A distinguished group

So for those of you who don't go to school in New York State, the NYSSMA [n-ISS-ma] Festival is where  school orchestras, choirs, or bands go to perform musical pieces for judges who then give them a score.  Groups can earn either bronze, silver, gold, or the highly-coveted gold with distinction.

I have been in my school string orchestra for four years, and I began playing the viola in second grade. But when my orchestra went again to NYSSMA last week, I was unsure about how we would do. I didn't feel like our pieces were as strong as they could be - but I knew we would do our best.

So we showed up, played our three songs, and then awaited our score. To our surprise, we snagged gold with distinction! Our director, DL, couldn't have been prouder, and neither could we. This was my third time receiving the distinguished honour (the fourth time we only got silver) and I'm so glad I can leave school with that sort of flourish. I have a lot of confidence in the underclassmen who will take over the orchestra next year, too.

String Orchestra 2010

Last night was our concert for the parents. We went on after the sixth/seventh grade orchestra and the eighth grade orchestra. When we got on stage, our performance was like we said, "Okay, this is how it's really done." Today, in celebration of our two excellent performances, DL made us cupcakes (her other award-winning talent) and we listened to the recording of our performance and the judges' comments. The cupcakes were dee-lish! as always. And the judges' comments were "nice" (one guy said nice ninety-two times in his comments!).

Who knows when I will play the viola next, but it certainly won't be the same as the past ten years I've spent learning and performing with my peers.
xxo, S