, another trumpet, a tuba or bass trombone. Let's expand our ability to play fabulous music by filling all our seats!

Next Week

 

Our rehearsal time will again be 8:00 am for everyone.

 

We are relying on the Violas, Cellos, and Basses for treats. We get one more chance! Let's have at least something that's healthy. I already have cups and napkins left over from those great treats from the 1st and 2nd violins, so I'll bring them along.

 

As we continue to plan for the rest of the year, we will be sightreading a couple more pieces next week: Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 1st movement, and the Capriccio Espanol by Rimsky-Korsakov. Fun! 

 

Music Inventory

 

We are looking into a big Music Inventory Computer Laptop Party to find out what's in the Golden Spike Youth Symphony filing cabinets sometime during the Christmas Break.  I'll let you know when and where as soon as I know!  (Laptop not required.)

 

Membership Fees

 

If you have not paid or made arrangements for your membership fee, I will begin contacting each of you on an individual basis soon.

 

Thanks very much to those who have saved me the trouble by contacting me instead. You are a blessing in my life!

 

VERY IMPORTANT:  Unallocated Membership Fee: We still have one fee that was paid in September and the last name on the check was Anderson; we are not sure who to credit that payment to. If it was you, or you have an idea of who it might be from, please let me know! Thanks. :)

 

Fundraising

 

If you purchased grocery certificates at the concert, you know by now how easy it is. If we make this an ongoing fundraiser, it can make a big difference. I will have green flyers for the grocery fundraisers at rehearsal. Please participate in this program. It is a painless way to raise money for the youth symphony. More information at http://lincolnyouthsymphony.googlepages.com. Click on "Fundraising" on the left sidebar.

 

Our Silent Auction and Gala Fundraising Dinner will be February 9th. If you are willing to help with this, please let me know.

 

Julie Gardner

John Findlay

James Arbizu 

 

 

LYS Saturday & Concert Report, December 1st, 2007

Hello Parents and Musicians!

This is Julie Gardner, Managing Director. If you have any questions, I can be reached at 435.723.8262 or GJulieKay@juno.com. You can always access past LYS Saturday Reports by clicking "weekly rehearsal report" on the Lincoln Youth Symphony website: http://LincolnYouthSymphony.googlepages.com

Remember to email me about attendance. This means a missed rehearsal, or if you will be leaving early or coming late, and please be choosy about what constitutes a "good reason to miss."

For the most part, everyone has been fantastic about letting me know! Commitment makes this orchestra thrive! Block out Saturdays for the year. Tell people you are busy. 

We have two more rehearsals in December, and we miss

Fantastic Concert Last Saturday

Belated congratulations to all of you!  We sounded great, and I had some wonderful comments.  I would have emailed sooner but I spent Sunday sick in bed. Throwing up for 7 hours is never fun, but I'm glad it didn't happen on Saturday, although I'm sure everything would have still worked without me. I've been recovering all week, and playing in the Messiah. :)

You were great about turning in your music, as well. The only missing music as of today belongs to Rhiannon J (violin 1), Nathan J (viola), Rachel A (cello), Hannah F (cello), and Cameron C (low brass). Please Please Please turn in your music TOMORROW so I don't have to get mean!  I've already filed it, and it's a royal pain to file music that wasn't turned in with the rest. If you turned in music but not your manilla folder, you got credit for turning in your music, but please turn in the folder as well. And, for the vast majority of you, THANK YOU for turning in your music!  Bravo! 

One extra note: Nick H (violin 1) left some personal music in his folder. He won't be at rehearsals for the next concert, so if someone sees Nick at school or lives near him, please let me know. I can give you his music!

Tomorrow's Rehearsal: Saturday, December 8th, 2007

 

Rehearsal starts for Everyone (including winds) at 8:00 am. We will be passing out new music and also sightreading music -- some for fun and some to see if we want to play it. Plan to be done at the normal time -- 11:00 am.

 

I know there's an ACT test tomorrow morning, so please let me know if you are missing rehearsal. The only people I know of that won't be there tomorrow are Josh G, Amylee W, and Sonee K. Good luck on the test! :)

 

The Violas, Cellos, and Basses haven't had much of a chance to "organize" treats, but it is our turn, so let's see if we can do a good pot-luck job.  I already have cups and napkins left over from those great treats spread out by the 1st and 2nd violins, so I'll bring them along.

 

We will be having a few new players come audition tomorrow at 7:45. We look forward to meeting them! 

Don't forget, we are still trying to fill seats in the winds and brass section. Let's expand our ability to play by filling all our seats!

Membership Fees

If you have not paid or made arrangements for your membership fees, I will begin contacting each of you on an individual basis soon.

 

Unallocated Membership Fee: We still have one fee that was paid in September and the last name on the check was Anderson; we are not sure who to credit that payment to. If it was you, we'd love to give you credit for it, so please let me know! Thanks. :)

 

Fundraising

 

If you purchased grocery certificates at the concert, you know by now how easy it is. If we make this an ongoing fundraiser, it can make a big difference. I will have green flyers for the grocery fundraisers at rehearsal. Please participate in this program. It is a painless way to raise money for the youth symphony. More information at http://lincolnyouthsymphony.googlepages.com. Click on "Fundraising" on the left sidebar.

 

Our Silent Auction and Gala Fundraising Dinner will be February 9th. If you are willing to help with this, please let me know.

 

Julie Gardner

John Findlay

James Arbizu